Field theory of mesoscopic fluctuations in superconductor/normal-metal systems

The thermodynamic and transport properties of normal disordered conductors are strongly influenced by the proximity of a superconductor. A cooperation between mesoscopic coherence and Andreev scattering of particles from the superconductor generates new types of interference phenomena. A field theoretic approach is introduced which is capable of exploring both the averaged properties and mesoscopic fluctuations of superconductor/normal-metal systems. As an example the method is applied to the study of the level statistics of a SNS junction. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 1, 21–26 (10 January 1998) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Alpha decay of the first excited state of the Th-229 nucleus

The α decay of the anomalously low-lying isomeric level 3/2⁺ (3.5±1.0 eV) of the ²²⁹Th nucleus is studied. The lifetime of the isomer with respect to a decay is predicted and the spectrum of the emitted a particles is calculated. It is noted that the complete α spectrum of the isomer and accelerated α decay of ²²⁹Th can be observed by exciting the nuclei with laser radiation. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 5, 319–323 (10 September 1996)     

Structure, melting, and potential barriers in mesoscopic clusters of repulsive particles

This paper discusses two-dimensional mesoscopic clusters of particles that repel according to dipole, Coulomb, and logarithmic laws and are confined by an external parabolic potential. These models describe a number of physical systems, in particular, electrons in semiconductor structures or on a liquid-helium surface allowing for image forces, indirect excitons in coupled semi-conductor dots, and a small number of vortices in an island of a second-order superconductor or in superfluid helium. Two competing forms of ordering are detected in the particles in the mesoscopic clusters-the formation of a triangular lattice or of a shell structure. The temperature dependences of the potential energy, the mean-square radial and angular deviations, the radial and angular distributions of the particles, and the distribution of the particles over the local minima are studied. Melting in mesoscopic clusters occurs in two stages: at lower temperatures, there is orientation melting, from the frozen phase into a phase with rotational reorientation of “crystalline” shells with respect to each other; subsequently, a transition occurs in which the radial order disappears. Melting in dipole macroclusters occurs in a single stage. However, in Coulomb and logarithmic macroclusters, orientation melting occurs only for the outer pairs of shells. Orientation melting is also detected in three-dimensional Coulomb clusters. A connection is established between the character of the melting and the ratio of the energy barriers that describe the breakdown of the orientational and radial structure of a cluster. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 2012–2037 (December 1999)     

Effect of scattering media on decays of high-energy particles

The effect of multiple scattering on the decay of high-energy particles has been studied. The self-consistent method for the calculation of decay rates of particles undergoing multiple elastic collisions in an equilibrium medium has been developed. Influence of multiple scattering on the decay rate of a neutral pion in a hadron gas has been studied. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 3–10 (July 1999)     

New model for systems of mesoscopic Josephson junctions

Quantum fluctuations of the phases of the order parameter in two-dimensional arrays of mesoscopic Josephson junctions and their effect on the destruction of superconductivity in the system are investigated by means of a quantum-cosine model that is free of the incorrect application of the phase operator. The proposed model employs trigonometric phase operators and makes it possible to study arrays of small superconducting granules, pores containing superfluid helium, or Josephson junctions in which the average number of particles n ₀ (effective bosons, He atoms, and so on) is small, and the standard approach employing the phase operator and the particle number operator as conjugate operators is inapplicable. There is a large difference in the phase diagrams between arrays of macroscopic and mesoscopic objects for n ₀<5 and U<J (U is the characteristic interaction energy of the particles per granule and J is the Josephson coupling constant). Re-entrant superconductivity phenomena are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 10, 649–654 (25 November 1997)     

Two-dimensional mesoscopic dusty plasma clusters: Structure and phase transitions

A two-dimensional mesoscopic cluster of “dusty plasma” particles, which can be interpreted as a system of microparticles in an rf gas discharge, is investigated. The ground-state configurations and corresponding eigenfrequencies and eigenvectors are found for clusters of N=22–40 particles in a harmonic confining potential. It is shown that a change in the Debye screening length R of the particle charge in the plasma can cause structural transformations of the ground state of the system, manifested as first-order or second-order phase transitions with respect to the parameter R. The disorder (“melting”) of the clusters is analyzed in detail by Monte Carlo simulation and molecular dynamics. By varying the characteristic range of particle interaction in a cluster, it is possible to modulate its thermodynamic properties and the character of the phase transitions, thereby causing a controlled transition of the system into the fully ordered, orientationally disordered, or fully disordered state. The possibility of dusty plasma clusters coexisting in different states is discussed. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1300–1312 (October 1999)     

