Real and virtual photons in an external constant electromagnetic field of most general form

The photon behavior in an arbitrary superposition of constant magnetic and electric fields is considered on most general grounds basing on the first principles like Lorentz- gauge- charge- and parity-invariance. We make model- and approximation-independent, but still rather informative, statements about the behavior that the requirement of causal propagation prescribes to massive and massless branches of dispersion curves, and describe the way the eigenmodes are polarized. We find, as a consequence of Hermiticity in the transparency domain, that adding a smaller electric field to a strong magnetic field in parallel to the latter causes enhancement of birefringence. We find the magnetic field produced by a point electric charge far from it (a manifestation of magneto-electric phenomenon). We establish degeneracies of the polarization tensor that (under special kinematic conditions) occur due to space-time symmetries of the vacuum left after the external field is imposed.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figure, 57 equations, reference list of 38 item

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

Strange Star Heating Events as a Model for Giant Flares of Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters

Two giant flares were observed on 5 March 1979 and 27 August 1998 from the soft gamma-ray repeaters SGR 0526-66 and SGR 1900+14, respectively. The striking similarity between these remarkable bursts strongly implies a common nature. We show that the light curves of the giant bursts may be easily explained in the model where the burst radiation is produced by the bare quark surface of a strange star heated, for example, by impact of a massive comet-like object.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Letter

Measurement of the KLK_L nuclear interaction length in the NaI(Tl) calorimeter

In the study of the reaction $e^+e^-\to K_{S}K_{L}$ at the VEPP-2M $e^+e^-$ collider with the SND detector the nuclear interaction length of $K_{L}$ meson in NaI(Tl) has been measured. Its value is found to be 30--50 cm in the $K_{L}$ momentum range 0.11--0.48 GeV/$c$. The results are compared with the values used in the simulation programs GEANT4 and UNIMOD.Comment: accepted in JINS

Localized Wavefunctions and Magnetic Band Structure for Lateral Semiconductor Superlattices

In this paper we present calculations on the electronic band structure of a two-dimensional lateral superlattice subject to a perpendicular magnetic field by employing a projection operator technique based on the ray-group of magnetotranslation operators. We construct a new basis of appropriately symmetrized Bloch-like wavefunctions as linear combination of well-localized magnetic-Wannier functions. The magnetic field was consistently included in the Wannier functions defined in terms of free-electron eigenfunctions in the presence of external magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. Using the above basis, we calculate the magnetic energy spectrum of electrons in a lateral superlattice with bi-directional weak electrostatic modulation. Both a square lattice and a triangular one are considered as special cases. Our approach based on group theory handles the cases of integer and rational magnetic fluxes in a uniform way and the provided basis could be convenient for further both analytic and numerical calculations.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. accepted to Int. J. Mod. Phys. B (April 2006

Effective anisotropy of thin nanomagnets: beyond the surface anisotropy approach

We study the effective anisotropy induced in thin nanomagnets by the nonlocal demagnetization field (dipole-dipole interaction). Assuming a magnetization independent of the thickness coordinate, we reduce the energy to an inhomogeneneous onsite anisotropy. Vortex solutions exist and are ground states for this model. We illustrate our approach for a disk and a square geometry. In particular, we obtain good agreement between spin-lattice simulations with this effective anisotropy and micromagnetic simulations.Comment: ReVTeX, 14 pages, 6 figure