Attosecond physics with neutrons and electrons: Ultrafast entanglement and decoherence phenomena involving protons in condensed matter and molecules

Nuclei and electrons in condensed matter and/or molecules are usually entangled, due to the prevailing electromagnetic interactions. Usually, the “environment” of a microscopic scattering system (e.g., a proton) causes an ultrafast decoherence, thus making atomic and/or nuclear entanglement effects not directly accessible to experiments. However, neutron Compton scattering (NCS) and electron Compton scattering represent ultrafast techniques operating in the sub-femtosecond timescale, thus opening a way for investigation of such dehoherence and short-lived entanglement phenomena of atoms in molecules and condensed matter. The experimental context of NCS and a new striking scattering effect from protons (H-atoms) in several condensed systems and molecules are described. In short, one observes an “anomalous” decrease of scattering intensity from protons, which seem to become partially “invisible” to the neutrons. The experiments apply large energy (several electronvolts) and momentum (10–200 Å^?1 transfers, and the collisional (or scattering) time between the neutron and a struck proton is only 100–1000 attoseconds long. Similar results are also obtained with electron-atom Compton scattering at large momentum transfers. As an example, we present new NCS experimental results from a single crystal, which also provide new physical insights into the attosecond quantum dynamics of protons in molecules and condensed matter. Theoretical discussions and models are presented which show that the effect under consideration is caused by the non-unitary time evolution (due to decoherence) of open quantum systems during the ultrashort, but finite, time-window of the neutron-proton scattering process. The conceptual connection with the well known Quantum Zeno Effect is pointed out. The experimental results, together with their qualitative interpretation “from first principles,” show that epithermal neutrons being available at spallation sources, and electron spectrometers providing large momentum transfers, may represent novel tools for investigation of thus far unknown physical and chemical attosecond phenomena.     

Measurement of the neutron F2 structure function via spectator tagging with CLAS

We report on the first measurement of the F(2) structure function of the neutron from the semi-inclusive scattering of electrons from deuterium, with low-momentum protons detected in the backward hemisphere. Restricting the momentum of the spectator protons to ?100 MeV/c and their angles to ?100° relative to the momentum transfer allows an interpretation of the process in terms of scattering from nearly on-shell neutrons. The F(2)(n) data collected cover the nucleon-resonance and deep-inelastic regions over a wide range of Bjorken x for 0.65相似文献   

Asymmetry in the scattering of protons on polarized deuterons at 1.21 GeV/c

By using a polarized deuteron target we have measured the asymmetry in the differential cross section for elastic scattering of protons on deuterons and for quasi-elastic scattering of protons on protons bound in deuterons between the two states of opposite polarization, normal to the scattering plane of the initial deuteron. The beam momentum was 1.21 GeV/c. It is checked that the neutrons bound in the deuterons are polarized to approximately 20%.     

Proton production in <Superscript>16</Superscript>O<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> collisions at 3.25 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon

The momentum features of protons originating as fragments from ¹⁶Op interactions at 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon are analyzed for the first time under conditions of 4π geometry. It is found that the mechanisms of the production of all protons traveling in the forward direction in the rest frame of the fragmenting nucleus (with the exception of evaporated protons) do not depend on either the primary energy or the target-nucleus type, this regularity being quite universal for the formation of such protons. It is shown that there is a strong correlation between the shape of the momentum spectrum of protons appearing as fragments from such interactions, especially slow protons, and the degree of the excitation of the fragmenting nucleus.     

能量在10Bev以下的π-N,p-N和p-N相互作用

本文试把到写稿时为止(1961年3月底)的一切关于π-N,p-N和p-p的作用和入射粒子能量在几百Mev.至10Bev.范围以内的实验工作予以报导和总论。举凡关于这些作用的总截面、弹性散射截面和非弹性散射截面,都经收集整理,并加以分析。这些截面随能量的增减而变化的情况,都以曲线表达,并且与理论结果作出比较。曲线中有几个重要和有趣之点,也予以指出。在π-N作用中的几个共振峯和关于他们的理论解释,也经较详细的叙述。在弹性散射方面,我们将微分截面的角分布和理论作了比较。在非弹性散射方面,我们把多重产生、动量分布、角分布、横动量和它们与入射粒子能量的关系,都加以分析和讨论。我们特别注意和讨论了下列二种情况:在π-p作用时,质子总是向后散射;而在p-p作用时,两个质子总是不各向均匀地但向前后对称地散射。这种现象被称为质子的“边缘”碰撞。我们认为,这些和其他事实都可能表明了在质子内的确有“核心”的存在,而且这个“核心”非常的小,它的直径比0.4×10^-13厘米要小得多。     

PNL分子在正、负电性纳米银上的吸附取向

制备了两种不同电性的纳米银粒子的脉体,发现当邻菲罗啉分子分别吸附在这两种纳米银上时,其表面增强喇曼谱有明显的不同.在正电性纳米银上,面外弯曲模式受到增强,而在负电性纳米银上,面内伸缩模式受到增强,通过分析增强谱的差异表明,分子在这两种不同电性胶态纳米银表面上可能分别以平躺及站立方式吸附.     