Quantum orientational melting and the phase diagram of a mesoscopic system

The “phase diagram” of a two-dimensional mesoscopic system of bosons is investigated. An example of such a system is a system of indirect magnetoexcitons in semiconductor double quantum dots. Quantum Monte Carlo calculations show the existence of quantum orientational melting. At zero (quite low) temperature, as quantum fluctuations of the particles intensify, two quantum disordering phenomena occur with increasing de Boer parameter q. First, at q≈10⁻³ the system passes to a radially ordered but orientationally disordered state, where different shells of a cluster rotate relative to one another. Then at q≈0.16 a transition to a superfluid state occurs. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 11, 817–822 (10 December 1998)     

Bose condensation and spontaneous breaking of the uniformity of time

The spontaneous breaking of gauge invariance accompanying Bose condensation in mesoscopic systems corresponds to thermodynamically equilibrium ground states with nonintegral average particle number and results in a spontaneous breaking of the uniformity of time. In Fermi systems, the breaking of gauge invariance can be also accompanied by spontaneous breaking of invariances with respect to spatial rotations by an angle of 2π and double time reversal. Possible experiments are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 12, 963–969 (25 June 1996)     

Elementary muon, pion, and kaon particles as resonators for neutrino quanta. Calculations of mass ratios for e, μ, π0, π±, K 0, K ±, and ν e

Masses of a number of elementary particles are calculated on the basis of the model suggested in [1] with the use of one parameter. In this model, an electron is considered as an electric cloud enclosed inside an elastic lepton shell, electron neutrino ν _е is considered as an elastic lepton shell contracted to a minimal size, and muon, pion and kaon are considered as resonators for quanta of virtual neutrinos excited inside the elastic lepton shell. The number and type of these quanta are determined from the decay scheme for μ, π, and K: 2 for the muon (ν _е and ), 3 for the pion (ν _е , ν _μ, and ), and at least 21 for the kaon. The model allows mass ratios approximating the experimental data for these particles to be obtained for the first time, with the ratio of μ and е masses equal to (6πℏс/е ²)^2/3 ≅ 188, the ratio of π ⁰ and μ masses equal to (3/2)^2/3, and the ratio of K ⁰ and π ⁰ equal masses to 7^2/3. The calculated e, μ , π ⁰, and K ⁰ masses are in the 0.547:105.707:134.963:493.87 (MeV) ratios (normalized by the neutral pion mass). This is in good agreement with the available experimental data. The mass ν _е (≅ 0.02 eV) is also estimated in this model, and the variety of K-meson decay schemes is naturally explained as a result of the variety of excited intrinsic neutrino field structures with the same energy. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 23–29, January, 2009.     

Radiative tail in π e2 decay and some remarks on μ-e universality

The results of lowest-order perturbation theory calculations of the photon and positron spectra in radiative π _e2 decay are generalized to all orders of perturbation theory using the structure-function method. An additional source of radiative corrections to the ratio of the positron and muon channels of pion decay, due to emission of virtual and real photons and pairs, is considered. It depends on details of the detection of the final particles and is large enough to be taken into account in theoretical estimates with a level of accuracy of 0.1%. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 2, 119–122 (25 January 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Evolution of large-scale correlations in a strongly nonequilibrium Bose condensation process

The evolution of off-diagonal correlation functions (for the example of a single-particle density matrix) in the process of Bose condensation of an initially nonequilibrium interacting gas is discussed. Special attention is given to the character of the decay of the density matrix at distances much greater than the size of the quasicondensate region. Specifically, it is shown that the exponential decay of the density matrix necessarily presupposes the presence of a chaotic vortex structure — a tangle of vortex lines — in the system. When topological order is established but there is no off-diagonal long-range order, the density matrix decays with distance according to a power law. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 7, 495–501 (10 April 1998)     

Quantum melting of mesoscopic clusters

The phase diagram of a two-dimensional mesoscopic system of charges or dipoles, whose realizations could be electrons in a semiconductor quantum dot or indirect excitons in a system of two vertically coupled quantum dots, is investigated. Quantum calculations using ab initio Monte Carlo integration along trajectories determine the properties of such objects in the temperature-quantum de-Boer-parameter plane. At zero (sufficiently low) temperature, as the quantum fluctuations of the particles increase, two types of quantum disordering phenomena occur with increasing quantum de Boer parameter q: first, for q∼10⁻⁵ the systems transform into a radially ordered but orientationally disordered state wherein various shells of the “atom” rotate relative to one another. For much larger q∼0.1, a transition occurs to a disordered state (a superfluid in the case of a system of bosons). Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 1856–1862 (October 1999)     

The estimation of the Z′ gauge boson mass in E 6 models

The aim of this study is to estimate the Z′ boson mass by using the calculations of the decay width of Z′(ϑ) boson. So, the decay width of the extra Z boson is calculated numerically in effective rank 5 models for different mixing angles ϑ of the model and for different mass values of the extra Z boson. The decay width of Z′ boson to the Standard Model (SM) fermions is found to be between 4.42 and 19.36 GeV and the full decay width of Z′ boson to all particles is found to be between 20.88 and 37.15 GeV. We calculated the full decay width at the angle ϑ ≊ 0 for Z′ and Z ₂ → Z′. The full decay width of Z′ boson is written in a single equation according to our calculations. By using these calculations and the previous works the mass of Z′ boson and the number of generations of the exotic particles are estimated. The article is published in the original.     

