8,736 research outputs found
Very Small Strangelets
We study the stability of small strangelets by employing a simple model of
strange matter as a gas of non-interacting fermions confined in a bag. We solve
the Dirac equation and populate the energy levels of the bag one quark at a
time. Our results show that for system parameters such that strange matter is
unbound in bulk, there may still exist strangelets with that are stable
and/or metastable. The lifetime of these strangelets may be too small to detect
in current accelerator experiments, however.Comment: 13 pages, MIT CTP#217
Color-flavor locked strange matter and strangelets at finite temperature
It is possible that a system composed of up, down and strange quarks consists
the true ground state of nuclear matter at high densities and low temperatures.
This exotic plasma, called strange quark matter (SQM), seems to be even more
favorable energetically if quarks are in a superconducting state, the so-called
color-flavor locked state. Here are presented calculations made on the basis of
the MIT bag model considering the influence of finite temperature on the
allowed parameters characterizing the system for stability of bulk SQM (the
so-called stability windows) and also for strangelets, small lumps of SQM, both
in the color-flavor locking scenario. We compare these results with the
unpaired SQM and also briefly discuss some astrophysical implications of them.
Also, the issue of strangelet's electric charge is discussed. The effects of
dynamical screening, though important for non-paired SQM strangelets, are not
relevant when considering pairing among all three flavor and colors of quarks.Comment: 17 pp. 15 figs., to appear in Phys. Rev.
Manipulating the torsion of molecules by strong laser pulses
A proof-of-principle experiment is reported, where torsional motion of a
molecule, consisting of a pair of phenyl rings, is induced by strong laser
pulses. A nanosecond laser pulse spatially aligns the carbon-carbon bond axis,
connecting the two phenyl rings, allowing a perpendicularly polarized, intense
femtosecond pulse to initiate torsional motion accompanied by an overall
rotation about the fixed axis. The induced motion is monitored by femtosecond
time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging. Our theoretical analysis accounts for
and generalizes the experimental findings.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL; Major revision of the
presentation of the material; Correction of ion labels in Fig. 2(a
Control and femtosecond time-resolved imaging of torsion in a chiral molecule
We study how the combination of long and short laser pulses, can be used to
induce torsion in an axially chiral biphenyl derivative
(3,5-difluoro-3',5'-dibromo-4'-cyanobiphenyl). A long, with respect to the
molecular rotational periods, elliptically polarized laser pulse produces 3D
alignment of the molecules, and a linearly polarized short pulse initiates
torsion about the stereogenic axis. The torsional motion is monitored in
real-time by measuring the dihedral angle using femtosecond time-resolved
Coulomb explosion imaging. Within the first 4 picoseconds, torsion occurs with
a period of 1.25 picoseconds and an amplitude of 3 degrees in excellent
agreement with theoretical calculations. At larger times the quantum states of
the molecules describing the torsional motion dephase and an almost isotropic
distribution of the dihedral angle is measured. We demonstrate an original
application of covariance analysis of two-dimensional ion images to reveal
strong correlations between specific ejected ionic fragments from Coulomb
explosion. This technique strengthens our interpretation of the experimental
data.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Mass formulas and thermodynamic treatment in the mass-density-dependent model of strange quark matter
The previous treatments for strange quark matter in the quark
mass-density-dependent model have unreasonable vacuum limits. We provide a
method to obtain the quark mass parametrizations and give a self-consistent
thermodynamic treatment which includes the MIT bag model as an extreme. In this
treatment, strange quark matter in bulk still has the possibility of absolute
stability. However, the lower density behavior of the sound velocity is
opposite to previous findings.Comment: Formatted in REVTeX 3.1, 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in PRC6
Nucleation of quark matter bubbles in neutron stars
The thermal nucleation of quark matter bubbles inside neutron stars is
examined for various temperatures which the star may realistically encounter
during its lifetime. It is found that for a bag constant less than a critical
value, a very large part of the star will be converted into the quark phase
within a fraction of a second. Depending on the equation of state for neutron
star matter and strange quark matter, all or some of the outer parts of the
star may subsequently be converted by a slower burning or a detonation.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX, Phys.Rev.D (in press), IFA 93-32. 5 figures (not
included) available upon request from [email protected]
Summary of the 13th IACHEC Meeting
We summarize the outcome of the 13th meeting of the International
Astronomical Consortium for High Energy Calibration (IACHEC), held at Tenuta
dei Ciclamini (Avigliano Umbro, Italy) in April 2018. Fifty-one scientists
directly involved in the calibration of operational and future high-energy
missions gathered during 3.5 days to discuss the current status of the X-ray
payload inter-calibration and possible approaches to improve it. This summary
consists of reports from the various working groups with topics ranging from
the identification and characterization of standard calibration sources,
multi-observatory cross-calibration campaigns, appropriate and new statistical
techniques, calibration of instruments and characterization of background, and
communication and preservation of knowledge and results for the benefit of the
astronomical community.Comment: 12 page
How to identify a Strange Star
Contrary to young neutron stars, young strange stars are not subject to the
r-mode instability which slows rapidly rotating, hot neutron stars to rotation
periods near 10 ms via gravitational wave emission. Young millisecond pulsars
are therefore likely to be strange stars rather than neutron stars, or at least
to contain significant quantities of quark matter in the interior.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
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