Excitation and ionization cross sections of hydrogen-like atoms in collisions with relativistic highly charged ions

The relativistic eikonal approximation and a matching procedure are used to describe excitation and ionization of hydrogen-like atoms from an arbitrary discrete energy state by the impact of a highly charged relativistic bare ion. Bethe-type formulas are derived that are asymptotically valid in the limits of v → c and Z ? 1, where v is the relative collision velocity, c is the speed of light, and Z is the ion charge.     

Radiation defect formation in strontium and calcium fluoride crystals doped by divalent cadmium and zinc ions

Ionization radiation is shown to reduce impurity ions to the univalent state in strontium and calcium fluoride crystals doped by divalent cadmium and zinc ions. In this case, a univalent ion is surrounded by eight equivalent fluorine ions and exhibits cubic symmetry O _h . At room temperature, the symmetry of the center is revealed to be sequentially lowered to C _3v and then to C _2v owing to the addition to the nearest environment of the impurity univalent ion of one or two anion vacancies, respectively, which are intrinsic defects not forming in undoped strontium and calcium fluoride crystals. Stable intrinsic defects are assumed to form through the separation of anion vacancy-interstitial fluorine ion pairs in the electric field induced by the reduced impurity ions. This electric field lowers the energy barrier to thermal separation of charged intrinsic defects.     

Screening of strongly charged macroparticles in liquid electrolyte solutions

A modified Poisson-Boltzmann model has been proposed which makes it possible to describe the screening of strongly charged macroparticles in liquid electrolyte Z: Z solutions in the case when parameter B= ZeQ₀/εRT?1(Q₀ is the surface electric charge, T is the temperature, ε is the solution permittivity, and Z is the valence of ions) provided that the solution is dilute: κR ≡ (8πZ²e²n_i0/εT)^1/2R?1 (n_i0 is the equilibrium number density of ions). It is assumed that the charge Q₀ of a macroparticle appears as a result of adsorption of ions of a certain polarity on its surface. Quantitative criteria of division of dissolved ions into capable and incapable of adsorption are formulated. For aqueous solutions, the adsorption mechanism always leads to values of B ? 1. It is shown that the charge inversion effect predicted by other authors on the basis of different models must be observed for such solutions for all Z ≥ 1. The effect of Brownian movement of macroparticles on their screening is considered. It is shown that viscous forces emerging during such movement lead to peripheral destruction (“washing out”) of the screening ionic shell of macroparticles and, as a result, to violation of their electroneutrality. This results in the emergence of two types of oppositely charged compound particles with small radii close to R and with radii much larger than R, the charge polarity of the latter being opposite to the polarity of Q₀. It is found that both types of ions of compound particles obey the “law of distribution” of the mean energy of their electric field, expressed by formula (29). The problem of ionic screening of gas bubbles accompanied by the formation of bubstons (bubbles stabilized by ions) is considered separately. It is shown that the bubston radius R in pure water and in aqueous solutions of electrolytes is equal to 14 nm irrespective of the ion number density n_i0. The value of n_i0 determines the number density n _b of bubstons themselves, which are formed spontaneously under equilibrium conditions.     

Charge state of a transition metal impurity in II–VI semiconductors

The results of calculating the electronic structure of semiconductor compounds A^IIB^VI: 3d(A = Zn; B = S, Se, Te; 3d = Sc-Cu) at a low content of 3d impurities are discussed. The excess charge of an impurity ion with respect to the charge of the zinc ion is determined for the whole series of 3d impurities. It is found that the excess charge gradually varies from +0.6|e| for the scandium impurity to ?0.2|e| for the copper impurity. Photoionization of an impurity ion is simulated by adding a hole or an electron to the impurity center. The added charge is redistributed between the impurity ion and its nearest neighbors, thus decreasing or increasing the total excess charge of the impurity center by a magnitude of ～ 0.2|e|.     

