New Bounds on the Maximum Ionization of Atoms

We prove that the maximum number N _c of non-relativistic electrons that a nucleus of charge Z can bind is less than 1.22Z + 3Z ^1/3. This improves Lieb’s upper bound N _c  < 2Z + 1 Lieb (Phys Rev A 29:3018–3028, 1984) when Z ≥ 6. Our method also applies to non-relativistic atoms in magnetic field and to pseudo-relativistic atoms. We show that in these cases, under appropriate conditions, \({\limsup_{Z \to \infty}N_c/Z \le 1.22}\).     

Multicomponent <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-(Bi,Sb)<Subscript>2</Subscript>(Te,Se,S)<Subscript>3</Subscript> solid solutions with different atomic substitutions in the Bi and Te sublattices

The thermoelectric properties of n-Bi_{2 ? x} Sb _x Te_{3 ? y ? z} Se _y S _z solid solutions are studied in the temperature range 300–550 K. It is shown that an increase in the parameter β determining the figure-of-merit Z of the material is observed in compositions with the optimally related effective mass of the density of states m/m ₀, the carrier mobility μ₀, and the lattice thermal conductivity κ _L . Within the temperature range 300–350 K, the parameter β and the figure-of-merit Z are found to increase in solid solutions with substitutions in both bismuth telluride sublattices Bi → Sb and Te → Se, S (x = 0.16, y = z = 0.12) for optimum electron concentrations. An increase in the electron concentration and substitutions of atoms only in the tellurium sublattice bring about an increase in the β parameter and the value of Z at higher temperatures. Within the range 350–450 K, the parameters β and Z are observed to increase in a solid solution with a low content of substituted atoms in the tellurium sublattice Te → Se, S for y = z = 0.09 and, at higher temperatures up to 550 K, in compositions with tellurium substituted by selenium only, with increasing content of substituted atoms.     

Neutral Particle Motion around a Schwarzschild Black Hole in Modified Gravity

We investigate circular motion of neutral test particles on equatorial plane near a black hole in scalar-tensor-vector gravity. We consider three cases (i) α < G/G_N (ii) α = G/G_N and (iii) α > G/G_N to find the regions where motion can exist. The corresponding effective potential, energy, angular momentum and center of mass energy are evaluated. Further, we define four different cases for α > G/G_N and identify stable and unstable regions of circular orbits. It is found that circular orbits having zero angular momentum exist at r = αGNM due to repulsive gravity effects. We conclude that the structure of stable regions for α < G/G_N as well as α = G/G_N case is completely different from that of α > G/G_N.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis> lineshape versus fourth-generation masses

The dependence of the Z-resonance shape on the location of the threshold of the N\(\bar N\) production (N is the fourth-generation neutrino) is analyzed. The bounds on the existence of the fourth generation are derived from the comparison of the theoretical expression for the Z lineshape with the experimental data. The fourth generation is excluded at 95% C.L. for m _N <46.7±0.2 GeV.     

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).     

New magic nuclei and conditions of their formation

The systematic studies of the arrangement features of single-particle nucleon subshells in even-even ^90,92,94,96Zr isotopes and behavior of some known “magicity parameters” in isotopes and isotones neighboring the ⁹⁶Zr nucleus have led to the interpretation of ⁹⁶Zr as a new doubly magic nucleus. Analysis of the structure of nucleon shells in the ⁹⁶Zr nucleus revealed a feature, which consisted in that near the Fermi energy it had filled proton (π1f _5/2) and neutron (v2d _5/2) subshells with an identical and large total momentum j = 5/2, which was called the j-j coupling. Above the π1f _5/2 shell, there is another filled shell (π2p _1/2) with two j = 1/2 protons. Applied to other filled shells, this empirical rule allowed revealing several new nontraditional magic nuclei: ⁹⁶Sr (Z = 38, N = 58), π1f _5/2, v2d _5/2, and v3s _1/2 subshells; ⁵⁴Ca (Z = 20, N = 34), π2p _3/2, v1d _3/2, and v2p _1/2 subshells; a pair of ³⁰Si (Z = 14, N = 16) and ³⁰S (Z = 16, N = 14) nuclei, π1d _5/2, v1d _5/2, and (π/v)2s _1/2 subshells; and a pair of ¹⁴C (Z = 6, N = 8) and ¹⁴O (Z = 8, N = 6) nuclei, 1p _3/2, v1p _3/2, and v2p _1/2 subshells. The existence of the magic nuclei ^52,54Ca is widely discussed in the literature, the possibility of the existence of the other nuclei found is confirmed by the systematics of the behavior of the “magicity” parameters. The fact that shells with some nucleon numbers different from the classical magic numbers are closed may be due to the manifestation of a new type of interaction between nuclear protons and neutrons occupying certain subshells.     

