Evidence for moving breathers in a layered crystal insulator at 300K

We report the ejection of atoms at a crystal surface caused by energetic breathers which have travelled more than 10^7 unit cells in atomic chain directions. The breathers were created by bombardment of a crystal face with heavy ions. This effect was observed at 300K in the layered crystal muscovite, which has linear chains of atoms for which the surrounding lattice has C_2 symmetry. The experimental techniques described could be used to study breathers in other materials and configurations.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Collective Modes in a Slab of Interacting Nuclear Matter: The effects of finite range interactions

We consider a slab of nuclear matter and investigate the collective excitations, which develop in the response function of the system. We introduce a finite-range realistic interaction among the nucleons, which reproduces the full G-matrix by a linear combination of gaussian potentials in the various spin-isospin channels. We then analyze the collective modes of the slab in the S=T=1 channel: for moderate momenta hard and soft zero-sound modes are found, which exhaust most of the excitation strength. At variance with the results obtained with a zero range force, new "massive" excitations are found for the vector-isovector channel .Comment: 14 pages, TeX, 5 figures (separate uuencoded and tar-compressed postscript files), Torino preprint DFTT 6/9

Search for short time phase effects in the electronic damage evolution A case study with silicon

This work focusses on the production and decay properties of inner shell vacancies and valence band excitations induced by swift highly charged ions interacting with amorphous and crystalline Si. High resolution electron spectra have been taken for fast heavy ions at 1.78 5 MeV u as well as for electrons of similar velocity incident on atomically clean Si targets of well defined phase. Various Augerelectron structures are analyzed concerning their width, their intensity and exact peak position. All measured peaks show a small shift towards lower energy when the charge of the projectile is increased. This finding is an indication for a nuclear track potential inside the ion track. A detailed analysis of the Auger electron spectra for amorphous Si and crystalline Si 111 7 x 7 points to a small but significant phase effect in the short time dynamics of ion track

Hadron production in heavy relativistic systems

We investigate particle production in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies as function of incident energy, and centrality in a three-sources Relativistic Diffusion Model. Pseudorapidity distributions of produced charged hadrons in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6 GeV, 62.4 GeV, 130 GeV and 200 GeV show an almost equilibrated midrapidity source that tends to increase in size towards higher incident energy, and more central collisions. It may indicate quark-gluon plasma formation prior to hadronization.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

High-energy electron measurements with thin Si detectors

A technique for measuring high-energy electrons using Si detectors of various thicknesses that are much smaller than the range of the examined electrons is presented. The advantages of the method are discussed on the basis of electron-positron pair creation recently studied in deuteron-deuteron fusion reactions at very low energies. Careful Geant 4 Monte Carlo simulations enabled the identification of the main spectral contributions of emitted electrons and positrons resulting from the energy loss mechanisms and scattering processes within the target, detector and their holders. Significant changes in the intensity of the detected electrons, depending on the detector thickness and the thicknesses of absorption foils placed in the front of the detector could be observed. The corresponding correction factors have been calculated and can be used for different applications in basic and applied research

Revisiting the Hugenholtz-Van Hove theorem in nuclear matter

An assessment of the magnitude of the rearrangement contribution to the Fermi energy and to the binding energy per particle is carried out in symmetric nuclear matter by extending the G-matrix framework. The restoration of the thermodynamic consistency or, equivalently, the fulfillment of the Hugenholtz-Van Hove theorem, is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Ultrafast electronic processes in an insulator The Be and O sites in BeO

The short time dynamics of amorphous beryllium oxide a BeO has been investigated for electronic excitation ionization by fast incident electrons, as well as by Ar7 , Ar15 , Xe15 , and Xe31 ions at velocities of 6 10 the speed of light. Site specific Auger electron spectra induced by fast heavy ions are the central point of this investigation. Electron induced Auger spectra serve as a reference and electron energy loss EELS spectroscopy as well as resonant inelastic X ray scattering RIXS are invoked for quantitative understanding. For the heavy ion case, we observe strong variations in the corresponding spectral distributions of Be K and O K Auger lines. These are related to local changes of the electron density, of the electron temperature and even of the electronic band structure of BeO on a femtosecond time scale after the passage of highly charged heavy ions

Ocean bubbles under high wind conditions – Part 2: Bubble size distributions and implications for models of bubble dynamics

