Weak capture of protons by protons

The cross section for the proton weak capture reaction $^1H(p,e^+\nu_e)^2H$ is calculated with wave functions obtained from a number of modern, realistic high-precision interactions. To minimize the uncertainty in the axial two-body current operator, its matrix element has been adjusted to reproduce the measured Gamow-Teller matrix element of tritium $\beta$ decay in model calculations using trinucleon wave functions from these interactions. A thorough analysis of the ambiguities that this procedure introduces in evaluating the two-body current contribution to the pp capture is given. Its inherent model dependence is in fact found to be very weak. The overlap integral $\Lambda^2(E=0)$ for the pp capture is predicted to be in the range 7.05--7.06, including the axial two-body current contribution, for all interactions considered.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX (twocolumn), 5 postscript figure

Josephson Coupling and Fiske Dynamics in Ferromagnetic Tunnel Junctions

We report on the fabrication of Nb/AlO_x/Pd_{0.82}Ni_{0.18}/Nb superconductor/insulator/ferromagnetic metal/superconductor (SIFS) Josephson junctions with high critical current densities, large normal resistance times area products, high quality factors, and very good spatial uniformity. For these junctions a transition from 0- to \pi-coupling is observed for a thickness d_F ~ 6 nm of the ferromagnetic Pd_{0.82}Ni_{0.18} interlayer. The magnetic field dependence of the \pi-coupled junctions demonstrates good spatial homogeneity of the tunneling barrier and ferromagnetic interlayer. Magnetic characterization shows that the Pd_{0.82}Ni_{0.18} has an out-of-plane anisotropy and large saturation magnetization, indicating negligible dead layers at the interfaces. A careful analysis of Fiske modes provides information on the junction quality factor and the relevant damping mechanisms up to about 400 GHz. Whereas losses due to quasiparticle tunneling dominate at low frequencies, the damping is dominated by the finite surface resistance of the junction electrodes at high frequencies. High quality factors of up to 30 around 200 GHz have been achieved. Our analysis shows that the fabricated junctions are promising for applications in superconducting quantum circuits or quantum tunneling experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Falling of a quantum particle in an inverse square attractive potential

Evolution of a quantum particle in an inverse square potential is studied by analysis of the equation of motion for 〈r2〉. In such a way we identify the conditions of falling of a particle into the center. We demonstrate the existence of a purely quantum limit of falling, namely, a particle does not fall, when the coupling constant is smaller than a certain critical value. Also the time of falling of a particle into the center is estimated. Although there are no stationary energy levels for this potential, we show that there are quasi-stationary states which evolve with 〈r2〉 being constant in time. Our results are compared with measurements of neutral atoms falling in the electric field of a charged wire. Modifications of the experiment, which may help in observing quantum limit of falling, are proposed

Effects of enzyme complex SSF (solid state fermentation) in pellet diets for Nile tilapia

The effects of enzyme complex SSF (solid state fermentation) on growth performance and the availability of sucrose and monosaccharides in the chyme of Nile were involved. The study included 360 fish (70g±4.43) in a completely randomized design with six dietary treatments (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 ppm of SSF) arranged in six replicates, with 10 fish per replicate. Every 15 days, one tilapia of each experimental unit was sacrificed for analyses of carbohydrate in the chyme. On day 60 of the experiment, the performance parameters were measured. There was a linear effect according to treatment for final weight and weight gain. For the other performance parameters, there were no differences. There was quadratic effect for sucrose and glucose in function of the treatment, whereas the fructose levels increased linearly. The addition of 150 ppm of the enzyme complex SSF in the feed improves the performance of Nile tilapia and increases the availability of sucrose and monosaccharides in the chyme