Constraints on the three-fluid model of curvaton decay

A three fluid system describing the decay of the curvaton is studied by numerical and analytical means. We place constraints on the allowed interaction strengths between the fluids and initial curvaton density by requiring that the curvaton decays before nucleosynthesis while nucleosynthesis, radiation-matter equality and decoupling occur at correct temperatures. We find that with a continuous, time-independent interaction, a small initial curvaton density is naturally preferred along with a low reheating temperature. Allowing for a time-dependent interaction, this constraint can be relaxed. In both cases, a purely adiabatic final state can be generated, but not without fine-tuning. Unlike in the two fluid system, the time-dependent interactions are found to have a small effect on the curvature perturbation itself due to the different nature of the system. The presence of non-gaussianity in the model is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Induced photon emission from quark jets in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study the induced photon bremsstrahlung from a fast quark produced in AA-collisions due to multiple scattering in quark-gluon plasma. For RHIC and LHC conditions the induced photon spectrum is sharply peaked at photon energy close to the initial quark energy. In this region the contribution of the induced radiation to the photon fragmentation function exceeds the ordinary vacuum radiation. Contrary to previous analyses our results show that at RHIC and LHC energies the final-state interaction effects in quark-gluon plasma do not suppress the direct photon production, and even may enhance it at p_{T} about 5-15 GeV.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Numerical Simulations of Turbulent Molecular Clouds Regulated by Radiation Feedback Forces II: Radiation-Gas Interactions and Outflows

Momentum deposition by radiation pressure from young, massive stars may help to destroy molecular clouds and unbind stellar clusters by driving large-scale outflows. We extend our previous numerical radiation hydrodynamic study of turbulent, star-forming clouds to analyze the detailed interaction between non-ionizing UV radiation and the cloud material. Our simulations trace the evolution of gas and star particles through self-gravitating collapse, star formation, and cloud destruction via radiation-driven outflows. These models are idealized in that we include only radiation feedback and adopt an isothermal equation of state. Turbulence creates a structure of dense filaments and large holes through which radiation escapes, such that only ~50% of the radiation is (cumulatively) absorbed by the end of star formation. The surface density distribution of gas by mass as seen by the central cluster is roughly lognormal with sigma_ln(Sigma) = 1.3-1.7, similar to the externally-projected surface density distribution. This allows low surface density regions to be driven outwards to nearly 10 times their initial escape speed v_esc. Although the velocity distribution of outflows is broadened by the lognormal surface density distribution, the overall efficiency of momentum injection to the gas cloud is reduced because much of the radiation escapes. The mean outflow velocity is approximately twice the escape speed from the initial cloud radius. Our results are also informative for understanding galactic-scale wind driving by radiation, in particular the relationship between velocity and surface density for individual outflow structures, and the resulting velocity and mass distributions arising from turbulent sources.Comment: ApJ, in press (28 pages, 14 figures

Adiabatic initial conditions for perturbations in interacting dark energy models

We present a new systematic analysis of the early radiation era solution in an interacting dark energy model to find the adiabatic initial conditions for the Boltzmann integration. In a model where the interaction is proportional to the dark matter density, adiabatic initial conditions and viable cosmologies are possible if the early-time dark energy equation of state parameter is $w_e > -4/5$. We find that when adiabaticity between cold dark matter, baryons, neutrinos and photons is demanded, the dark energy component satisfies automatically the adiabaticity condition. As supernovae Ia or baryon acoustic oscillation data require the recent-time equation of state parameter to be more negative, we consider a time-varying equation of state in our model. In a companion paper [arXiv:0907.4987] we apply the initial conditions derived here, and perform a full Monte Carlo Markov Chain likelihood analysis of this model.Comment: 12 pages. V2: Minor changes, references added, conclusions extended; Accepted by MNRA

Dissecting Soft Radiation with Factorization

An essential part of high-energy hadronic collisions is the soft hadronic activity that underlies the primary hard interaction. It includes soft radiation from the primary hard partons, secondary multiple parton interactions (MPI), and factorization-violating effects. The invariant mass spectrum of the leading jet in $Z$+jet and $H$+jet events is directly sensitive to these effects, and we use a QCD factorization theorem to predict its dependence on the jet radius $R$, jet $p_T$, jet rapidity, and partonic process for both the perturbative and nonperturbative components of primary soft radiation. We prove that the nonperturbative contributions involve only odd powers of $R$, and the linear $R$ term is universal for quark and gluon jets. The hadronization model in PYTHIA8 agrees well with these properties. The perturbative soft initial state radiation (ISR) has a contribution that depends on the jet area in the same way as the underlying event, but this degeneracy is broken by dependence on the jet $p_T$. The size of this soft ISR contribution is proportional to the color state of the initial partons, yielding the same positive contribution for $gg\to Hg$ and $gq\to Zq$, but a negative interference contribution for $q\bar q\to Z g$. Hence, measuring these dependencies allows one to separate hadronization, soft ISR, and MPI contributions in the data.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, v2: PRL version, text rearrange

Real-time dynamics of the formation of hydrated electrons upon irradiation of water clusters with extreme ultraviolet light

Free electrons in a polar liquid can form a bound state via interaction with the molecular environment. This so-called hydrated electron state in water is of fundamental importance e.g.~in cellular biology or radiation chemistry. Hydrated electrons are highly reactive radicals that can either directly interact with DNA or enzymes, or form highly excited hydrogen (H∗) after being captured by protons. Here, we investigate the formation of the hydrated electron in real-time employing XUV femtosecond pulses from a free electron laser, in this way observing the initial steps of the hydration process. Using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy we find formation timescales in the low picosecond range and resolve the prominent dynamics of forming excited hydrogen states

Collective effects in the collapse-revival phenomenon and squeezing in the Dicke model

Resonant interaction of a collection of two-level atoms with a single-mode coherent cavity field is considered in the framework of the Dicke model. We focus on the role of collective atomic effects in the phenomenon of collapses and revivals of the Rabi oscillations. It is shown that the behavior of the system strongly depends on the initial atomic state. In the case of the initial half-excited Dicke state we account for a number of interesting phenomena. The correlations between the atoms result in a suppression of the revival amplitude, and the revival time is halved, compared to the uncorrelated fully-excited and ground states. The phenomenon of squeezing of the radiation field in the atom-field interaction is also discussed. For the initial fully-excited and ground atomic states, the field is squeezed on the short-time scale, and squeezing can be enhanced by increasing the number of atoms. Some empirical formulas are found which describe the behavior of the system in excellent agreement with numerical results. For the half-excited Dicke state, the field can be strongly squeezed on the long-time scale in the case of two atoms. This kind of squeezing is enhanced by increasing the intensity of the initial coherent field and is of the same nature as revival-time squeezing in the Jaynes-Cummings model. The appearance of this long-time squeezing can be explained using the factorization approximation for semiclassical atomic states.Comment: REVTeX, 13 pages, 19 figures, published in PR

Wave packet dynamics of entangled two-mode states

We consider a model Hamiltonian describing the interaction of a single-mode radiation field with the atoms of a nonlinear medium, and study the dynamics of entanglement for specific non-entangled initial states of interest: namely, those in which the field mode is initially in a Fock state, a coherent state, or a photon-added coherent state. The counterparts of near-revivals and fractional revivals are shown to be clearly identifiable in the entropy of entanglement. The ``overlap fidelity'' of the system is another such indicator, and its behaviour corroborates that of the entropy of entanglement in the vicinity of near-revivals. The expectation values and higher moments of suitable quadrature variables are also examined, with reference to possible squeezing and higher-order squeezing.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure