A precise measurement of the spin-dependent neutron scattering length of 3He

The poor knowledge of the spin-dependent neutron scattering length of ³He has until now handicapped nuclear four body theory and the interpretation of excitations in the quantum liquid. We have measured, for the first time directly, the real part of the bound incoherent neutron scattering length, b_i′ of ³He. A neutron spin echo spectrometer was used to detect pseudomagnetic precession of polarised neutrons passing through polarised ³He gas. Any absolute calibrations of sample and beam parameters were avoided using simple transmission measurements with non-polarised neutrons. The only a priory information required was the spin-dependent neutron absorption cross section of ³He. The result is b_i′ = -2.365(20) fm, which reduces the prior uncertainty by a factor 30. The corresponding new value of the bound incoherent scattering cross section is σ_i = 1.532(12) barn. Including the known value of the coherent neutron scattering length, we obtain new values for the real parts of the free triplet and singlet neutron scattering lengths, a_-′ = 7.370(58) fm and a₊′ = 3.278(53) fm.     

Virtual coupling potential for elastic scattering of Be on proton and carbon targets

The ^10,11Be(p, p) and (¹²C, ¹²C) reactions were analyzed to determine the influence of the weak binding energies of exotic nuclei on their interaction potential. The elastic cross sections were measured at GANIL in inverse kinematics using radioactive ^10,11Be beams produced at energies of 39.1A   and 38.4A MeV$38.4A\text{ MeV}$. The elastic proton scattering data were analyzed within the framework of the microscopic Jeukenne–Lejeune–Mahaux (JLM) nucleon–nucleus potential. The angular distributions are found to be best reproduced by reducing the real part of the microscopic optical potential, as a consequence of the coupling to the continuum. These effects modify deeply the elastic potential. Including the Virtual Coupling Potential (VCP), we show the ability of the general optical potentials to reproduce the data for scattering of unstable nuclei, using realistic densities. Finally, the concepts needed to develop a more general and microscopic approach of the VCP are discussed.     

Microscopic approach to calculating cross sections and optical potentials for nucleus-nucleus interaction at intermediate energies

Nucleus-nucleus scattering is considered in the high-energy approximation and on the basis of Glauber-Sitenko microscopic theory in the optical limit. Analytic expressions for eikonal phase shifts are given for the case of Fermi-type realistic potentials and nuclear-density distributions. The effect of taking into account the distortions of the trajectories of the nuclei involved and the nuclear-density dependence of nucleon-nucleon forces on the total reactions cross sections is illustrated. The sensitivity of the reaction cross sections to the choice of model for the ⁶He projectile nucleus, which involves a neutron halo, is explored. Semimicroscopic optical potentials are introduced in order to describe differential cross sections for elastic scattering. The results of the present calculations are compared with available experimental data.     

Partial-wave analysis and baryon spectroscopy<Superscript>⋆</Superscript>

We continue to update our PWA of fundamental reactions as new data become available. Of primary interest to the N^* program are πN elastic scattering and the photo- and electroproduction of pions. Other photo-reactions are more model dependent, but may reveal resonances coupling weakly to πN final states. We also mention recent results from nucleon-nucleon elastic scattering, which have a less well-known connection to experimental programs proposing to extract N ^* properties from complete experiments.     

Unbound excited states in C

The neutron-rich carbon isotopes ^19,17C have been investigated via proton inelastic scattering on a liquid hydrogen target at 70 MeV/nucleon. The invariant mass method in inverse kinematics was employed to reconstruct the energy spectrum, in which fast neutrons and charged fragments were detected in coincidence using a neutron hodoscope and a dipole magnet system. A peak has been observed with an excitation energy of 1.46(10) MeV in ¹⁹C, while three peaks with energies of 2.20(3), 3.05(3), and 6.13(9) MeV have been observed in ¹⁷C. Deduced cross sections are compared with microscopic DWBA calculations based on p-sd   shell model wave functions and modern nucleon–nucleus optical potentials. Jπ$J^{\pi }$ assignments are made for the four observed states as well as the ground states of both nuclei.     

Two dimensional XY type magnetism in intercalated graphite: an elastic and inelastic neutron scattering study

Stage-2 CoCl₂-GIC approximates a two-dimensional easy-plane (XY) ferromagnet on a triangular lattice. It has been found in prior work to order in two steps, with the intermediate phase showing long-ranged ferromagnetic correlations within the intercalate plane, but no correlations between neighboring planes. We have probed the wave vector and temperature dependence of the static and dynamic spin correlations in detail, including measurements of the critical scattering, the quasielastic scattering from vortex diffusion and the spin wave excitations with and without an external magnetic field. Some of the predictions for a Kosterlitz-Thouless type transition are met in this compound, at least qualitatively, including an apparent jump in the spin stiffness at the critical point and the existence of a diffusive central peak in the scattering function possibly originating from vortex autocorrelations. However, there are some inconsistencies between our observations and recent analytical studies as well as Monte Carlo-molecular dynamics simulations of the vortex dynamics that prevent unambigous assignment of the upper critical temperature as a vortex-binding transition.     

