Comparative investigation of <Emphasis Type="Bold">39</Emphasis>K and <Emphasis Type="Bold">40</Emphasis>K trap loss rates: alternative loss channel at low light intensities

We report a comparative investigation of trap loss rates in a magneto-optical trap for two potassium isotopes, ³⁹K and ⁴⁰K, as a function of trap light intensity. The isotopes present a quite similar behavior for the loss rates at high intensities, and a sudden increase of the loss rates at low intensities is present in both cases. While for ³⁹K such increase can be explained assuming that the major contribution to the losses comes from hyperfine changing collisions, a different loss mechanism must be considered for ⁴⁰K, which has an inverted ground state hyperfine structure. The experimental results of both isotopes are well reproduced by an alternative model based on radiative escape as the dominant loss mechanism. Received 1st May 2002 / Received in final form 19 October 2002 Published online 4 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Alternative address: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Trento, 38050 Povo (Tn), Italy. RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: marcassa@if.sc.usp.br     

Isomerization and dissociation of small (CH <Emphasis Type="Bold">3</Emphasis>CN) <Emphasis Type="Bold">n</Emphasis> molecular clusters: a computational study

The isomerization and evaporation processes in the neutral homogeneous (CH₃CN)_n molecular clusters (n = 2-7) have been investigated using classical molecular dynamics simulations. The evaporation rate constants and the kinetic energy release in the dissociation have been analysed as a function of the cluster size and as a function of the internal energy in the parent cluster. The competition between monomer and dimer ejections has been also carefully studied. All the dynamical properties in these dissociative processes have been discussed in relation to the static properties of the clusters involved in the dissociation and also in relation to the solid-liquid like transition which appears in these homogeneous molecular clusters. Received 19 November 2002 / Received in final form 5 February 2003 Published online 29 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: pascal.parneix@ppm.u-psud.fr RID="b" ID="b"Laboratoire associé à l'université Paris-Sud.     

Electron-electron bound states in Maxwell-Chern-Simons-Proca QED <Emphasis Type="Bold">3</Emphasis>

We start from a parity-breaking MCS QED₃ model with spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry as a framework for evaluation of the electron-electron interaction potential and for attainment of numerical values for the e ^- e ^- - bound state. Three expressions ( V _eff , V _eff , V _eff ) are obtained according to the polarization state of the scattered electrons. In an energy scale compatible with condensed matter electronic excitations, these three potentials become degenerated. The resulting potential is implemented in the Schr?dinger equation and the variational method is applied to carry out the electronic binding energy. The resulting binding energies in the scale of 10-100 meV and a correlation length in the scale of 10-30 ? are possible indications that the MCS-QED₃ model adopted may be suitable to address an eventual case of e ^- e ^- pairing in the presence of parity-symmetry breakdown. The data analyzed here suggest an energy scale of 10-100 meV to fix the breaking of the U (1)-symmetry. Received 24 September 2002 / Received in final form 15 January 2003 Published online 1st April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: belich@cbpf.br RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: delcima@cbpf.br RID="c" ID="c"e-mail: manojr@cbpf.br RID="d" ID="d"e-mail: helayel@cbpf.br     

Band structure of tetragonal BaTiO <Emphasis Type="Bold">3</Emphasis>

The electronic structure, total density of states DOS and electronic density in ferroelectric tetragonal crystal BaTiO₃ are studied using WIEN2k package. This employs the full potential-linearized augmented plan wave FP-LAPW method in the framework of the density functional theory DFT with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The results show an indirect band gap of 2.30 eV at the Γ point in the Brillouin zone. The calculated band structure and density of states of BaTiO₃ agree with the previous experimental and theoretical results, as do the charge distribution and the prediction of the nature of the chemical bonding. Received 11 December 2002 / Received in final form 3 February 2003 Published online 1st April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: salehihamid@yahoo.com     

Ginzburg-Landau theory and effects of pressure on a two-band superconductor: application to MgB <Emphasis Type="Bold">2</Emphasis>

