The Lyttleton-Bondi Universe and Charge Equality

Theoretical arguments on electron and proton charge magnitude equalit

Test of CPT and Lorentz invariance from muonium spectroscopy

Following a suggestion of Kostelecky et al. we have evaluated a test of CPT and Lorentz invariance from the microwave spectroscopy of muonium. Hamiltonian terms beyond the standard model violating CPT and Lorentz invariance would contribute frequency shifts $\delta\nu_{12}$ and $\delta\nu_{34}$ to $\nu_{12}$ and $\nu_{34}$, the two transitions involving muon spin flip, which were precisely measured in ground state muonium in a strong magnetic field of 1.7 T. The shifts would be indicated by anti-correlated oscillations in $\nu_{12}$ and $\nu_{34}$ at the earth's sidereal frequency. No time dependence was found in $\nu_{12}$ or $\nu_{34}$ at the level of 20 Hz, limiting the size of some CPT and Lorentz violating parameters at the level of $2\times10^{-23}$ GeV, representing Planck scale sensitivity and an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over previous limits for the muon.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, uses REVTeX and epsf, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Sensitivity to new physics: a_e vs. a_mu

At present it is generally believed that ``new physics'' effects contribute to leptonic anomalous magnetic moment, a_l, via quantum loops only and they are proportional to the squared lepton mass, (m_l)^2. An alternative mechanism for a contribution by new physics is proposed. It occurs at the tree level and exhibits a linear rather than quadratic dependence on m_l. This leads to a much larger sensitivity of a_e to the new physics than was expected so far.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Variational Two Fermion Wave Equations in QED: Muonium Like Systems

We consider a reformulation of QED in which covariant Green functions are used to solve for the electromagnetic field in terms of the fermion fields. The resulting modified Hamiltonian contains the photon propagator directly. A simple Fock-state variational trial function is used to derive relativistic two-fermion equations variationally from the expectation value of the Hamiltonian of the field theory. The interaction kernel of the equation is shown to be, in essence, the invariant M-matrix in lowest order. Solutions of the two-body equations are presented for muonium like system for small coupling strengths. The results compare well with the observed muonium spectrum, as well as that for hydrogen and muonic hydrogen. Anomalous magnetic moment effects are discussed

The effects of disturbance threat on leaf-cutting ant colonies: a laboratory study

The flexibility of organisms to respond plastically to their environment is fundamental to their fitness and evolutionary success. Social insects provide some of the most impressive examples of plasticity, with individuals exhibiting behavioural and sometimes morphological adaptations for their specific roles in the colony, such as large soldiers for nest defence. However, with the exception of the honey bee model organism, there has been little investigation of the nature and effects of environmental stimuli thought to instigate alternative phenotypes in social insects. Here we investigate the effect of repeated threat disturbance over a prolonged (17 month) period on both behavioural and morphological phenotypes, using phenotypically plastic leaf-cutting ants (Atta colombica) as a model system. We found a rapid impact of threat disturbance on the behavioural phenotype of individuals within threat-disturbed colonies becoming more aggressive, threat-responsive and phototactic within as little as two weeks. We found no effect of threat disturbance on morphological phenotypes, potentially because constraints such as resource limitation outweighed the benefit for colonies of producing larger individuals. The results suggest that plasticity in behavioural phenotypes can enable insect societies to respond to threats even when constraints prevent alteration of morphological phenotypes

Anomalous biased diffusion in a randomly layered medium

We present analytical results for the biased diffusion of particles moving under a constant force in a randomly layered medium. The influence of this medium on the particle dynamics is modeled by a piecewise constant random force. The long-time behavior of the particle position is studied in the frame of a continuous-time random walk on a semi-infinite one-dimensional lattice. We formulate the conditions for anomalous diffusion, derive the diffusion laws and analyze their dependence on the particle mass and the distribution of the random force.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur

Atomic beam source of polarized electrons

Polarized electrons produced by atomic beam apparatus - hyperfine structure intervals of alkali atom

Celestial mechanics in Kerr spacetime

The dynamical parameters conventionally used to specify the orbit of a test particle in Kerr spacetime are the energy $E$, the axial component of the angular momentum, $L_{z}$, and Carter's constant $Q$. These parameters are obtained by solving the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the dynamical problem of geodesic motion. Employing the action-angle variable formalism, on the other hand, yields a different set of constants of motion, namely, the fundamental frequencies $\omega_{r}$, $\omega_{\theta}$ and $\omega_{\phi}$ associated with the radial, polar and azimuthal components of orbital motion. These frequencies, naturally, determine the time scales of orbital motion and, furthermore, the instantaneous gravitational wave spectrum in the adiabatic approximation. In this article, it is shown that the fundamental frequencies are geometric invariants and explicit formulas in terms of quadratures are derived. The numerical evaluation of these formulas in the case of a rapidly rotating black hole illustrates the behaviour of the fundamental frequencies as orbital parameters such as the semi-latus rectum $p$, the eccentricity $e$ or the inclination parameter $\theta_{-}$ are varied. The limiting cases of circular, equatorial and Keplerian motion are investigated as well and it is shown that known results are recovered from the general formulas.Comment: 25 pages (LaTeX), 5 figures, submitted to Class. Quantum Gra

Supersymmetry and LHC

The motivation for introduction of supersymmetry in high energy physics as well as a possibility for supersymmetry discovery at LHC (Large Hadronic Collider) are discussed. The main notions of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) are introduced. Different regions of parameter space are analyzed and their phenomenological properties are compared. Discovery potential of LHC for the planned luminosity is shown for different channels. The properties of SUSY Higgs bosons are studied and perspectives of their observation at LHC are briefly outlined.Comment: Lectures given at the 9th Moscow International School of Physics (XXXIV ITEP Winter School of Physics

Complete two-loop correction to the bound-electron g factor

Within a systematic approach based on the dimensionally regularized nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics, we derive the complete result for the two-loop correction to order $(\alpha/\pi)^2 (Z \alpha)^4$ for the $g$ factor of an electron bound in an $nS$ state of a hydrogenlike ion. The results obtained significantly improve the accuracy of the theoretical predictions for the hydrogenlike carbon and oxygen ions and influence the value of the electron mass inferred from $g$ factor measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur