Multipolar Expansions for the Relativistic N-Body Problem in the Rest-Frame Instant Form

Dixon's multipoles for a system of N relativistic positive-energy scalar particles are evaluated in the rest-frame instant form of dynamics. The Wigner hyperplanes (intrinsic rest frame of the isolated system) turn out to be the natural framework for describing multipole kinematics. In particular, concepts like the {\it barycentric tensor of inertia} can be defined in special relativity only by means of the quadrupole moments of the isolated system.Comment: 46 pages, revtex fil

Exotic Hill Problem: Hall motions and symmetries

Our previous study of a system of bodies assumed to move along almost circular orbits around a central mass, approximately described by Hill's equations, is extended to "exotic" [alias non-commutative] particles. For a certain critical value of the angular velocity, the only allowed motions follow the Hall law. Translations and generalized boosts span two independent Heisenberg algebras with different central parameters. In the critical case, the symmetry reduces to a single Heisenberg algebra.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 4 figure

Hidden symmetries in a gauge covariant approach, Hamiltonian reduction and oxidation

Hidden symmetries in a covariant Hamiltonian formulation are investigated involving gauge covariant equations of motion. The special role of the Stackel-Killing tensors is pointed out. A reduction procedure is used to reduce the original phase space to another one in which the symmetries are divided out. The reverse of the reduction procedure is done by stages performing the unfolding of the gauge transformation followed by the Eisenhart lift in connection with scalar potentials.Comment: 15 pages; based on a talk at QTS-7 Conference, Prague, August 7-13, 201

Transverse Shifts in Paraxial Spinoptics

The paraxial approximation of a classical spinning photon is shown to yield an "exotic particle" in the plane transverse to the propagation. The previously proposed and observed position shift between media with different refractive indices is modified when the interface is curved, and there also appears a novel, momentum [direction] shift. The laws of thin lenses are modified accordingly.Comment: 3 pages, no figures. One detail clarified, some misprints corrected and references adde

Simultaneous inversion of source spectra, attenuation parameters and site responses. Application to the data of the French Accelerometric Network.

International audienceDisplacement spectra of earthquakes recorded by the French accelerometric network at regional scale are modeled as the product of source, propagation (including geometric and anelastic attenuation), and site effects. We use an iterative Gauss–Newton inversion to solve the nonlinear problem and retrieve these different terms. This method is easy to implement because the partial derivatives of the amplitude spectrum with respect to the different parameters have simple analytic forms. After convergence, we linearize the problem around the solution to compute the correlation matrix, which allows us to identify the parameters which are poorly resolved. We analyze data from two tectonically active regions: the Alps and the Pyrenees. Eighty-three earthquakes with local magnitudes between 3.0 and 5.3 are analyzed, with epicentral distances in the range 15–200 km. S-wave displacement spectra are computed using a fast Fourier transform and integration in the 0.5–15-Hz frequency domain. We assume a Brune-type source, with a geometric attenuation of the form R-{gamma}, {gamma} being constant, and a frequency-dependent quality factor of the form Q=Q0xf{alpha}. The results reveal that the attenuation parameters are correlated to each other and to the seismic moments. The two regions have different attenuation patterns. The geometrical spreading factor is equal to 1 for the Alps and 1.2 for the Pyrenees. The anelastic attenuation exhibits low Q0 values (322 and 376 for the Alps and the Pyrenees, respectively) with regional variations for {alpha} (0.21 in the Alps and 0.46 in the Pyrenees). Computed moment magnitudes are generally 0.5 unit smaller than local magnitudes, and the logarithms of the corner frequencies decrease linearly with magnitude according to log10(fc)=1.72-0.32xMw. Stress drops range from 105 to 107 Pa (i.e., 1–100 bars), with a slight dependence to magnitude (large stress drops for large magnitudes). Finally, robust site responses relative to an average rock-site response are derived, allowing us to identify good reference rock sites

Integrable relativistic systems given by Hamiltonians with momentum-spin-orbit coupling

In the paper we investigate the evolution of the relativistic particle (massive and massless) with spin defined by Hamiltonian containing the terms with momentum-spin-orbit coupling. We integrate the corresponding Hamiltonian equations in quadratures and express their solutions in terms of elliptic functions.Comment: 18 page

Extended phase space for a spinning particle

Extended phase space of an elementary (relativistic) system is introduced in the spirit of the Souriau's definition of the `space of motions' for such system. Our formulation is generally applicable to any homogeneous space-time (e.g. de Sitter) and also to Poisson actions. Calculations concerning the Minkowski case for non-zero spin particles show an intriguing alternative: we should either accept two-dimensional trajectories or (Poisson) noncommuting space-time coordinates.Comment: 12 pages, late

Mathisson's helical motions for a spinning particle --- are they unphysical?

It has been asserted in the literature that Mathisson's helical motions are unphysical, with the argument that their radius can be arbitrarily large. We revisit Mathisson's helical motions of a free spinning particle, and observe that such statement is unfounded. Their radius is finite and confined to the disk of centroids. We argue that the helical motions are perfectly valid and physically equivalent descriptions of the motion of a spinning body, the difference between them being the choice of the representative point of the particle, thus a gauge choice. We discuss the kinematical explanation of these motions, and we dynamically interpret them through the concept of hidden momentum. We also show that, contrary to previous claims, the frequency of the helical motions coincides, even in the relativistic limit, with the zitterbewegung frequency of the Dirac equation for the electron

Discrete Morse functions for graph configuration spaces

We present an alternative application of discrete Morse theory for two-particle graph configuration spaces. In contrast to previous constructions, which are based on discrete Morse vector fields, our approach is through Morse functions, which have a nice physical interpretation as two-body potentials constructed from one-body potentials. We also give a brief introduction to discrete Morse theory. Our motivation comes from the problem of quantum statistics for particles on networks, for which generalized versions of anyon statistics can appear.Comment: 26 page