We present a model of pressure effects of a two-band superconductor based on a Ginzburg-Landau free energy with two order parameters. The parameters of the theory are pressure as well as temperature dependent. New pressure effects emerge as a result of the competition between the two bands. The theory then is applied to MgB₂. We identify two possible scenaria regarding the fate of the two σ subbands under pressure, depending on whether or not both subbands are above the Fermi energy at ambient pressure. The splitting of the two subbands is probably caused by the E_2g distortion. If only one subband is above the Fermi energy at ambient pressure (scenario I), application of pressure diminishes the splitting and it is possible that the lower subband participates in the superconductivity. The corresponding crossover pressure and Gr neisen parameter are estimated. In the second scenario both bands start above the Fermi energy and they move below it, either by pressure or via the substitution of Mg by Al. In both scenaria, the possibility of electronical topological transition is emphasized. Experimental signatures of both scenaria are presented and existing experiments are discussed in the light of the different physical pictures. Received 3 September 2002 / Received in final form 16 December 2002 Published online 14 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: joseph.betouras@ua.ac.be RID="b" ID="b"On leave from N.S. Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 31 Leninskii prospekt, 117915, Moscow, Russia     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">EPJdirect</Emphasis>

Quark mass effects are analyzed at high Q² in the current fragmentation region of DIS. It is found that the linear combination F ₂ -2.75F ^c ₂ scales at large Q² and small x. We obtained a lower bound for the ratio F ^c ₂/F ₂ which lies very close to the data from HERA. Received: 14 January 2002 / Revised version: 9 October 2002 Published online: 9 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: ryutin@th1.ihep.su     

Ab initio vibrational and dielectric properties of chalcopyrite CuInS <Emphasis Type="Bold">2</Emphasis>

We have performed a first-principles study of structural, dynamical, and dielectric properties of the chalcopyrite semiconductor CuInS₂. The calculations have been carried out within the local density functional approximation using norm-conserving pseudopotentials and a plane-wave basis. Born effective charge tensors, dielectric permitivity tensors, the phonon frequencies at the Brillouin zone center and mode oscillator strengths are calculated using density functional perturbation theory. The calculated properties agree with infrared and Raman measurements. Received 12 December 2002 / Received in final form 17 March 2003 Published online 20 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: resul@ibu.edu.tr     

On the effective lagrangian in spinor electrodynamics with added violation of Lorentz and <Emphasis Type="Italic">CPT</Emphasis>-symmetries

We consider quantum electrodynamics with additional coupling of spinor fields to the space-time independent axial vector violating both Lorentz and CPT-symmetries. The Fock-Schwinger proper-time method is used to calculate the one-loop effective action up to the second order in the axial vector and to all orders in the space-time independent electromagnetic field strength. We find that the Chern-Simons term is not radiatively induced and that the effective action is CPT-invariant in the given approximation. Received: 29 January 2003 / Published online: 24 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: sitenko@itp.unibe.ch RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: rulik@to.infn.it     

Sub-Doppler fluorescence on the atomic <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> line of a submicron rubidium-vapor layer

An extremely thin cell (ETC) with the thickness of a Rb atomic vapor layer in the range of 100–300 nm was fabricated. It is demonstrated that a simple laser-diode technique with a single resonant light beam is sufficient to observe separately all of the atomic hyperfine transitions of the D ₂ line of Rb (780 nm) and also allows us to measure the relative transition probabilities of the hyperfine transitions. The onset of collisional self-broadening of the hyperfine transitions as the number density of atoms increases was studied. The detrimental role of the atoms with slow longitudinal velocity in the sub-Doppler response of the Rb ETC is demonstrated by studies in which the cell is tilted from normal incidence of the laser beam. It is also shown that using an ETC allows us to resolve in a moderate external magnetic field the Zeeman splitting of the hyperfine transitions of the ⁸⁷Rb D ₁ transition F _g=1F _e=1,2. Received: 19 February 2003 / Revised version: 4 April 2003 / Published online: 2 June 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +374/32-31172, E-mail: david@ipr.sci.am     

Maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing in an <Emphasis Type="Italic">SU</Emphasis>(5) model

