Nuclear physics parallels in atomic cluster physics

This paper considers some examples of physical phenomena, manifesting themselves in electron scattering on atomic clusters, which are analogous with those known from nuclear physics. It is demonstrated that the electron diffraction plays an important role in the formation of both elastic and inelastic electron scattering cross sections. The essential role of the multipole plasmon excitations in the formation of electron energy loss spectra on clusters is elucidated. The main emphasis in the paper is laid on electron scattering on fullerenes and metal clusters, however, results are applicable to some extent to other types of clusters as well.     

Chaos in atomic physics

The influence of quantum chaos on small atomic systems is reviewed. It now seems clear that chaos in the usually understood sense (e.g. exponential sensitivity to perturbations) is not found in isolated quantum systems. However, there are phenomena which appear only when the corresponding classical system is chaotic. The stability of the classical dynamics, in other words whether it is regular or chaotic, has a profound effect on the character of the corresponding quantum spectrum and wavefunctions.     

Chemical potentials in gauge theories

One-loop calculations of the thermodynamic potential Ω are presented for temperature gauge and non-gauge theories. Prototypical formulae are derived which give Ω as a function of both (i) boson and/or fermion chemical potential, and in the case of gauge theories (ii) the thermal vacuum parameter A₀=const (A_μ is the euclidean gauge potential). From these basic abelian gauge theory formulae, the one-loop contribution to Ω can readily be constructed for Yang-Mills theories, and also for non-gauge theories.     

Positronium interactions in atomic physics

The role of positronium in the investigation of fundamental aspects of atomic physics is discussed. The recently developed technique of timed positronium beam production and the characterisation of the beam constituents in the energy range 7–41 eV are outlined. Examples of positronium atoms as probes in atomic scattering interactions are given.     

Rules of correspondence in atomic physics

The Smirnov method of analytic continuation (B.M. Smirnov, Sov. Phys. JETP 20, 345 (1964)) has been justified and developed for atomic physics. It has been shown that the polarizability of alkali atoms α, their van der Waals interaction constant C ₆, and the oscillator strength of the transition to the first P state f ₀₁ are related to the parameter 〈r ²〉 and gap in the spectrum \(\frac{3}{2}\frac{f}{\Delta } \approx \frac{3}{2}\alpha \Delta \approx {\left( {3{C_6}\Delta } \right)^{{\raise0.7ex\hbox{$1$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 2}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace}\!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$2$}}}} \approx \left\langle {{r^2}} \right\rangle \). The average square of the coordinate of the valence electron 〈r ²〉 in the first approximation has a hydrogen dependence \({J_1} = \frac{1}{{2{v^2}}}.\) on the filling factor ν, which is defined in terms of the first ionization potential: xxxxxxxxx     

Quantum dynamics in ultracold atomic physics

We review recent developments in the theory of quantum dynamics in ultracold atomic physics, including exact techniques and methods based on phase-space mappings that are applicable when the complexity becomes exponentially large. Phase-space representations include the truncated Wigner, positive-P and general Gaussian operator representations which can treat both bosons and fermions. These phase-space methods include both traditional approaches using a phase-space of classical dimension, and more recent methods that use a non-classical phase-space of increased dimensionality. Examples used include quantum Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement of a four-mode BEC, time-reversal tests of dephasing in single-mode traps, BEC quantum collisions with up to 106 modes and 105 interacting particles, quantum interferometry in a multi-mode trap with nonlinear absorption, and the theory of quantum entropy in phase-space. We also treat the approach of variational optimization of the sampling error, giving an elementary example of a nonlinear oscillator.     

Weak neutral currents in atomic physics

Possible ways of detecting weak neutral currents in atomic physics through parity-violating effects in heavy atoms are analysed from a theoretical point of view.     

Kinetic electron excitation in atomic collision cascades

The kinetic excitation of electrons upon bombardment of a solid surface with energetic ions is investigated. Using a metal-insulator-metal junction, hot electrons produced by the projectile impact are detected with excitation energies well below the vacuum level. The results provide information that cannot be accessed by electron emission experiments. The observed tunneling current depends on the projectile energy and the bias voltage across the junction, opening the possibility of internal excitation spectroscopy.     

Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute atomic gases: atomic physics meets condensed matter physics

Bose–Einstein condensed atomic gases are a new class of quantum fluids. They are produced by cooling a dilute atomic gas to nanokelvin temperatures using laser and evaporative cooling techniques. The study of these quantum gases has become an interdisciplinary field of atomic and condensed matter physics. Topics of many-body physics can now be studied with the methods of atomic physics. Many long-standing predictions of the theory of the weakly interacting Bose gas have been verified, including thermodynamic properties of the phase transition and dynamic properties such as shape oscillations and sound propagation. Stimulated light scattering was used to determine the dynamic structure factor both in the phonon and free-particle regime. Atomic Bose condensates show a variety of novel phenomena which include multi-component spinor condensates, magnetic domain formation, miscibility and immiscibility of quantum fluids, and finite-size effects.     

Thomas-Fermi potentials for quasimolecular collision processes

Effective electronic single particle potentials obtained by solving the Thomas-Fermi equation with two centre boundary conditions via the relaxation procedure are compared to the phenomenological variable screening potentials of Wille and Eichler. The scope of further investigations is outlined.     

Constraints on unparticle physics in electroweak gauge boson scattering

The existence of scale invariant physics would lead to new phenomena in particle physics that could be detected at the LHC. In this Letter we exploit the effects of these unparticles in WW→WW$WW\to WW$ scattering. From the requirement of unitarity we derive constraints on unparticle physics. We show that the existence of unparticles would lead to deviations in differential cross sections which can be measured. These deviations are sensitive on the scale dimension and on the spin characteristics of the unparticles.     

Cold collision frequency shift in two-dimensional atomic hydrogen

We report a measurement of the cold collision frequency shift in atomic hydrogen gas adsorbed on the surface of superfluid (4)He at T approximately < 90 mK. Using two-photon electron and nuclear magnetic resonance in 4.6 T field we separate the resonance line shifts due to the dipolar and exchange interactions, both proportional to surface density sigma. We find the clock shift Delta nu(c) = -1.0(1) x 10(-7) Hz cm(-2) x sigma, which is about 100 times smaller than the value predicted by the mean field theory and known scattering lengths in the three-dimensional case.     

The smallest SU(2) × U(1) gauge model and parity violation in atomic physics

Under a general class of assumptions we show that the present data for partiy violating effects in atomic bismuth and for inclusive neutral current neutrino (anti-) nucleon scattering exclude all SU(2) × U(1) gauge models except one, as far as the light quarks and light leptons are concerned. Furthermore the smallness of parity violation in Bi is a strong evidence for the existence of right-handed charged weak current.