On the evaluation of a certain class of Feynman diagrams in x-space: Sunrise-type topologies at any loop order

We review recently developed new powerful techniques to compute a class of Feynman diagrams at any loop order, known as sunrise-type diagrams. These sunrise-type topologies have many important applications in many different fields of physics and we believe it to be timely to discuss their evaluation from a unified point of view. The method is based on the analysis of the diagrams directly in configuration space which, in the case of the sunrise-type diagrams and diagrams related to them, leads to enormous simplifications as compared to the traditional evaluation of loops in momentum space. We present explicit formulae for their analytical evaluation for arbitrary mass configurations and arbitrary dimensions at any loop order. We discuss several limiting cases in their kinematical regimes which are e.g. relevant for applications in HQET and NRQCD. We completely solve the problem of renormalization using simple formulae for the counterterms within dimensional regularization. An important application is the computation of the multi-particle phase space in D-dimensional space-time which we discuss. We present some examples of their numerical evaluation in the general case of D-dimensional space-time as well as in integer dimensions D = D₀ for different values of dimensions including the most important practical cases D₀ = 2, 3, 4. Substantial simplifications occur for odd integer space-time dimensions where the final results can be expressed in closed form through elementary functions. We discuss the use of recurrence relations naturally emerging in configuration space for the calculation of special series of integrals of the sunrise topology. We finally report on results for the computation of an extension of the basic sunrise topology, namely the spectacle topology and the topology where an irreducible loop is added.     

Solving the Schrödinger equation for a charged particle in a magnetic field using the finite difference time domain method

We extend our finite difference time domain method for numerical solution of the Schrödinger equation to cases where eigenfunctions are complex-valued. Illustrative numerical results for an electron in two dimensions, subject to a confining potential V(x,y), in a constant perpendicular magnetic field demonstrate the accuracy of the method.     

Monte Carlo simulation of Ising model on decagonal covering structure

We study the Ising model on a two-dimensional quasilattice developed from the decagonal covering structure. The periodic boundary conditions are applied to a patch of rhombus-like covering pattern. By means of the Monte Carlo simulation and the finite-size scaling analysis the critical temperature is estimated as 2.317±0.002. Two critical exponents are obtained being 1/v=0.992±0.003 and η=0.247±0.002, which are close to the values of the two-dimensional regular lattices as well as the Penrose tilings.     

A comparative study of the dynamic critical behavior of the four-state Potts like models

We investigate the short-time critical dynamics of the Baxter-Wu (BW) and n=3 Turban (3TU) models to estimate their global persistence exponent θ_g. We conclude that this new dynamical exponent can be useful in detecting differences between the critical behavior of these models which are very difficult to obtain in usual simulations. In addition, we estimate again the dynamical exponents of the four-state Potts (FSP) model in order to compare them with results previously obtained for the BW and 3TU models and to decide between two sets of estimates presented in the current literature. We also revisit the short-time dynamics of the 3TU model in order to check if, as already found for the FSP model, the anomalous dimension of the initial magnetization x₀ could be equal to zero.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of femtosecond ablation and spallation with different interatomic potentials

Fast heating of target material by femtosecond laser pulse (fsLP) with duration τ_L∼40-100 fs results in the formation of thermomechanically stressed state. Its unloading may cause frontal cavitation of subsurface layer at a depth of 50 nm for Al and 100 nm for Au. The compression wave propagating deep into material hits the rear-side of the target with the formation of rarefaction wave. The last may produce cracks and rear-side spallation. Results of MD simulations of ablation and spallation of Al and Au metals under action fsLP are presented. It is shown that the used EAM potentials (Mishin et al. and our new one) predict the different ablation and spallation thresholds on absorbed fluence in Al: ablation F_a=60{65} mJ/cm²and spallation F_s=120{190} mJ/cm², where numbers in brackets { } show the corresponding values for Mishin potential. The strain rate in spallation zone was 4.3×10⁹ 1/s at spallation threshold. Simulated spall strength of Al is 7.4{8.7} GPa, that is noticeably less than 10.3{14} GPa obtained from acoustic approximation with the use of velocity pullback on velocity profile of free rear surface. The ablation threshold F_a≈120 mJ/cm² and crater depth of 110 nm are obtained in MD simulations of gold with the new EAM potential. They agree well with experiment.     

A Cartesian treecode for screened coulomb interactions

A treecode algorithm is presented for evaluating electrostatic potentials in a charged particle system undergoing screened Coulomb interactions in 3D. The method uses a far-field Taylor expansion in Cartesian coordinates to compute particle–cluster interactions. The Taylor coefficients are evaluated using new recurrence relations which permit efficient computation of high order approximations. Two types of clusters are considered, uniform cubes and adapted rectangular boxes. The treecode error, CPU time and memory usage are reported and compared with direct summation for randomly distributed particles inside a cube, on the surface of a sphere and on an 8-sphere configuration. For a given order of Taylor approximation, the treecode CPU time scales as O(NlogN)$O(N\log N)$ and the memory usage scales as O(N)$O(N)$, where N is the number of particles. Results show that the treecode is well suited for non-homogeneous particle distributions as in the sphere and 8-sphere test cases.     

