Two definitions of the electric polarizability of a bound system in relativistic quantum theory

For the electric polarizability of a bound system in relativistic quantum theory, there are two definitions that have appeared in the literature. They differ depending on whether or not the vacuum background is included in the system. A recent confusion in this connection is clarified

Validity of Feynman's prescription of disregarding the Pauli principle in intermediate states

Regarding the Pauli principle in quantum field theory and in many-body quantum mechanics, Feynman advocated that Pauli's exclusion principle can be completely ignored in intermediate states of perturbation theory. He observed that all virtual processes (of the same order) that violate the Pauli principle cancel out. Feynman accordingly introduced a prescription, which is to disregard the Pauli principle in all intermediate processes. This ingeneous trick is of crucial importance in the Feynman diagram technique. We show, however, an example in which Feynman's prescription fails. This casts doubts on the general validity of Feynman's prescription

Laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal inguinal hernia repair in the elderly: A prospective control study

Inguinal hernia (IH) repair can be obtained with both open and laparoscopic techniques, which are usually performed using a transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) or a totally extraperitoneal (TEP) approach. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the results of laparoscopic TEP IH repair in the elderly ( 6565 years old) are different with respect to results obtained in younger patients. One hundred and four consecutive patients (four women and 100 men, median age of 57 years, range=21-85 years) with unilateral (N=21, 20.2%) or bilateral (N=83, 79.8%) IH were prospectively enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into two groups according to their age: group A (N=68, 65.4%) aged <65 years and group B (N=36, 34.6%) aged 6565 years. The mean operative time was not significantly different between groups (48\ub120 vs. 52\ub120 min, p=0.33). One case of increased PaCO2 was observed in each group (p=0.72) and two and one case of pneumoperitoneum (p=0.57) in groups A and B, respectively. Two (1.9%) patients (one in each group; p=0.55) required TEP conversion. Mild postoperative complications developed in four patients of each group (p=0.44). After one-year follow-up, three (2.9%) recurrences occurred (group 1=1, group 2=2, p=0.55), both in patients who had undergone direct IH repair. The overall postoperative relative risk of complications related to age was 1.08 (95% confidence interval=0.91-1.27, p=0.53). In conclusion, our results suggest that in patients with IH scheduled for TEP repair, age does not represent a contraindication to surgery in terms of complication rate and postoperative results

Localized modes of binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates in nonlinear optical lattices

The properties of the localized states of a two component Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a nonlinear periodic potential [nonlinear optical lattice] are investigated. We reveal the existence of new types of solitons and study their stability by means of analytical and numerical approaches. The symmetry properties of the localized states with respect to the NOL are also investigated. We show that nonlinear optical lattices allow the existence of bright soliton modes with equal symmetry in both components, bright localized modes of mixed symmetry type, as well as, dark-bright bound states and bright modes on periodic backgrounds. In spite of the quasi 1D nature of the problem, the fundamental symmetric localized modes undergo a delocalizing transition when the strength of the nonlinear optical lattice is varied. This transition is associated with the existence of an unstable solution, which exhibits a shrinking (decaying) behavior for slightly overcritical (undercritical) variations in the number of atoms.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Matter-wave 2D solitons in crossed linear and nonlinear optical lattices

It is demonstrated the existence of multidimensional matter-wave solitons in a crossed optical lattice (OL) with linear OL in the $x-$direction and nonlinear OL (NOL) in the $y-$direction, where the NOL can be generated by a periodic spatial modulation of the scattering length using an optically induced Feshbach resonance. In particular, we show that such crossed linear and nonlinear OL allows to stabilize two-dimensional (2D) solitons against decay or collapse for both attractive and repulsive interactions. The solutions for the soliton stability are investigated analytically, by using a multi-Gaussian variational approach (VA), with the Vakhitov-Kolokolov (VK) necessary criterion for stability; and numerically, by using the relaxation method and direct numerical time integrations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE). Very good agreement of the results corresponding to both treatments is observed.Comment: 8 pages (two-column format), with 16 eps-files of 4 figure