Radiation laws in the vicinity of metallic boundaries

Corrections to Planck's radiation law and to the Stefan Boltzmann law in the vicinity of a dissipative halfspacez<0 are studied. The dissipation is described by a frequency independent conductivity . The halfspacez0 is empty.For a perfectly reflecting wall (=) the proximity corrections of the thermal electric and magnetic energy mutually cancel out. Therefore the space-dependent corrections are only due to the finite conductivity of the wall.The dissipative properties of the system lead to divergencies in the limitz0. In the limitz all corrections vanish. In properly scaledz>0 ranges analytical expressions for the corrections to the radiation laws are calculated.As a by-product the density of states of surface polaritons in the passive medium (z>0) are derived.     

Equilibrium relativistic mass distribution for indistinguishable events

A manifestly covariant relativistic statistical mechanics of a system of N indistinguishable events with motion in space-time parametrized by an invariant historical time is considered. The relativistic mass distribution for such a system is obtained from the equilibrium solution of the generalized relativistic Boltzmann equation by integration over angular and hyperangular variables. All the characteristic averages are calculated. Expressions for the pressure and the energy density are found, and the relativistic equation of state is obtained. Validity criteria are defined. The Galilean limit is considered; the theory is shown to pass over to the usual nonrelativistic statistical mechanics of indistinguishable particles. Anti-events are introduced; for an event-anti-event system the equation of state p, T ⁶ is found, which gives the value of the sound velocity c ² = 0.20, in agreement with the realistic equation of state suggested by Shuryak for hot hadronic matter.     

Non-Locality in Electrodynamics

We investigate the applicability of Hegerfeldts arguments on Quantum nonlocality in Quantum Electrodynamics following the work of Prigogine, Pronko, Petrosky, Ordonez and Karpov. We demonstrate the appearance of nonlocal effects at the level of quantum states. We show, however that the expectation values of some observables spread causally. Therefore the measurement of the nonlocality is questionable. We investigate an approach to classical measurement and conclude that the classical measurement cannot detect the acausal effects of the non-locality.     

Lattice-BGK approach to simulating granular flows

Many continuum theories for granular flow produce an equation of motion for the fluctuating kinetic energy density (granular temperature) that accounts for the energy lost in inelastic collisions. Apart from the presence of an extra dissipative term, this equation is very similar in form to the usual temperature equation in hydrodynamics. It is shown how a lattice-kinetic model based on the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) equation that was previously derived for a miscible two-component fluid may be modified to model the continuum equations for granular flow. This is done by noting that the variable corresponding to the concentration of one species follows an equation that is essentially analogous to the granular temperature equation. A simulation of an unforced granular fluid using the modified model reproduces the phenomenon of clustering instability, namely the spontaneous agglomeration of particles into dense clusters, which occurs generically in all granular flows. The success of the continuum theory in capturing the gross features of this basic phenomenon is discussed. Some shear flow simulations are also presented.     

Moment closure hierarchies for kinetic theories

This paper presents a systematicnonperturbative derivation of a hierarchy of closed systems of moment equations corresponding to any classical kinetic theory. The first member of the hierarchy is the Euler system, which is based on Maxwellian velocity distributions, while the second member is based on nonisotropic Gaussian velocity distributions. The closure proceeds in two steps. The first ensures that every member of the hierarchy is hyperbolic, has an entropy, and formally recovers the Euler limit. The second involves modifying the collisional terms so that members of the hierarchy beyound the second also recover the correct Navier-Stokes behavior. This is achieved through the introduction of a generalization of the BGK collision operator. The simplest such system in three spatial dimensions is a 14-moment closure, which also recovers the behavior of the Grad 13-moment system when the velocity distributions lie near local Maxwellians. The closure procedure can be applied to a general class of kinetic theories.     

Statistical Mechanics of Classical Systems with Distinguishable Particles

The properties of classical models of distinguishable particles are shown to be identical to those of a corresponding system of indistinguishable particles without the need for ad hoc corrections. An alternative to the usual definition of the entropy is proposed. The new definition in terms of the logarithm of the probability distribution of the thermodynamic variables is shown to be consistent with all desired properties of the entropy and the physical properties of thermodynamic systems. The factor of 1/N! in the entropy connected with Gibbs' Paradox is shown to arise naturally for both distinguishable and indistinguishable particles. These results have direct application to computer simulations of classical systems, which always use distinguishable particles. Such simulations should be compared directly to experiment (in the classical regime) without correcting them to account for indistinguishability.     