New neutron magic number <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> = 16 for neutron-rich nuclei

A survey of experimental results obtained at GANIL (Caen, France) on the study of the properties of very neutron-rich nuclei (Z=6–20, A=20–60) near the neutron drip line and resulting in an appearance of further evidence for the new magic number N=16 is presented. Very recent data on mass measurements of neutron-rich nuclei at GANIL and some characteristics of binding energies in this region are discussed. Nuclear binding energies are very sensitive to the existence of nuclear shells, and together with the measurements of instability of doubly magic nuclei ¹⁰He and ²⁸O, they provide information on changes in neutron shell closures of very neutron-rich isotopes. The behavior of the two-neutron separation energies S_2n derived from mass measurements gives very clear evidence for the existence of the new shell closure N=16 for Z=9 and 10 appearing between the 2s_1/2 and 1d_3/2 orbitals. This fact, strongly supported by the instability of C, N, and O isotopes with N>16, confirms the magic character of N=16 for the region from carbon up to neon, while the shell closure at N=20 tends to disappear for Z≤13. Decay studies of these hardly accessible short-lived neutron-rich nuclei from oxygen to silicon using in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy are also reported.     

Can “Two-” and “One-Dimensional” Multielectron Atoms Exist?

The quasi-classical Thomas–Fermi method is applied to 2D and 1D multielectron atoms. In terms of this method, such atoms are shown not to exist because of the fact that the physical boundary conditions that are analogous to the 3D version of the theory, where boundary conditions are met, cannot be fulfilled. Our theoretical results can be experimentally tested. Atomic number Z_{1, 2max} (~10²?) is assumed to exist in terms of this method. At Z > Z_{1, 2max}, low-dimensional multielectron atoms cannot exist, in contrast to oneor two-electron atoms and, e.g., an experimentally detected Bose condensate of low-dimensional atoms with Z ~ 10 (Na).     

Photon distribution functions of the fluorescence photons from a single nanoparticle in various photon counting methods

Simple expressions have been derived for three photon distribution functions w _N ^M (T), w _N ^Z (T), and w _N ^O (T) corresponding to three different methods for counting fluorescence photons from a single nanoparticle excited by continuous laser radiation. In contrast to the previously derived expressions represented in the form of N multiple integrals, the new expressions contain only single or double integrals of Poisson functions, which makes it possible to easily perform the numerical calculation of the photon distribution. The simplest photon counting method corresponds to the lengthiest function w _N ^M (T); on the contrary, the simplest function w _N ^O (T) corresponds to the most complex photon counting method. The functions w _N ^M (T), w _N ^Z (T), and w _N ^O (T) are noticeably different in short time intervals T; however, the distributions calculated using these functions are almost indistinguishable from each other in long T intervals. This circumstance makes it possible to use the simplest function w _N ^O (T) to consider the photon statistics measured by the simplest method. This possibility is particularly important for investigating the fluorescence photon statistics, where the intensity fluctuates.     

Perturbativity and nonperturbativity in large-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis> effects for hydrogen-like atoms

The effects induced by the interaction ΔU_AMM of the anomalous component of the electron magnetic moment with the Coulomb field of a nucleus at Zα > 1 are examined for the lower levels of a hydrogen-like atom within purely perturbative and essentially nonperturbative in α/π approaches. Owing to the specific features of the ΔU_AMM operator for a point-like Coulomb source, the distribution of the charge over the volume of the nucleus is set in the nonperturbative case at the quark structure level using valence (constituent) u and d quarks. It is demonstrated that such nonperturbative analysis turns out to be nontrivial as well as the manner in which its results are altered in the transition from the central problem with spherical symmetry to the inclusion of the peripheral contribution. It is also demonstrated that these methods yield matching (with an accuracy no worse than 0.1%) results for the shift of levels 1s_1/2 and 2p_1/2 due to ΔU_AMM at all values of Z through to critical ones. Thus, it is confirmed that the perturbation theory in α/π provides correct results for superheavy atoms if the complete dependence of the wave function on Zα is taken into account from the beginning.     

