Cold neutrons trapped in external fields

The properties of inhomogeneous neutron matter are crucial to the physics of neutron-rich nuclei and the crust of neutron stars. Advances in computational techniques now allow us to accurately determine the binding energies and densities of many neutrons interacting via realistic microscopic interactions and confined in external fields. We perform calculations for different external fields and across several shells to place important constraints on inhomogeneous neutron matter, and hence the large isospin limit of the nuclear energy density functionals that are used to predict properties of heavy nuclei and neutron star crusts. We find important differences between microscopic calculations and current density functionals; in particular the isovector gradient terms are significantly more repulsive than in traditional models, and the spin-orbit and pairing forces are comparatively weaker.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, final version. Additional material reference added in the published versio

Electron densities and temperatures in the f-region from backscatter measurements at arecibo

Diurnal variation in electron densities and temperatures in F region from backscatter measurements over Puerto Ric

Quantum Monte Carlo study of inhomogeneous neutron matter

We present an ab-initio study of neutron drops. We use Quantum Monte Carlo techniques to calculate the energy up to 54 neutrons in different external potentials, and we compare the results with Skyrme forces. We also calculate the rms radii and radial densities, and we find that a re-adjustment of the gradient term in Skyrme is needed in order to reproduce the properties of these systems given by the ab-initio calculation. By using the ab-initio results for neutron drops for close- and open-shell configurations, we suggest how to improve Skyrme forces when dealing with systems with large isospin-asymmetries like neutron-rich nuclei.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, talk given at Horizons on Innovative Theories, Experiments, and Supercomputing in Nuclear Physics 2012, (HITES2012), New Orleans, Louisiana, June 4-7, 2012; to appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Baryon Resonance Analysis from MAID

The unitary isobar model MAID2007 has been used to analyze the recent data of pion electroproduction. The model contains all four-star resonances in the region below W=2 GeV and both single-Q^2 and Q^2 dependent transition form factors could be obtained for the Delta, Roper, D13(1520), S11(1535), S31(1620), S11(1650), D15(1675), F15(1680) and P13(1720). From the complete world data base, including also pi- data on the neutron, also Q^2 dependent neutron form factors are obtained. For all transition form factors we also give convenient numerical parameterizations that can be used in other reactions. Furthermore, we show how the transition form factors can be used to obtain empirical transverse charge densities and our first results are given for the Roper, the S11 and D13 resonances.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, Proc. of NSTAR2009, Beijin

Lithological maps of selected Apollo 14 Breccia samples

A booklet of mapped surfaces of some Apollo 14 samples was prepared as an intermediate step towards the preparation of a new Apollo 14 sample catalog. It contains recently obtained observations and pictures of some of the largest and less well documented Apollo breccia samples. Some of the samples (14303, 14305, 14306, and 14311) were chosen because they have large sawn surfaces. These were dusted and mapped using a binocular microscope through the window of the nitrogen cabinet

Scaling and Duality in Semi-exclusive Processes

We discuss extending scaling and duality studies to semi-exclusive processes. We show that semi-exclusive hard pion photoproduction should exhibit scaling behavior in kinematic regions where the photon and pion both interact directly with the same quark. We show that such kinematic regions exist. We also show that the constancy with changing momentum transfer of the resonance peak/scaling curve ratio, familiar for many resonances in deep inelastic scattering, is also expected in the semi-exclusive case.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.