Fermionic functional renormalization group for first-order phase transitions: a mean-field model

First-order phase transitions in many-fermion systems are not detected in the susceptibility analysis of common renormalization-group (RG) approaches. Here we introduce a counterterm technique within the functional renormalization-group (fRG) formalism which allows access to all stable and metastable configurations. It becomes possible to study symmetry-broken states which occur through first-order transitions as well as hysteresis phenomena. For continuous transitions, the standard results are reproduced. As an example, we study discrete-symmetry breaking in a mean-field model for a commensurate charge-density wave. An additional benefit of the approach is that away from the critical temperature for the breaking of discrete symmetries large interactions can be avoided at all RG scales.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. v2 corrects typos, adds references and a discussion of the literatur

Combined Gamma Ray/neutron Spectroscopy for Mapping Lunar Resources

Some elements in the Moon can be resources, such as hydrogen and oxygen. Other elements, like Ti or the minerals in which they occur, such as ilmenite, could be used in processing lunar materials. Certain elements can also be used as tracers for other elements or lunar processes, such as hydrogen for mature regoliths with other solar-wind-implanted elements like helium, carbon, and nitrogen. A complete knowledge of the elemental composition of a lunar region is desirable both in identifying lunar resources and in lunar geochemical studies, which also helps in identifying and using lunar resources. The use of gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy together to determine abundances of many elements in the top few tens of centimeters of the lunar surface is discussed. To date, very few discussions of elemental mapping of planetary surfaces considered measurements of both gamma rays and the full range of neutron energies. The theories for gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy of the Moon and calculations of leakage fluxes are presented here with emphasis on why combined gamma ray/neutron spectroscopy is much more powerful than measuring either radiation alone

Electron heating at interplanetary shocks

Data for 41 forward interplanetary shocks show that the ratio of downstream to upstream electron temperatures. T sub e (d/u) is variable in the range between 1.0 (isothermal) and 3.0. On average, (T sub e (d/u) = 1.5 with a standard deviation, sigma e = 0.5. This ratio is less than the average ratio of proton temperatures across the same shocks, (T sub p (d/u)) = 3.3 with sigma p = 2.5 as well as the average ratio of electron temperatures across the Earth's bow shock. Individual samples of T sub e (d/u) and T sub p (d/u) appear to be weakly correlated with the number density ratio. However the amounts of electron and proton heating are well correlated with each other as well as with the bulk velocity difference across each shock. The stronger shocks appear to heat the protons more efficiently than they heat the electrons

A Rigorous Proof of Fermi Liquid Behavior for Jellium Two-Dimensional Interacting Fermions

Using the method of continuous constructive renormalization group around the Fermi surface, it is proved that a jellium two-dimensional interacting system of Fermions at low temperature $T$ remains analytic in the coupling constant $\lambda$ for $|\lambda| |\log T| \le K$ where $K$ is some numerical constant and $T$ is the temperature. Furthermore in that range of parameters, the first and second derivatives of the self-energy remain bounded, a behavior which is that of Fermi liquids and in particular excludes Luttinger liquid behavior. Our results prove also that in dimension two any transition temperature must be non-perturbative in the coupling constant, a result expected on physical grounds. The proof exploits the specific momentum conservation rules in two dimensions.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

Review of Recent Searches for Rare and Forbidden Dilepton Decays of Charmed Mesons

I briefly review the results of recent searches for flavor-changing neutral current and lepton-flavor and lepton-number violating decays of D+, Ds, and D0 mesons (and their antiparticles) into modes containing muons and electrons. The primary focus is the results from Fermilab charm hadroproduction experiment E791. E791 examined 24 pi,l,l and K,l,l decay modes of D+ and Ds and l+l- decay modes of D0. Limits presented by E791 for 22 rare and forbidden dilepton decays of D mesons were more stringent than those obtained from previous searches, or else were the first reported.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, uses psfig.sty and RevTeX, submitted to Modern Physics Letters A, based on a Fermilab "Joint Theoretical and Experimental" tal

Observations of the diffuse UV radiation field

Spectra are presented for the diffuse UV radiation field between 1250 to 3100 A from eight different regions of the sky, which were obtained with the Johns Hopkins UVX experiment. UVX flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-61C) in January 1986 as part of the Get-Away Special project. The experiment consisted of two 1/4 m Ebert-Fastie spectrometers, covering the spectral range 1250 to 1700 A at 17 A resolution and 1600 to 3100 A at 27 A resolution, respectively, with a field of view of 4 x .25 deg, sufficiently small to pick out regions of the sky with no stars in the line of sight. Values were found for the diffuse cosmic background ranging in intensity from 300 to 900 photons/sq cm/sec/sr/A. The cosmic background is spectrally flat from 1250 to 3100 A, within the uncertainties of each spectrometer. The zodiacal light begins to play a significant role in the diffuse radiation field above 2000 A, and its brightness was determined relative to the solar emission. Observed brightnesses of the zodiacal light in the UV remain almost constant with ecliptic latitude, unlike the declining visible brightnesses, possibly indicating that those (smaller) grains responsible for the UV scattering have a much more uniform distribution with distance from the ecliptic plane than do those grains responsible for the visible scattering

Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer for the Lunar Resource Mapper

One of the early Space Exploration Initiatives will be a lunar orbiter to map the elemental composition of the Moon. This mission will support further lunar exploration and habitation and will provide a valuable dataset for understanding lunar geological processes. The proposed payload will consist of the gamma ray and neutron spectrometers which are discussed, an x ray fluorescence imager, and possibly one or two other instruments

Conserving and gapless approximations for the composite bosons in terms of the constituent fermions

A long-standing problem with the many-body approximations for interacting condensed bosons has been the dichotomy between the ``conserving'' and ``gapless'' approximations, which either obey the conservations laws or satisfy the Hugenholtz-Pines condition for a gapless excitation spectrum, in the order. It is here shown that such a dichotomy does not exist for a system of composite bosons, which form as bound-fermion pairs in the strong-coupling limit of the fermionic attraction. By starting from the constituent fermions, for which conserving approximations can be constructed for any value of the mutual attraction according to the Baym-Kadanoff prescriptions, it is shown that these approximations also result in a gapless excitation spectrum for the boson-like propagators in the broken-symmetry phase. This holds provided the corresponding equations for the fermionic single- and two-particle Green's functions are solved self-consistently.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur