Time-dependent mean field S-matrix theory

By using the path integral approach to many-body systems, we formulate a time-dependent mean field S-matrix theory of nuclear reactions. Many-body channel eigenstates are constructed by using projection techniques. In this way the S-matrix between the channel eigenstates is expressed as a superposition of S-matrix elements between wave-packet-like states localized in space and time. A field operator representation of the interaction picture S-matrix is derived which enables one to apply the path integral approach. Applying the stationary phase approximation to the path integral representation of the interaction picture S-matrix between the localized states an asymptotically constant time-dependent mean field approximation to this S-matrix is obtained. Finally, the S-matrix between the projected channel eigenstates is obtained by evaluating the integral, arising from the projections, over the space-time positions of the localized states in the stationary phase approximation. The stationary phase conditions select those localized states from the projected channel states for which the mean field values of energy and momentum coincide with their corresponding channel eigenvalues.     

The classical-limit S-matrix for Coulomb excitation

An expression for the classical-limit S-matrix for Coulomb excitation is derived and directly evaluated without resorting to stationary phase integration methods. The results obtained are in quantitative agreement with quantum mechanical calculations. This agreement and the simplicity of the method suggest tha feasibility of extending it to cases where other methods are not easily applied.     

A modified coupled channel Born approximation applied to the study of the excitation of vibrational bands in deformed nuclei

A formalism based on the coupled channel Born approximation is presented. The treatment is applied to the study of weak direct processes in permanently deformed nuclei coexisting with the rotational excitations.The central idea consists in replacing the coupled-channel wave functions for the relative motion by the waves generated by an angle dependent S-matrix formalism. The resultant approximation is applied to vibrational excitations of deformed nuclei. Numerical results are shown for the excitation of the 3⁻ state in ¹⁵⁰Nd by 70.4 MeV ¹²C, and comparisons with coupled channels calculations are made.     

Loop-corrected string field equations from world-sheet Weyl invariance

We investigate short distance singularities inside the Polyakov path integral in an arbitrary closed bosonic string background due to vertex operators and small handles or holes. The latter are represented in terms of handle or hole operators, which we construct explicitly. The requirement of global Weyl invariance generates loop-corrected equations of motion for the string modes including tadpole terms and self-energy corrections. The relation to theS-matrix and superstrings are discussed briefly.     

Generalized semiclassical optical model and velocity-dependent potentials

A procedure is developed for the construction of a complex potential in a generalized semiclassical optical model for molecular collisions involving internal nuclear degrees of freedom. The procedure involves a local approximation on the exact quantum optical potential, which is an integral operator over an energy-dependent, non-local kernel. The resulting potential for the model is velocity-dependent. The classical limit of transition amplitudes is obtained from complex-valued classical trajectories whose equations of motion are derived with this potential. The potential contains coordinate integrals over the kernel, and various approximations for the kernel are discussed. Sample calculations are carried out for collinear atom-diatom collisions.     

Carrier energy spectrum and lifetime in quantum dots in electric field

The S-matrix formalism is used to perform analytical calculations of the spectrum of quasi-stationary states of charge carriers in a core-shell quantum dot. Analytical expressions are obtained for the second-order perturbative corrections to the position and half-width of a quasi-stationary energy level, and level shifts are calculated numerically for a core-shell quantum dot in the presence of an electrostatic field. The corrections to level half-width due to Stark effect are analyzed as functions of level energy and barrier thickness. It is shown that there exists a level position E _cr such that the correction δΓ to the level half-width changes sign. An analytical expression for the quadratic Stark shift in a dc-biased quantum well is found in semiclassical approximation. It is shown that the corresponding correction δΓ to half-width also changes sign as energy passes through E _cr. As an example, the Stark shift is calculated for a core-shell quantum dot in the electrostatic field of an adjacent protein molecule.     

Two-state curve crossing processes involving rotational coupling in the Na 2 + molecular ion

We examine the relative utility of the Landau-Zener, phase integral, and semiclassical Magnus approximations for processes involving a real crossing of two potential curves. As an example we consider rotational coupling in Na ₂ ⁺ . Numerical calculations for the ¦3p〉→¦3s〉 quenching process and for ¦3p〉→¦3d〉 excitation agree well with recent experiments in the energy range 20 eV≦E_K≦50 eV. Simple expressions forS-matrix elements, differential and total cross sections in these approximations depend only on accurate evaluation of a few JWKB phases. For the total cross section further simplification of the Magnus results yields a useful semiempirical formula.     