Determination of antiproton-neutron amplitude from elastic¯p-deuteron scattering at 600 MeV/c

The elementary ¯p-neutron amplitude has been obtained from Glauber's model analysis of ¯p-d elastic scattering data at 600 MeV/c, taking into account theD-state component of the deuteron. The results are compared with the ¯p-nucleus analysis and the ¯NN potential model predictions.     

Monte Carlo Simulation of Optical Properties of Wake Bubbles

Based on Mie scattering theory and the theory of multiple light scattering, the light scattering properties of air bubbles in a wake are analysed by Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that backscattering is enhanced obviously due to the existence of bubbles, especially with the increase of bubble density, and that it is feasible to use the Monte Carlo method to study the properties of light scattering by air bubbles.     

First order spin flop transition in yttrium iron garnet (YIG)

We have studied the field dependence of the sublattice magnetization of ferrimagnetic yttrium iron garnet (YIG) using neutron scattering. In contrast to the macroscopic spontaneous magnetization that shows the normal field dependence of a soft ferromagnet (sudden saturation at the demagnetization field and no hysteresis) in neutron scattering a field induced first order spin flop transition with considerable hysteresis is observed at a critical field of H_c∼580 G (external field). Considering that with neutron scattering the antiferromagnetic component of ∼4/5 of the total moment is detected preferentially while in the macroscopic magnetization samples the ferromagnetic component of ∼1/5 exclusively it becomes clear that ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic component have a completely independent field (and temperature) dependence. This indicates that the two magnetic structures have to be viewed as two weakly coupled order parameters. In the zero field ground state the moment orientations of the two ordering structures are orthogonal. Only for fields H₀>H_c a nearly collinear ferrimagnetic order is established by the field.     

Subthreshold K + meson production in proton–nucleus reactions and nucleon spectral function

The inclusive K ⁺ meson production in proton–nucleus collisions in the near threshold and subthreshold energy regimes is analyzed with respect to the one–step (pN→K ⁺ YN, Y=Λ,Σ) and two–step (pN→NNπ, NN2π; πN→K ⁺ Y) incoherent production processes on the basis of an appropriate new folding model, which takes properly into account the struck target nucleon removal energy and momentum distribution (nucleon spectral function), extracted from recent quasielastic electron scattering experiments and from many–body calculations with realistic models of the NN interaction. Comparison of the model calculations of the K ⁺ total and double differential cross sections for the reaction p+C ¹² with the existing experimental data is given, illustrating both the relative role of the primary and secondary production channels at considered incident energies and those features of the cross sections which are sensitive to the high momentum and high removal energy part of the nucleon spectral function that is governed by nucleon–nucleon short–range and tensor correlations. It is found that the in–medium modifications of the available for pion and kaon production invariant energies squared due to the respective optical potentials are needed to account for considered experimental data. Received: 2 April 1997 / Revised version: 7 August 1997     

Neutron–proton analyzing power at 12 MeV and inconsistencies in parametrizations of nucleon–nucleon data

We present the most accurate and complete data set for the analyzing power Ay(θ)$A_y(\theta )$ in neutron–proton scattering. The experimental data were corrected for the effects of multiple scattering, both in the center detector and in the neutron detectors. The final data at En=12.0 MeV$E_n=12.0\text{MeV}$ deviate considerably from the predictions of nucleon–nucleon phase-shift analyses and potential models. The impact of the new data on the value of the charged pion–nucleon coupling constant is discussed in a model study.     

Subthreshold φ-meson production and medium effects in proton-nucleus reactions

Within the spectral function approach we study the direct production and decay via the dikaon (dimuon) channel of -mesons in the interactions of 2.4 and 2.7GeV protons with light and medium target nuclei. It is shown that the K⁺K^- ( ^+-) invariant-mass distribution consists of the two components which correspond to the decay outside and inside the target nucleus. The first (narrow) component has the free width, while the second (broad) component is distorted by the nuclear matter due to resonance-nucleon scattering and a possible in-medium modification of the kaons and -meson at finite baryon density. The relative strength of the inside and outside components is analyzed in different scenarios for the width and momentum cut. It is demonstrated that the width of the resulting dimuon invariant-mass distribution on medium nuclei is larger than the free width by a factor of about two if the total in-medium width is used and the respective cutoff for the three-momentum is applied, whereas the resulting dikaon invariant-mass distribution has an insignificant sensitivity to the in-medium properties due to the strong absorption of the K^- in the surrounding nuclear matter. On the other hand, because of the distortion of the K⁺ and K^- on their way out the target nucleus mainly due to the hadronic kaon potentials, the latter distribution is broadened and shifted to higher invariant masses, which means that the measurement of such broadening would give additional evidence for the modification of the kaon and antikaon properties in the nuclear medium.     

A high-order energy-conserving integration scheme for Hamiltonian systems

A new energy-conserving numerical integration method for Hamiltonian systems is presented. The method is constructed by a parallel connection of n multi-stage schemes of order 2 and its order of accuracy is 2n.