Electron screening in the liquid-gas mixed phases of nuclear matter

Screening effects of electrons on inhomogeneous nuclear matter, which includes spherical, slablike, and rodlike nuclei as well as spherical and rodlike nuclear bubbles, are investigated in view of possible application to cold neutron star matter and supernova matter at subnuclear densities. Using a compressible liquid-drop model incorporating uncertainties in the surface tension, we find that the energy change due to the screening effects broadens the density region in which bubbles and nonspherical nuclei appear in the phase diagram delineating the energetically favorable shape of inhomogeneous nuclear matter. This conclusion is considered to be general since it stems from a model-independent feature that the electron screening acts to decrease the density at which spherical nuclei become unstable against fission and to increase the density at which uniform matter becomes unstable against proton clustering.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

General pattern of the turbid water in the Seto-inland sea extracted from multispectral imageries by the LANDSAT-1 and 2

The author has identified the following significant results. Each distribution pattern of turbid water changes with the time in accordance with daily tides, seasonal variation of tides, and occasional rainfall. Two cases of successfully repeated LANDSAT observations for the same sea regions suggested a general pattern of turbid water could be extracted for each region. Photographic and digital processes were used to extract patterns of turbid water separately from the cloud and smog-layer in MSS 4, 5, and 7 imageries. A mosaic of image-masked imageries displays a general pattern of turbid water for almost the entire Seto Inland Sea. No such pattern was extracted for the Aki-Nada south of Hiroshima City where the water is fairly polluted, nor for the Iyo-Nada where the water is generally clearer than in other regions of the Seto Inland Sea

Amplification of Quantum Meson Modes in the Late Time of Chiral Phase Transition

It is shown that there exists a possibility of amplification of amplitudes of quantum pion modes with low momenta in the late time of chiral phase transition by using the Gaussian wave functional approximation in the O(4) linear sigma model. It is also shown that the amplification occurs in the mechanism of the resonance by forced oscillation as well as the parametric resonance induced by the small oscillation of the chiral condensate. These mechanisms are investigated in both the case of spatially homogeneous system and the spatially expanded system described by the Bjorken coordinate.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figure

Constraining the Cosmic Star Formation Rate with the MeV Background

The Cosmic Gamma-ray Background (CGB) in the MeV regime has been measured with COMPTEL and SMM. The origin of the CGB in this energy regime is believed to be dominated by gamma-rays from Type Ia supernovae. We calculate the CGB spectrum within the framework of FRW cosmology as a function of the cosmic star formation rate, SFR(z). Several estimates of the SFR(z) have been reported since the pioneering work of Madau et al. Here we discuss observational constraints on SFR(z) derived from models of the CGB. In particular, we consider the SFR obtained from Gamma-Ray Burst observations, which increases dramatically with redshift beyond z ~ 1 in contrast to most estimates which saturate or show a mild increase with redshift. Gamma-ray bursts may be the most powerful tracers of star formation in the early universe and thus provide signposts of the initial epoch of element synthesis. The star formation rate implied by GRB statistics results in a gamma-ray background that matches the observations more closely than that inferred from other tracers of star formation. This may provide some support for the GRB/SFR-paradigm, which in turn promises a powerful diagnostic of star formation, and thus cosmic chemical evolution, from the era of Population III stars to the present

Absence of the impurity-induced magnetic order in the electron-doped high-T_c_ cuprates Pr_0.86_LaCe_0.14_Cu_1-y_(Zn, Ni)_y_O_4_

Zero-field muon-spin-relaxation measurements have been carried out in order to investigate the Zn- and Ni-substitution effects on the Cu-spin dynamics in the electron-doped Pr_0.86_LaCe_0.14_Cu_1-y_(Zn, Ni)_y_O_4+\alpa-\delta_ with y = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and different values of the reduced oxygen content \delta(\delta \le 0.09). For the samples with y = 0 and very small \delta values of \delta < 0.01, a muon-spin precession due to the formation of a long-range antiferromagnetic order has been observed at low temperatures below \~ 5 K. For the moderately oxygen-reduced samples of 0.01 \le \delta \le 0.09, on the contrary, no muon-spin precession has been observed and the temperature dependence of the spectra is similar to one another regardless of the y value. That is, no impurity-induced slowing down of the Cu-spin fluctuations has been detected, which is very different from the results of the hole-doped high-T_c_ cuprates. The reason is discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of ISS2004 (to be published in Physica C

Roles of Critical Valence Fluctuations in Ce- and Yb-Based Heavy Fermion Metals

The roles of critical valence fluctuations of Ce and Yb are discussed as a key origin of several anomalies observed in Ce- and Yb-based heavy fermion systems. Recent development of the theory has revealed that a magnetic field is an efficient control parameter to induce the critical end point of the first-order valence transition. Metamagnetism and non-Fermi liquid behavior caused by this mechanism are discussed by comparing favorably with CeIrIn5, YbAgCu4, and YbIr2Zn20. The interplay of the magnetic order and valence fluctuations offers a key concept for understanding Ce- and Yb-based systems. It is shown that suppression of the magnetic order by enhanced valence fluctuations gives rise to the coincidence of the magnetic-transition point and valence-crossover point at absolute zero as a function of pressure or magnetic field. The interplay is shown to resolve the outstanding puzzle in CeRhIn5 in a unified way. The broader applicability of this newly clarified mechanism is discussed by surveying promising materials such as YbAuCu4, beta-YbAlB4, and YbRh2Si2.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, invited paper in special issue on strongly correlated electron system