302 research outputs found
Ultrasound imaging of the carpal tunnel during median nerve compression
Median nerve (MN) compression is a recognized component of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). In order to document compressive changes in the MN during hand activity, the carpal tunnel was imaged with neuromuscular ultrasound (NMUS). Ten patients with CTS and five normal controls underwent NMUS of the MN at rest and during dynamic stress testing (DST). DST maneuvers involve sustained isometric flexion of the distal phalanges of the first three digits. During DST in the CTS patients, NMUS demonstrated MN compression between the contracting thenar muscles ventrally and the taut flexor tendons dorsally. The mean MN diameter decreased nearly 40%, with focal narrowing in the mid-distal carpal canal. Normal controls demonstrated no MN compression and a tendency towards MN enlargement, with an average diameter increase of 17%. Observing the pathologic mechanism of MN injury during common prehensile hand movements could help better understand how to treat and prevent CTS
Stability and Instability of Relativistic Electrons in Classical Electro magnetic Fields
The stability of matter composed of electrons and static nuclei is
investigated for a relativistic dynamics for the electrons given by a suitably
projected Dirac operator and with Coulomb interactions. In addition there is an
arbitrary classical magnetic field of finite energy. Despite the previously
known facts that ordinary nonrelativistic matter with magnetic fields, or
relativistic matter without magnetic fields is already unstable when the fine
structure constant, is too large it is noteworthy that the combination of the
two is still stable provided the projection onto the positive energy states of
the Dirac operator, which defines the electron, is chosen properly. A good
choice is to include the magnetic field in the definition. A bad choice, which
always leads to instability, is the usual one in which the positive energy
states are defined by the free Dirac operator. Both assertions are proved here.Comment: LaTeX fil
Coordinate-space approach to the bound-electron self-energy: Self-Energy screening calculation
The self-energy screening correction is evaluated in a model in which the
effect of the screening electron is represented as a first-order perturbation
of the self energy by an effective potential. The effective potential is the
Coulomb potential of the spherically averaged charge density of the screening
electron. We evaluate the energy shift due to a , ,
, or electron screening a , ,
, or electron, for nuclear charge Z in the range . A detailed comparison with other calculations is made.Comment: 54 pages, 10 figures, 4 table
Relativistic Calculation of two-Electron one-Photon and Hypersatellite Transition Energies for Elements
Energies of two-electron one-photon transitions from initial double K-hole
states were computed using the Dirac-Fock model. The transition energies of
competing processes, the K hypersatellites, were also computed. The
results are compared to experiment and to other theoretical calculations.Comment: accepted versio
Relativistic transition wavelenghts and probabilities for spectral lines of Ne II
Transition wavelengths and probabilities for several 2p4 3p - 2p4 3s and 2p4
3d - 2p4 3p lines in fuorine-like neon ion (NeII) have been calculated within
the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method with quantum electrodynamics
(QED) corrections. The results are compared with all existing experimental and
theoretical data
Ionization Potential of the Helium Atom
Ground state ionization potential of the He^4 atom is evaluated to be 5 945
204 221 (42) MHz. Along with lower order contributions, this result includes
all effects of the relative orders alpha^4, alpha^3*m_e/m_alpha and
alpha^5*ln^2(alpha).Comment: 4 page
Constraints on Light Pseudoscalars Implied by Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law
The exchange of light pseudoscalars between fermions leads to a
spin-independent potential in order g^4, where g is the Yukawa
pseudoscalar-fermion coupling constant. This potential gives rise to detectable
violations of both the weak equivalence principle (WEP) and the gravitational
inverse-square law (ISL), even if g is quite small. We show that when
previously derived WEP constraints are combined with those arisingfrom ISL
tests, a direct experimental limit on the Yukawa coupling of light
pseudoscalars to neutrons can be inferred for the first time (g_n^2/4pi < 1.6
\times 10^-7), along with a new (and significantly improved) limit on the
coupling of light pseudoscalars to protons.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, with 1 Postscript figure (submitted to Physical
Review Letters
The Standard Model in Strong Fields: Electroweak Radiative Corrections for Highly Charged Ions
Electroweak radiative corrections to the matrix elements are calculated for highly charged hydrogenlike ions. These
matrix elements constitute the basis for the description of the most parity
nonconserving (PNC) processes in atomic physics. The operator
represents the parity nonconserving relativistic effective atomic Hamiltonian
at the tree level. The deviation of these calculations from the calculations
valid for the momentum transfer demonstrates the effect of the strong
field, characterized by the momentum transfer ( is the
electron mass). This allows for a test of the Standard Model in the presence of
strong fields in experiments with highly charged ions.Comment: 27 LaTex page
Quantum Electrodynamics of the Helium Atom
Using singlet S states of the helium atom as an example, I describe precise
calculation of energy levels in few-electron atoms. In particular, a complete
set of effective operators is derived which generates O(m*alpha^6) relativistic
and radiative corrections to the Schr"odinger energy. Average values of these
operators can be calculated using a variational Schr"odinger wave function.Comment: 23 pages, revte
Relativistic quantum dynamics in strong fields: Photon emission from heavy, few-electron ions
Recent progress in the study of the photon emission from highly-charged heavy
ions is reviewed. These investigations show that high- ions provide a unique
tool for improving the understanding of the electron-electron and
electron-photon interaction in the presence of strong fields. Apart from the
bound-state transitions, which are accurately described in the framework of
Quantum Electrodynamics, much information has been obtained also from the
radiative capture of (quasi-) free electrons by high- ions. Many features in
the observed spectra hereby confirm the inherently relativistic behavior of
even the simplest compound quantum systems in Nature.Comment: Version 18/11/0
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