We show that maximal atmospheric and large solar neutrino mixing can be implemented in SU(5) gauge theories, by making use of the U(1) _F symmetry associated with a suitably defined family number F, together with a Z₂ symmetry which does not commute with F. U(1) _F is softly broken by the mass terms of the right-handed neutrino singlets, which are responsible for the seesaw mechanism; in additio n, U(1) _F is also spontaneously broken at the electroweak scale. In our scenario, lepton mixing stems exclusively from the right-handed-neutrino Majorana mass matrix, whereas the CKM matrix originates solely in the up-type-quark sector. We show that, despite the non-supersymmetric character of our model, unification of the gauge couplings can be achieved at a scale 10¹⁶ GeV < m _U < 10¹⁹ GeV; indeed, we have found a particula r solution to this problem which yields results almost identical to the ones of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Received: 29 November 2002 / Published online: 3 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: walter.grimus@univie.ac.at RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: balio@cfif.ist.utl.pt     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> to light meson transition form factors calculated in perturbative QCD approach

We calculate the , (P is the light pseudoscalar meson, V the light vector meson) form factors in the large-recoil limit in the perturbative QCD approach, including both the vector (axial vector) and tensor operators. In general there are two leading components and for the B meson wave functions. We consider both contributions of them. Sudakov effects ( and threshold resummation) are included to regulate the soft end-point singularity. By choosing the hard scale as the maximum virtualities of the internal particles in the hard b quark decay amplitudes, Sudakov factors can effectively suppress the long-distance soft contribution. The hard contribution can be dominant in these approaches. Received: 27 December 2002 / Published online: 5 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: lucd@mail.ihep.ac.cn RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: yangmz@mail.ihep.ac.cn     

Relativistic theory of the electric quadrupole moment of a hydrogen-like atom in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis>1/2 and <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>1/2 states

Relativistic analytical expressions are derived for the electric quadrupole moment induced by the hyperfine interaction of the electron with the nucleus of a hydrogen-like atom in the ns_1/2 and np_1/2 states. The magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine interactions are taken into account. The calculations are performed using the generalized virial relationships for the Dirac equation in a central field. The dependences of the electric quadrupole moment on the nuclear charge Z and the principal quantum number n are analyzed. The induced quadrupole moments are compared with the nuclear quadrupole moments.     

Lepton flavor-changing scalar interactions and <Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis>-2 of the muon

A systematic investigation on the muon's anomalous magnetic moment and a related lepton flavor-violating process such as , and is made at the two-loop level in the models with flavor-changing scalar interactions. The two-loop diagrams with double scalar exchanges are studied and their contributions are found to be compatible with the ones from the Barr-Zee diagram. By comparing with the latest data, the allowed ranges for the relevant Yukawa couplings Y_ij in the lepton sector are obtained. The results show the hierarchical structure in the physical basis if is found to be . It deviates from the widely used ansatz in which the off-diagonal elements are proportional to the square root of the products of the related fermion masses. An alternative Yukawa coupling matrix in the lepton sector is suggested to understand the current data. With such a reasonable Yukawa coupling ansatz, the decay rate of is found to be near the current experiment upper bound. Received: 5 September 2002 / Revised version: 11 January 2003 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: zhou@theorie.physik.uni-muenchen.de RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: ylwu@itp.ac.cn     

Experimental and <Emphasis Type="Italic">ab initio</Emphasis> study of the hyperfine parameters of ZnFe <Subscript>2</Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis><Subscript>4</Subscript> with defects

We present a combined Mössbauer and ab initio study on the influence of oxygen-vacancies on the hyperfine and magnetic properties of the ZnFe ₂ O ₄ spinel ferrite. Samples with different degree of oxygen-vacancies were obtained from zinc ferrite powder that was thermally treated at different temperatures up to 650 ^°C under vacuum.Theoretical calculations of the hyperfine parameters, magnetic moments and magnetic alignment have been carried out considering different defects such as oxygen vacancies and cation inversion. We show how theoretical and experimental approaches are complementary to characterize the local structure around Fe atoms and interpret the observed changes in the hyperfine parameters as the level of defects increases.     

