37,223 research outputs found
On the quantum probability flux through surfaces
We remark that the often ignored quantum probability current is fundamental
for a genuine understanding of scattering phenomena and, in particular, for the
statistics of the time and position of the first exit of a quantum particle
from a given region, which may be simply expressed in terms of the current.
This simple formula for these statistics does not appear as such in the
literature. It is proposed that the formula, which is very different from the
usual quantum mechanical measurement formulas, be verified experimentally. A
full understanding of the quantum current and the associated formula is
provided by Bohmian mechanics.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, revised and more detailed version, to be
published in Journal of Statistical Physics, August 9
The effect of small streamwise velocity distortion on the boundary layer flow over a thin flat plate with application to boundary layer stability theory
Researchers show how an initially linear spanwise disturbance in the free stream velocity field is amplified by leading edge bluntness effects and ultimately leads to a small amplitude but linear spanwise motion far downstream from the edge. This spanwise motion is imposed on the boundary layer flow and ultimately causes an order-one change in its profile shape. The modified profiles are highly unstable and can support Tollmein-Schlichting wave growth well upstream of the theoretical lower branch of the neutral stability curve for a Blasius boundary layer
Molecular studies on intraspecific diversity and phylogenetic position of Coniothyrium minitans
Simple sequence repeat (SSR)±PCR amplification using a microsatellite primer (GACA)% and ribosomal RNA gene sequencing were used to examine the intraspecific diversity in the mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans based on 48 strains, representing eight colony types, from 17 countries world-wide. Coniothyrium cerealis, C. fuckelii and C. sporulosum were used for interspecific comparison. The SSR±PCR technique revealed a relatively low level of polymorphism within C. minitans but did allow some differentiation between strains. While there was no relationship between SSR±PCR profiles and colony type, there was some limited correlation between these profiles and country of origin. Sequences of the ITS 1 and ITS 2 regions and the 5±8S gene of rRNA genes were identical in all twenty-four strains of C. minitans examined irrespective of colony type and origin. These results indicate that C. minitans is genetically not very variable despite phenotypic differences. ITS and 5±8S rRNA gene sequence analyses showed that C. minitans had similarities of 94% with C. fuckelii and C. sporulosum (which were identical to each other) and only 64% with C. cerealis. Database searches failed to show any similarity with the ITS 1 sequence for C. minitans although the 5±8S rRNA gene and ITS 2 sequences revealed an 87% similarity with Aporospora terricola. The ITS sequence including the 5±8S rRNA gene sequence of Coniothyrium cerealis showed 91% similarity to Phaeosphaeria microscopica. Phylogenetic analyses using database information suggest that C. minitans, C. sporulosum, C. fuckelii and A. terricola cluster in one clade, grouping with Helminthosporium species and 'Leptosphaeria' bicolor. Coniothyrium cerealis grouped with Ampelomyces quisqualis and formed a major cluster with members of the Phaeosphaeriacae and Phaeosphaeria microscopica
The "Unromantic Pictures" of Quantum Theory
I am concerned with two views of quantum mechanics that John S. Bell called
``unromantic'': spontaneous wave function collapse and Bohmian mechanics. I
discuss some of their merits and report about recent progress concerning
extensions to quantum field theory and relativity. In the last section, I
speculate about an extension of Bohmian mechanics to quantum gravity.Comment: 37 pages LaTeX, no figures; written for special volume of J. Phys. A
in honor of G.C. Ghirard
Nucleon Tensor Charge from Exclusive Electroproduction
Exclusive electroproduction from nucleons is suggested for extracting
the tensor charge and other quantities related to transversity from
experimental data. This process isolates C-parity odd and chiral odd
combinations of t-channel exchange quantum numbers. In a hadronic picture it
connects the meson production amplitudes to C-odd Regge exchanges with final
state interactions. In a description based on partonic degrees of freedom, the
helicity structure for this C-odd process relates to the quark helicity flip,
or chiral odd generalized parton distributions. This differs markedly from
deeply virtual Compton scattering, and both vector meson and charged
electroproduction, where the axial charge can enter the amplitudes. Contrarily
the tensor charge enters the process. The connection through the
helicity description of the process to both the partonic and hadronic
perspectives is studied and exploited in model calculations to indicate how the
tensor charge and other transversity parameters can be related to cross section
and spin asymmetry measurements over a broad range of kinematics.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figures Revised text clarifying main points, fixing
typos, adding reference
Are All Particles Identical?
We consider the possibility that all particles in the world are fundamentally
identical, i.e., belong to the same species. Different masses, charges, spins,
flavors, or colors then merely correspond to different quantum states of the
same particle, just as spin-up and spin-down do. The implications of this
viewpoint can be best appreciated within Bohmian mechanics, a precise
formulation of quantum mechanics with particle trajectories. The implementation
of this viewpoint in such a theory leads to trajectories different from those
of the usual formulation, and thus to a version of Bohmian mechanics that is
inequivalent to, though arguably empirically indistinguishable from, the usual
one. The mathematical core of this viewpoint is however rather independent of
the detailed dynamical scheme Bohmian mechanics provides, and it amounts to the
assertion that the configuration space for N particles, even N
``distinguishable particles,'' is the set of all N-point subsets of physical
3-space.Comment: 12 pages LaTeX, no figure
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