52 research outputs found
Exact Solutions for Matter-Enhanced Neutrino Oscillations
The analogy between supersymmetric quantum mechanics and matter-enhanced
neutrino oscillations is exploited to obtain exact solutions for a class of
electron density profiles. This integrability condition is analogous to the
shape-invariance in supersymmetric quantum mechanics. This method seems to be
the most direct way to obtain the exact survival probabilities for a number of
density profiles of interest, such as linear and exponential density profiles.
The resulting neutrino amplitudes can also be utilized as comparison amplitudes
for the uniform semiclassical treatment of neutrino propagation in arbitrary
electron density profiles.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review D. Latex file, 8 pages. This paper is
also available at http://nucth.physics.wisc.edu/preprints
Hadronic Parity Violation and Inelastic Electron-Deuteron Scattering
We compute contributions to the parity-violating (PV) inelastic
electron-deuteron scattering asymmetry arising from hadronic PV. While hadronic
PV effects can be relatively important in PV threshold electro- disintegration,
we find that they are highly suppressed at quasielastic kinematics. The
interpretation of the PV quasielastic asymmetry is, thus, largely unaffected by
hadronic PV.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, uses REVTeX and BibTe
Nuclear Anapole Moments
Nuclear anapole moments are parity-odd, time-reversal-even E1 moments of the
electromagnetic current operator. Although the existence of this moment was
recognized theoretically soon after the discovery of parity nonconservation
(PNC), its experimental isolation was achieved only recently, when a new level
of precision was reached in a measurement of the hyperfine dependence of atomic
PNC in 133Cs. An important anapole moment bound in 205Tl also exists. In this
paper, we present the details of the first calculation of these anapole moments
in the framework commonly used in other studies of hadronic PNC, a meson
exchange potential that includes long-range pion exchange and enough degrees of
freedom to describe the five independent amplitudes induced by
short-range interactions. The resulting contributions of pi-, rho-, and
omega-exchange to the single-nucleon anapole moment, to parity admixtures in
the nuclear ground state, and to PNC exchange currents are evaluated, using
configuration-mixed shell-model wave functions. The experimental anapole moment
constraints on the PNC meson-nucleon coupling constants are derived and
compared with those from other tests of the hadronic weak interaction. While
the bounds obtained from the anapole moment results are consistent with the
broad ``reasonable ranges'' defined by theory, they are not in good agreement
with the constraints from the other experiments. We explore possible
explanations for the discrepancy and comment on the potential importance of new
experiments.Comment: 53 pages; 10 figures; revtex; submitted to Phys Rev
Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay within QRPA with Proton-Neutron Pairing
We have investigated the role of proton-neutron pairing in the context of the
Quasiparticle Random Phase approximation formalism. This way the neutrinoless
double beta decay matrix elements of the experimentally interesting A= 48, 76,
82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130 and 136 systems have been calculated. We have found
that the inclusion of proton-neutron pairing influences the neutrinoless double
beta decay rates significantly, in all cases allowing for larger values of the
expectation value of light neutrino masses. Using the best presently available
experimental limits on the half life-time of neutrinoless double beta decay we
have extracted the limits on lepton number violating parameters.Comment: 16 RevTex page
Model Analysis of Time Reversal Symmetry Test in the Caltech Fe-57 Gamma-Transition Experiment
The CALTECH gamma-transition experiment testing time reversal symmetry via
the E2/M1 mulipole mixing ratio of the 122 keV gamma-line in Fe-57 has already
been performed in 1977. Extending an earlier analysis in terms of an effective
one-body potential, this experiment is now analyzed in terms of effective one
boson exchange T-odd P-even nucleon nucleon potentials. Within the model space
considered for the Fe-57 nucleus no contribution from isovector rho-type
exchange is possible. The bound on the coupling strength phi_A from effective
short range axial-vector type exchange induced by the experimental bound on
sin(eta) leads to phi_A < 10^{-2}.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex 3.
Induced Parity Nonconserving Interaction and Enhancement of Two-Nucleon Parity Nonconserving Forces
Two-nucleon parity nonconserving (PNC) interaction induced by the
single-particle PNC weak potential and the two-nucleon residual strong
interaction is considered. An approximate analytical formula for this Induced
PNC Interaction (IPNCI) between proton and neutron is derived (), and the
interaction constant is estimated. As a result of coherent contributions from
the nucleons to the PNC potential, IPNCI is an order of magnitude stronger
() than the residual weak two-nucleon interaction and has a
different coordinate and isotopic structure (e.g., the strongest part of IPNCI
does not contribute to the PNC mean field). IPNCI plays an important role in
the formation of PNC effects, e.g., in neutron-nucleus reactions. In that case,
it is a technical way to take into account the contribution of the distant
(small) components of a compound state which dominates the result. The absence
of such enhancement () in the case of T- and P-odd interaction
completes the picture.Comment: Phys. Rev. C, to appear; 17 pages, revtex 3, no figure
Massive stars as thermonuclear reactors and their explosions following core collapse
Nuclear reactions transform atomic nuclei inside stars. This is the process
of stellar nucleosynthesis. The basic concepts of determining nuclear reaction
rates inside stars are reviewed. How stars manage to burn their fuel so slowly
most of the time are also considered. Stellar thermonuclear reactions involving
protons in hydrostatic burning are discussed first. Then I discuss triple alpha
reactions in the helium burning stage. Carbon and oxygen survive in red giant
stars because of the nuclear structure of oxygen and neon. Further nuclear
burning of carbon, neon, oxygen and silicon in quiescent conditions are
discussed next. In the subsequent core-collapse phase, neutronization due to
electron capture from the top of the Fermi sea in a degenerate core takes
place. The expected signal of neutrinos from a nearby supernova is calculated.
The supernova often explodes inside a dense circumstellar medium, which is
established due to the progenitor star losing its outermost envelope in a
stellar wind or mass transfer in a binary system. The nature of the
circumstellar medium and the ejecta of the supernova and their dynamics are
revealed by observations in the optical, IR, radio, and X-ray bands, and I
discuss some of these observations and their interpretations.Comment: To be published in " Principles and Perspectives in Cosmochemistry"
Lecture Notes on Kodai School on Synthesis of Elements in Stars; ed. by Aruna
Goswami & Eswar Reddy, Springer Verlag, 2009. Contains 21 figure
Neutrino Masses and Mixing: Evidence and Implications
Measurements of various features of the fluxes of atmospheric and solar
neutrinos have provided evidence for neutrino oscillations and therefore for
neutrino masses and mixing. We review the phenomenology of neutrino
oscillations in vacuum and in matter. We present the existing evidence from
solar and atmospheric neutrinos as well as the results from laboratory
searches, including the final status of the LSND experiment. We describe the
theoretical inputs that are used to interpret the experimental results in terms
of neutrino oscillations. We derive the allowed ranges for the mass and mixing
parameters in three frameworks: First, each set of observations is analyzed
separately in a two-neutrino framework; Second, the data from solar and
atmospheric neutrinos are analyzed in a three active neutrino framework; Third,
the LSND results are added, and the status of accommodating all three signals
in the framework of three active and one sterile light neutrinos is presented.
We review the theoretical implications of these results: the existence of new
physics, the estimate of the scale of this new physics and the lessons for
grand unified theories, for supersymmetric models with R-parity violation, for
models of extra dimensions and singlet fermions in the bulk, and for flavor
models.Comment: Added note on the effects of KamLAND results. Two new figure
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