Debye Potentials for Maxwell and Dirac Fields from a Generalisation of the Killing-Yano Equation

By using conformal Killing-Yano tensors, and their generalisations, we obtain scalar potentials for both the source-free Maxwell and massless Dirac equations. For each of these equations we construct, from conformal Killing-Yano tensors, symmetry operators that map any solution to another.Comment: 35 pages, plain Te

Second bound state of PsH

The existence of a second bound state of PsH that is electronically stable and also stable against positron annihilation by the normal 2gamma and 3gamma processes is demonstrated by explicit calculation. The state can be found in the 2,4So symmetries with the two electrons in a spin triplet state. The binding energy against dissociation into the H(2p) + Ps(2p) channel was 6.06x10-4 Hartree. The dominant decay mode of the states will be radiative decay into a configuration that autoionizes or undergoes positron annihilation. The NaPs system of the same symmetry is also electronically stable with a binding energy of 1.553x10-3 Hartree with respect to the Na(3p) + Ps(2p) channel.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTex styl

Heating due to momentum transfer in low-energy positronium-antiproton scattering

Discovery that the elastic scattering cross sections in the antiproton-positronium system are very large close to threshold, particularly for excited positronium states.The implications for experiments aiming to use the positronium-antiproton system for antihydrogen formation are explored

Antiproton collisions with excited positronium

We present results of calculations of several processes resulting from positronium (Ps) collisions with antiprotons: antihydrogen formation, Ps breakup, and nPs-changing collisions. Calculations utilize the quantum convergent close-coupling (CCC) method and the classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) method. We identify a region of Ps principal quantum numbers nPs and Ps energies where the classical description is valid and where the CCC calculations become computationally too expensive. This allows us to present the most complete and reliable set of cross sections in a broad range of nPs and initial orbital momentum quantum numbers lPs which are necessary for experiments with antihydrogen at CERN

Zero range potential for particles interacting via Coulomb potential: application to electron positron annihilation

The zero range potential is constructed for a system of two particles interacting via the Coulomb potential. The singular part of the asymptote of the wave function at the origin which is caused by the common effect of the zero range potential singularity and of the Coulomb potential is explicitly calculated by using the Lippmann-Schwinger type integral equation. The singular pseudo potential is constructed from the requirement that it enforces the solution to the Coulomb Schr\"odinger equation to possess the calculated asymptotic behavior at the origin. This pseudo potential is then used for constructing a model of the imaginary absorbing potential which allows to treat the annihilation process in positron electron collisions on the basis of the non relativistic Schr\"odinger equation. The functional form of the pseudo potential constructed in this paper is analogous to the well known Fermi-Breit-Huang pseudo potential. The generalization of the optical theorem on the case of the imaginary absorbing potential in presence of the Coulomb force is given in terms of the partial wave series

Exploratory Study of the X-Ray Properties of Quasars With Intrinsic Narrow Absorption Lines

We have used archival Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of quasars hosting intrinsic narrow UV absorption lines (intrinsic NALs) to carry out an exploratory survey of their X-ray properties. Our sample consists of three intrinsic-NAL quasars and one "mini-BAL" quasar, plus four quasars without intrinsic absorption lines for comparison. These were drawn in a systematic manner from an optical/UV-selected sample. The X-ray properties of intrinsic-NAL quasars are indistinguishable from those of "normal" quasars. We do not find any excess absorption in quasars with intrinsic NALs, with upper limits of a few times 10^22 cm^-2. We compare the X-ray and UV properties of our sample quasars by plotting the equivalent width and blueshift velocity of the intrinsic NALs and the X-ray spectral index against the "optical-to-X-ray" slope, alpha-ox. When BAL quasars and other AGNs with intrinsic NALs are included, the plots suggest that intrinsic-NAL quasars form an extension of the BAL sequences and tend to bridge the gap between BAL and "normal" quasars. Observations of larger samples of intrinsic-NAL quasars are needed to verify these conclusions. We also test two competing scenarios for the location of the NAL gas in an accretion-disk wind. Our results strongly support a location of the NAL gas at high latitudes above the disk, closer to the disk axis than the dense BAL wind. We detect excess X-ray absorption only in Q0014+8118, which does not host intrinsic NALs. The absorbing medium very likely corresponds to an intervening system at z=1.1, which also produces strong absorption lines in the rest-frame UV spectrum of this quasar. In the appendix we discuss the connection between UV and X-ray attenuation and its effect on alpha-ox.Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journa

Self-trapping at the liquid vapor critical point

Experiments suggest that localization via self-trapping plays a central role in the behavior of equilibrated low mass particles in both liquids and in supercritical fluids. In the latter case, the behavior is dominated by the liquid-vapor critical point which is difficult to probe, both experimentally and theoretically. Here, for the first time, we present the results of path-integral computations of the characteristics of a self-trapped particle at the critical point of a Lennard-Jones fluid for a positive particle-atom scattering length. We investigate the influence of the range of the particle-atom interaction on trapping properties, and the pick-off decay rate for the case where the particle is ortho-positronium.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, revtex4 preprin

Neutron reflection from the liquid helium surface.

The reflection of neutrons from a helium surface has been observed for the first time. The 4He surface is smoother in the superfluid state at 1.54 K than in the case of the normal liquid at 2.3 K. In the superfluid state we also observe a surface layer ~200 Å thick which has a subtly different neutron scattering cross-section, which may be explained by an enhanced Bose-Einstein condensate fraction close to the helium surface. The application of neutron reflectometry described in this paper creates new and exciting opportunities for the surface and interfacial study of quantum fluids

Hubble Space Telescope Images of Stephan's Quintet: Star Cluster Formation in a Compact Group Environment

Analysis of Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 images of Stephan's Quintet, Hickson Compact Group 92, yielded 115 candidate star clusters (with V-I < 1.5). Unlike in merger remants, the cluster candidates in Stephan's Quintet are not clustered in the inner regions of the galaxies; they are spread over the debris and surrounding area. Specifically, these sources are located in the long sweeping tail and spiral arms of NGC 7319, in the tidal debris of NGC 7318B/A, and in the intragroup starburst region north of these galaxies. Analysis of the colors of the clusters indicates several distinct epochs of star formation that appear to trace the complex history of dynamical interactions in this compact group.Comment: 24 pages, 21 figures (13 PostScript and 8 JPEG), LaTeX (uses aastexug.sty), accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal (July 2001). Full-resolution PostScript figures available at http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/gallsc/sq/figs.tar.g