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We present a unified formulation of the interaction of electrons with the electromagnetic field in heavy ion collisions, based on quantized interacting fields. This reduces the effort in treating many-electron systems substantially, as compared with the usual S-matrix theory. Both formalisms are shown to be equivalent. The simplification achieved by our new approach is demonstrated in detail for the example of quasi-molecular radiation.
Collisions of very heavy ions at energies close to the Coulomb barrier are discussed as a unique tool to study the behavior of the electron-positron field in the presence of strong external electromagnetic fields. To calculate the excitation processes induced by the collision dynamics, a semiclassical model is employed and adapted to describe the field-theoretical many-particle system. An expansion in the adiabatic molecular basis is chosen. Energies and matrix elements are calculated using the monopole approximation. In a supercritical (Z1+Z2≳173) quasiatomic system the 1s level joins the antiparticle continuum and becomes a resonance, rendering the neutral vacuum state unstable. Several methods of treating the corresponding time-dependent problem are discussed. A projection-operator technique is introduced for a fully dynamical treatment of the resonance. Positron excitation rates in s1/2 and p1/2 states are obtained by numerical solution of the coupled-channel equations and are compared with results from first- plus second-order perturbation theory. Calculations are performed for subcritical and supercritical collisions of Pb-Pb, Pb-U, U-U, and U-Cf. Strong relativistic deformations of the wave functions and the growing contributions from inner-shell bound states lead to a very steep Z dependence of positron production. The results are compared with available data from experiments done at GSI. Correlations between electrons and positrons are briefly discussed.
The mechanisms of spontaneous and induced emission of radiation are derived from the Dirac equation in a rotating coordinate system. The molecular-orbital x-ray spectra exhibit a strong asymmetry with respect to the beam axis. The asymmetry peaks for the high-energy transitions, which can be used for spectroscopy of two-center orbitals.
During collisions of heavy ions with heavy targets below the Coulomb barrier, adiabatic molecular orbitals are formed for the inner electrons. Deviations from adiabaticity lead to coupling between various states and can be treated by time-dependent perturbation theory. For high charges ( Z1+Z2 ≧ 60) the molecular electrons are highly relativistic. Therefore, the Dirac equation has to be used to obtain the energies and wave functions. The Dirac Hamiltonian is transformed into the intrinsic rotating coordinate system where prolate spheroidal coordinates are introduced. A set of basis functions is proposed which allows the evaluation of all matrix elements of the Dirac Hamiltonian analytically. The resulting matrix is diagonalized numerically. The finite nuclear charge distribution is also taken into account. Results are presented and discussed for various characteristic systems, e. g. Br-Br, Ni-Ni, I-I, Br-Zr, I-Au, U -U, etc.
The exploration of hot and dense nuclear matter: Introduction to relativistic heavy-ion physics
(2022)
This article summarizes our present knowledge about nuclear matter at the highest energy densities and its formation in relativistic heavy ion collisions. We review what is known about the structure and properties of the quark-gluon plasma and survey the observables that are used to glean information about it from experimental data.
We define a new scalar-tensor theory with an effective gravitational coupling constant depending on a scalar field. The coupling is such that the gravitational interaction decreases with the strength of the scalar field. We show that this is not sufficient to prevent the gravitational collapse of sufficiently massive dense objects.
We show that information about quasimolecular electronic binding energies in transient atomic systems of Z=Z1+Z2 up to 184 can be obtained from three sources: (1) the impact-parameter dependence of the ionization probability; (2) the ionization probability in head-on collisions as a function of total nuclear charge Z; (3) the delta-electron spectrum in coincidence with K-vacancy formation in asymmetric collisions. Experiments are proposed and discussed.
The 1s bound state of superheavy atoms and molecules reaches a binding energy of -2mc2 at Z≈169. It is shown that the K shell is still localized in r space even beyond this critical proton number and that it has a width Γ (several keV large) which is a positron escape width for ionized K shells. The suggestion is made that this effect can be observed in the collision of very heavy ions (superheavy molecules) during the collision.
The theory of direct electron-positron pair production in the collision of heavy ions is formulated in the framework of the quasimolecular model. The pair production process acquires a collective nature for (Z1+Z2)α>1 and can be understood as the shakeoff of the strong vacuum polarization cloud formed in the quasimolecule. The total cross section is, e.g., 76 μb for Pb + Pb at Coulomb barrier energies.