Semiclassical description of the <Superscript>6</Superscript>He+<Superscript>12</Superscript>C elastic scattering

The results of the elastic scattering of ⁶He+¹²C systemat E _Lab = 18 MeV by using the barrier and internal wave decomposition of the S-matrix element within the framework of the WKB method are presented. This is the first detailed study for the interaction of the exotic ⁶He nucleus on different stable nuclei by using a semiclassicalmethod. In this paper, we show that in order to obtain the elastic scattering cross section of the ⁶He+¹²C systemat energies close to the Coulomb barrier, it is vitally important to take into account the inner complex turning points in the calculations and the tunneling effects play a crucial role to explain the experimental data. The semiclassical results are compared with the experimental data as well as the quantum-mechanical one.     

Semiclassical scattering theory with complex trajectories. I. Elastic waves

The WKB approximation to the one-particle Schrödinger equation is used to obtain the wave function at a given point as a sum of semiclassical terms, each of them corresponding to a different classical trajectory ending up at the same point. Besides the usual, real trajectories, also possible complex solutions of the classical equations of motion are considered. The simplicity of the method makes its use easy in practical cases and allows realistic calculations. The general solution of the one-dimensional WKB equations for an arbitrary number of complex turning points is given, and the solution is applied to calculate the position of the Regge poles of the scattering amplitude. The solution of the WKB equations in three dimensions for a central analytical potential is also obtained in a way that can be easily generalized to N-dimensions, provided the problem is separable. A multiple reflection series is derived, leading to a separation of the scattering amplitude into a smooth “background” term (single reflection approximation) that can be treated using classical but complex trajectories and a second resonating term that can be treated using the Sommerfeld-Watson transformation. The physical interpretation of the complex solutions of the classical equations of motion is given: they describe diffractive effects such as Fresnel, Fraunhofer diffraction, or the penetration of the quantal wave into shadow regions of caustics. They arise also in the scattering by a complex potential in an absorptive medium. The comparison with exact quantal calculations shows an astonishingly good agreement, and establishes the complex semiclassical approximation as a quantitative tool even in cases where the potential varies rapidly within a fraction of a wavelength. An approximate property of classical paths is discussed. The general pattern of the trajectories depends only on the product ? = EΘ, and not on energy and angle separately. This property is confirmed by experiments and besides the signature it gives for the semiclassical behavior, it simplifies considerably the search for all trajectories scattering through the same angle. Finally, a general classification of the different types of elastic heavy ion cross sections is given.     

Approximate scattering solutions of the dirac equation for electron-nucleus processes in light nuclei

Scattering solutions of the second-order Dirac equation for the case of the Coulomb potential and which are correct to first order in the coupling constantZe ²/hc are investigated and found to describe pure Coulomb scattering equally well as the Sommerfeld-Maue wave functions. Errors introduced by the use of these solutions are studied in a numerical calculation of cross sections for nuclear electric-quadrupole excitation by high-energy electrons. The use of these wave functions is suggested for simplified calculations of lowest-order Coulomb corrections to Born approximation results for various electron-nucleus processes.     

Method for Lippmann-Schwinger equations

A recently proposed degenerate-kernel scheme for solving Fredholm integral equations of the second kind is extended to singular equations of the Lippmann-Schwinger type. Numerical calculations of on- and off-shell t-matrix elements are carried out at positive and negative energies, for the ¹S₀ Reid soft-core nucleon-nucleon potential. Satisfactory convergence is achieved, even with the simplest version of the s     

The Gell-Mann-Goldberger formula for long-range potential scattering

A derivation of the Gell-Mann-Goldberger (GG) formula and cut-off versions of this formula for the T-matrix involving long-range potentials is given. The derivation is based on the time-dependent and recently developed stationary formalisms for scattering via long-range potentials. A stationary S-operator expression for two-body Coulomb-like scattering is derived. Using the well-known expression for the off-energy-shell “T-matrix” for a pure Coulomb potential the energy-shell limit of this stationary expression is shown to yield the pure Coulomb scattering amplitude. A proof of the convergence of the perturbation series corresponding to the Gell-Mann-Goldberger formula for the two-body Coulomb-like T-matrix is given.     