Calculation of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis><Subscript>eff</Subscript> from plasma resistivity in IR-T1 tokamak

The effective ion charge,Z _eff, represents the average charge of ionsZ _i of gasses inside the system, which indicates the level of the impurities in the plasma. Several techniques have been applied to estimateZ _eff, like mass spectroscopy, anomaly factor and Bremsstrahlung radiation.

We estimatedZ _eff in the IR-T1 tokamak through anomaly factor. The IR-T1 tokamak is a small air-core transformer tokamak with circular cross section and with out conducting shell and divertor. Its aspect ratio is

$$\frac{R}{a} = \frac{{45 cm}}{{12.5 cm}}.$$

For a tokamak discharge of 30 kA plasma current and 1.5 V of loop voltage and by anomaly factor we observed thatZ _eff value is about 1.5.     

Special features of the structure of the beta-stability line for nuclei

The mass-number (A) dependence Z _β(A) for nuclei lying on the beta-stability line (BSL) is calculated for A and Z values in the ranges of A = 2–258 and Z = 1–100, respectively. The calculated values are compared with experimental data. The deviations ΔZ = Z _expt ? Z _β are analyzed. This analysis of ΔZ reveals that there are three regions of A values in which the A dependence of ΔZ is parabolic. The possible forms of the A dependence of ΔZ are analyzed, and it is shown that the majority of nuclei belong to several parabolas simultaneously.     

On the Bosonic Atoms

We investigate the ground state properties of atoms, in which substitute fermions—electrons by bosons, namely, π^?-mesons. We perform some calculations in the frame of modified Hartree–Fock (HF) equation. The modification takes into account symmetry, instead of antisymmetry of the pair identical bosons wavefunction. The modified HF approach thus enhances (doubles) the effect of self-action for the boson case. Therefore, we accordingly modify the HF equations by eliminating the self-action terms “by hand.” The contribution of meson–meson and meson–nucleon non-Coulomb interaction is inessential at least for atoms with low and intermediate nuclear charge, which is our main subject. We found that the binding energy of pion negative ions A_π^-, pion atoms A_π, and the number of extra bound pions ΔN_π increases with the nuclear charge Z. In particular, for Xe ΔN_π = 4. As an example of a simple process with a pion atom, we consider photoionization that differs essentially from that for electron atoms. Namely, it is not monotonic decreasing from the threshold but has instead a prominent maximum above threshold. We study also elastic scattering of pions by pion atoms.     

Probing of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis>γγ production sensitivity to anomalous quartic gauge couplings at LHC experiments with √ <Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis> =13 TeV

Sensitivity to anomalous ZZγγ and Zγγγ couplings in Zγγ production was probed for the ATLAS experiment at Large Hadron Collider. Zγγ process with anomalous couplings simulation in ppcollisions with √ s = 13 TeV was performed using VBFNLO MC generator. The expected limits on the Effective Field Theory parameters f _T0/Λ4, f _T5/Λ4, f _T9/Λ4, f _M2/Λ4, f _M3/Λ4 were extracted for 5 fb^?1 integral luminosity using the distribution on the invariant mass of Zγγ from the combination of charged leptonic decay channels of Z boson (Zγγ → μ⁺μ^?γγ and Zγγ → e⁺e^?γγ).     

High-resolution X-ray emission <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>α and <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>β spectra of Bi atoms

The structure and relative intensity of x-ray fluorescence Mα and Mβ spectra of Bi atoms have been studied experimentally under excitation by Cr and Cu Kα_1,2 radiation. It has been found that observed short-wavelength satellites are mostly caused by the radiative transitions M ₅ N-N _6,7 N (M ₅ N satellites) and M ₄ N-N ₆ N (M ₄ N satellites), whereas the transitions M ₅ O-N _6,7 O and M ₄ O-N ₆ O are overlapped with the profiles of x-ray diagram Mα_1,2 and Mβ lines and are not observed as individual structures. The M ₅ N and M ₄ N satellites have been separated from total spectral profiles, and the relative intensities of such groups of lines have been determined. A model has been proposed for calculation of emission cross sections of the M ₄ N and M ₄ N satellites, as well as the Mα_1,2 lines along with the M ₅ O satellites and the Mβ line with the M ₄ O satellites. The model takes into account main channels of generation and migration of vacancies in M subshells connected with the Coster-Kronig transitions M _i -M _j N and M _i -M _j O, radiative transitions M _i -M _j and M _i -N _j , and shaking processes upon production of the M _i vacancy, as well as with cascades of such processes. Comparison of experimental values of the relative intensity of the separated satellites with calculated results indicates the correctness of the model used.     

