Search for contact interactions in deep inelastic e^+p\to e^+X scattering at HERA

In a search for signatures of physics processes beyond the Standard Model, various eeqq vector contact–interaction hypotheses have been tested using the high– deep inelastic neutral–current scattering data collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of of interactions at 300 GeV center–of–mass energy. No significant evidence of a contact–interaction signal has been found. Limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the contact–interaction amplitudes. The effective mass scales corresponding to these limits range from 1.7 TeV to 5 TeV for the contact–interaction scenarios considered. Received: 18 May 1999 / Revised version: 14 January 2000 / Published online: 25 February 2000     

Towards a new global QCD analysis: low <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis> DIS data from non-linear evolution

A new approach to global QCD analysis is developed. The main ingredients are two QCD-based evolution equations. The first one is the Balitsky-Kovchegov non-linear equation, which sums higher twists while preserving unitarity. The second equation is linear and it is responsible for the correct short distance behavior of the theory, namely it includes the DGLAP kernel. Our approach allows for extrapolation of the parton distributions to the very high energies available at the LHC as well as very low photon virtualities, . All existing low x data on the F₂ structure function are reproduced using two fitting parameters, the other parameters were taken as constants. The result is . Analyzing the parameter at very low x and Q² well below we find -0.1. This is a result which agrees with the “soft pomeron” intercept without involving soft physics. Received: 9 September 2002 / Revised version: 15 November 2002 / Published online: 14 February 2003     

Neutron halo isomers in stable nuclei and their possible application for the production of low energy, pulsed, polarized neutron beams of high intensity and high brilliance

We propose to search for neutron halo isomers populated via γ-capture in stable nuclei with mass numbers of about A=140–180 or A=40–60, where the 4s _1/2 or 3s _1/2 neutron shell model state reaches zero binding energy. These halo nuclei can be produced for the first time with new γ-beams of high intensity and small band width (≤0.1%) achievable via Compton back-scattering off brilliant electron beams, thus offering a promising perspective to selectively populate these isomers with small separation energies of 1 eV to a few keV. Similar to single-neutron halo states for very light, extremely neutron-rich, radioactive nuclei (Hansen et al. in Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 45:591–634, 1995; Tanihata in J. Phys. G., Nucl. Part. Phys. 22:158–198, 1996; Aumann et al. in Phys. Rev. Lett. 84:35, 2000), the low neutron separation energy and short-range nuclear force allow the neutron to tunnel far out into free space much beyond the nuclear core radius. This results in prolonged half-lives of the isomers for the γ-decay back to the ground state in the 100 ps-μs range. Similar to the treatment of photodisintegration of the deuteron, the neutron release from the neutron halo isomer via a second, low-energy, intense photon beam has a known much larger cross section with a typical energy threshold behavior. In the second step, the neutrons can be released as a low-energy, pulsed, polarized neutron beam of high intensity and high brilliance, possibly being much superior to presently existing beams from reactors or spallation neutron sources.     

Charmless decays B \to{\mathrm{PP}}, {\mathrm{PV}}, and the effects of new strong and electroweak penguins in topcolor-assisted technicolor model

Based on the low energy effective Hamiltonian with generalized factorization, we calculate the new physics contributions to the branching ratios and CP-violating asymmetries of the two-body charmless hadronic decays from the new strong and electroweak penguin diagrams in the topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) model. The top-pion penguins dominate the new physics corrections, and both new gluonic and electroweak penguins contribute effectively to most decay modes. For tree-dominated decay modes , etc. the new physics corrections are less than 10%. For decays , etc. the new physics enhancements can be rather large (from to ) and are insensitive to the variations of and within reasonable ranges. For the decays and is strongly dependent: varying from to in the range of –. The new physics corrections to the CP-violating asymmetries vary greatly for different B decay channels. For five measured CP asymmetries of the decays, is only about 20% and will be masked by large theoretical uncertainties. The new physics enhancements to interesting decays are significant in size (), insensitive to the variations of the input parameters and hence lead to a plausible interpretation for the unexpectedly large decay rates. The TC2 model predictions for branching ratios and CP-violating asymmteries of all fifty-seven decay modes are consistent with the available data within one or two standard deviations. Received: 18 August 2000 / Revised version: 22 October 2000 / Published online: 5 February 2001     

