The Renormalization Group and Its Finite Lattice Approximations

We investigate finite lattice approximations to the Wilson renormalization group in models of unconstrained spins. We discuss first the properties of the renormalization group transformation (RGT) that control the accuracy of this type of approximation and explain different methods and techniques to practically identify them. We also discuss how to determine the anomalous dimension of the field. We apply our considerations to a linear sigma model in two dimensions in the domain of attraction of the Ising fixed point using a Bell–Wilson RGT. We are able to identify optimal RGTs which allow accurate computations of quantities such as critical exponents, fixed-point couplings and eigenvectors with modest statistics. We finally discuss the advantages and limitations of this type of approach.     

Abelian Higgs model with a Chern-Simons term in 3-dimensional gravitation

We consider the Abelian Higgs model with a Chern-Simons term coupled to the Einstein theory of gravitation in 3-dimensional space-time. We seek a finite solution, regular everywhere, having a stationary, cylindrically symmetric metric. We analyze these field equations and we suggest that such a solution exists. We find that the asymptotic metric of this solution corresponds to that which describes gravitationally a massive particle with spin. We obtain explicitly the expression of the spin. We give only the expression of the mass in the first order with respect to the gravitational coupling constant.     

Resistive Plates Carrying a Steady Current: Electric Potential and Surface Charges Close to the Battery

We treat the problem of two resistive plates carrying a steady current in the same direction. We consider a linear battery orthogonal to the direction of the current in the middle of the plates. We study the behavior of the surface charges close to the battery. We calculate the potential and electric field in the space outside the plates. We also consider the case of a single resistive plate carrying a steady current.     

Lévy flights and superdiffusion in the context of biological encounters and random searches

We review the general problem of random searches in the context of biological encounters. We analyze deterministic and stochastic aspects of searching in general and address the destructive and nondestructive cases specifically. We discuss the concepts of Lévy walks as adaptive strategies and explore possible examples. We also review Lévy searches in other media and spaces, including lattices and networks as opposed to continuous environments. We analyze empirical evidence supporting the Lévy flight foraging hypothesis, as well as the more general idea of superdiffusive foraging. We compare these hypothesis with alternative theories of random searches. Finally, we comment on several issues relevant to the practical application of models of Lévy and superdiffusive strategies to the general question of biological foraging.     

Controlling soliton explosions

We investigate the dynamics of solitons in generalized Klein–Gordon equations in the presence of nonlinear damping and spatiotemporal perturbations. We will present different mechanisms for soliton explosions. We show (both analytically and numerically) that some space-dependent perturbations or nonlinear damping can make the soliton internal mode unstable leading to soliton explosion. We will show that, in some cases, while some conditions are satisfied, the soliton explodes becoming a permanent, extremely complex, spatiotemporal dynamics. We believe these mechanisms can explain some of the phenomena that recently have been reported to occur in excitable media. We present a method for controlling soliton explosions.     

Radiation due to Josephson oscillations in layered superconductors

We derive the power of direct radiation into free space induced by Josephson oscillations in intrinsic Josephson junctions of layered superconductors. We consider the superradiation regime for a crystal cut in the form of a thin slice parallel to the c axis. We find that the radiation correction to the current-voltage characteristic in this regime depends only on crystal shape. We show that at a large number of junctions oscillations are synchronized providing high radiation power and efficiency in the terahertz frequency range. We discuss the crystal parameters and bias current optimal for radiation power and crystal cooling.     

Conversion of radiation from high-power UV lasers in gases and vapors by stimulated Raman scattering

We have systematized experimental data on conversion of high-power UV radiation in gases and vapors by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). We consider the features of nonlinear processes mediated by UV photons. We formulate the requirements for the pump beam parameters and describe specific laser systems satisfying these requirements. We analyze in detail ways to optimize the SRS conversion process in hydrogen and methane from the viewpoint of both overall efficiency and the efficiency of conversion to a specified SRS component. We present results obtained in SRS experiments in vapors of different metals. We discuss in detail the optimal conditions for conversion of UV radiation to the visible range in lead vapors. We show the effect of other nonlinear processes on the SRS process, and indicate conditions in which this effect is minimal. We describe some effects observed in the experiments. In conclusion, we present data on the wavelengths and conversion efficiencies for radiation from different lasers in different gases and vapors, and briefly describe possible applications of lasers with SRS cells. Institute of High-Current Electronics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 90–116, March, 1998.     