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.     

Dark matter from the SU(4) model

The left-right symmetric Pati-Salam model of the unification of quarks and leptons is based on the SU(4) and SU(2)×SU(2) symmetry groups. These groups are naturally extended to include the classification of families of quarks and leptons. We assume that the family group (the group which unites the families) is also the SU(4) group. The properties of the fourth generation of fermions are the same as those of the ordinary-matter fermions in the first three generations except for the family charge of the SU(4)_F group: F=(1/3, 1/3, 1/3, ?1), where F=1/3 for fermions of ordinary matter and F=?1 for the fourth-generation fermions. The difference in F does not allow mixing between ordinary and fourth-generation fermions. Because of the conservation of the Fcharge, the creation of baryons and leptons in the process of electroweak baryogenesis must be accompanied by the creation of fermions of the fourth generation. As a result, the excess n _B of baryons over antibaryons leads to the excess n_4ν=N?N? of neutrinos over antineutrinos in the fourth generation with n_4ν=n _B . This massive neutrino may form nonbaryonic dark matter. In principle, the mass density of the fourth neutrino n_4νm _N in the Universe can make the main contribution to dark matter, since the lower bound on the neutrino mass m _N from the data on decay of the Z bosons is m _N <m _Z /2. The straightforward prediction of this model leads to the amount of cold dark matter relative to baryons, which is an order of magnitude higher than allowed by observations. This inconsistency may be avoided by nonconservation of the F charge.     

Stability of a rotating pinch

The problem of pinch stabilisation is of interest in connection with plasma confinement and has been the subject matter of various investigations in recent years, (Kruskal andSchwarzschild, Taylor, Shafranov). The theoretical investigations in the past have been restricted to static equilibrium configurations. It is of some interest to explore whether an initial motion of plasma tends to make the pinch more, or less stable than when the fluid velocity is zero. Keeping this in mind let us investigate theaxisymmetric stability of an infinitely long cylindrical plasma column of radiusR rotating uniformly with angular velocityΩ about theZ-axis, the fluid being assumed to the incompressible, inviscid, and of infinite electrical conductivity. The plasma carries a uniform axial current of densityj ₀ and a uniform axial magnetic fieldH ₁. The field outside is taken to beH ₂ inZ-direction and a toroidal component which is continuous across the boundary.     

Study of the atom-phonon coupling model for (SC) partition function: first order phase transition for an infinite linear chain

In spin-conversion (SC) compounds containing molecules organized around an iron (II) ion the fundamental level of the ion is low spin (LS), S = 0, and its first excited one is high spin (HS), S = 2. This energy diagram is due to the ligands field interaction on 3d electrons and to the spin pairing energy. Heating the compound increases the magnetic susceptibility which corresponds to a change of populations of both levels and consequently a change of spin value of the molecules. This mechanism, called spin conversion (SC), can be accompagnied by thermal hysteresis observed by studying magnetic susceptibility or high spin fraction. In that case one considers that the (SC) takes place through a first-order phase transition due to intermolecular interactions. In the atom-phonon coupling model the molecules are considered as two-level systems, or two-level atoms, and it is assumed that the elastic force constant value of the spring which links two atoms first neighbours is depending on the electronic states of both atoms. In this study we calculate the partition function of a linear chain of N atoms (N ≤ 16) and we describe the role of phonons and that of the parameter Δ which corresponds to the distance in energy between both levels. The chain free-energy function is F _atph . We introduce for the chain a free-energy function defined by the set (F _HS , F _LS , F _barr ) and we show that F _atph tends towards the previous set when N → ∞. The previous set allows to describe a first order phase transition between a (LS) phase and a (HS) one. At the crossing point between the function F _LS and F _HS , and around this point, there is an intermediate free-energy barrier which prevents the chain to change phase which can lead to thermal hysteresis. The energy gap between the free-energy function F _atph and that defined by the set (F _HS , F _LS , F _barr ) is small. So we can expect that a nanoparticule takes for free-energy function that defined by the set and then displays a thermal hysteresis.