1,158 research outputs found
Some exact analytical results and a semi-empirical formula for single electron ionization induced by ultrarelativistic heavy ions
The delta function gauge of the electromagnetic potential allows
semiclassical formulas to be obtained for the probability of exciting a single
electron out of the ground state in an ultrarelativistic heavy ion reaction.
Exact formulas have been obtained in the limits of zero impact parameter and
large, perturbative, impact parameter. The perturbative impact parameter result
can be exploited to obtain a semi-empirical cross section formula of the form,
sigma = A ln(gamma) + B, for single electron ionization. A and B can be
evaluated for any combination of target and projectile, and the resulting
simple formula is good at all ultrarelativistic energies. The analytical form
of A and B elucidates a result previously found in numerical calculations:
scaled ionization cross sections decrease with increasing charge of the nucleus
being ionized. The cross section values obtained from the present formula are
in good agreement with recent CERN SPS data from a Pb beam on various nuclear
targets.Comment: 14 pages, latex, revtex source, no figure
Ground-based variability surveys towards Centaurus A: worthwhile or not?
Context: Difference imaging has proven to be a powerful technique for
detecting and monitoring the variability of unresolved stellar sources in M 31.
Using this technique in surveys of galaxies outside the Local Group could have
many interesting applications. Aims: The goal of this paper is to test
difference imaging photometry on Centaurus A, the nearest giant elliptical
galaxy, at a distance of 4 Mpc. Methods: We obtained deep photometric data with
the Wide Field Imager at the ESO/MPG 2.2m at La Silla spread over almost two
months. Applying the difference imaging photometry package DIFIMPHOT, we
produced high-quality difference images and detected variable sources. The
sensitivity of the current observational setup was determined through
artificial residual tests. Results: In the resulting high-quality difference
images, we detect 271 variable stars. We find a difference flux detection limit
corresponding to m_R~24.5. Based on a simple model of the halo of Centaurus A,
we estimate that a ground-based microlensing survey would detect in the order
of 4 microlensing events per year due to lenses in the halo. Conclusions:
Difference imaging photometry works very well at the distance of Centaurus A
and promises to be a useful tool for detecting and studying variable stars in
galaxies outside the local group. For microlensing surveys, a higher
sensitivity is needed than achieved here, which would be possible with a large
ground-based telescope or space observatory with wide-field imaging
capabilities.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Multipole Expansion for Relativistic Coulomb Excitation
We derive a general expression for the multipole expansion of the
electro-magnetic interaction in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, which can be
employed in higher-order dynamical calculations of Coulomb excitation. The
interaction has diagonal as well as off-diagonal multipole components,
associated with the intrinsic and relative coordinates of projectile and
target. A simple truncation in the off-diagonal components gives excellent
results in first-order perturbation theory for distant collisions and for beam
energies up to 200 MeV/nucleon.Comment: 3 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Microlensing of gamma ray bursts by stars and MACHOs
The microlensing interpretation of the optical afterglow of GRB 000301C seems
naively surprising, since a simple estimate of the stellar microlensing rate
gives less than one in four hundred for a flat Omega_Lambda=0.7 cosmology,
whereas one event was seen in about thirty afterglows. Considering baryonic
MACHOs making up half of the baryons in the universe, the microlensing
probability per burst can be roughly 5% for a GRB at redshift z=2. We explore
two effects that may enhance the probability of observing microlensed gamma-ray
burst afterglows: binary lenses and double magnification bias. We find that the
consideration of binary lenses can increase the rate only at the ~15% level. On
the other hand, because gamma-ray bursts for which afterglow observations exist
are typically selected based on fluxes at widely separated wavebands which are
not necessarily well correlated (e.g. localization in X-ray, afterglow in
optical/infrared), magnification bias can operate at an enhanced level compared
to the usual single-bias case. We find that existing estimates of the slope of
the luminosity function of gamma-ray bursts, while as yet quite uncertain,
point to enhancement factors of more than three above the simple estimates of
the microlensing rate. We find that the probability to observe at least one
microlensing event in the sample of 27 measured afterglows can be 3-4% for
stellar lenses, or as much as 25 Omega_lens for baryonic MACHOs. We note that
the probability to observe at least one event over the available sample of
afterglows is significant only if a large fraction of the baryons in the
universe are condensed in stellar-mass objects. (ABRIDGED)Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Coulomb corrections and multiple e+e- pair production in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions
We consider the problem of Coulomb corrections to the inclusive cross
section. We show that these corrections in the limiting case of small charge
number of one of the nuclei coincide with those to the exclusive cross section.
Within our approach we also obtain the Coulomb corrections for the case of
large charge numbers of both nuclei.Comment: 7 pages, REVTeX
A light-fronts approach to electron-positron pair production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions
We perform a gauge-transformation on the time-dependent Dirac equation
describing the evolution of an electron in a heavy-ion collision to remove the
explicit dependence on the long-range part of the interaction. We solve, in an
ultra-relativistic limit, the gauged-transformed Dirac equation using
light-front variables and a light-fronts representation, obtaining
non-perturbative results for the free pair-creation amplitudes in the collider
frame. Our result reproduces the result of second-order perturbation theory in
the small charge limit while non-perturbative effects arise for realistic
charges of the ions.Comment: 39 pages, Revtex, 7 figures, submitted to PR
Bound-free pair production in ultra-relativistic ion collisions at the LHC collider: Analytic approach to the total and differential cross sections
A theoretical investigation of the bound-free electron-positron pair
production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is presented. Special attention
is paid to the positrons emitted under large angles with respect to the beam
direction. The measurement of these positrons in coincidence with the
down--charged ions is in principle feasible by LHC experiments. In order to
provide reliable estimates for such measurements, we employ the equivalent
photon approximation together with the Sauter approach and derive simple
analytic expressions for the differential pair--production cross section, which
compare favorably to the results of available numerical calculations. Based on
the analytic expressions, detailed calculations are performed for collisions of
bare Pb ions, taking typical experimental conditions of the LHC
experiments into account. We find that the expected count rate strongly depends
on the experimental parameters and may be significantly enhanced by increasing
the positron-detector acceptance cone.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Strong suppression of Coulomb corrections to the cross section of e+e- pair production in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions
The Coulomb corrections to the cross section of pair production in
ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions are calculated in the next-to-leading
approximation with respect to the parameter
( are the Lorentz factors of colliding nuclei). We found
considerable reduction of the Coulomb corrections even for large
due to the suppression of the production of pair
with the total energy of the order of a few electron masses in the rest frame
of one of the nuclei. Our result explains why the deviation from the Born
result were not observed in the experiment at SPS.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe
On the nature of Coulomb corrections to the e^+e^- pair production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions
We manifest the origin of the wrong conclusion made by several groups of
authors on the absence of Coulomb corrections to the cross section of the
e^+e^- pair production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The source of
the mistake is connected with an incorrect passage to the limit in the
expression for the cross section. When this error is eliminated, the Coulomb
corrections do not vanish and agree with the results obtained within the
Weizs\"acker-Williams approximation.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe
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