Semiclassical theory of integrable and rough Andreev billiards

We study the effect on the density of states in mesoscopic ballistic billiards to which a superconducting lead is attached. The expression for the density of states is derived in the semiclassical S-matrix formalism shedding light onto the origin of the differences between the semiclassical theory and the corresponding result derived from random matrix models. Applications to a square billiard geometry and billiards with boundary roughness are discussed. The saturation of the quasiparticle excitation spectrum is related to the classical dynamics of the billiard. The influence of weak magnetic fields on the proximity effect in rough Andreev billiards is discussed and an analytical formula is derived. The semiclassical theory provides an interpretation for the suppression of the proximity effect in the presence of magnetic fields as a coherence effect of time reversed trajectories. It is shown to be in good agreement with quantum mechanical calculations. Received 21 August 1999 and Received in final form 21 March 2001     

Theory of the Trojan-Horse method

The Trojan-Horse method is an indirect approach to determine the energy dependence of S factors of astrophysically relevant two-body reactions. This is accomplished by studying closely related three-body reactions under quasi-free scattering conditions. The basic theory of the Trojan-Horse method is developed starting from a post-form distorted wave Born approximation of the T-matrix element. In the surface approximation the cross-section of the three-body reaction can be related to the S-matrix elements of the two-body reaction. The essential feature of the Trojan-Horse method is the effective suppression of the Coulomb barrier at low energies for the astrophysical reaction leading to finite cross-sections at the threshold of the two-body reaction. In a modified plane wave approximation the relation between the two- and three-body cross-sections becomes very transparent. The appearing Trojan-Horse integrals are studied in detail.     

Quantenfeldtheorie wechselwirkender Vielteilchensysteme zur semiklassischen Beschreibung von kollektiver Bewegung mit großen Amplituden

By using path integral methods a collective quantum field theory of interacting many-body systems is developed, the classical limit of which is given by the time-dependent mean-field approximation. In this way the mean-field approximation is embedded into the full quantum mechanics and the quantum corrections to the “classical” mean-field approximation can be systematically evaluated. By including the dominant quantum corrections to the mean-field approximation a semiclassical theory of large amplitude collective motions in many-body-systems, which show a highly nonlinear dynamic and are not accessible to perturbation theoretical methods, is derived. The semiclassical theory is developed explicitly for bound states and decay processes like nuclear fission. In the case of bound states this leads to the quantization of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Theory, which is demonstrated for a uniform nuclear rotation.     

A new approach to potential scattering

An approximate integral-representation of theS-matrix in partial-wave expansion is derived for a scalar Schrödinger particle in a central field. The method consists of linearizingCalogero's Riccati equation for the interpolatingS-matrix in such a way that the solution of the linearized equation deviates as little as possible from the exact one. TheS-matrix thus obtained exhibits exact crossing-symmetry and uniform convergence independent of the coupling constant of the scattering potential. In the weak coupling limit it is especially shown thatour method is more accurate than the second Born approximation. In the second part of the paper we specialize ourS-matrix to low and large energies. At low energies, a general integral for the scattering length is obtained and at large energies the summation over all angular momenta is carried out yielding an expression for the scattering amplitude.     

Eikonal description of quantal scattering

Elastic and inelastic quantal scattering is described by a theory in which the contribution of a range of impact parameters to the scattering amplitude is determined by a phase integral (“eikonal”) which is integrated along a real curved “quantal” trajectory. This amplitude reduces to the Glauber expression in the high-energy, forward-angle limit, and to the usual semiclassical amplitude in the classical limit. The formulation can be applied to the study of heavy-ion scattering. The quantal trajectories are investigated analytically for the case of Coulomb scattering. A numerical analysis of elastic ¹⁶O¹⁶O scattering is carried out. The results show appreciable improvement as compared with the Glauber approximation.