Non-perturbative vacuum-polarization effects in proton-laser collisions

In the collision of a high-energy proton beam and a strong laser field, merging of the laser photons can occur due to the polarization of vacuum. The probability of photon merging is calculated by accounting exactly for the laser field and presents a highly non-perturbative dependence on the laser intensity and frequency. It is shown that the non-perturbative vacuum-polarization effects can be experimentally measured by combining the next-generation of table-top petawatt lasers with presently available proton accelerators.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Multivariate Granger Causality and Generalized Variance

Granger causality analysis is a popular method for inference on directed interactions in complex systems of many variables. A shortcoming of the standard framework for Granger causality is that it only allows for examination of interactions between single (univariate) variables within a system, perhaps conditioned on other variables. However, interactions do not necessarily take place between single variables, but may occur among groups, or "ensembles", of variables. In this study we establish a principled framework for Granger causality in the context of causal interactions among two or more multivariate sets of variables. Building on Geweke's seminal 1982 work, we offer new justifications for one particular form of multivariate Granger causality based on the generalized variances of residual errors. Taken together, our results support a comprehensive and theoretically consistent extension of Granger causality to the multivariate case. Treated individually, they highlight several specific advantages of the generalized variance measure, which we illustrate using applications in neuroscience as an example. We further show how the measure can be used to define "partial" Granger causality in the multivariate context and we also motivate reformulations of "causal density" and "Granger autonomy". Our results are directly applicable to experimental data and promise to reveal new types of functional relations in complex systems, neural and otherwise.Comment: added 1 reference, minor change to discussion, typos corrected; 28 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, LaTe

Laser photon merging in proton-laser collisions

The quantum electrodynamical vacuum polarization effects arising in the collision of a high-energy proton beam and a strong, linearly polarized laser field are investigated. The probability that laser photons merge into one photon by interacting with the proton`s electromagnetic field is calculated taking into account the laser field exactly. Asymptotics of the probability are then derived according to different experimental setups suitable for detecting perturbative and nonperturbative vacuum polarization effects. The experimentally most feasible setup involves the use of a strong optical laser field. It is shown that in this case measurements of the polarization of the outgoing photon and and of its angular distribution provide promising tools to detect these effects for the first time.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figure

pppp scattering at the LHC with the lepton pair production and one proton tagging

Analytical formulas for the cross section of the reaction $pp \to p + \ell^+ \ell^- + X$ are presented. Fiducial cross sections are compared with those measured recently by the ATLAS collaboration.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Short-Wave Excitations in Non-Local Gross-Pitaevskii Model

It is shown, that a non-local form of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation allows to describe not only the long-wave excitations, but also the short-wave ones in the systems with Bose-condensate. At given parameter values, the excitation spectrum mimics the Landau spectrum of quasi-particle excitations in superfluid Helium with roton minimum. The excitation wavelength, at which the roton minimum exists, is close to the inter-particle interaction range. It is shown, that the existence domain of the spectrum with a roton minimum is reduced, if one accounts for an inter-particle attraction.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, UJP style; presented at Bogolyubov Kyiv Conference "Modern Problems of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics", September 15-18, 200

Weak interaction corrections to muon pair production via the photon fusion at the LHC

Analytical formulas describing the correction due to the $Z$ boson exchange to the cross section of the reaction $pp\rightarrow p\mu^+\mu^- X$ are presented. When the invariant mass of the produced muon pair $W\gtrsim 150~\text{GeV}$ and its total transverse momentum is large, the correction is of the order of 20%.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

On production of heavy charged particles in γγ\gamma\gamma fusion at planned pppp colliders

Production of heavy fermions in ultraperipheral collisions ($pp\to p+\gamma\gamma+p\to p+\chi^{+}\chi^{-}+p$) and the semiexclusive reaction ($pp \to p+\gamma\gamma^{*}+X \to p+\chi^{+}\chi^{-}+X$) is considered. Differential and total cross sections for the energies of the planned $pp$ colliders are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

libepa -- a C++/Python library for calculations of cross sections of ultraperipheral collisions

The library provides a set of C++/Python functions for computing cross sections of ultraperipheral collisions of high energy particles under the equivalent photons approximation. Cross sections are represented through multiple integrals over the phase space. The integrals are calculated through recurrent application of algorithms for one dimensional integration. The paper contains an introduction to the theory of ultraperipheral collisions, discusses the library approach and provides a few examples of calculations.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. See the arXiv archive for supplementary materials (code

A Combine On-Line Acoustic Flowmeter and Fluorocarbon Coolant Mixture Analyzer for The ATLAS Silicon Tracker

An upgrade to the ATLAS silicon tracker cooling control system may require a change from C3F8 (octafluoro-propane) to a blend containing 10-30% of C2F6 (hexafluoro-ethane) to reduce the evaporation temperature and better protect the silicon from cumulative radiation damage with increasing LHC luminosity. Central to this upgrade is a new acoustic instrument for the real-time measurement of the C3F8/C2F6 mixture ratio and flow. The instrument and its Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software are described in this paper. The instrument has demonstrated a resolution of 3.10-3 for C3F8/C2F6 mixtures with ~20%C2F6, and flow resolution of 2% of full scale for mass flows up to 30gs-1. In mixtures of widely-differing molecular weight (mw), higher mixture precision is possible: a sensitivity of < 5.10-4 to leaks of C3F8 into the ATLAS pixel detector nitrogen envelope (mw difference 160) has been seen. The instrument has many potential applications, including the analysis of mixtures of hydrocarbons, vapours for semi-conductor manufacture and anaesthesia