Free massive particles with total energy E < mc^2 in curved spacetimes

We analyze free elementary particles with rest mass $m$ and total energy $E < m c^2$ in the Rindler wedge, outside Reissner-Nordstrom black holes and in the spacetime of relativistic (and non-relativistic) stars, and use Unruh-DeWitt-like detectors to calculate the associated particle detection rate in each case. The (mean) particle position is identified with the spatial average of the excitation probability of the detectors, which are supposed to cover the whole space. Our results are shown to be in harmony with General Relativity classical predictions. Eventually we reconcile our conclusions with Earth-based experiments which are in good agreement with $E \geq m c^2$.Comment: 12 pages (REVTEX), 12 figure

Effects of quark family nonuniversality in SU(3)_c X SU(4)_L X U(1)_x models

Flavour changing neutral currents arise in the $SU(3)_c\otimes SU(4)_L\otimes U(1)_X$ extension of the standard model because anomaly cancellation among the fermion families requires one generation of quarks to transform differently from the other two under the gauge group. In the weak basis the distinction between quark families is meaningless. However, in the mass eigenstates basis, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing matrix motivates us to classify left-handed quarks in families. In this sense there are, in principle, three different assignments of quark weak eigenstates into mass eigenstates. In this work, by using measurements at the Z-pole, atomic parity violation data and experimental input from neutral meson mixing, we examine two different models without exotic electric charges based on the 3-4-1 symmetry, and address the effects of quark family nonuniversality on the bounds on the mixing angle between two of the neutral currents present in the models and on the mass scales $M_{Z_2}$ and $M_{Z_3}$ of the new neutral gauge bosons predicted by the theory. The heaviest family of quarks must transform differently in order to keep lower bounds on $M_{Z_2}$ and $M_{Z_3}$ as low as possible without violating experimental constraints.Comment: 27 pages, 10 tables, 2 figures. Equation (19) and typos corrected. Matches version to appear in Phys. Rev.

On the relationship between pump chirp and single-photon chirp in spontaneous parametric downconversion

We study the chronocyclic character, i.e. the joint temporal and spectral properties, of the single-photon constituents of photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion. In particular we study how single photon properties, including purity and single-photon chirp, depend on photon pair properties, including the type of signal-idler spectral and correlations and the level of pump chirp.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Additional symmetries and solutions of the dispersionless KP hierarchy

The dispersionless KP hierarchy is considered from the point of view of the twistor formalism. A set of explicit additional symmetries is characterized and its action on the solutions of the twistor equations is studied. A method for dealing with the twistor equations by taking advantage of hodograph type equations is proposed. This method is applied for determining the orbits of solutions satisfying reduction constraints of Gelfand--Dikii type under the action of additional symmetries.Comment: 21 page

Baryogenesis through gradual collapse of vortons

We evaluate the matter-antimatter asymmetry produced by emission of fermionic carriers from vortons which are assumed to be destabilized at the electroweak phase transition.The velocity of contraction of the vorton, calculated through the decrease of its magnetic energy, originates a chemical potential which allows a baryogenesis of the order of the observed value. This asymmetry is not diluted by reheating if the collapse of vortons is distributed along an interval of ~ 10^-9 sec.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, no figure

Inner boundary conditions for black hole Initial Data derived from Isolated Horizons

We present a set of boundary conditions for solving the elliptic equations in the Initial Data Problem for space-times containing a black hole, together with a number of constraints to be satisfied by the otherwise freely specifiable standard parameters of the Conformal Thin Sandwich formulation. These conditions altogether are sufficient for the construction of a horizon that is instantaneously in equilibrium in the sense of the Isolated Horizons formalism. We then investigate the application of these conditions to the Initial Data Problem of binary black holes and discuss the relation of our analysis with other proposals that exist in the literature.Comment: 13 pages. Major general revision. Section V comparing with previous approaches restructured; discussion on the lapse boundary condition extended. Appendix with some technical details added. Version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Absorption-free optical control of spin systems:the quantum Zeno effect in optical pumping

We show that atomic spin motion can be controlled by circularly polarized light without light absorption in the strong pumping limit. In this limit, the pumping light, which drives the empty spin state, destroys the Zeeman coherence effectively and freezes the coherent transition via the quantum Zeno effect. It is verified experimentally that the amount of light absorption decreases asymptotically to zero as the incident light intensity is increased.Comment: 4 pages with 4 figure

Hunting long-lived gluinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Eventual signals of split sypersymmetry in cosmic ray physics are analyzed in detail. The study focusses particularly on quasi-stable colorless R-hadrons originating through confinement of long-lived gluinos (with quarks, anti-quarks, and gluons) produced in pp collisions at astrophysical sources. Because of parton density requirements, the gluino has a momentum which is considerable smaller than the energy of the primary proton, and so production of heavy (mass ~ 500 GeV) R-hadrons requires powerful cosmic ray engines able to accelerate particles up to extreme energies, somewhat above 10^{13.6} GeV. Using a realistic Monte Carlo simulation with the AIRES engine, we study the main characteristics of the air showers triggered when one of these exotic hadrons impinges on a stationary nucleon of the Earth atmosphere. We show that R-hadron air showers present clear differences with respect to those initiated by standard particles. We use this shower characteristics to construct observables which may be used to distinguish long-lived gluinos at the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 13 pages revtex, 9 eps figures. A ps version with high resolution figures is available at http://www.hep.physics.neu.edu/staff/doqui/rhadron_highres.p

Geometrical approach to mutually unbiased bases

We propose a unifying phase-space approach to the construction of mutually unbiased bases for a two-qubit system. It is based on an explicit classification of the geometrical structures compatible with the notion of unbiasedness. These consist of bundles of discrete curves intersecting only at the origin and satisfying certain additional properties. We also consider the feasible transformations between different kinds of curves and show that they correspond to local rotations around the Bloch-sphere principal axes. We suggest how to generalize the method to systems in dimensions that are powers of a prime.Comment: 10 pages. Some typos in the journal version have been correcte

A possible origin of superconducting currents in cosmic strings

The scattering and capture of right-handed neutrinos by an Abelian cosmic string in the SO(10) grand unification model are considered. The scattering cross-section of neutrinos per unit length due to the interaction with the gauge and Higgs fields of the string is much larger in its scaling regime than in the friction one because of the larger infrared cutoff of the former.The probability of capture in a zero mode of the string accompanied by the emission of a gauge or Higgs boson shows a resonant peak for neutrino momentum of the order of its mass. Considering the decrease of number of strings per unit comoving volume in the scaling epoch the cosmological consequences of the superconducting strings formed in this regime will be much smaller than those which could be produced already in the friction one.Comment: 14 pages Latex, 4 figues/ep