Nuclear Medium Modifications of Hadrons from Generalized Parton Distributions

We study the structure of generalized parton distributions in spin 0 nuclei within a microscopic approach for nuclear dynamics. GPDs can be used on one side as tools to unravel the deep inelastic transverse structure of nuclei in terms of both transverse spatial and transverse momentum degrees of freedom. On the other, one can obtain information on GPDs themselves by observing how they become modified in the nuclear environment. We derive the structure of the nuclear deeply virtual Compton scattering tensor and generalized parton distributions at leading order in $Q$ in a field-theoretical framework. The nuclear generalized parton distributions are calculated using a two step process -- the convolution approach -- where the scattering process happens from a quark inside a nucleon, itself inside a nucleus, disregarding final state interactions with both the nuclear and nucleon debris. We point out that details of the nuclear long range interactions such as two-body currents, can be disregarded compared to the deep inelastic induced modifications of the bound GPDs. We show how the pattern of nuclear modifications predicted, and in particular the deviations of off-shell effects from the longitudinal convolution provide clear signals to be sought in experimental measurements. Finally, we find interesting relationships by studying Mellin moments in nuclei: in particular we predict the $A$-dependence for the $D$-term of GPDs within a microscopic approach, and the behavior with $t$ of the total momentum carried by quarks in a nucleus. The latter provides an important element for the evaluation of nuclear hadronization phenomena which are vital for interpreting current and future data at RHIC, HERMES and Jefferson Lab.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

Identification of solar nebula condensates in interplanetary dust particles and unequilibrated ordinary chondrites

Orthopyroxene and olivine grains, low in FeO, but containing MnO contents up to 5 wt percent were found in interplanetary dust particles (IDP) collected in the stratosphere. The majority of olivines and pyroxenes in meteorites contain less than 0.5 wt percent MnO. Orthopyroxenes and olivines high in Mn and low in FeO have only been reported from a single coarse grained chondrule rim in the Allende meteorite and from a Tieschitz matrix augite grain. The bulk MnO contents of the extraterrestrial dust particles with high MnO olivines and pyroxenes are close to CI chondrite abundances. High MnO, low FeO olivines and orthopyroxenes were also found in the matrix of Semarkona, an unequilibrated ordinary chondrite. This may indicate a related origin for minerals in extraterrestrial dust particles and in the matrix of unequilibrated ordinary chondrites

Gluon polarization in the proton

We combine heavy-quark renormalization group arguments with our understanding of the nucleon's wavefunction to deduce a bound on the gluon polarization Delta g in the proton. The bound is consistent with the values extracted from spin experiments at COMPASS and RHIC.Comment: 4 page

Hydrodynamic fluctuations and the minimum shear viscosity of the dilute Fermi gas at unitarity

We study hydrodynamic fluctuations in a non-relativistic fluid. We show that in three dimensions fluctuations lead to a minimum in the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $\eta/s$ as a function of the temperature. The minimum provides a bound on $\eta/s$ which is independent of the conjectured bound in string theory, $\eta/s \geq \hbar/(4\pi k_B)$, where $s$ is the entropy density. For the dilute Fermi gas at unitarity we find \eta/s\gsim 0.2\hbar. This bound is not universal -- it depends on thermodynamic properties of the unitary Fermi gas, and on empirical information about the range of validity of hydrodynamics. We also find that the viscous relaxation time of a hydrodynamic mode with frequency $\omega$ diverges as $1/\sqrt{\omega}$, and that the shear viscosity in two dimensions diverges as $\log(1/ \omega)$.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures; final version to appear in Phys Rev

Interaction-assisted propagation of Coulomb-correlated electron-hole pairs in disordered semiconductors

A two-band model of a disordered semiconductor is used to analyze dynamical interaction induced weakening of localization in a system that is accessible to experimental verification. The results show a dependence on the sign of the two-particle interaction and on the optical excitation energy of the Coulomb-correlated electron-hole pair.Comment: 4 pages and 3 ps figure

Laser acceleration of protons from near critical density targets for application to radiation therapy

Laser accelerated protons can be a complimentary source for treatment of oncological diseases to the existing hadron therapy facilities. We demonstrate how the protons, accelerated from near-critical density plasmas by laser pulses having relatively small power, reach energies which may be of interest for medical applications. When an intense laser pulse interacts with near-critical density plasma it makes a channel both in the electron and then in the ion density. The propagation of a laser pulse through such a self-generated channel is connected with the acceleration of electrons in the wake of a laser pulse and generation of strong moving electric and magnetic fields in the propagation channel. Upon exiting the plasma the magnetic field generates a quasi-static electric field that accelerates and collimates ions from a thin filament formed in the propagation channel. Two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations show that a 100 TW laser pulse tightly focused on a near-critical density target is able to accelerate protons up to energy of 250 MeV. Scaling laws and optimal conditions for proton acceleration are established considering the energy depletion of the laser pulse.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figure

TAIR: A transonic airfoil analysis computer code

The operation of the TAIR (Transonic AIRfoil) computer code, which uses a fast, fully implicit algorithm to solve the conservative full-potential equation for transonic flow fields about arbitrary airfoils, is described on two levels of sophistication: simplified operation and detailed operation. The program organization and theory are elaborated to simplify modification of TAIR for new applications. Examples with input and output are given for a wide range of cases, including incompressible, subcritical compressible, and transonic calculations

The Irreducible String and an Infinity of Additional Constants of Motion in a Deposition-Evaporation Model on a Line

We study a model of stochastic deposition-evaporation with recombination, of three species of dimers on a line. This model is a generalization of the model recently introduced by Barma {\it et. al.} (1993 {\it Phys. Rev. Lett.} {\bf 70} 1033) to $q\ge 3$ states per site. It has an infinite number of constants of motion, in addition to the infinity of conservation laws of the original model which are encoded as the conservation of the irreducible string. We determine the number of dynamically disconnected sectors and their sizes in this model exactly. Using the additional symmetry we construct a class of exact eigenvectors of the stochastic matrix. The autocorrelation function decays with different powers of $t$ in different sectors. We find that the spatial correlation function has an algebraic decay with exponent 3/2, in the sector corresponding to the initial state in which all sites are in the same state. The dynamical exponent is nontrivial in this sector, and we estimate it numerically by exact diagonalization of the stochastic matrix for small sizes. We find that in this case $z=2.39\pm0.05$.Comment: Some minor errors in the first version has been correcte