Segregation of Components as a Result of High‐Power Laser Irradiation of Heterogeneous Condensed Media

The effects of periodic segregation of components in metastable (supercooled or supersaturated) binary alloys in the course of kinetic phase transformations as a result of laser irradiation of heterogeneous systems were studied analytically. Nonlinear processes of temporal and spatial selforganization of concentrationrelated structures were simulated using (i) a selfconsistent system of timedependent twodimensional equations for the distribution function for the sizes and spatial coordinates of the newphase particles and (ii) balance equations for the temperature and concentration of dissolved components; the latter equations account for nonlinearity of the particlesource function, sinks, for dependences of the phasetransition temperature on the surface curvature of particles and on the concentration of components, and for diffusive motion of particles in space. The domain of existence for the instabilities under consideration and the characteristics of the formed crystallizationrelated periodic structures are determined. It is established that nanoclusters formed during supersaturation of crystallizing material may play an important role in generation of selfoscillatory crystallization modes. Hydrodynamic aspects of liquidphase concentrationrelated stratification in heterogeneous systems based on immiscible components are considered.     

The nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation in “quasi-classical” theory

The author has recently proposed a quasi-classical theory of particles and interactions in which particles are pictured as extended periodic disturbances in a universal field (x, t), interacting with each other via nonlinearity in the equation of motion for . The present paper explores the relationship of this theory to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics; as a first step, it is shown how it is possible to construct from a configuration-space wave function (x ₁,x ₂,t), and that the theory requires that satisfy the two-particle Schrödinger equation in the case where the two particles are well separated from each other. This suggests that the multiparticle Schrödinger equation can be obtained as a direct consequence of the quasi-classical theory without any use of the usual formalism (Hilbert space, quantization rules, etc.) of conventional quantum theory and in particular without using the classical canonical treatment of a system as a crutch theory which has subsequently to be quantized. The quasi-classical theory also suggests the existence of a preferred absolute gauge for the electromagnetic potentials.     

An energy-transport model for semiconductors derived from the Boltzmann equation

An energy-transport model is rigorously derived from the Boltzmann transport equation of semiconductors under the hypothesis that the energy gain or loss of the electrons by the phonon collisions is weak. Retaining at leading order electron-electron collisions and elastic collisions (i.e., impurity scattering and the elastic part of phonon collisions), a rigorous diffusion limit of the Boltzmann equation can be carried over, which leads to a set of diffusion equations for the electron density and temperature. The derivation is given in both the degenerate and nondegenerate cases.     

On the Snider equation

We study the physical content of the Snider quantum transport equation and the origin of a puzzling feature of this equation, which implies contradictory values for the one-particle density operator. We discuss in detail why the two values are in fact not very different provided that the studied particles have sufficiently large wave packets and only a small interaction probability, a condition which puts a limit on the validity of the Snider equation. In order to improve its range of application, we propose a reinterpretation of the equation as a mixed equation relating the real one-particle distribution function (on the left-hand side of the equation) to the free distribution (on the right-hand side), which we have introduced in a recent contribution. In its original form, the Snider equation is valid only when used to generate Boltzmann-type equations where collisions are treated as point processes in space and time (no range, no duration); in this approximation, virial corrections are not included, so that the real and free distributions coincide. If the equation is used beyond this approximation to generate nonlocal and density corrections, we conclude that the results are not necessarily correct.     

Are there more than five linearly-independent collision invariants for the Boltzmann equation?

The problem of finding the summational collision invariants for the Boltzmann equation is tackled with the aim of proving that the most general solution of the problem is not different from the standard one even when the equation defining a collision invariant is only satisfied almost everywhere inR ³×R ³×S ². The collision invariant is assumed to be in the Hilbert spaceH of the functions which are square integrable with respect to a Maxwellian weight.     

Measure solutions of the steady Boltzmann equation in a slab

It is shown that the steady Boltzmann equation in a slab [0,a] has solutionsx _x such that the ingoing boundary measures _0{>0} and _{<0} can be prescribed a priori. The collision kernel is truncated such that particles with smallx-component of the velocity have a reduced collision rate.     

