87 research outputs found

    An alternative derivation of the gravitomagnetic clock effect

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    The possibility of detecting the gravitomagnetic clock effect using artificial Earth satellites provides the incentive to develop a more intuitive approach to its derivation. We first consider two test electric charges moving on the same circular orbit but in opposite directions in orthogonal electric and magnetic fields and show that the particles take different times in describing a full orbit. The expression for the time difference is completely analogous to that of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic clock effect in the weak-field and slow-motion approximation. The latter is obtained by considering the gravitomagnetic force as a small classical non-central perturbation of the main central Newtonian monopole force. A general expression for the clock effect is given for a spherical orbit with an arbitrary inclination angle. This formula differs from the result of the general relativistic calculations by terms of order c^{-4}.Comment: LaTex2e, 11 pages, 1 figure, IOP macros. Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit

    Neutron reflection interferometry: physical principles of surface analysis with phase information

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    It is shown that the analysis of surface layers by neutron reflection interferometry is considerably enhanced by performing the reflectometry with phase information. We discuss two methods of providing such information. One method involves physically adding an extra reference layer, whose amplitude and phase are known theoretically. The other uses the Lloyd\u27s mirror configuration, in which a directly propagating ray that interferes with the reflected ray supplies the phase information. The methods have much in common with holography

    Proposed magneto-electrostatic ring trap for neutral atoms

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    We propose a novel trap for confining cold neutral atoms in a microscopic ring using a magneto-electrostatic potential. The trapping potential is derived from a combination of a repulsive magnetic field from a hard drive atom mirror and the attractive potential produced by a charged disk patterned on the hard drive surface. We calculate a trap frequency of [29.7, 42.6, 62.8] kHz and a depth of [16.1, 21.8, 21.8] MHz for [133Cs, 87Rb, 40K], and discuss a simple loading scheme and a method for fabrication. This device provides a one-dimensional potential in a ring geometry that may be of interest to the study of trapped quantum degenerate one-dimensional gases.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; revised, including new calculations and further discussio

    Extended Gaussian wave packet dynamics

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    We examine an extension to the theory of Gaussian wave packet dynamics in a one-dimensional potential by means of a sequence of time dependent displacement and squeezing transformations. Exact expressions for the quantum dynamics are found, and relationships are explored between the squeezed system, Gaussian wave packet dynamics, the time dependent harmonic oscillator, and wave packet dynamics in a Gauss-Hermite basis. Expressions are given for the matrix elements of the potential in some simple cases. Several examples are given, including the propagation of a non-Gaussian initial state in a Morse potential

    Capture rate and neutron helicity asymmetry for ordinary muon capture on hydrogen

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    Applying heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory to ordinary muon capture (OMC) on a proton, we calculate the capture rate and neutron helicity asymmetry up to next-to-next-to-leading order. For the singlet hyperfine state, we obtain the capture rate Gamma_0 = 695 sec^{-1} while, for the triplet hyperfine state, we obtain the capture rate Gamma_1 = 11.9 sec^{-1} and the neutron asymmetry alpha_1 = 0.93. If the existing formalism is used to relate these atomic capture rates to Gamma_{liq}, the OMC rate in liquid hydrogen, then Gamma_{liq} corresponding to our improved values of Gamma_0 and Gamma_1 is found to be significantly larger than the experimental value, primarily due to the updated larger value of g_A. We argue that this apparent difficulity may be correlated to the specious anomaly recently reported for mu^- + p to n + nu_mu + gamma, and we suggest a possibility to remove these two "problems" simply and simultaneously by reexamining the molecular physics input that underlies the conventional analysis of Gamma_{liq}.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

    Ordinary and radiative muon capture on the proton and the pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon

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    We calculate ordinary and radiative muon capture on the proton in an effective field theory of pions, nucleons and delta isobars, working to third and second order in the small scale expansion respectively. Preceding calculations in chiral effective field theories only employed pion and nucleon degrees of freedom and were not able to reproduce the photon spectrum in the pioneering experiment of radiative muon capture on the proton from TRIUMF. For the past few years it has been speculated that the discrepancy between theory and experiment might be due to Delta(1232) related effects, which are only included via higher order contact interactions in the standard chiral approach. In this report we demonstrate that this speculation does not hold true. We show that contrary to expectations from naive dimensional analysis isobar effects on the photon spectrum and the total rate in radiative muon capture are of the order of a few percent, consistent with earlier findings in a more phenomenological approach. We further demonstrate that both ordinary and radiative muon capture constitute systems with a very well behaved chiral expansion, both in standard chiral perturbation theory and in the small scale expansion, and present some new ideas that might be at the bottom of the still unresolved discrepancy between theory and experiment in radiative muon capture. Finally we comment upon the procedure employed by the TRIUMF group to extract new information from their radiative muon capture experiment on the pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon. We show that it is inconsistent with the ordinary muon capture data.Comment: 22 pp, RevTeX, uses epsf, 8 figs, enlarged version, discussion of ordinary muon capture on protons substantially enlarged, accepted for publication in Nucl.Phys.A, FZJ-IKP(TH)-2000-0

    Polarized photons in radiative muon capture

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    We discuss the measurement of polarized photons arising from radiative muon capture. The spectrum of left circularly polarized photons or equivalently the circular polarization of the photons emitted in radiative muon capture on hydrogen is quite sensitive to the strength of the induced pseudoscalar coupling constant gPg_P. A measurement of either of these quantities, although very difficult, might be sufficient to resolve the present puzzle resulting from the disagreement between the theoretical prediction for gPg_P and the results of a recent experiment. This sensitivity results from the absence of left-handed radiation from the muon line and from the fact that the leading parts of the radiation from the hadronic lines, as determined from the chiral power counting rules of heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory, all contain pion poles.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

    Muon Physics: A Pillar of the Standard Model

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    Since its discovery in the 1930s, the muon has played an important role in our quest to understand the sub-atomic theory of matter. The muon was the first second-generation standard-model particle to be discovered, and its decay has provided information on the (Vector -Axial Vector) structure of the weak interaction, the strength of the weak interaction, G_F, and the conservation of lepton number (flavor) in muon decay. The muon's anomalous magnetic moment has played an important role in restricting theories of physics beyond the standard standard model, where at present there is a 3.4 standard-deviation difference between the experiment and standard-model theory. Its capture on the atomic nucleus has provided valuable information on the modification of the weak current by the strong interaction which is complementary to that obtained from nuclear beta decay.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. Invited paper for the Journal of Physical Society in Japan (JPSJ), Special Topics Issue "Frontiers of Elementary Particle Physics, The Standard Model and beyond
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