New relations between spinor and scalar one-loop effective Lagrangians in constant background fields

Simple new relations are presented between the one-loop effective Lagrangians of spinor and scalar particles in constant curvature background fields, both electromagentic and gravitational. These relations go beyond the well-known cases for self-dual background fields

High time resolution observation of the transient event of 5 March 1979

The detection of an intense gamma ray burst with the monitor proportional counter on the HEAO 2 spacecraft is discussed with particular emphasis on the measurement of the time of onset of the event. Based on the mean observed counting rate in the burst and assuming a sharp rise, the uncertainty in the burst onset is found to be + or - 220 microseconds. The time of occurrence was 57124.826908 + or - 0.000220 s UT on March 5, 1979, and the location of the HEAO 2 satellite at this time was latitude 22.15 deg, longitude -27.60 deg at an altitude of 525.0 km

QED One-loop Corrections to a Macroscopic Magnetic Dipole

We consider the field equations of a static magnetic field including one-loop QED corrections, and calculate the corrections to the field of a magnetic dipole. PACS: 12.20.Ds, 97.60.Jd, 97.60.GbComment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Journal of Physics

Influence of radiative damping on the optical-frequency susceptibility

Motivated by recent discussions concerning the manner in which damping appears in the electric polarizability, we show that (a) there is a dependence of the nonresonant contribution on the damping and that (b) the damping enters according to the "opposite sign prescription." We also discuss the related question of how the damping rates in the polarizability are related to energy-level decay rates

Singularity-Free Electrodynamics for Point Charges and Dipoles: Classical Model for Electron Self-Energy and Spin

It is shown how point charges and point dipoles with finite self-energies can be accomodated into classical electrodynamics. The key idea is the introduction of constitutive relations for the electromagnetic vacuum, which actually mirrors the physical reality of vacuum polarization. Our results reduce to conventional electrodynamics for scales large compared to the classical electron radius $r_0\approx 2.8\times10^{-13}$ cm. A classical simulation for a structureless electron is proposed, with the appropriate values of mass, spin and magnetic moment.Comment: 3 page

Dissipation in a 2-dimensional Hilbert space: Various forms of complete positivity

We consider the time evolution of the density matrix $\rho$ in a 2-dimensional complex Hilbert space. We allow for dissipation by adding to the von Neumann equation a term $D[\rho]$, which is of Lindblad type in order to assure complete positivity of the time evolution. We present five equivalent forms of $D[\rho]$. In particular, we connect the familiar dissipation matrix $L$ with a geometric version of $D[\rho]$, where $L$ consists of a positive sum of projectors onto planes in $\mathbf{R}^3$. We also study the minimal number of Lindblad terms needed to describe the most general case of $D[\rho]$. All proofs are worked out comprehensively, as they present at the same time a practical procedure how to determine explicitly the different forms of $D[\rho]$. Finally, we perform a general discussion of the asymptotic behaviour $t \to \infty$ of the density matrix and we relate the two types of asymptotic behaviour with our geometric version of $D[\rho]$.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, no figures. Further aspects of complete positivity worked out and references added; version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

QED vacuum fluctuations and induced electric dipole moment of the neutron

Quantum fluctuations in the QED vacuum generate non-linear effects, such as peculiar induced electromagnetic fields. In particular, we show here that an electrically neutral particle, possessing a magnetic dipole moment, develops an induced electric dipole-type moment with unusual angular dependence, when immersed in a quasistatic, constant external electric field. The calculation of this effect is done in the framework of the Euler-Heisenberg effective QED Lagrangian, corresponding to the weak field asymptotic expansion of the effective action to one-loop order. It is argued that the neutron might be a good candidate to probe this signal of non-linearity in QED.Comment: A misprint has been corrected, and three new references have been adde