Bubbles formed by breaking waves in the open ocean influence many surface processes but are poorly understood. We report here on detailed bubble size distributions measured during the High Wind Speed Gas Exchange Study (HiWinGS) in the North Atlantic, during four separate storms with hourly averaged wind speeds from 10–27 m s−1. The measurements focus on the deeper plumes formed by advection downwards (at 2 m depth and below), rather than the initial surface distributions. Our results suggest that bubbles reaching a depth of 2 m have already evolved to form a heterogeneous but statistically stable population in the top 1–2 m of the ocean. These shallow bubble populations are carried downwards by coherent near-surface circulations; bubble evolution at greater depths is consistent with control by local gas saturation, surfactant coatings and pressure. We find that at 2 m the maximum bubble radius observed has a very weak wind speed dependence and is too small to be explained by simple buoyancy arguments. For void fractions greater than 10−6, bubble size distributions at 2 m can be fitted by a two-slope power law (with slopes of −0.3 for bubbles of radius <80 µm and −4.4 for larger sizes). If normalised by void fraction, these distributions collapse to a very narrow range, implying that the bubble population is relatively stable and the void fraction is determined by bubbles spreading out in space rather than changing their size over time. In regions with these relatively high void fractions we see no evidence for slow bubble dissolution. When void fractions are below 10−6, the peak volume of the bubble size distribution is more variable and can change systematically across a plume at lower wind speeds, tracking the void fraction. Relatively large bubbles (80 µm in radius) are observed to persist for several hours in some cases, following periods of very high wind. Our results suggest that local gas supersaturation around the bubble plume may have a strong influence on bubble lifetime, but significantly, the gas in the bubbles contained in the deep plumes cannot be responsible for this supersaturation. We propose that the supersaturation is predominately controlled by the dissolution of bubbles in the top metre of the ocean, and that this bulk water is then drawn downwards, surrounding the deep bubble plume and influencing its lifetime. In this scenario, oxygen uptake is associated with deep bubble plumes but is not driven directly by them. We suggest that as bubbles move to depths greater than 2 m, sudden collapse may be more significant as a bubble termination mechanism than slow dissolution, especially in regions of high void fraction. Finally, we present a proposal for the processes and timescales which form and control these deeper bubble plumes

Ocean bubbles under high wind conditions – Part 1: Bubble distribution and development

The bubbles generated by breaking waves are of considerable scientific interest due to their influence on air–sea gas transfer, aerosol production, and upper ocean optics and acoustics. However, a detailed understanding of the processes creating deeper bubble plumes (extending 2–10 m below the ocean surface) and their significance for air–sea gas exchange is still lacking. Here, we present bubble measurements from the HiWinGS expedition in the North Atlantic in 2013, collected during several storms with wind speeds of 10–27 m s−1. A suite of instruments was used to measure bubbles from a self-orienting free-floating spar buoy: a specialised bubble camera, acoustical resonators, and an upward-pointing sonar. The focus in this paper is on bubble void fractions and plume structure. The results are consistent with the presence of a heterogeneous shallow bubble layer occupying the top 1–2 m of the ocean, which is regularly replenished by breaking waves, and deeper plumes which are only formed from the shallow layer at the convergence zones of Langmuir circulation. These advection events are not directly connected to surface breaking. The void fraction distributions at 2 m depth show a sharp cut-off at a void fraction of 10−4.5 even in the highest winds, implying the existence of mechanisms limiting the void fractions close to the surface. Below wind speeds of 16 m s−1 or a wind-wave Reynolds number of RHw = 2×106, the probability distribution of void fraction at 2 m depth is very similar in all conditions but increases significantly above either threshold. Void fractions are significantly different during periods of rising and falling winds, but there is no distinction with wave age. There is a complex near-surface flow structure due to Langmuir circulation, Stokes drift, and wind-induced current shear which influences the spatial distribution of bubbles within the top few metres. We do not see evidence for slow bubble dissolution as bubbles are carried downwards, implying that collapse is the more likely termination process. We conclude that the shallow and deeper bubble layers need to be studied simultaneously to link them to the 3D flow patterns in the top few metres of the ocean. Many open questions remain about the extent to which deep bubble plumes contribute to air–sea gas transfer. A companion paper (Czerski et al., 2022) addresses the observed bubble size distributions and the processes responsible for them

In medium T matrix for neutron matter

We calculate the equation of state of pure neutron matter, comparing the G-matrix calculation with the in-medium T-matrix result. At low densities, we obtain similar energies per nucleon, however some differences appear at higher densities. We use the self-consistent spectral functions from the T-matrix approach to calculate the 1S0 superfluid gap including self-energy effects. We find a reduction of the superfluid gap by 30%