Electron gas induced in SrTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript>

This mini-review is dedicated to the 85th birthday of Prof. L.V. Keldysh, from whom we have learned so much. In this paper, we study the potential and electron density depth profiles in surface accumulation layers in crystals with a large and nonlinear dielectric response such as SrTiO₃ (STO) in the cases of planar, spherical, and cylindrical geometries. The electron gas can be created by applying an induction D₀ to the STO surface. We describe the lattice dielectric response of STO using the Landau–Ginzburg free energy expansion and employ the Thomas–Fermi (TF) approximation for the electron gas. For the planar geometry, we arrive at the electron density profile n(x) ∝ (x + d)^–12/7, where d ∝ D₀^–12/7. We extend our results to overlapping electron gases in GTO/STO/GTO heterojunctions and electron gases created by spill-out from NSTO (heavily n-type doped STO) layers into STO. Generalization of our approach to a spherical donor cluster creating a big TF atom with electrons in STO brings us to the problem of supercharged nuclei. It is known that for an atom with a nuclear charge Ze where Z > 170, electrons collapse onto the nucleus, resulting in a net charge Zn < Z. Here, instead of relativistic physics, the collapse is caused by the nonlinear dielectric response. Electrons collapse into the charged spherical donor cluster with radius R when its total charge number Z exceeds the critical value Z_c ≈ R/a, where a is the lattice constant. The net charge eZ_n grows with Z until Z exceeds Z* ≈ (R/a)^9/7. After this point, the charge number of the compact core Z_n remains ≈ Z*, with the rest Z* electrons forming a sparse TF atom with it. We extend our studies of collapse to the case of long cylindrical clusters as well.     

Effect of electron emission on the charge and shielding of a dust grain in a plasma: A continuum theory

The continuum approximation is used to analyze the effect of electron emission from the surface of a spherical dust grain immersed in a plasma on the grain charge by assuming negligible ionization and recombination in the disturbed plasma region around the grain. A parameter is introduced that quantifies the emission intensity regardless of the emission mechanism (secondary, photoelectric, or thermionic emission). An analytical expression for the grain charge Z _d is derived, and a criterion for change in the charge sign is obtained. The case of thermionic emission is examined in some detail. It is shown that the long-distance asymptotic behavior of the grain potential follows the Coulomb law with a negative effective charge Z _eff, regardless of the sign of Z _d. Thus, the potential changes sign and has a minimum if Z _d > 0, which implies that attraction is possible between positively charged dust grains.     

Screening of the dust-particle charge in a plasma with an external ionization source

An asymptotic theory of the screening of the dust-particle charge in a plasma with an external ionization source has been developed. It has been shown analytically that the screening of the charge of a dust particle adsorbing the charge of charged plasma particles that fall on it is not generally described by the Debye theory. The screening radius is determined by the relation between the coefficients β_ei and β_L = 4πek _i (k _i is the ion mobility) of the electron-ion and Langevin recombinations, respectively. When β_L ? β _ei , the screening radius is much larger than the electron Debye radius. It has been shown that the contribution of the ion component of an isothermal plasma to screening is equal to the electron contribution if the coefficient of the electron-ion recombination is twice or more larger than the Langevin coefficient of the ion recombination, β_ei ≥ 2β_L.     

Self-consistent expansion of a multicomponent plasma into a vacuum

The problem of the one-dimensional collisionless expansion of a multicomponent plasma into a vacuum is considered. In the hydrodynamic approximation, an approximate analytical solution for an arbitrary set of ion species with masses M₁,..., M_n and charge numbers Z₁e, Z₂e,..., Z_ne is found by using the technique of self-similar variables employed by Gurevich, Pariiskaya, and Pitaevskii for the case of single-species ions. A numerical iterative algorithm is developed in which the analytical solution is used as a first approximation.     

Relation between the charged and neutral pion–nucleon coupling constants in the Yukawa model

In the Yukawa-model framework for NN forces, a simple relation between the charged and neutral pion–nucleon coupling constants is derived. The relation implies that the charged pion–nucleon constant is larger than the neutral one since the np interaction is stronger than the pp interaction. The derived value of the charged pion–nucleon constant shows a very good agreement with one of the recent measurements. In relative units, the splitting between the charged and neutral pion–nucleon constants is predicted to be practically the same as that between the charged and neutral pion masses. The charge dependence of the NN scattering length arising from the mass difference between the charged and neutral pions is also analyzed.     

Effect of the nuclear charge of a fast structural ion on its internal effective stopping in collisions with atoms

The energy losses of fast structural ions in collisions with atoms have been considered in the eikonal approximation. The structural ions are ions consisting of a nucleus and a certain number of electrons bound to it. The effect of nuclear charge Z of the ion on its effective deceleration κ^(p) (energy losses associated with excitation of only intrinsic ion shells) has been analyzed. It is shown that the allowance for the interaction of an atom with the ion nucleus for Z _a Z/v > 1, where Z _a is the charge of the atomic nucleus and v is the velocity of collisions in atomic units, considerably affects the value of κ^(p), which generally necessitates taking into account nonperturbatively the effect of both charges Z _a and Z on κ^(p).     