Elastic and inelastic scattering of 178 MeV protons from 58Ni and 60Ni

The elastic and inelastic scattering of 178 MeV protons from ⁵⁸Ni and ⁶⁰Ni has been studied. Angular distributions were measured for the differential cross sections for elastic scattering as well as inelastic scattering from excited states below about 5 MeV, all with natural parity. For the elastic and for the inelastic scattering from the first excited state (2⁺ in both nuclei, the angular distributions for the polarization were also measured. The measurements extend out to c.m. angles of about 60°, corresponding to a momentum transfer of about 600 MeV/c.The elastic and inelastic scattering data were compared to the results of coupled-channel calculations in the vibrational model using a deformed spin-orbit interaction of the full Thomas form. Good agreement was found in general showing that the main features of the experimental results are well described in this model.     

Measurement of transverse single-spin asymmetries for Dijet production in proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=200 GeV

We report the first measurement of the opening angle distribution between pairs of jets produced in high-energy collisions of transversely polarized protons. The measurement probes (Sivers) correlations between the transverse spin orientation of a proton and the transverse momentum directions of its partons. With both beams polarized, the wide pseudorapidity (-1< or = eta < or = +2) coverage for jets permits separation of Sivers functions for the valence and sea regions. The resulting asymmetries are all consistent with zero and considerably smaller than Sivers effects observed in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. We discuss theoretical attempts to reconcile the new results with the sizable transverse spin effects seen in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and forward hadron production in pp collisions.     

Production of mesons and baryons at high rapidity and high p(T) in proton-proton collisions at square root[s] = 200 GeV

We present particle spectra for charged hadrons pi(+/-), K(+/-), p, and p[over] from pp collisions at square root[s] = 200 GeV measured for the first time at forward rapidities (2.95 and 3.3). The kinematics of these measurements are skewed in a way that probes the small momentum fraction in one of the protons and large fractions in the other. Large proton to pion ratios are observed at values of transverse momentum that extend up to 4 GeV/c, where protons have momenta up to 35 GeV. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations describe the production of pions and kaons well at these rapidities, but fail to account for the large proton yields and small p[over]/p ratios.     

Reaction Mechanisms of the Proton-Deuteron Breakup Process at GeV Energies

The deuteron fragmentation by fast protons has been studied both near the kinematics of quasi-free proton-proton scattering and far away from it. We have concentrated on the interplay between different reaction mechanisms associated with the antisymmetrization of the initial and final states and rescattering contributions. A multiple-scattering-expansion technique has been applied to evaluate the reaction amplitude. An essential element of this approach in the momentum representation is the use of the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction constructed by Love and Franey as a two-body t-matrix for the incident proton scattering on a bound nucleon in the deuteron. Along with the five-fold cross sections, the proton analyzing power and the deuteron analyzing powers have been calculated as function of the momentum of the outgoing fast proton. The results are compared with the data obtained by the Gatchina-Saclay collaboration.Received October 12, 2001; accepted March 7, 2003 Published online August 25, 2003     

Probing the spin-orbit coupling of nuclear protons

The strong absorption in quasi-free scattering opens a possibility of measuring the spin-orbit coupling of nuclear protons. Cross sections for polarized incoming protons are expected to exhibit pronounced asymmetries, with size and sign depending on the selected momentum and the spin-orbit coupling in the nuclear state involved.     

Pick-up and inelastic scattering contributions to the proton optical potential

The contributions from couplings with the available inelastic (p, p′) and pick-up (p, d) channels to the elastic scattering of 30 MeV protons from ⁴⁰Ca, ⁴⁸Ca and ²⁰⁸Pb were studied. The equivalent non-local potentials were constructed and attempts were made to find local equivalents to them. These potentials are dependent upon angular momentum. Inelastic scattering produces an attractive contribution to the real potential but pick-up results in a much larger repulsive term. The main features of the observed scattering from ²⁰⁸Pb can be reproduced by coupling to 24 channels provided a supplementary absorptive term is included. The explicit couplings by themselves can produce 90 % of the observed absorption cross section but only about one-half of the empirical absorptive potential strength.     