Men and women differ substantially regarding height, weight, and body fat. Interestingly, previous work detecting genetic effects for waist-to-hip ratio, to assess body fat distribution, has found that many of these showed sex-differences. However, systematic searches for sex-differences in genetic effects have not yet been conducted. Therefore, we undertook a genome-wide search for sexually dimorphic genetic effects for anthropometric traits including 133,723 individuals in a large meta-analysis and followed promising variants in further 137,052 individuals, including a total of 94 studies. We identified seven loci with significant sex-difference including four previously established (near GRB14/COBLL1, LYPLAL1/SLC30A10, VEGFA, ADAMTS9) and three novel anthropometric trait loci (near MAP3K1, HSD17B4, PPARG), all of which were significant in women, but not in men. Of interest is that sex-difference was only observed for waist phenotypes, but not for height or body-mass-index. We found no evidence for sex-differences with opposite effect direction for men and women. The PPARG locus is of specific interest due to its link to diabetes genetics and therapy. Our findings demonstrate the importance of investigating sex differences, which may lead to a better understanding of disease mechanisms with a potential relevance to treatment options.
The energy shift of K electrons in heavy atoms due to the self-energy correction has been calculated. This process is treated to all orders in Zα, where Z denotes the nuclear charge. For the superheavy system Z=170, where the K-shell binding energy reaches the pair-production threshold (E1sb∼2mc2), a shift of +11.0 keV is found. This shift is almost cancelled by the vacuum polarization, leaving a negligible effect for all quantum-electrodynamical corrections of order α but all orders of Zα.
This Letter discusses inner-shell excitation in collisions of very heavy ions (Z1+Z2≳140) in the framework of the quasimolecular model. The importance of multistep excitations and of coupling between continuum states is demonstrated. The 1sσ vacancy probabilities resulting from coupled-channels calculations exceed perturbation theory by a factor 3-5, thus giving good agreement with recent experimental results.
Parity mixing of electron states should be extremely strong for heliumlike uranium. We calculate its size and discuss whether it could be determined experimentally. We analyze one specific scheme for such an experiment. The required laser intensities for two-photon spectroscopy of the 23P0–2 1S0level splitting is of the order of 1017 W/cm2. A determination of parity mixing would require at least 1021 W/cm2.
A careful investigation of different corrections to binding energies of electrons in almost critical fields is performed. We investigate quantitatively the influence of the nuclear charge parameters, nuclear mass, degree of ionization on the value of the critical charge of the nucleus. Rather qualitative arguments are given to establish the contribution of the quantumelectrodynamic corrections, which are found to be small. Some phenomenological modifications of QED are quantitatively investigated and found to be of negligible influence on the value of the critical field. For heavy ion collisions with Z1+Z2>Zcr the critical separations between ions are given as results of precise solutions of the relativistic two coulomb center problem. Corrections due to electron-electron interaction are considered. We find (with present theoretical accuracy) Zcr=173±2, in the heavy ion collisions Rcr(U-U) = 34.7±2 fm and Rcr (U-Cf)=47.7±2 fm. We shortly consider the possibility of spontaneous muon production in muonic supercritical fields.
Positron creation in crossed-beam collisions of high-energy, fully stripped heavy ions is investigated within the coupled-channel formalism. In comparison with fixed-target collisions of highly stripped heavy-ion projectiles positron production probabilities are enhanced by more than one order of magnitude. The increase results from the possibility to excite electrons from the negative energy continuum into all bound states. The positron spectrum is shifted towards higher energies because of the absence of electron screening. Rutherford scattering as well as nuclear collisions with time delay are investigated. We also discuss the filling of empty bound states by electrons from pair-production processes.
Phenomenological consequences of a hypothetical light neutral particle in heavy ion collisions
(1986)
We discuss the possibility that the line structure observed in the spectrum of the positrons produced in heavy ion collisions is due to the decay of a new neutral elementary particle. We argue that this can be ruled out unless one is willing to accept fine tuning of parameters, or to assume the dominance of nonlinear effects.
Phase transitions in nuclear matter A method for the description of spin-isospin phase transitions in nuclear matter is developed. It allows a complete description of the pion condensation phase transition in the framework of the Landau-Migdal Fermi liquid theory. The equation of the order parameter is derived and the condensation energy is calculated. We study the influence of pion condensation on the nuclear equation of state and the temperature dependence of pion condensation. NUCLEAR STRUCTURE Description of pion-condensed ground state by Green's function technique.
We consider the contribution of nuclear polarization to the Lamb shift of K- and L-shell electrons in heavy atoms and quasiatoms. Our formal approach is based on the concept of effective photon propagators with nuclear-polarization insertions treating effects of nuclear polarization on the same footing as usual QED radiative corrections. We explicitly derive the modification of the photon propagator for various collective nuclear excitations and calculate the corresponding effective self-energy shift perturbatively. The energy shift of the 1s1/2 state in 92238U due to virtual excitation of nuclear rotational states is shown to be a considerable correction for atomic high-precision experiments. In contrast to this, nuclear-polarization effects are of minor importance for Lamb-shift studies in 82208Pb.