Consistent treatment of charm evolution in deep inelastic scattering

We present a formulation which allows heavy quark mass effects to be explicitly incorporated in both the coefficient functions and the splitting functions in the parton evolution equations. We obtain a consistent procedure for evolution through the threshold regions for and production in deep inelastic scattering, which allows the prediction of the charm and bottom quark densities. We use the new formulation to perform a next-to-leading order global parton analysis of deep inelastic and related hard scattering data. We find that the optimum fit has . We give predictions for the charm components of the proton structure functions and as functions of and and, in particular, find that is in good agreement with the existing measurements. We examine the range of validity of the photon-gluon fusion model for electroproduction. We emphasize the value of a precision measurement of the charm component at HERA. Received: 12 May 1997 / Revised version: 12 June 1997     

On the quantum mechanical superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states

We consider the superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states for a measuring process whose time evolution is described by the Schrödinger equation. We ask whether it is possible to observe interference effects due to the above mentioned superposition and how to observe them, taking into consideration an experiment performed by other authors. We find a necessary condition in order to be able to observe these effects. We also point out some very serious difficulties in observing them and analyse the connection between some of these difficulties and the Wigner-Araki-Yanase theory. We try to explain why the whole problem seems to us to be far from having a solution and we suggest some paths we think worthy of further investigation.     

Laser-induced interference, focusing, and diffraction of rescattering molecular photoelectrons

We solve the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation in three dimensions for H+2 in a one-cycle laser pulse of moderate intensity. We consider fixed nuclear positions and Coulomb electron-nuclear interaction potentials. We analyze the field-induced electron interference and diffraction patterns. To extract the ionization dynamics we subtract the excitations to low-lying bound states explicitly. We follow the time evolution of a well-defined wave packet that is formed near the first peak of the laser field. We observe the fragmentation of the wave packet due to molecular focusing. We show how to retrieve a diffraction molecular image by taking the ratio of the momentum distributions in the two lateral directions. The positions of the diffraction peaks are well described by the classical double slit diffraction rule.     

Conformally Flat Spacetimes and Weyl Frames

We discuss the concepts of Weyl and Riemann frames in the context of metric theories of gravity and state the fact that they are completely equivalent as far as geodesic motion is concerned. We apply this result to conformally flat spacetimes and show that a new picture arises when a Riemannian spacetime is taken by means of geometrical gauge transformations into a Minkowskian flat spacetime. We find out that in the Weyl frame gravity is described by a scalar field. We give some examples of how conformally flat spacetime configurations look when viewed from the standpoint of a Weyl frame. We show that in the non-relativistic and weak field regime the Weyl scalar field may be identified with the Newtonian gravitational potential. We suggest an equation for the scalar field by varying the Einstein-Hilbert action restricted to the class of conformally-flat spacetimes. We revisit Einstein and Fokker’s interpretation of Nordstr?m scalar gravity theory and draw an analogy between this approach and the Weyl gauge formalism. We briefly take a look at two-dimensional gravity as viewed in the Weyl frame and address the question of quantizing a conformally flat spacetime by going to the Weyl frame.     

Supersymmetry beyond minimal flavor violation

We review the sources and phenomenology of non-minimal flavor violation in the MSSM. We discuss in some detail the most important theoretical and experimental constraints, as well as promising observables to look for supersymmetric effects at the LHC and in future experiments. We emphasize the sensitivity of flavor physics to the mechanism of supersymmetry breaking and to new degrees of freedom present at fundamental scales, such as the grand unification scale. We include a discussion of present data that may hint at departures from the standard model.     