Charge asymmetry ratio as a probe of quark flavour couplings of resonant particles at the LHC

We show how a precise knowledge of parton distribution functions, in particular those of the u and d quarks, can be used to constrain a certain class of New Physics models in which new heavy charged resonances couple to quarks and leptons. We illustrate the method by considering a left–right symmetric model with a W′ from a SU(2) _R gauge sector produced in quark–antiquark annihilation and decaying into a charged lepton and a heavy Majorana neutrino. We discuss a number of quark and lepton mixing scenarios, and simulate both signals and backgrounds in order to determine the size of the expected charge asymmetry. We show that various quark–W′ mixing scenarios can indeed be constrained by charge asymmetry measurements at the LHC, particularly at \(\sqrt{s}= 14\) TeV.     

Unconventional spin-charge phase separation in a model 2D cuprate

In this work, we address a challenging problem of a competition of charge and spin orders for high-T _c cuprates within a simplified 2D spin-pseudospin model which takes into account both conventional Heisenberg Cu²⁺?Cu²⁺ antiferromagnetic spin exchange coupling (J) and the on-site (U) and intersite (V) charge correlations in the CuO₂ planes with the on-site Hilbert space reduced to only three effective charge states (nominally Cu^1+;2+;3+). We performed classical Monte Carlo calculations for large square lattices implying the mobile doped charges and focusing on a case of a small intersite repulsion V ? J. The on-site attraction (U < 0) does suppress the antiferromagnetic ordering and gives rise to a checkerboard charge order with the doped charge distributed randomly over a system in the whole temperature range. However, under the on-site repulsion (U > 0) the homogeneous ground state antiferromagnetic solutions of the doped system found in a mean-field approximation are shown to be unstable with respect to a phase separation with the charge and spin subsystems behaving like immiscible quantum liquids. Puzzlingly, with lowering the temperature one can observe two sequential phase transitions: first, an antiferromagnetic ordering in the spin subsystem diluted by randomly distributed charges, then, a charge condensation in the charge droplets. The effects are illustrated by the Monte Carlo calculations of the specific heat and longitudinal magnetic susceptibility.     

The mass of a static charged sphere

The field of a static, charged sphere is investigated using general relativity. InNordström's exterior solution the parametersm ande, referring to mass and charge, are unrelated, and indeedm can be put equal to zero. It is shown that, if the interior solution is considered,m cannot be put zero unless the matter density is negative. The contribution of the electric field energy to the gravitational mass is estimated using certain special models. A model is given in which the gravitational attraction of the charged matter balances its electrical repulsion. If the radius is allowed to tend to zero, this gives a model of a point charge with finite and non-zero mass and charge.     

Antisite defects and valence state of vanadium in Na<Subscript>3</Subscript>V<Subscript>2</Subscript>(PO<Subscript>4</Subscript>)<Subscript>3</Subscript>

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies have been performed with the aim of determining the valence state and local crystal structure of the nearest environment of vanadium ions in the initial, charged, and discharged samples of the cathode material Na_xV₂(PO₄)₃ (1 ≤ x ≤ 3). It has been found that the charged sample (x = 1) is characterized by an intense signal corresponding to V⁴⁺ ions located in a highly distorted octahedral crystal field. An EPR signal with the g-factor close to the g-factor of the V⁴⁺ ion has also been observed in the initial sample (x = 3), where the intensity of the resonance signal is one order of magnitude lower than that in the charged sample. It has been revealed that the resonance signal under consideration is associated with the formation of antisite defects when a part of vanadium ions are located in sites of sodium ions. It has also been found that the intensity of this signal increases after a complete charge–discharge cycle (x = 3).     

Comparative analysis of light-ion ranges in gaseous,liquid, and solid media

Ranges of ions from He to Ne in gaseous (hydrogen and argon), liquid (water), and solid (carbon) media are analyzed. This analysis demonstrates the different dependences of ranges on the velocities, the charges, and the masses of ions in different velocity region. In the case of small ion velocities, the ranges are directly proportional to their velocities and masses and are inversely proportional to the nuclear charge. In the intermediate velocity region corresponding to an ion energy of Е = 0.1–1 MeV/nucleon, in which processes of ion charge exchange play an important role and the average ion charge differs from the nuclear charge, the ranges become proportional to the squared ion velocities and masses and are inversely proportional to the nuclear charge. To establish the relation between the ion ranges in the regions of small and average velocities, it is convenient to use the universal function f(Z, M) = RZ/M, successfully describing the reduced ranges of ions with given velocities in gaseous, liquid, and solid media. In the case of large velocities where ions upon passing through the media lose all electrons, the ranges are directly proportional to the squared ion energies and masses and are inversely proportional to the squared nuclear charge.     

