Radiative and non radiative muon capture on the proton in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory

We have evaluated the amplitude for muon capture by a proton, mu + p --> n + nu, to O(p^3) within the context of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory (HBChPT) using the new O(p^3) Lagrangian of Ecker and Mojzis (E&M). We obtain expressions for the standard muon capture form factors and determine three of the coefficients of the E&M Lagrangian, namely, b_7, b_{19}, and b_{23}. We describe progress on the next step, a calculation of the radiative muon capture process, mu + p --> n + nu + gamma.Comment: Talk at the 15th Int. Conf. on Few-Body Problems in Physics, 22-26 July, 1997, Groningen, The Netherlands, to be published in the proceedings; 5 pages, LaTeX, using espcrc1.st

Exploring nonlocal observables in shock wave collisions

We study the time evolution of 2-point functions and entanglement entropy in strongly anisotropic, inhomogeneous and time-dependent N=4 super Yang-Mills theory in the large N and large 't Hooft coupling limit using AdS/CFT. On the gravity side this amounts to calculating the length of geodesics and area of extremal surfaces in the dynamical background of two colliding gravitational shockwaves, which we do numerically. We discriminate between three classes of initial conditions corresponding to wide, intermediate and narrow shocks, and show that they exhibit different phenomenology with respect to the nonlocal observables that we determine. Our results permit to use (holographic) entanglement entropy as an order parameter to distinguish between the two phases of the cross-over from the transparency to the full-stopping scenario in dynamical Yang-Mills plasma formation, which is frequently used as a toy model for heavy ion collisions. The time evolution of entanglement entropy allows to discern four regimes: highly efficient initial growth of entanglement, linear growth, (post) collisional drama and late time (polynomial) fall off. Surprisingly, we found that 2-point functions can be sensitive to the geometry inside the black hole apparent horizon, while we did not find such cases for the entanglement entropy.Comment: 28 pp, 9 figs; v2: updated references, changed color bars in Figure 2 and Figure

Power counting in baryon chiral perturbation theory including vector mesons

It is demonstrated that using a suitable renormalization condition one obtains a consistent power counting in manifestly Lorentz-invariant baryon chiral perturbation theory including vector mesons as explicit degrees of freedom.Comment: 8 pages, REVTeX 4, 3 figure

Carroll black holes

Despite the absence of a lightcone structure, some solutions of Carroll gravity show black hole-like behaviour. We define Carroll black holes as solutions of Carroll gravity that exhibit Carroll thermal properties and have a Carroll extremal surface, notions introduced in our work. The latter is a Carroll analogue of a Lorentzian extremal surface. As examples, we discuss the Carroll versions of Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordstr\"om, and BTZ black holes and black hole solutions of generic 1+1 dimensional Carroll dilaton gravity, including Carroll JT and Carroll Witten black holes.Comment: 58pp, 7 fig

Rho meson properties from combining QCD-based models

Aiming at the calculation of the properties of rho-mesons, non-perturbative QCD-based methods are discussed concerning their potentials as well as their short-comings. The latter are overcome by combining these techniques. The utilized methods are (i) the chiral constituent quark model deduced from the instanton vacuum model and large-N_c arguments, (ii) chiral perturbation theory unitarized by the inverse amplitude method and (iii) QCD sum rules. Advantages of the combination of these methods are especially the absence of un-physical quark-production thresholds and parameter-free results. Already in the chiral limit and in leading order in 1/N_c one obtains a reasonable result for the mass of the rho-meson, namely m_rho = 790 \pm 30 MeV. Using the KSFR relation the universality of the rho-meson coupling is recovered. The latter is found to be g = 6.0 \pm 0.3.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, Revtex

Muon capture by a proton in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory

The matrix element for muon capture by a proton is calculated to O(p^3) within heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory using the new O(p^3) Lagrangian of Ecker and Mojzis. External nucleon fields are renormalized using the appropriate definition of the wave function renormalization factor Z_N. Our expression for Z_N differs somewhat from that found in existing literature, but is the one which is consistent with the Lagrangian we use and the one which ensures, within our approach, the nonrenormalization of the vector coupling as required by the conserved vector current. Expressions for the standard muon capture form factors are derived and compared to experimental data and we determine three of the coefficients of the Ecker - Mojzis Lagrangian, namely, b_7, b_{19}, and b_{23}.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, using revte

Comparison of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with intensity modulated particle therapy (IMPT) using fixed beams or an ion gantry for the treatment of patients with skull base meningiomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To examine the potential improvement in treatment planning for patients with skull base meningioma using IMRT compared to carbon ion or proton beams with and without a gantry.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Five patients originally treated with photon IMRT were selected for the study. Ion beams were chosen using a horizontal beam or an ion gantry. Intensity controlled raster scanning and the intensity modulated particle therapy mode were used for plan optimization. The evaluation included analysis of dose-volume histograms of the target volumes and organs at risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In comparison with carbon and proton beams only with horizontal beams, carbon ion treatment plans could spare the OARs more and concentrated on the target volumes more than proton and photon IMRT treatment plans. Using only a horizontal fixed beam, satisfactory plans could be achieved for skull base tumors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of the case studies showed that using IMPT has the potential to overcome the lack of a gantry for skull base tumors. Carbon ion plans offered slightly better dose distributions than proton plans, but the differences were not clinically significant with established dose prescription concepts.</p

Complete Relativistic Description of the N*(1520)

A relativistic description of spin 3/2 resonances and their decay channels is presented by calculating their selfenergies and spectral functions. The full vector-spinor structure is taken into account. Special emphasis is put on the N*(1520) and its decay channels pi N, rho N and pi \Delta. All interactions are formulated such that only the correct number of degrees of freedom of a spin 3/2 state is propagated. The obtained results are compared with several approximations frequently used to avoid the complicated vector-spinor structure. Since this structure is taken fully into account here, the quality of the approximations can be judged.Comment: 32 pages, 40 figure

Infrared renormalization of two-loop integrals and the chiral expansion of the nucleon mass

We describe details of the renormalization of two-loop integrals relevant to the calculation of the nucleon mass in the framework of manifestly Lorentz-invariant chiral perturbation theory using infrared renormalization. It is shown that the renormalization can be performed while preserving all relevant symmetries, in particular chiral symmetry, and that renormalized diagrams respect the standard power counting rules. As an application we calculate the chiral expansion of the nucleon mass to order O(q^6).Comment: Version accepted for publication in Nucl. Phys. A, missing one-loop diagram added, minor changes in notation, discussion of results improve