The Pomeron in Closed Bosonic String Theory

We review the features of the pomeron in the S-matrix theory and in quantum field theory. We extend those general properties to the pomeron of closed bosonic string theory in a Minkowskian background. We compute the couplings of the pomeron to the first few mass levels of closed bosonic string states in flat space. We recognize the deviation from the linearity of the Regge trajectories in a five dimensional anti De Sitter background.     

Tail wavelets in merger of binary compact objects

We present a model for tail wavelets, a phenomenon known as "echo" in the literature. The tail wavelet may appear in signal reconnaissances in the merger of binary compact objects, including black holes and neutron stars. We show that the dark matter surrounding the compact objects lead to a speculated tail wavelet following the main gravitational wave(GW). We demonstrate that the radiation pressure of the main wave is fully capable of pushing away the surrounding matter to some altitude, and splashing down of the matter excites the tail wavelet after ringing down of the main wave. We illustrate this concept in a simplified model, where numerical estimations are conducted on the specific distribution of dark matter outside the black hole horizon and the threshold values in accordance with observations. We study the full back reaction of the surrounding dark matter to the metric and find that the effect on to the tail wavelets is insignificant. We reveal the fine difference between the tail wavelets of a dressed and a bare black hole. We demonstrate that the tail wavelet can appear as a natural phenomenon in the frame of general relativity, without invoking modified gravities or quantum effects.     

High-energy neutron spectrometry

We review progress made in the last quarter of a century in the field of neutron spectrometry over a wide energy range from ??1 MeV to a few tens of GeV. We consider spectrometers and detectors constructed in various laboratories for neutron measurements in numerous fundamental and applied studies. We discuss the results of works devoted to the development of experimental methods and the elaboration of new detectors. We pursue some promising avenues of further investigations.     

Stability of closed timelike curves in the Gödel universe

We study, in some detail, the linear stability of closed timelike curves in the Gödel universe. We show that these curves are stable. We present a simple extension (deformation) of the Gödel metric that contains a class of closed timelike curves similar to the ones associated to the original metric. This extension correspond to the addition of matter whose energy-momentum tensor is analyzed. We find the conditions to have matter that satisfies the usual energy conditions. We study the stability of closed timelike curves in the presence of usual matter as well as in the presence of exotic matter (matter that does satisfy the above mentioned conditions). We find that the closed timelike curves in the Gödel universe with or without the inclusion of regular or exotic matter are stable under linear perturbations. We also find a sort of structural stability.     

Diffusion controlled multiplicative process: typical versus average behaviour

We investigate the dynamics of the number of particles diffusing in a multiplicative medium. We show that the typical behaviour of the growth process is different from the average. We develop a new formalism to study the average growth process and extend it to the calculation of higher moments and finally of the probability distribution. We show that the fluctuations of the growth process increase exponentially with time. We describe the interesting features of the distribution.     

Resonant X-ray diffraction: Basic theoretical principles

We present the main steps governing the theory of resonant X-ray diffraction (RXD). We focus on the derivation of the anomalous scattering amplitude from perturbation theory and starting from the low-energy expansion of the Dirac Hamiltonian. We give the main ingredients of the multipolar expansion in term of electric and magnetic transitions. We also show the expansion in terms of scattering tensors of the material. We end by giving the RXD formula necessary to simulate in practice this spectroscopy.     

Effective dielectric constant of dilute polydisperse suspensions of spheres

We study the effective dielectric constant of a dilute, polydisperse suspension of spheres embedded in a uniform background. We consider a frequency region where the dipole polarizability of individual spheres exhibits a resonance. We evaluate the effective dielectric constant to second order in the volume fraction employing the dipole approximation, which in previous work has been shown to be applicable in resonance. We apply our results to suspensions of spheres with identical and uniform dielectric constant, assuming a log-normal distribution of sphere radii.