Finite energy sectors of the XY model

Continuing the earlier work on soliton sectors, we determine all finite energy representations of the XY model for almost all parameter values. In the interior of unique vacuum regions of parameters (i.e. the large external magnetic field region ||>1), the unique irreducible vacuum representation is the only finite energy representation.At the critical values of the parameters (||=1 as well as theXY symmetric case =0, ||1), there is an infinite number of mutually nonequivalent irreducible finite energy representations. Apart from the unique irreducible ground state representation and another associated irreducible representation, these infinite number of representations arise from an infinite number of nearly zero energy excitations of the ground state with a finite total energy and may be called infrared representations.In the remaining cases, as have been studied earlier, there are two additional irreducible finite energy representations besides two irreducible ground state representations and they are topological soliton sectors with different ground state limits in positive and negative spatial infinity. (For two exceptional values of parameters (, )=(0, ±1), they also become ground state representations.)     

Note: An Unusual Route to General Relativity Equation in Presence of Dust in Irrotational Motion

We show that the general relativity theory equation, in presence of pressureless matter (dust) in irrotational motion, can be recovered from a scalar-tensor like variational approach. In this approach, the kinetic energy, , of a dynamical scalar field , couples directly to gravity. The lagrangian, exempt of explicit matter term, is varied in the framework of the first order formalism, and a conformal transformation, restoring riemannian geometry, is made. In this approach, it turns out that a non-empty spacetime is necessarily four-dimensional.     

An alternative approach to quantum phenomena

This paper outlines the qualitative foundations of a quasiclassical theory in which particles are pictured as spatially extended periodic excitations of a universal background field, interacting with each other via nonlinearity in the equations of motion for that field, and undergoing collapse to a much smaller volume if and when they are detected. The theory is based as far as possible directly on experiment, rather than on the existing quantum mechanical formalism, and it offers simple physical interpretations of such concepts as mass, 4-momentum, interaction, potentials, and quantization; it may lead directly to the standard equations of quantum theory, such as the multiparticle Schrödinger equation, without going through the conventional process of quantizing a classical theory. The theory also provides an alternative framework in which to discuss wave-particle duality and the quantum measurement problem; in particular, it is suggested that the unpredictability of quantum phenomena may arise from deterministic chaos in the behavior of the background field.     

The homogeneous Boltzmann hierarchy and statistical solutions to the homogeneous Boltzmann equation

An existence and uniqueness result for the homogeneous Boltzmann hierarchy is proven, by exploiting the statistical solutions to the homogeneous Boltzmann equation.     

Unprovability of a “precognition” effect in quantum mechanics

It is shown that nonlocality gives rise to an undecidable proposition, meaning it cannot be proved true nor proved false from the usual assumptions, but is independent of them. A variation on the usual thought experiment is considered in which the observers are timelike separated, but the nonlocality fails to become a precognition effect because of this independence result.     

The lattice deformation and the energy of antiphase boundaries in Fe-Si alloys

The lattice deformation across the antiphase boundary and the energy of both types (a/2111 anda(100) of antiphase boundaries lying in {110} plane are calculated using a series of three interatomic potentials fitted to experimental data. It is shown that the relaxation of atomic planes in the vicinity of antiphase boundary is important for thea/2111 antiphase boundary and is negligible for a 100 antiphase boundary in the DO₃ structure.The author is grateful to Dr. F.Kroupa and to Dr. A.Gemperle for valuable discussions.     

A Relativistic Schrödinger-like Equation for a Photon and Its Second Quantization

Maxwell's equations are formulated as a relativistic Schrödinger-like equation for a single photon of a given helicity. The probability density of the photon satisfies an equation of continuity. The energy eigenvalue problem gives both positive and negative energies. The Feynman concept of antiparticles is applied here to show that the negative-energy states going backward in time (t –t) give antiphoton states, which are photon states with the opposite helicity. For a given mode, properties of a photon, such as energy, linear momentum, total angular momentum, orbital angular momentum, and spin are equivalent in both classical electromagnetic field theory and quantum theory. The single-photon Schrödinger equation is field (or second) quantized in a gauge-invariant way to obtain the quantum field theory of many photons. This approach treats the quantization of electromagnetic radiation in a way that parallels the quantization of material particles and, thus, provides a unified treatment.     

Particle creation by a black hole as a consequence of the Casimir effect

Particle creation by a black hole is investigated in terms of temperature corrections to the Casimir effect. The reduction of the Hawking effect to more familiar effects observed in the laboratory enables us to reveal the mechanism of particle creation. The blackbody nature of the Hawking radiation is due to the interaction of virtual particles with the surface of a cavity formed by the Schwarzschild gravitational field potential barrier. These particles are squeezed out by the contraction of the potential barrier and appear to an observer atJ ⁺ as the real blackbody ones.