Probing for new physics and detecting non-linear vacuum QED effects using gravitational wave interferometer antennas

Low energy non-linear QED effects in vacuum have been predicted since 1936 and have been subject of research for many decades. Two main schemes have been proposed for such a ‘first’ detection: measurements of ellipticity acquired by a linearly polarized beam of light passing through a magnetic field and direct light–light scattering. The study of the propagation of light through an external field can also be used to probe for new physics such as the existence of axion-like particles and millicharged particles. Their existence in nature would cause the index of refraction of vacuum to be different from unity in the presence of an external field and dependent of the polarization direction of the propagating light. The major achievement of reaching the project sensitivities in gravitational wave interferometers such as LIGO and VIRGO has opened the possibility of using such instruments for the detection of QED corrections in electrodynamics and for probing new physics at very low energies. We show that it is possible to distinguish between various scenarios of new physics in the hypothetical case of detecting unexpected values. Considering the design sensitivity in the strain of the near future VIRGO+ interferometer leads to a variable dipole magnet configuration such that B ² D≥13000 T² m  for a ‘first’ vacuum non-linear QED detection.     

Effective photon spectra for the photon colliders

The luminosity distribution in the effective mass at a photon collider usually has two peaks which are well separated: a high energy peak with mean energy spread about 5–7% and a wide low energy peak. The low energy peak strongly depends on the details of the design and is unsuitable for the study of new physics phenomena. We find a simple approximate form for the spectra of colliding photons for and colliders, whose convolution describes the high energy luminosity peak with a good accuracy in most of the essential preferable region of the parameters. Received: 14 September 1999 / Published online: 17 February 2000     

Measurement of the low-x behaviour of the photon structure function F_2^\gamma

The photon structure function has been measured using data taken by the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies of 91 GeV, 183 GeVand 189 \GeV, in ranges of 1.5–30.0 GeV (LEP1), and 7.0–30.0 GeV (LEP2), probing lower values of x than ever before. Since previous OPAL analyses, new Monte Carlo models and new methods, such as multi-variable unfolding, have been introduced, reducing significantly the model dependent systematic errors in the measurement. The results do not conclusively prove, but are completely consistent with, the presence of a rise in at low-x as expected from QCD. Received: 9 June 2000 / Published online: 13 November 2000     

Surface plasmon resonance response of Au–WO3?x composite films

Surface plasmon resonance of metal–dielectric composite thin films formed by noble metal nanoparticles embedded in a dielectric matrix offers a high degree of flexibility and enables many applications such as surface enhanced spectroscopes, and biological and chemical sensing. In this article, Au–WO_3−x composite films of various Au contents and thicknesses were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique, and their SPR responses were measured in the Kreschmann geometry, using a polarized light beam at 640 nm wavelength. Theoretical calculation of SPR responses based on the Bruggeman or Maxwell–Garnett model with the MacLeod general characteristic matrix method is in obvious discrepancy with experimental measurements but it is able to predict the trend in term of the dependence of SPR responses on Au content and thickness of the Au–WO_3−x films. The SPR responses of the Au–WO_3−x films when exposed to NO gas molecules were measured and the preliminary results indicated that gas sensing using the SPR responses of metal–dielectric composite films is feasible.     

