Deformation Energy Minima at Finite Mass Asymmetry

A very general saddle point nuclear shape may be found as a solution of an integro-differential equation without giving apriori any shape parametrization. By introducing phenomenological shell corrections one obtains minima of deformation energy for binary fission of parent nuclei at a finite (non-zero) mass asymmetry. Results are presented for reflection asymmetric saddle point shapes of thorium and uranium even-mass isotopes with A=226-238 and A=230-238 respectively.Comment: 5 pages, 2 Postscript figures, REVTeX, Version 4.

Liquid Drop Stability of a Superdeformed Prolate Semi-Spheroidal Atomic Cluster

Analytical relationships for the surface and curvature energies of oblate and prolate semi-spheroidal atomic clusters have been obtained. By modifying the cluster shape from a spheroid to a semi-spheroid the most stable shape was changed from a sphere to a superdeformed prolate semi-spheroid (including the flat surface of the end cap). Potential energy surfaces vs. deformation and the number of atoms, N, illustrate this property independent of N.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figurex, revtex

Geometric simple connectivity and low-dimentional topology

The main part of this largely informal paper is to explain the present status of my program for the Poincarè Conjecture

The cranking formula and the spurious behaviour of the mass parameters

We discuss some aspects of the approach of the mass parameters by means of the simple cranking model. In particular, it is well known that the numerical application of this formula is often subject to ambiguities or contradictions. It is found that these problems are induced by the presence of two derivatives in the formula. To overcome these problems, we state a useful ansatz and we develop a number of simple arguments which tend to justify the removal of these terms. As soon as this is done, the formula becomes simpler and easier to interpret. In this respect, it is shown how the shell effects affect the mass parameters. A number of numerical tests help us in our conclusions.Comment: version 3 corrigendum of the ansatz of section V, corrigendum of the legend of Fig3. Submission = text file + 5 figure

Topological defects in spinor condensates

We investigate the structure of topological defects in the ground states of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates with spin F=1 or F=2. The type and number of defects are determined by calculating the first and second homotopy groups of the order-parameter space. The order-parameter space is identified with a set of degenerate ground state spinors. Because the structure of the ground state depends on whether or not there is an external magnetic field applied to the system, defects are sensitive to the magnetic field. We study both cases and find that the defects in zero and non-zero field are different.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Published versio

Alpha-nucleus potential for alpha-decay and sub-barrier fusion

The set of parameters for alpha-nucleus potential is derived by using the data for both the alpha-decay half-lives and the fusion cross-sections around the barrier for reactions alpha+40Ca, alpha+59Co, alpha+208Pb. The alpha-decay half-lives are obtained in the framework of a cluster model using the WKB approximation. The evaluated alpha-decay half-lives and the fusion cross-sections agreed well with the data. Fusion reactions between alpha-particle and heavy nuclei can be used for both the formation of very heavy nuclei and spectroscopic studies of the formed compound nuclei.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Cosmology in a String-Dominated Universe

The string-dominated universe locally resembles an open universe, and fits dynamical measures of power spectra, cluster abundances, redshift distortions, lensing constraints, luminosity and angular diameter distance relations and microwave background observations. We show examples of networks which might give rise to recent string-domination without requiring any fine-tuned parameters. We discuss how future observations can distinguish this model from other cosmologies.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figures, of which one is in colo