Spurious modes in extended RPA theories

Necessary conditions that the spurious state associated with the translational motion and its double-phonon state have zero excitation energy in extended RPA (ERPA) theories which include both one-body and two-body amplitudes are investigated using the small amplitude limit of the time-dependent density-matrix theory (STDDM). STDDM provides us with a quite general form of ERPA as compared with other similar theories in the sense that all components of one-body and two-body amplitudes are taken into account. Two conditions are found necessary to guarantee the above property of the single and double spurious states: The first is that no truncation in the single-particle space should be made. This condition is necessary for the closure relation to be used and is common for the single and double spurious states. The second depends on the mode. For the single spurious state all components of the one-body amplitudes must be included, and for the double spurious state all components of one-body and two-body amplitudes have to be included. It is also shown that the Kohn theorem and the continuity equations for transition densities and currents hold under the same conditions as the spurious states. ERPA theories formulated using the Hartree-Fock ground state have a non-hermiticity problem. A method for formulating ERPA with hermiticity is also proposed using the time-dependent density-matrix formalism.Comment: 15 page

Many worlds in one

A generic prediction of inflation is that the thermalized region we inhabit is spatially infinite. Thus, it contains an infinite number of regions of the same size as our observable universe, which we shall denote as \O-regions. We argue that the number of possible histories which may take place inside of an \O-region, from the time of recombination up to the present time, is finite. Hence, there are an infinite number of \O-regions with identical histories up to the present, but which need not be identical in the future. Moreover, all histories which are not forbidden by conservation laws will occur in a finite fraction of all \O-regions. The ensemble of \O-regions is reminiscent of the ensemble of universes in the many-world picture of quantum mechanics. An important difference, however, is that other \O-regions are unquestionably real.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, comments and references adde

Neutrino masses: From fantasy to facts

Theory suggests the existence of neutrino masses, but little more. Facts are coming close to reveal our fantasy: solar and atmospheric neutrino data strongly indicate the need for neutrino conversions, while LSND provides an intriguing hint. The simplest ways to reconcile these data in terms of neutrino oscillations invoke a light sterile neutrino in addition to the three active ones. Out of the four neutrinos, two are maximally-mixed and lie at the LSND scale, while the others are at the solar mass scale. These schemes can be distinguished at neutral-current-sensitive solar & atmospheric neutrino experiments. I discuss the simplest theoretical scenarios, where the lightness of the sterile neutrino, the nearly maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing, and the generation of $\Delta {m^2}_\odot$ & $\Delta {m^2}_{atm}$ all follow naturally from the assumed lepton-number symmetry and its breaking. Although the most likely interpretation of the present data is in terms of neutrino-mass-induced oscillations, one still has room for alternative explanations, such as flavour changing neutrino interactions, with no need for neutrino mass or mixing. Such flavour violating transitions arise in theories with strictly massless neutrinos, and may lead to other sizeable flavour non-conservation effects, such as $\mu \to e + \gamma$, $\mu-e$ conversion in nuclei, unaccompanied by neutrino-less double beta decay.Comment: 33 pages, latex, 16 figures. Invited Talk at Ioannina Conference, Symmetries in Intermediate High Energy Physics and its Applications, Oct. 1998, to be published by Springer Tracts in Modern Physics. Festschrift in Honour of John Vergados' 60th Birthda