Vacuum polarization induced by a uniformly accelerated charge

We consider a point charge fixed in the Rindler coordinates which describe a uniformly accelerated frame. We determine an integral expression of the induced charge density due to the vacuum polarization at the first order in the fine structure constant. In the case where the acceleration is weak, we give explicitly the induced electrostatic potential.Comment: 13 pages, latex, no figures, to appear in Int. J. Theor. Phys

Pion gas viscosity at low temperature and density

By using Chiral Perturbation Theory and the Uehling-Uhlenbeck equation we compute the viscosity of a pion gas, in the low temperature and low density regime, in terms of the temperature, and the pion fugacity. The viscosity turns out to be proportional to the squared root of the temperature over the pion mass. Next to leading corrections are proportional to the temperature over the pion mass to the 3/2.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. RevTeX

Nuclear Isospin Diffusivity

The isospin diffusion and other irreversible phenomena are discussed for a two-component nuclear Fermi system. The set of Boltzmann transport equations, such as employed for reactions, are linearized, for weak deviations of a system from uniformity, in order to arrive at nonreversible fluxes linear in the nonuniformities. Besides the diffusion driven by a concentration gradient, also the diffusion driven by temperature and pressure gradients is considered. Diffusivity, conductivity, heat conduction and shear viscosity coefficients are formally expressed in terms of the responses of distribution functions to the nonuniformities. The linearized Boltzmann-equation set is solved, under the approximation of constant form-factors in the distribution-function responses, to find concrete expressions for the transport coefficients in terms of weighted collision integrals. The coefficients are calculated numerically for nuclear matter, using experimental nucleon-nucleon cross sections. The isospin diffusivity is inversely proportional to the neutron-proton cross section and is also sensitive to the symmetry energy. At low temperatures in symmetric matter, the diffusivity is directly proportional to the symmetry energy.Comment: 35 pages, 1 table, 5 figures, accepted by PRC, (v3) changes in response to the referee's comments, discussion for isospin diffusion process in heavy-ion reactions, fig. 5 shows results from a two different isospin depndent uclear equation of state, and a new reference adde

Thermal Effects in Low-Temperature QED

QED is studied at low temperature ($T\ll m$, where $m$ is the electron mass) and zero chemical potential. By integrating out the electron field and the nonzero bosonic Matsubara modes, we construct an effective three-dimensional field theory that is valid at distances $R\gg1/T$. As applications, we reproduce the ring-improved free energy and calculate the Debye mass to order $e^5$.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, revte

Landau-Khalatnikov two-fluid hydrodynamics of a trapped Bose gas

Starting from the quantum kinetic equation for the non-condensate atoms and the generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the condensate, we derive the two-fluid hydrodynamic equations of a trapped Bose gas at finite temperatures. We follow the standard Chapman-Enskog procedure, starting from a solution of the kinetic equation corresponding to the complete local equilibrium between the condensate and the non-condensate components. Our hydrodynamic equations are shown to reduce to a form identical to the well-known Landau-Khalatnikov two-fluid equations, with hydrodynamic damping due to the deviation from local equilibrium. The deviation from local equilibrium within the thermal cloud gives rise to dissipation associated with shear viscosity and thermal conduction. In addition, we show that effects due to the deviation from the diffusive local equilibrium between the condensate and the non-condensate (recently considered by Zaremba, Nikuni and Griffin) can be described by four frequency-dependent second viscosity transport coefficients. We also derive explicit formulas for all the transport coefficients. These results are used to introduce two new characteristic relaxation times associated with hydrodynamic damping. These relaxation times give the rate at which local equilibrium is reached and hence determine whether one is in the two-fluid hydrodynamic region.Comment: 26 pages, 3 postscript figures, submitted to PR

Renormalization and asymptotic expansion of Dirac's polarized vacuum

We perform rigorously the charge renormalization of the so-called reduced Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock (rBDF) model. This nonlinear theory, based on the Dirac operator, describes atoms and molecules while taking into account vacuum polarization effects. We consider the total physical density including both the external density of a nucleus and the self-consistent polarization of the Dirac sea, but no `real' electron. We show that it admits an asymptotic expansion to any order in powers of the physical coupling constant \alphaph, provided that the ultraviolet cut-off behaves as \Lambda\sim e^{3\pi(1-Z_3)/2\alphaph}\gg1. The renormalization parameter $

Relaxation rates and collision integrals for Bose-Einstein condensates

Near equilibrium, the rate of relaxation to equilibrium and the transport properties of excitations (bogolons) in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) are determined by three collision integrals, $\mathcal{G}^{12}$, $\mathcal{G}^{22}$, and $\mathcal{G}^{31}$. All three collision integrals conserve momentum and energy during bogolon collisions, but only $\mathcal{G}^{22}$ conserves bogolon number. Previous works have considered the contribution of only two collision integrals, $\mathcal{G}^{22}$ and $\mathcal{G}^{12}$. In this work, we show that the third collision integral $\mathcal{G}^{31}$ makes a significant contribution to the bogolon number relaxation rate and needs to be retained when computing relaxation properties of the BEC. We provide values of relaxation rates in a form that can be applied to a variety of dilute Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Journal of Low Temperature Physics 7/201

Quantum M\"{u}nchhausen effect in tunneling

It is demonstrated that radiative corrections increase tunneling probability of a charged particle

Existence of global-in-time solutions to a generalized Dirac-Fock type evolution equation

We consider a generalized Dirac-Fock type evolution equation deduced from no-photon Quantum Electrodynamics, which describes the self-consistent time-evolution of relativistic electrons, the observable ones as well as those filling up the Dirac sea. This equation has been originally introduced by Dirac in 1934 in a simplified form. Since we work in a Hartree-Fock type approximation, the elements describing the physical state of the electrons are infinite rank projectors. Using the Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock formalism, introduced by Chaix-Iracane ({\it J. Phys. B.}, 22, 3791--3814, 1989), and recently established by Hainzl-Lewin-Sere, we prove the existence of global-in-time solutions of the considered evolution equation.Comment: 12 pages; more explanations added, some final (minor) corrections include

Evidence for the absence of regularization corrections to the partial-wave renormalization procedure in one-loop self energy calculations in external fields

The equivalence of the covariant renormalization and the partial-wave renormaliz ation (PWR) approach is proven explicitly for the one-loop self-energy correction (SE) of a bound electron state in the presence of external perturbation potentials. No spurious correctio n terms to the noncovariant PWR scheme are generated for Coulomb-type screening potentia ls and for external magnetic fields. It is shown that in numerical calculations of the SE with Coulombic perturbation potential spurious terms result from an improper treatment of the unphysical high-energy contribution. A method for performing the PWR utilizing the relativistic B-spline approach for the construction of the Dirac spectrum in external magnetic fields is proposed. This method is applied for calculating QED corrections to the bound-electron $g$-factor in H-like ions. Within the level of accuracy of about 0.1% no spurious terms are generated in numerical calculations of the SE in magnetic fields.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX, 1 figur