Investigation of the antineutrino angular distribution in experiments on the β decay of polarized neutrons

Since the emission of γ grays unavoidably accompanies β decay, the final state after the β decay of a neutron includes a photon along with a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino, i.e., four particles, rather than three. Therefore, when only the electron and proton momenta are detected and the γ-ray momentum is not detected in an experiment, the antineutrino momentum cannot be uniquely reconstructed, and only its mean value over a γ-ray momentum distribution determined from corresponding calculations can be considered. The γ grays are significant for finding the asymmetry parameter B of the antineutrino angular distribution from experiments on the β decay of polarized neutrons, where the electron momentum p directed along the x axis and the projection of the proton momentum P _x onto the x axis are detected, and the neutron polarization vector ξ is parallel or antiparallel to x. Since the γ rays are not detected in such experiments, the antineutrino kinematics are not uniquely specified by the observables p and P _x and can be reconstructed only on the average, so that the antineutrino momentum distribution averaged over a γ-ray momentum distribution is considered. Thus, the exact value of B cannot be obtained from these experiments, but the true value of B can be estimated on the average by considering the mean (most likely) value 〈B〉 and the dispersion (rms deviation) ΔB. The unavoidable uncertainty in the estimate of B amounts to several percent and is thus significant for present-day experiments, which are intended to obtain the value of B to a very high accuracy of ∼ (0.1–1)%. If electromagnetic interactions are taken into account, measurements of the electron and proton momentum distributions can also be used to obtain g _A, i.e., the axial β-decay amplitude, to high accuracy. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1505–1522 (November 1999)     

Study of the rates of collisional decay of population, orientation, and alignment by stimulated photon echo in a molecular gas

A stimulated photon echo technique with specially selected linear polarizations of the coherent resonant driver pulses is used to study depolarizing collisions in the molecular gas SF₆ and in mixtures of it with buffer He and Xe. The collisional decay rates of the population, orientation, and alignment in an ensemble of gas particles are determined for the first time in a single experiment. These relaxation rates are measured as a function of the longitudinal translational velocities of the resonant particles. To within the experimental accuracy, no significant dependence of the collisional decay rates on the translational velocities of the particles was observed. This result confirms the conventional theoretical approach to depolarizing collisions. In pure SF₆ the decay rates for the orientation and alignment were lower than the relaxation constant for collisions involving a change in the longitudinal velocity (elastic collisions) that is known from experimental observations of the ordinary photon echo. This means that only some of the elastic collisions participate in destroying the multipole moments of the levels. Evidence is found that the relaxation of the multipole moments created by polarized radiation in a resonant medium of molecular SF₆ gas depends on j, the total angular momentum of the level. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 826–833 (March 1998)     

Decay of transient nutation in two-level spin systems

This paper reports the results of an experimental study of the decay of transient NMR nutations in a two-level spin system with homogeneous line broadening. The NMR nutation signals in glycerin were studied for 10⩽ω ₁ T ₂⩽150, where ω ₁=γH ₁, with γ the gyromagnetic ratio and H ₁ the amplitude of the magnetic component of the radio-frequency field, and T ₂ is the transverse relaxation time. It is found that in a high-power field (ω ₁ T ₂≫1) the nutation decay rate is independent of ω ₁ and is quantitatively described by Bloch’s model. The data is compared with the data on non-Bloch (ω ₁-dependent) EPR-nutation decay in quartz (R. Boscaino, F. M. Gelardi, and J. P. Corb, Phys. Rev. B 48, 7077 (1993)). Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 1207–1213 (April 1997)     

The aγγγ vertex and three-photon axion decay in an external magnetic field

The axion vertex aγγγ, the probability of three-photon axion decay in an external magnetic field, and the cross section of the crossing process aγ→2γ, which CP invariance forbids in vacuum, are calculated for the first time. It is shown that in superstrong magnetic fields B≫F ₀=m ²/|e|=4.41·10¹³ G the probability of three-photon decay is greater than the probability of two-photon decay. The astrophysical aspects of the questions examined are discussed. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 26–34 (July 1999)     

Unification of interactions in a model with composite particles

A model for the unification of interactions with composite quarks, leptons, and Higgs fields is proposed on the basis of the SU(5) group. The model explains in a natural manner the appearance of generations, mixing of cato-quarks, proton decay, and so on. A number of effects are predicted, specifically, the existence of a fourth generation of particles. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 66, No. 5, 293–298 (10 September 1997)