Logarithmic Finite-Size Correction in Non-neutral Two-Component Plasma on Sphere

We consider a general two-component plasma of classical pointlike charges \(+e\) (e is say the elementary charge) and \(-Z e\) (valency \(Z=1,2,\ldots \)), living on the surface of a sphere of radius R. The system is in thermal equilibrium at the inverse temperature \(\beta \), in the stability region against collapse of oppositely charged particle pairs \(\beta e^2 < 2/Z\). We study the effect of the system excess charge Qe on the finite-size expansion of the (dimensionless) grand potential \(\beta \varOmega \). By combining the stereographic projection of the sphere onto an infinite plane, the linear response theory and the planar results for the second moments of the species density correlation functions we show that for any \(\beta e^2 < 2/Z\) the large-R expansion of the grand potential is of the form \(\beta \varOmega \sim A_V R^2 + \left[ \chi /6 - \beta (Qe)^2/2\right] \ln R\), where \(A_V\) is the non-universal coefficient of the volume (bulk) part and the Euler number of the sphere \(\chi =2\). The same formula, containing also a non-universal surface term proportional to R, was obtained previously for the disc domain (\(\chi =1\)), in the case of the symmetric \((Z=1)\) two-component plasma at the collapse point \(\beta e^2=2\) and the jellium model \((Z\rightarrow 0)\) of identical e-charges in a fixed neutralizing background charge density at any coupling \(\beta e^2\) being an even integer. Our result thus indicates that the prefactor to the logarithmic finite-size expansion does not depend on the composition of the Coulomb fluid and its non-universal part \(-\beta (Qe)^2/2\) is independent of the geometry of the confining domain.     

Strong gravitational lensing by regular electrically charged black holes

In nonlinear electrodynamics a photon does not follow null geodesics of background geometry, but moves along null geodesics of a corresponding effective geometry. Therefore, in the strong deflection limit, in order to study the gravitational lensing of the regular electrically charged black holes obtained by coupling general relativity to nonlinear electrodynamics, one should firstly obtain the corresponding effective geometry, which is a necessary and key step. I obtain the deflection angle of the photon in the strong deflection limit, and further calculate the angular position and magnification of relativistic images. It is found that, the electric charge has significant effect on the gravitational lensing of regular black holes. With the increase of the electric charge q, the angular position of the relativistic images \(\theta _{\infty }\) and the relative magnification \(\mathcal {R}_{m}\) as a function of q decrease, while the angular separation between the outermost relativistic image and the others \(\mathcal {S}\) as a function of q increases. I also discuss the measurement of observables for the black hole at the center of our Galaxy in the cases of regular electrically charged black hole effective metrics.     

Geometro-thermodynamics of tidal charged black holes

Tidal charged spherically symmetric vacuum brane black holes are characterized by their mass m and tidal charge q, an imprint of the five-dimensional Weyl curvature. For q>0 they are formally identical to the Reissner–Nordström black hole of general relativity. We study the thermodynamics and thermodynamic geometries of tidal charged black holes and discuss similarities and differences as compared to the Reissner–Nordströ m black hole. As a similarity, we show that (for q>0) the heat capacity of the tidal charged black hole diverges on a set of measure zero of the parameter space, nevertheless both the regularity of the Ruppeiner metric and a Poincaré stability analysis show no phase transition at those points. The thermodynamic state spaces being different indicates that the underlying statistical models could be different. We find that the q<0 parameter range, which enhances the localization of gravity on the brane, is thermodynamically preferred. Finally we constrain for the first time the possible range of the tidal charge from the thermodynamic limit on gravitational radiation efficiency at black hole mergers.     

Zum inneren lichtelektrischen Effekt (Quantensprungabsorption) im Alkalimetall Kalium

The results of new measurements of the optical constantsn andk of the alkali metalK, performed in ultrahigh vacuum on mirrorlike surfaces free of any contamination and distortion in the wavelength region from 0·365 μ to 2 μ at temperatures between ?183° C and +85° C permit to separate the absorption due to interband transitions (photoexcitation of valency electrons) from the “classical absorption” solely considered in Drude's theory of the optical constants of metals. Thus, it is possible to determine the “internal photoelectric effect” of the alkali metal potassium as a function of wavelength, espically its threshold frequency which corresponds to a wavelengthλ _th=2·1 μ (hν _th=0·59 eV).