Can We Apply Statistical Laws to Small Systems? the Cerium Atom

It is shown that statistical mechanics is applicable to quantum systems with finite numbers of particles, such as complex atoms, atomic clusters, etc., where the residual two-body interaction is sufficiently strong. This interaction mixes the unperturbed shell-model basis states and produces ``chaotic'' many-body eigenstates. As a result, an interaction-induced equilibrium emerges in the system, and temperature can be introduced. However, the interaction between the particles and their finite number can lead to prominent deviations of the equilibrium occupation numbers distribution from the Fermi-Dirac shape. For example, this takes place in the cerium atom with four valence electrons, which was used to compare the theory with realistic numerical calculations.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, two figures in eps-forma

Volume discharge in a gas, excited by an electron beam under conditions of nonuniform ionization

Volume discharge in gases excited by electron beams is discussed. The steady state electric field distribution is derived. The voltage-current and energy characteristics are described

The comparison of extraction of energy in two-cascade and one-cascade targets

The paper is devoted to numerical designing of cylindrical microtargets on the basis of shock-free compression. When designing microtargets for the controlled thermonuclear fusion, the core tasks are to select geometry and make-up of layers, and the law of energy embedding as well, which allow receiving of “burning” of deuterium- tritium mix, that is, the existence of thermonuclear reactions of working area. Yet, the energy yield as a result of thermonuclear reactions has to be more than the embedded energy (the coefficient of amplification is more than a unit). So, an important issue is the value of the embedded energy. The purpose of the present paper is to study the extraction of energy by working DT area in one-cascade and two-cascade targets. A bigger extraction of energy will contribute to a better burning of DT mix and a bigger energy yield as a result of thermonuclear reactions. The comparison of analytical results to numerical calculations is carried out. The received results show advantages of a two-cascade target compared to a one-cascade one