Final state interactions in deuteron breakup by protons at 585 and 800 MeV

Neutron-proton final state interactions (FSI) were observed in the deuteron breakup reaction ²H(p, 2p)n-via a kinematically complete experiment at incident proton energies of 585 and 800 MeV. Kinematic conditions were chosen which allowed the final state proton and neutron to have small relative energies; data were taken at four proton c.m. scattering angles at 800 MeV, ranging from 71° to 119° and at 94° and 106° at 585 MeV. The data are analyzed in terms of the Goldberger-Watson formalism for final state interactions, and the individual contributions of the ¹S₀ and ³S₁ np states are determined. The ${}^3\text{S}{}_1{}^1\text{S}{}_0$ ratio is large, as expected from some reaction models. The ratio of ³S₁ (almost elastic) to pd elastic cross sections is in good agreement with FSI analysis.     

Large N chiral dynamics

Some properties of large N chiral dynamics are discussed, using an effective Lagrangian that has been derived by Rosenzweig, Schechter, and Trahern; Di Vecchia and Veneziano; and Nath and Arnowitt.     

A new proof of the positive energy theorem

A new proof is given of the positive energy theorem of classical general relativity. Also, a new proof is given that there are no asymptotically Euclidean gravitational instantons. (These theorems have been proved previously, by a different method, by Schoen and Yau.) The relevance of these results to the stability of Minkowski space is discussed.Research partially supported by NSF Grant PHY78-01221     

Spreading of block copolymer films and domain alignment at moving terrace steps

We investigate spreading of phase separated copolymer films, where domain walls and thickness steps influence polymer flow. We show that at early stages of spreading its rate is determined by slow activated flow at terrace steps (i.e., thickness steps). At late stages of spreading, on the other hand, the rate is determined by the flow along terraces, with diffusionlike time dependence t(-1/2). This dependence is similar to de Gennes and Cazabat's prediction for generic layered liquids [P. G. de Gennes and A. M. Cazabat, C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris II 310, 1601 (1990)], as opposed to the classical Tanner's law of drop spreading. We also argue that chain hopping at the spreading terrace steps should lead to the formation of aligned, defect-free domain patterns on the growing terraces.     

Quantum field theory and the Jones polynomial

It is shown that 2+1 dimensional quantum Yang-Mills theory, with an action consisting purely of the Chern-Simons term, is exactly soluble and gives a natural framework for understanding the Jones polynomial of knot theory in three dimensional terms. In this version, the Jones polynomial can be generalized fromS ³ to arbitrary three manifolds, giving invariants of three manifolds that are computable from a surgery presentation. These results shed a surprising new light on conformal field theory in 1+1 dimensions.An expanded version of a lecture at the IAMP Congress, Swansea, July, 1988Research supported in part by NSF Grant No. 86-20266, and NSF Waterman Grant 88–17521     

Topological quantum field theory

A twisted version of four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory is formulated. The model, which refines a nonrelativistic treatment by Atiyah, appears to underlie many recent developments in topology of low dimensional manifolds; the Donaldson polynomial invariants of four manifolds and the Floer groups of three manifolds appear naturally. The model may also be interesting from a physical viewpoint; it is in a sense a generally covariant quantum field theory, albeit one in which general covariance is unbroken, there are no gravitons, and the only excitations are topological.On leave from Department of Physics, Princeton University. Research supported in part by NSF Grants No. 80-19754, 86-16129, 86-20266     

Vortex Counter-Current Chromatography: Performance of a New Preparative Column

A new preparative column for the vortex counter-current chromatograph was fabricated by making many (966) cylindrical separation units to a high-density polyethylene disk and then threading them with 6–40 taps. The resulting column had a total capacity of 364 mL. The performance of this vortex column was examined with three different two-phase solvent systems each using a set of suitable test samples: hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–0.1 M hydrochloric acid (1:1:1:1, v/v) for the separation of DNP-amino acids; 1-butanol–acetic acid–water (4:1:5, v/v) for the separation of dipeptides; and hexane–acetonitrile–water (20:15:2, v/v) for the separation of Sudan dyes. Most of the separations show high partition efficiency of over a thousand theoretical plates, as expected based on the results previously obtained in preliminary separations with a small column. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that further improvement of the partition efficiency can be obtained by the modifying column configuration.

     

Dynamical properties of antisymmetric tensor fields

The physical degrees of freedom of free actions involving antisymmetric tensor fields are analyzed. While massless spin zero as well as massive vector particles can be represented by such fields, we show that massive scalars cannot, and that some actions have no dynamical content at all. We also show that electromagnetic (unlike gravitational) interactions cannot be included consistently in the spin zero case. Supersymmetric extension of the tensor formulation is given, and it is shown that, in analogous antisymmetric tensor-spinor incarnations, fermions cannot couple consistently to gravity.     

Constraints on supersymmetry breaking

Some non-perturbative constraints on supersymmetry breaking are derived. It is demonstrated that dynamical supersymmetry breaking does not occur in certain interesting classes of theories.