Hilbert Schemes, Separated Variables, and D-Branes

We explain Sklyanin's separation of variables in geometrical terms and construct it for Hitchin and Mukai integrable systems. We construct Hilbert schemes of points on T ^*Σ for Σ=C, C ^* or elliptic curve, and on C ²/Γ and show that their complex deformations are integrable systems of Calogero–Sutherland–Moser type. We present the hyperk?hler quotient constructions for Hilbert schemes of points on cotangent bundles to the higher genus curves, utilizing the results of Hurtubise, Kronheimer and Nakajima. Finally we discuss the connections to physics of D-branes and string duality. Received: 2 November 2000 / Accepted: 7 May 2001     

Conformal couplings and “azimuthal matching” of QCD pomerons

Using the asymptotic conformal invariance of perturbative QCD we derive the expression of the coupling of external states to all conformal spin p components of the forward elastic amplitude. Using the wave function formalism for structure functions at small x, we derive the perturbative coupling of the virtual photon for , which is maximal for linear transverse polarization. The non-perturbative coupling to the proton is discussed in terms of “azimuthal matching” between the proton color dipoles and the configurations of the photon. As an application, the recent conjecture of a second QCD pomeron related to the conformal spin-1 component is shown to rely upon a strong azimuthal matching of the component in –proton scattering. Received: 25 October 1999 / Revised version: 19 January 2000 / Published online: 14 April 2000     

Stochastic Dissipative PDE's and Gibbs Measures

We study a class of dissipative nonlinear PDE's forced by a random force η^{omega( t} , ^x ), with the space variable x varying in a bounded domain. The class contains the 2D Navier–Stokes equations (under periodic or Dirichlet boundary conditions), and the forces we consider are those common in statistical hydrodynamics: they are random fields smooth in t and stationary, short-correlated in time t. In this paper, we confine ourselves to “kick forces” of the form

Anderson Localization for Schrödinger Operators on ℤ with Strongly Mixing Potentials

In this paper we show that for a.e. x∈[ 0,2 π) the operators defined on as

Spin-dependent structure functions of real and virtual photons

The implications of the positivity constraint, , on the presently unknown spin–dependent structure function of real and virtual photons are studied at scales where longitudinally polarized photons dominate physically relevant cross sections. In particular it is shown how to implement the physical constraints of positivity and continuity at in NLO calculations which afford a nontrivial choice of suitable (DIS) factorization schemes related to and and appropriate boundary conditions for the polarized parton distributions of real and virtual photons. The predictions of two extreme ‘maximal’ and ‘minimal’ saturation scenarios are presented and compared with results obtained within the framework of a simple quark ‘box’ calculation expected to yield reasonable estimates in the not too small regions of x and . Received: 16 March 2001 / Published online: 18 May 2001     

Chromatic polarization in solid parahydrogen with an argon impurity at an extremely low concentration

The effect of chromatic polarization observed in samples prepared for studying thermal conductivity of weak solid solutions (p-H₂)_{1 − x} Ar _x has been described. Bulk cylindrical samples have been grown in a molybdenum glass ampule through desublimation followed by control of their quality in polarized light. In contrast to weak solid solutions (p-H₂)_{1 − x} Ne _x with a heavy quasi-isotopic neon impurity, the samples with argon at the same concentrations (several parts per million) exhibit inclined chromatic bands due to elastic mechanical stresses induced after cooling to liquid-helium temperature.     

Exciton-electron interaction in quantum wells with a two dimensional electron gas of low density

II–VI quantum-well structures containing a 2DEG of low density have been investigated by means of polarized photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation and reflectivity in external magnetic fields up to 20 T. The spin splittings of the exciton X and the negatively charged exciton X ⁻ are measured as a function of the magnetic field strength. The behavior of the magnetic-field-induced polarization degree of the luminescence line related to X ⁻ demonstrates the formation process of negatively charged excitons from excitons and free carriers polarized by the external magnetic field. We have determined the binding energies of the trion formed either with the heavy-hole or the light-hole exciton. The optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) technique was applied for the first time to study the optical transition processes in a nanosecond timescale. The electron ODMR was observed with the detection on either the direct exciton or the negatively charged exciton X. Further evidence for the interaction of excitons with the electrons of the two-dimensional gas are demonstrated by a combined exciton-cyclotron resonance line observed in reflectivity and luminescence excitation, shake-up processes observed in photoluminescence, as well as inelastic and spin-dependent scattering processes. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 831–836 (May 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Reproduced here with stylistic changes by the Translation Editor.     

