Nonclassical Moments and their Measurement

Practically applicable criteria for the nonclassicality of quantum states are formulated in terms of different types of moments. For this purpose the moments of the creation and annihilation operators, of two quadratures, and of a quadrature and the photon number operator turn out to be useful. It is shown that all the required moments can be determined by homodyne correlation measurements. An example of a nonclassical effect that is easily characterized by our methods is amplitude-squared squeezing.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Spontaneous decay of excited atomic states near a carbon nanotube

Spontaneous decay process of an excited atom placed inside or outside (near the surface) a carbon nanotube is analyzed. Calculations have been performed for various achiral nanotubes. The effect of the nanotube surface has been demonstrated to dramatically increase the atomic spontaneous decay rate -- by 6 to 7 orders of magnitude compared with that of the same atom in vacuum. Such an increase is associated with the nonradiative decay via surface excitations in the nanotube.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Tomographic reconstruction of quantum states in N spatial dimensions

Most quantum tomographic methods can only be used for one-dimensional problems. We show how to infer the quantum state of a non-relativistic N-dimensional harmonic oscillator system by simple inverse Radon transforms. The procedure is equally applicable to finding the joint quantum state of several distinguishable particles in different harmonic oscillator potentials. A requirement of the procedure is that the angular frequencies of the N harmonic potentials are incommensurable. We discuss what kind of information can be found if the requirement of incommensurability is not fulfilled and also under what conditions the state can be reconstructed from finite time measurements. As a further example of quantum state reconstruction in N dimensions we consider the two related cases of an N-dimensional free particle with periodic boundary conditions and a particle in an N-dimensional box, where we find a similar condition of incommensurability and finite recurrence time for the one-dimensional system.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

The first result of the neutrino magnetic moment measurement in the GEMMA experiment

The first result of the neutrino magnetic moment measurement at the Kalininskaya Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) with the GEMMA spectrometer is presented. An antineutrino-electron scattering is investigated. A high-purity germanium detector of 1.5 kg placed 13.9 m away from the 3 GW reactor core is used in the spectrometer. The antineutrino flux is $2.73\times 10^{13} \nu_e / cm^2 / s$. The differential method is used to extract the $\nu$-e electromagnetic scattering events. The scattered electron spectra taken in 6200 and 2064 hours for the reactor ON and OFF periods are compared. The upper limit for the neutrino magnetic moment $\mu_\nu < 5.8\times 10^{-11}$ Bohr magnetons at 90{%} CL is derived from the data processing.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, 2 table

Experimental access to higher-order Zeeman effects by precision spectroscopy of highly charged ions in a Penning trap

We present an experimental concept and setup for laser-microwave double-resonance spectroscopy of highly charged ions in a Penning trap. Such spectroscopy allows a highly precise measurement of the Zeeman splittings of fine- and hyperfine-structure levels due the magnetic field of the trap. We have performed detailed calculations of the Zeeman effect in the framework of quantum electrodynamics of bound states as present in such highly charged ions. We find that apart from the linear Zeeman effect, second- and third-order Zeeman effects also contribute to the splittings on a level of 10^-4 and 10^-8, respectively, and hence are accessible to a determination within the achievable spectroscopic resolution of the ARTEMIS experiment currently in preparation

Evidence for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

The data of the Heidelberg-Moscow double beta decay experiment for the measuring period August 1990 - May 2000 (54.9813 kg y or 723.44 molyears), published recently, are analyzed using the potential of the Bayesian method for low counting rates. First evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay is observed giving first evidence for lepton number violation. The evidence for this decay mode is 97% (2.2\sigma) with the Bayesian method, and 99.8% c.l. (3.1\sigma) with the method recommended by the Particle Data Group. The half-life of the process is found with the Bayesian method to be T_{1/2}^{0\nu} = (0.8 - 18.3) x 10^{25} y (95% c.l.) with a best value of 1.5 x 10^{25} y. The deduced value of the effective neutrino mass is, with the nuclear matrix elements from [Sta90,Tom91] = (0.11 - 0.56) eV (95% c.l.), with a best value of 0.39 eV. Uncertainties in the nuclear matrix elements may widen the range given for the effective neutrino mass by at most a factor 2. Our observation which at the same time means evidence that the neutrino is a Majorana particle, will be of fundamental importance for neutrino physics. PACS. 14.69.Pq Neutrino mass and mixing; 23.40.Bw Weak-interaction and lepton (including neutrino) aspects 23.40.-s Beta decay; double beta decay; electron and muon capture.Comment: 14 pages, psfile, 7 figures, Published in Modern Physics Letters A, Vol. 16, No. 37 (2001) 2409-2420, World Scientific Publishing Company, Home Page: http://ejournals.wspc.com.sg/mpla/16/1637/S0217732301005825.html, Home Page of Heidelberg Non-Accelerator Particle Physics Group: http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/non_acc

Spontaneous decay of an emitter's excited state near a finite-length metallic carbon nanotube

The spontaneous decay of an excited state of an emitter placed in the vicinity of a metallic single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) was examined theoretically. The emitter-SWNT coupling strongly depends on the position of the emitter relative to the SWNT, the length of the SWNT, the dipole transition frequency and the orientation of the emitter. In the high-frequency regime, dips in the spectrum of the spontaneous decay rate exist at the resonance frequencies in the spectrum of the SWNT conductivity. In the intermediate-frequency regime, the SWNT conductivity is very low, and the spontaneous decay rate is practically unaffected by the SWNT. In the low-frequency regime, the spectrum of the spontaneous decay rate contains resonances at the antennas resonance frequencies for surface-wave propagation in the SWNT. Enhancement of both the total and radiative spontaneous decay rates by several orders in magnitude is predicted at these resonance frequencies. The strong emitter-field coupling is achieved, in spite of the low Q factor of the antenna resonances, due to the very high magnitude of the electromagnetic field in the near-field zone. The vacuum Rabi oscillations of the population of the excited emitter state are exhibited when the emitter is coupled to an antenna resonance of the SWNT.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Investigations of fast neutron production by 190 GeV/c muon interactions on different targets

The production of fast neutrons (1 MeV - 1 GeV) in high energy muon-nucleus interactions is poorly understood, yet it is fundamental to the understanding of the background in many underground experiments. The aim of the present experiment (CERN NA55) was to measure spallation neutrons produced by 190 GeV/c muons scattering on carbon, copper and lead targets. We have investigated the energy spectrum and angular distribution of spallation neutrons, and we report the result of our measurement of the neutron production differential cross section.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures ep