Unitary Fermi Gas in a Harmonic Trap

We present an {\it ab initio} calculation of small numbers of trapped, strongly interacting fermions using the Green's Function Monte Carlo method (GFMC). The ground state energy, density profile and pairing gap are calculated for particle numbers $N = 2 \sim 22$ using the parameter-free "unitary" interaction. Trial wave functions are taken of the form of correlated pairs in a harmonic oscillator basis. We find that the lowest energies are obtained with a minimum explicit pair correlation beyond that needed to exploit the degeneracy of oscillator states. We find that energies can be well fitted by the expression $a_{TF} E_{TF} + \Delta {\rm mod}(N,2)$ where $E_{TF}$ is the Thomas-Fermi energy of a noninteracting gas in the trap and $\Delta$ is a pairing gap. There is no evidence of a shell correction energy in the systematics, but the density distributions show pronounced shell effects. We find the value $\Delta= 0.7\pm 0.2\omega$ for the pairing gap. This is smaller than the value found for the uniform gas at a density corresponding to the central density of the trapped gas.Comment: 2 figures, 2 table

Resolving Power of 2-D Pion Interferometry

A $\chi^2$ analysis is performed to test the resolving power of two-dimensional pion interferometry using for illustration the preliminary E802 data on $Si+Au$ at 14.6 AGeV/c. We find that the resolving power to distinguish two decoupling geometries of different dynamical models is enhanced by studying the variation of the mean $\chi^2$ per degrees of freedom with respect to the range of the analysis in the $q_T,q_L$ plane. The preliminary data seem to rule out dynamical models with significant $\omega,\eta$ resonance formation yields.Comment: latex file, 7 pages plus 2 figure

The information content of a new observable: the case of the nuclear neutron skin

We address two questions pertaining to the uniqueness and usefulness of a new observable: (i) Considering the current theoretical knowledge, what novel information does new measurement bring in? (ii) How can new data reduce uncertainties of current theoretical models? We illustrate these points by studying the radius of the neutron distribution of a heavy nucleus, a quantity related to the equation of state for neutron matter that determines properties of nuclei and neutron stars. By systematically varying parameters of two theoretical models and studying the resulting confidence ellipsoid, we quantify the relationships between the neutron skin and various properties of finite nuclei and infinite nuclear matter. Using the covariance analysis, we identify observables and pseudo-observables that correlate, and do not correlate, with the neutron skin. By adding the information on the neutron radius to the pool of observables determining the energy functional, we show how precise experimental determination of the neutron radius in $^{208}$Pb would reduce theoretical uncertainties on the neutron matter equation of state.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Shell Model Monte Carlo Studies of γ\gamma-Soft Nuclei

We present Shell Model Monte Carlo calculations for nuclei within the full major shell 50-82 for both protons and neutrons. The interaction is determined solely by self-consistency and odd-even mass differences. The methods are illustrated for ${}^{124}$Sn, ${}^{128}$Te and ${}^{124}$Xe. We calculate shape distributions, moments of inertia and pairing correlations as functions of temperature and angular velocity. Our calculations are the first microscopic evidence of $\gamma$-softness of nuclei in this region.Comment: uuencoded postscript of manuscript with three figure

Comparison of Viscosities from the Chapman-Enskog and Relaxation Time Methods

A quantitative comparison between the results of shear viscosities from the Chapman-Enskog and relaxation time methods is performed for selected test cases with specified elastic differential cross sections: (i) the non-relativistic, relativistic and ultra-relativistic hard sphere gas with angle and energy independent differential cross section, (ii) the Maxwell gas, (iii) chiral pions and (iv) massive pions. Our quantitative results reveal that the extent of agreement (or disagreement) depends very sensitively on the energy dependence of the differential cross sections employed.Comment: Submitted to Cent. Eur. J.Phy

Extracting particle freeze-out phase-space densities and entropies from sources imaged in heavy-ion reactions

The space-averaged phase-space density and entropy per particle are both fundamental observables which can be extracted from the two-particle correlation functions measured in heavy-ion collisions. Two techniques have been proposed to extract the densities from correlation data: either by using the radius parameters from Gaussian fits to meson correlations or by using source imaging, which may be applied to any like pair correlation. We show that the imaging and Gaussian fits give the same result in the case of meson interferometry. We discuss the concept of an equivalent instantaneous source on which both techniques rely. We also discuss the phase-space occupancy and entropy per particle. Finally, we propose an improved formula for the phase-space occupancy that has a more controlled dependence on the uncertainty of the experimentally measured source functions.Comment: 14 pages, final version, to appear PRC. Fixed typos, added refs. for last section, added discussions of imaging and d/p ratio

Source Dimensions in Ultrarelativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

Recent experiments on pion correlations, interpreted as interferometric measurements of the collision zone, are compared with models that distinguish a prehadronic phase and a hadronic phase. The models include prehadronic longitudinal expansion, conversion to hadrons in local kinetic equilibrium, and rescattering of the produced hadrons. We find that the longitudinal and outward radii are surprisingly sensitive to the algorithm used for two-body collisions. The longitudinal radius measured in collisions of 200 GeV/u sulfur nuclei on a heavy target requires the existence of a prehadronic phase which converts to the hadronic phase at densities around 0.8-1.0 GeV/fm$^3$. The transverse radii cannot be reproduced without introducing more complex dynamics into the transverse expansion.Comment: RevTeX 3.0, 28 pages, 6 figures, not included, revised version, major change is an additional discussion of the classical two-body collision algorithm, a (compressed) postscript file of the complete paper including figures can be obtained from Authors or via anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp_int.phys.washington.edu/pub/herrmann/pisource.ps.

Searches for gamma ray emission from radio pulsars

Searches were made for pulsed high energy (E 35 MeV) gamma radiation from 43 pulsars using the SAS-2 data base and radio parameters. No positive results were found, and the upper limits are consistent with the concept that gamma ray production efficiency increases with increasing apparent age. Two limits suggest that efficiency cannot be a simple function of apparent age beyond 10,000,000 years