132 research outputs found
Critical nucleus charge in a superstrong magnetic field: effect of screening
A superstrong magnetic field stimulates the spontaneous production of
positrons by naked nuclei by diminishing the value of the critical charge
Z_{cr} . The phenomenon of screening of the Coulomb potential by a superstrong
magnetic field which has been discovered recently acts in the opposite
direction and prevents the nuclei with Z52
for a nucleus to become critical stronger B are needed than without taking
screening into account.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, version to be published in Physical Review
Bethe-Salpeter approach for relativistic positronium in a strong magnetic field
We study the electron-positron system in a strong magnetic field using the
differential Bethe-Salpeter equation in the ladder approximation. We derive the
fully relativistic two-dimensional form that the four-dimensional
Bethe-Salpeter equation takes in the limit of asymptotically strong constant
and homogeneous magnetic field. An ultimate value for the magnetic field is
determined, which provides the full compensation of the positronium rest mass
by the binding energy in the maximum symmetry state and vanishing of the energy
gap separating the electron-positron system from the vacuum. The compensation
becomes possible owing to the falling to the center phenomenon that occurs in a
strong magnetic field because of the dimensional reduction. The solution of the
Bethe-Salpeter equation corresponding to the vanishing energy-momentum of the
electron-positron system is obtained.Comment: 35 pages, minor correction
Magnetic field driven instability of charged center in graphene
It is shown that a magnetic field dramatically affects the problem of
supercritical charge in graphene making any charge in gapless theory
supercritical. The cases of radially symmetric potential well and Coulomb
center in an homogeneous magnetic field are considered. The local density of
states and polarization charge density are calculated in the first order of
perturbation theory. It is argued that the magnetically induced instability of
the supercritical Coulomb center can be considered as a quantum mechanical
counterpart of the magnetic catalysis phenomenon in graphene.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; to be published in PR
Positronium collapse and the maximum magnetic field in pure QED
A maximum value for the magnetic field is determined, which provides the full
compensation of the positronium rest mass by the binding energy in the maximum
symmetry state and disappearance of the energy gap separating the
electron-positron system from the vacuum. The compensation becomes possible
owing to the falling to the center phenomenon. The maximum magnetic field may
be related to the vacuum and describe its structure.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Letter
Electric field of a pointlike charge in a strong magnetic field and ground state of a hydrogenlike atom
In an external constant magnetic field, so strong that the electron Larmour
length is much shorter than its Compton length, we consider the modification of
the Coulomb potential of a point charge owing to the vacuum polarization. We
establish a short-range component of the static interaction in the Larmour
scale, expressed as a Yukawa-like law, and reveal the corresponding "photon
mass" parameter. The electrostatic force regains its long-range character in
the Compton scale: the tail of the potential follows an anisotropic Coulomb
law, decreasing away from the charge slower along the magnetic field and faster
across. In the infinite-magnetic-field limit the potential is confined to an
infinitely thin string passing though the charge parallel to the external
field. This is the first evidence for dimensional reduction in the photon
sector of quantum electrodynamics. The one-dimensional form of the potential on
the string is derived that includes a delta-function centered in the charge.
The nonrelativistic ground-state energy of a hydrogenlike atom is found with
its use and shown not to be infinite in the infinite-field limit, contrary to
what was commonly accepted before, when the vacuum polarization had been
ignored. These results may be useful for studying properties of matter at the
surface of extremely magnetized neutron stars.Comment: 45 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev.
Investigation of the electromagnetically induced transparency in era of cosmological hydrogen recombination
Investigation of the cosmic microwave background formation processes is one
of the most actual problem at present time. In this paper we analyze the
response of the hydrogen atom to the external photon fields. Field
characteristics are defined via conditions corresponding to the recombination
era of universe. Approximation of three-level atom is used to describe the
"atom - fields" interaction. It is found that the phenomena of the
electromagnetically induced transparancy takes place in this case.
Consideration of EIT phenomena makes it necessary to update astrophysical
description of the processes of the cosmic microwave background formation and,
in particular, Sobolev escape probability. Additional terms to the optical
depth in definition of Sobolev escape probability on the level about 1% are
found.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 1 Tabl
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