Paracharge phenomenology: systematics of the new hadrons

A systematic semiquantitative account of all aspects of the strong and electromagnetic interactions of all the newly discovered hadronic states (theψ’s, theχ’s, etc.) is presented within the framework of the paracharge scheme. Extensions of ideas familiar from the SU₃ classification scheme to SU₄ are shown to provide an understanding of the new states seen in the decays ofψ (3.1) andψ′ (3.7), including their masses and gross decay characteristics. The decays ofψ (3.1) andψ′ (3.7) themselves are studied in some detail. Since these are of electromagnetic origin in the scheme, their electromagnetic mixing with the resonance at 4.15 GeV (theP-state of the scheme) is important. Once this is taken into account, the resulting picture is in excellent agreement with available data.     

Site symmetry and internal strains

The determination of the internal strains on the coupling parameter approach becomes very involved particularly when the number of atoms per unit cell is very large. It is shown in this paper that a knowledge of the site symmetry of the atoms helps one in determining the number of non-vanishing internal strain coefficients easily. The internal strain coefficients of two symmetry connected atoms can also be related. Examples are shown to illustrate these ideas.     

Tree-level breaking of SU(2)×U(1) in general SUGRA theories

It is shown that SU(2)×U(1) can be broken at the tree level, without the occurrence of global potential minima that break U(1)_e.m., in supergravity models that are more general than those proposed by Nilles, Srednicki and Wyler. The study comprises an analysis of models with a general soft supersymmetry-breaking structure as well as those of the Hall-Lykken-Weinberg type.     

Percolation in strongly correlated systems: The massless Gaussian field

We derive a number of new results for correlated nearest neighbor site percolation onZ ^d. We show in particular that in three dimensions the strongly correlated massless harmonic crystal, i.e., the Gaussian random field with mean zero and covariance –, has a nontrivial percolation behavior: sites on whichS _x h percolate if and only ifh _c . with0 _c < . This provides the first rigorous example of a percolation transition in a system with infinite susceptibility.     

The symmetry of ground states under perturbation

We consider a two-body potential which has only periodic ground states and prove that it can be perturbed, by an arbitrarily small perturbation, so as to have only aperiodic ground states.Research supported in part by NSF grant MCS 78-01520-A01.     

“Statistical” symmetry with applications to phase transitions

Hermann proposed that mesomorphic media should be classified by assigning certain statistical symmetry groups to each possible partially ordered array. Two translational groups introduced were called superordinate and subordinate. We find that the average density in such a partially ordered medium has the superordinate symmetry ₁, while the pair correlation function has the subordinate symmetry ₂. A complete listing is made of all compatible combinations of ₁ and ₂ in two and three dimensions. This leads to more possible symmetries than Hermann obtained, e.g., also to nonstoichiometric crystals. The order parameter space for the systems is found to be the quotient space ₁/₂. In most cases it is identical to the order parameter space of low-dimensionalXY spin systems. The Landau free energy is expanded as functional of the two-particle correlation functionK; the translation group is found to be ₁×₂. A Landau mean-field theory can then be carried out by expanding the system free energy into a series of invariants of the active irreducible representations ofK and mapping the free energy onto that for anXY planar spin system. We predict novel critical behavior for transitions between mesomorphic phases and go nogo selection rules for continuous transitions. We give the structure factors for X-ray scattering so changes in all such phase transitions are observable. The statistical symmetry groups, which describe point and translational symmetries of the mesophases, are classified. Proposals are made to include quasi-long-range or topological order in the classification scheme.This work supported in part by National Science Foundation (Division of International Programs), the PSC-BHE—Faculty Research Award CUNY and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Evidence for special relativity with de Sitter space-time symmetry

I show the formulation of de Sitter Special Relativity (dS-SR) based on Dirac-Lu-Zou-Guo's discussions. dS-SR quantum mechanics is formulated, and the dS-SR Dirac equation for hydrogen is suggested. The equation in the earth-QSO framework reference is solved by means of the adiabatic approach. It's found that the fine-structure "constant" α in dS-SR varies with time. By means of the t-z relation of the ΛCDM model, α's time-dependency becomes redshift z-dependent. The dS-SR's predictions of Δα/α agree with data of spectra of 143 quasar absorption systems, the dS-space-time symmetry is SO(3,2) (i.e., anti-dS group) and the universal parameter R (de Sitter ratio) in dS-SR is estimated to be R≈2.73×10¹² ly. The effects of dS-SR become visible at the cosmic space-time scale (i.e., the distance ≥ 10⁹ ly). At that scale, dS-SR is more reliable than Einstein SR. The α-variation with time is evidence of SR with de Sitter symmetry.     

Isospin symmetry violation, meson production and η-nucleus interaction studies

We have studied isospin symmetry violation in nuclear reactions by measuring simultaneously the cross-section of the following two reactionsp +d →³H π⁺ andp +d →³He π⁰. The experiment was perfomed at the cooler synchrotron accelerator COSY, Jülich at several beam energies close to the correspondingη production threshold. We also have ongoing programmes onη-nucleus final-state interaction studies viap+⁶ Li →⁷ Be +η reactions, high resolution search for dibaryonic resonances and lambda-proton final state interaction studies. The experimental details and results obtained so far are presented here     

Patterns and Symmetries in the Visual Cortex and in Natural Images

As borders between different entities, lines are an important element of natural images. Indeed, the neurons of the mammalian visual cortex are tuned to respond best to lines of a given orientation. This preferred orientation varies continuously across most of the cortex, but also has vortex-like singularities known as pinwheels. In attempting to describe such patterns of orientation preference, we are led to consider underlying rotation symmetries: Oriented segments in natural images tend to be collinear; neurons are more likely to be connected if their preferred orientations are aligned to their topographic separation. These are indications of a reduced symmetry requiring joint rotations of both orientation preference and the underlying topography. This is verified by direct statistical tests in both natural images and in cortical maps. Using the statistics of natural scenes we construct filters that are best suited to extracting information from such images, and find qualitative similarities to mammalian vision. PACS84.35+i 89.70.+c 87.57.Nk