Optimization of a Langmuir-Taylor detector for lithium

This paper describes the construction and optimization of a Langmuir-Taylor detector for lithium, using a rhenium ribbon. The absolute detection probability of this very sensitive detector is measured and the dependence of this probability with oxygen pressure and surface temperature is studied. Sources of background signal and their minimization are also discussed in details. And a comparison between our data concerning the response time of the detector and literature values is given. A theoretical analysis has been made: this analysis supports the validity of the Saha-Langmuir law to relate the ionization probability to the work function. Finally, the rapid variations of the work function with oxygen pressure and temperature are explained by a chemical equilibrium model.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Rev. Sci. Instru

Microstructure and superconducting properties of hot isostatically pressed MgB2

Bulk samples of MgB2 have been formed by hot isostatic pressing (HIPping) of commercial powder at 100MPa and 950=B0C. The resulting material is 100% dense with a sharp superconducting transition at 37.5K. Microstructural studies have indicated the presence of small amounts of second phases within the material, namely MgO and B rich compositions, probably MgB4. Magnetisation measurements performed at 20K have revealed values of Jc=1.3 x 106A/cm2 at zero field, and 9.3 x 105A/cm2 at 1T. Magneto optical (MO) studies have shown direct evidence for the superconducting homogeneity and strong intergranular current flow in the material.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, text updated, new references included and discussed. Submitted to Superconductor Science and Technolog

Dispersive Gap Mode of Phonons in Anisotropic Superconductors

We estimate the effect of the superconducting gap anisotropy in the dispersive gap mode of phonons, which is observed by the neutron scattering on borocarbide superconductors. We numerically analyze the phonon spectrum considering the electron-phonon coupling, and examine contributions coming from the gap suppression and the sign change of the pairing function on the Fermi surface. When the sign of the pairing function is changed by the nesting translation, the gap mode does not appear. We also discuss the suppression of the phonon softening of the Kohn anomaly due to the onset of superconductivity. We demonstrate that observation of the gap dispersive mode is useful for sorting out the underlying superconducting pairing function.Comment: 7 pages, 12 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Pregalactic LiBeB Production by Supernova Cosmic Rays

I calculate the evolution of Be and B abundances produced by cosmic rays generated by massive stars in the pregalactic phase of the universe. The inputs for calculation, i.e. the star formation rate and the nuclear abundances of cosmic rays, which I assume to be the same as those of the ISM, are taken from the results of a detailed cosmic chemical evolution model with its parameters best fitted from several items of observational information including an early reionization of the IGM by $z\sim 15$. I found that when the $^6$Li plateau abundance observed in metal-poor halo stars originated in the pregalactic cosmological cosmic ray nucleosynthesis, Be and B simultaneously produced with $^6$Li amount to the lowest levels ever detected in metal-poor halo stars. It is desirable to observe Be and B abundances in metal-poor halo stars with [Fe/H]$\leq -3$ in order to elucidate the possibility of early $^6$LiBeB production by pregalactic supernova cosmic ray nucleosynthesis.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepte

Quasi-Lie schemes and Emden--Fowler equations

The recently developed theory of quasi-Lie schemes is studied and applied to investigate several equations of Emden type and a scheme to deal with them and some of their generalisations is given. As a first result we obtain t-dependent constants of the motion for particular instances of Emden equations by means of some of their particular solutions. Previously known results are recovered from this new perspective. Finally some t-dependent constants of the motion for equations of Emden type satisfying certain conditions are recovered

B field and squeezed states in Vacuum String Field Theory

We show that squeezed state solutions for solitonic lumps in Vacuum String Field Theory still exist in the presence of a constant B field. We show in particular that, just as in the B=0 case, we can write down a compact explicit form for such solutions.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, typos corrected, final versio

Some exact results on the matter star-product in the half-string formalism

We show that the D25 sliver wavefunction, just as the D-instanton sliver, factorizes when expressed in terms of half-string coordinates. We also calculate analytically the star-product of two zero-momentum eigenstates of $\hat{x}$ using the vertex in the oscillator basis, thereby showing that the star-product in the matter sector can indeed be seen as multiplication of matrices acting on the space of functionals of half strings. We then use the above results to establish that the matrices $\rho_{1,2}$, conjectured by Rastelli, Sen and Zwiebach to be left and right projectors on the sliver, are indeed so.Comment: 27 pages; footnote adde

Restrictions on the lifetime of sterile neutrinos from primordial nucleosynthesis

We analyze the influence of decaying sterile neutrinos with the masses in the range 1-140 MeV on the primordial Helium-4 abundance, explicitly solving the Boltzmann equations for all particle species, taking into account neutrino flavour oscillations, and paying special attention to systematic uncertainties. We show that the Helium abundance depends only on the sterile neutrino lifetime and not on the way the active-sterile mixing is distributed between flavours, and derive an upper bound on the lifetime. We also demonstrate that the recent results of Izotov & Thuan [arXiv:1001.4440], who find 2sigma higher than predicted by the standard primordial nucleosynthesis value of Helium-4 abundance, are consistent with the presence in the plasma of sterile neutrinos with the lifetime 0.01-2 seconds. The decay of these particles perturbs the spectra of (decoupled) neutrinos and heats photons, changing the ratio of neutrino to photon energy density, that can be interpreted as extra neutrino species at the recombination epoch.Comment: 17 pp. + Appendices. Analysis of deuterium bounds and more accurate account of CMB bounds on Helium-4 is added. Final version to appear in JCA