On the Sutherland Spin Model of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis></Subscript> Type and Its Associated Spin Chain

 The B _N hyperbolic Sutherland spin model is expressed in terms of a suitable set of commuting Dunkl operators. This fact is exploited to derive a complete family of commuting integrals of motion of the model, thus establishing its integrability. The Dunkl operators are shown to possess a common flag of invariant finite-dimensional linear spaces of smooth scalar functions. This implies that the Hamiltonian of the model preserves a corresponding flag of smooth spin functions. The discrete spectrum of the restriction of the Hamiltonian to this spin flag is explicitly computed by triangularization. The integrability of the hyperbolic Sutherland spin chain of B _N type associated with the dynamical model is proved using Polychronakos's ``freezing trick'. Received: 14 February 2002 / Accepted: 19 June 2002 Published online: 10 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*" Corresponding author. E-mail: artemio@fis.ucm.es RID="**" ID="**" On leave of absence from Institute of Mathematics, 3 Tereschenkivska St., 01601 Kyiv-4 Ukraine Communicated by L. Takhtajan     

Wavelength control in Er <Emphasis Type="Bold">3+</Emphasis>-doped fluoride glasses laser by a coherent field

A five-level system to control the wavelength of the in-line amplifier by the quantum interference is proposed. It is found that the gains of the first and the second probe can be adjusted by changing the coherent field and the incoherent pumping. The new scheme may find its application in optical switch and optical communications. Received 9 October 2002 Published online 24 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: qol@mail.jlu.edu.cn     

Radiative <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis>3</Subscript> decays revisited

Motivated by recent experimental results and ongoing measurements, we review the chiral perturbation theory prediction for decays. Special emphasis is given to the stability of the inner bremsstrahlung-dominated relative branching ratio versus the K _e3 form factors, and on the separation of the structure-dependent amplitude in differential distributions over the phase space. For the structure-dependent terms, an assessment of the order p ⁶ corrections is given, in particular, a full next-to-leading order calculation of the axial component is performed. The experimental analysis of the photon energy spectrum is discussed, and other potentially useful distributions are introduced.Received: 9 December 2004, Published online: 21 February 2005PACS: 13.20.Eb, 11.30.Rd, 12.39.Fe     

Electronic structure of thin film iron-tetracyanoethylene: Fe(TCNE)<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>

Thin film iron-tetracyanoethylene Fe(TCNE) _x , x∼2, as determined by photoelectron spectroscopy, was grown in situ under ultra-high vacuum conditions using a recently developed physical vapor deposition-based technique for fabrication of oxygen- and precursor-free organic-based molecular magnets. Photoelectron spectroscopy results show no spurious trace elements in the films, and the iron is of Fe²⁺ valency. The highest occupied molecular orbital of Fe(TCNE) _x is located at ∼1.7 eV vs. Fermi level and is derived mainly from the TCNE⁻ singly occupied molecular orbital according to photoelectron spectroscopy and resonant photoelectron spectroscopy results. The Fe(3d)-derived states appear at higher binding energy, ∼4.5 eV, which is in contrast to V(TCNE)₂ where the highest occupied molecular orbital is mainly derived from V(3d) states. Fitting ligand field multiplet and charge transfer multiplet calculations to the Fe L-edge near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectrum yields a high-spin Fe²⁺ (3d⁶) configuration with a crystal field parameter 10Dq∼0.6 eV for the Fe(TCNE) _x system. We propose that the significantly weaker Fe-TCNE ligand interaction as compared to the room temperature magnet V(TCNE)₂ (10Dq∼2.3 eV) is a strongly contributing factor to the substantially lower magnetic ordering temperature (T _C ) seen for Fe(TCNE) _x -type magnets.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis>3</Subscript> decays and CKM unitarity

We present a detailed numerical study of the K_e3 decays to in chiral perturbation theory with virtual photons and leptons. We describe the extraction of the CKM matrix element |V_us| from the experimental K_e3 decay parameters. We propose a consistency check of the K ⁺ _e3 and K⁰_e3 data that is largely insensitive to the dominating theoretical uncertainties, in particular the contributions of . Our analysis is highly relevant in view of the recent high statistics measurement of the K ⁺ _e3 branching ratio by E865 at Brookhaven which does not indicate any significant deviation from CKM unitarity but rather a discrepancy with the present K⁰_e3 data.Received: 22 January 2004, Published online: 30 April 2004Work supported in part by IHP-RTN, Contract No. HPRN-CT2002-00311 (EURIDICE) and by Acciones Integradas, Project No. 19/2003 (Austria), HU2002-0044 (MCYT, Spain)