Probing proton halo of the exotic nucleus ~(28)S by elastic electron scattering

~~Probing proton halo of the exotic nucleus ~(28)S by elastic electron scattering~~     

Anomalous behavior of proton zero point motion in water confined in carbon nanotubes

The momentum distribution of the protons in ice Ih, ice VI, high density amorphous ice, and water in carbon nanotubes has been measured using deep inelastic neutron scattering. We find that at 5 K the kinetic energy of the protons is 35 meV less than that in ice Ih at the same temperature, and the high momentum tail of the distribution, characteristic of the molecular covalent bond, is not present. We observe a phase transition between 230 and 268 K to a phase that does resemble ice Ih. Although there is yet no model for water that explains the low temperature momentum distribution, our data reveal that the protons in the hydrogen bonds are coherently delocalized and that the low temperature phase is a qualitatively new phase of ice.     

Possible interpretation of the „anomalous“ behaviour of the proton spectrum at 0° from the deuteron fragmentation at 9 GeV/c

The momentum spectra of protons, produced at 0° as a result of fragmentation of relativistic deuterons on nuclei, are analyzed. Possible causes of the existing discrepancy of the data on the 0° proton spectrum from the¹ H(d,p)X reaction at 9.1 GeV/c with results of the impulse approximation calculations are considered. It is shown that taking into account the finite angular resolution of the experimental setup and the corresponding renormalization of the experimental data, on the one hand, and also the inclusion of the additional (to stripping) contribution of protons from the scattering of deuteron nucleons by target protons, on the other, make it possible to match these data with the results of calculations within the framework of the relativistic impulse approximation using the deuteron wave function for the Paris potential.     

质子和中子在硅中位移损伤等效性计算

基于蒙特卡罗软件Geant4,探讨质子与硅的库仑散射和核反应及中子与硅的核反应产生反冲原子沉积非电离能量的过程,建立质子和中子在硅中的非电离能量阻止本领计算方法。在此方法中,描述了原子间库仑散射的物理过程,模拟带电粒子与晶格原子之间的屏蔽库仑散射。计算得到不同能量质子和中子在硅中因库仑散射和核反应产生反冲原子的非电离能量沉积及阻止本领的等效性,计算结果与中子ASTM标准及文献计算得到的质子数据符合很好。     

Polarization in quasielastic (p,2p) scattering on a 4He nucleus at 1 GeV

The polarization of secondary protons from the (p, 2p) reaction induced by 1-GeV protons incident to a ⁴He nucleus was measured in a kinematically complete experiment. By using a two-arm magnetic spectrometer, two secondary protons from this reaction were recorded in coincidence at unequal scattering angles of Θ₁ = 18°?24.21° and Θ₂ = 53.22° over a broad range of the recoil-nucleus momentum K _B between 0 and 150 MeV/c. It was found that the measured polarization of either secondary proton is less than that observed in free elastic proton-proton scattering. The magnitude of this difference is determined by the mean binding energy of s-shell protons rather than by the effective nuclear density. The polarizations measured in inclusive quasielastic and elastic scattering of 1-GeV protons on ⁴He nuclei are presented for scattering angles in the range Θ₁ = 18° ? 24.21°.     

Intraband coherence of Bloch oscillations after momentum scattering

Resonantly excited secondary emission of light (RSE) in GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices gives a direct proof for the stability of coherent Bloch dynamics beyond the optical coherent regime. The polarization analysis of the RSE signal confirms its nonlinear origin resulting from coherent intraband density dynamics. It is shown that the intraband coherence of Bloch oscillations (BO) persists after momentum scattering of the photoexcited states. A variation of emission angle and excitation density allows to distinguish two momentum scattering processes contributing to the RSE. A static disorder mediated contribution is restricted to directions near the reflection direction. A further contribution of carrier induced momentum scattering is resolved in directions well separated from diffraction directions. The dependence of the RSE as a function of an external electric field demonstrates an enhancement of momentum scattering with increasing field. PACS 78.47.+p; 63.20Kr; 71.35.-y.     

First measurement of a phonon dispersion curve by inelastic X-ray scattering

Inelastic scattering of 13.8 keV X-rays with very high energy resolution of E=55 meV was used to measure the phonon dispersion curves for theLA andLO modes in the [00] direction in Be. The results agree with inelastic neutron scattering data known from the literature. The X-ray scattering intensities of the phonon excitations for different momentum transfers are in very good agreement with the prediction from the scattering law.