Polarized antiquark flavor asymmetry in Drell–Yan pair production

We investigate the role of the flavor asymmetry of the nucleon's polarized antiquark distributions in Drell–Yan lepton pair production in polarized nucleon–nucleon collisions at HERA (fixed–target) and RHIC energies. It is shown that the large polarized antiquark flavor asymmetry predicted by model calculations in the large– limit (chiral quark–soliton model) has a dramatic effect on the double spin asymmetries in high mass lepton pair production, as well as on the single spin asymmetries in lepton pair production through –bosons at . Received: 31 May 2000 / Revised version: 1 December 2000 / Published online: 5 February 2001     

Transversity distribution and polarized fragmentation function from semi-inclusive pion electroproduction

A method is discussed to determine the hitherto unknown u-quark transversity distribution from a planned HERMES measurement of a single target-spin asymmetry in semi-inclusive pion electroproduction off a transversely polarized target. Assuming u-quark dominance, the measurement yields the shapes of the transversity distribution and of the ratio , of polarized and unpolarized u-quark fragmentation functions. The unknown relative normalization can be obtained by identifying the transversity distribution with the well-known helicity distribution at large x and small . The systematic uncertainty of the method is dominated by the assumption of u-quark dominance. Received: 18 June 2000 / Revised version: 20 November 2000 / Published online: 5 February 2001     

Picard–Fuchs Uniformization and Modularity¶of the Mirror Map

Arithmetic properties of mirror symmetry (type IIA-IIB string duality) are studied. We give criteria for the mirror map q-series of certain families of Calabi–Yau manifolds to be automorphic functions. For families of elliptic curves and lattice polarized K3 surfaces with surjective period mappings, global Torelli theorems allow one to present these criteria in terms of the ramification behavior of natural algebraic invariants – the functional and generalized functional invariants respectively. In particular, when applied to one parameter families of rank 19 lattice polarized K3 surfaces, our criterion demystifies the Mirror-Moonshine phenomenon of Lian and Yau and highlights its non-monstrous nature. The lack of global Torelli theorems and presence of instanton corrections makes Calabi–Yau threefold families more complicated. Via the constraints of special geometry, the Picard–Fuchs equations for one parameter families of Calabi–Yau threefolds imply a differential equation criterion for automorphicity of the mirror map in terms of the Yukawa coupling. In the absence of instanton corrections, the projective periods map to a twisted cubic space curve. A hierarchy of “algebraic” instanton corrections correlated with the differential Galois group of the Picard–Fuchs equation is proposed. Received: 14 August 1999 / Accepted: 30 January 2000     

Optical absorption behavior of Tl<Superscript>+</Superscript> DOPED Rb(Br<Subscript>1–<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>I<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>) system

The optical absorption behavior of Tl⁺ doped Rb(Br_1–x I _x ) mixed crystals (with x = 0.00, 0.05, and 0.10) grown under vacuum by slow cooling from the melt has been studied. Absorption spectra of the mixed crystals recorded at room temperature showed that the characteristic A-absorption band of Tl⁺ ions in the Rb(Br_1–x I _x ) system (0.1 mol. %) with x = 0.00 (i.e., RbBr:Tl⁺) broadened with the iodine content towards the low energy side. Changes in the absorption spectra of the mixed crystals are due to creation of some complex centers involving Tl⁺, Br^–, and I^- ions with energy levels inside the band gap while forming the mixed crystal. The absorption spectra of gamma-irradiated mixed crystals showed the F-band, which shifted towards the low energy side due to the existence of iodine ions in the mixed crystals.