Search results for "quantum mechanics"
showing 10 items of 2468 documents
Dynamical zeros in neutrino-electron elastic scattering at leading order
1994
We show the existence of dynamical zeros in the helicity amplitudes for neutrino-electron elastic scattering at lowest order in the standard theory. In particular, the $\lambda=1/2$ non-flip electron helicity amplitude in the electron antineutrino process vanishes for an incident neutrino energy $E_{\nu}=m_{e}/(4sin^{2}\theta_{W})$ and forward electrons (maximum recoil energy). The rest of helicity amplitudes show kinematical zeros in this configuration and therefore the cross section vanishes. Prospects to search for neutrino magnetic moment are discussed.
Microscopic calculation of the LSP detection rates for the 71Ga, 73Ge and 127I dark-matter detectors
2004
Abstract We have investigated the nuclear-structure details of the cross sections for the elastic scattering of Lightest Supersymmetric Particles (LSPs) from the promising dark-matter detectors 71 Ga, 73 Ge and 127 I. The associated LSP detection sensitivities have been obtained by a folding procedure for several recently proposed SUSY models with different scalar and axial-vector characteristics. For the nuclear problem, a realistic microscopic Hamiltonian has been used within realistic model spaces. The diagonalization of this Hamiltonian has been done by using the Microscopic Quasiparticle–Phonon Model (MQPM), suitable for description of spectroscopic properties of medium-heavy and heavy…
Dispersion Interactions between Neutral Atoms and the Quantum Electrodynamical Vacuum
2018
Dispersion interactions are long-range interactions between neutral ground-state atoms or molecules, or polarizable bodies in general, due to their common interaction with the quantum electromagnetic field. They arise from the exchange of virtual photons between the atoms, and, in the case of three or more atoms, are not additive. In this review, after having introduced the relevant coupling schemes and effective Hamiltonians, as well as properties of the vacuum fluctuations, we~outline the main properties of dispersion interactions, both in the nonretarded (van der Waals) and retarded (Casimir--Polder) regime. We then discuss their deep relation with the existence of the vacuum fluctuation…
On the exhaust of electromagnetic drive
2016
Recent reports about propulsion without reaction mass have been met on one hand with enthusiasm and on the other hand with some doubts. Namely, closed metal cavities, when fueled with microwaves, have delivered thrust that could eventually maintain satellites on orbits using solar power. However, the measured thrust appears to be without any apparent exhaust. Thus the Law of Action-Reaction seems to have been violated. We consider the possibility that the exhaust is in a form that has so far escaped both experimental detection and theoretical attention. In the thruster's cavity microwaves interfere with each other and invariably some photons will also end up co-propagating with opposite pha…
Spontaneous emission of an atom near an oscillating mirror
2019
We investigate the spontaneous emission of one atom placed near an oscillating reflecting plate. We consider the atom modeled as a two-level system, interacting with the quantum electromagnetic field in the vacuum state, in the presence of the oscillating mirror. We suppose that the plate oscillates adiabatically, so that the time-dependence of the interaction Hamiltonian is entirely enclosed in the time-dependent mode functions, satisfying the boundary conditions at the plate surface, at any given time. Using time-dependent perturbation theory, we evaluate the transition rate to the ground-state of the atom, and show that it depends on the time-dependent atom-plate distance. We also show t…
Four-wave mixing and vacuum squeezing in polariton microcavities
2017
In a recent paper [1] it has been shown how a bichromatic fast driving of optomechanical (optical domain) and superconducting circuit systems (microwave domain), operating in a limit where they present a non-linear Kerr-type interaction, can give rise to very strong vacuum squeezing. The driving with two close frequencies of a Kerr cavity changes the usual bistability bifurcation behaviour that takes place under monochromatic driving, into a degenerate four-wave mixing bifurcation, where a phase-bistable component starts oscillating spontaneously at a frequency that lies halfway between the two driving frequencies [2]. This resembles the physics of the optical parametric oscillator threshol…
Exactly solvable model of two three-dimensional harmonic oscillators interacting with the quantum electromagnetic field: The far-zone Casimir-Polder …
2005
We consider two three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillators interacting with the quantum electromagnetic field in the Coulomb gauge and within dipole approximation. Using a Bogoliubov-like transformation, we can obtain transformed operators such that the Hamiltonian of the system, when expressed in terms of these operators, assumes a diagonal form. We are also able to obtain an expression for the energy shift of the ground state, which is valid at all orders in the coupling constant. From this energy shift the nonperturbative Casimir-Polder potential energy between the two oscillators can be obtained. When approximated to the fourth order in the electric charge, the well-known expressi…
Loss of coherence and dressing in QED
2006
The dynamics of a free charged particle, initially described by a coherent wave packet, interacting with an environment, i.e. the electromagnetic field characterized by a temperature $T$, is studied. Using the dipole approximation the exact expressions for the evolution of the reduced density matrix both in momentum and configuration space and the vacuum and the thermal contribution to decoherence, are obtained. The time behaviour of the coherence lengths in the two representations are given. Through the analysis of the dynamic of the field structure associated to the particle the vacuum contribution is shown to be linked to the birth of correlations between the single momentum components o…
Analytical wave function of an atom in the presence of a laser pulse
2005
We study a simple model atom that has two bound states and a continuum of free states, interacting with a strong electromagnetic field. In our analysis we assume that only the continuum-continuum transitions occur- ring between degenerate free states are important for the dynamics of the atomic system; adopting this sim- plifying hypothesis, we show that it is possible to describe the time evolution of the atom by means of an infinite but discrete set of first-order differential equations describing a formal model atom that has two bound states and a degenerate quasicontinuum of states. Moreover, these equations depend on a small number of parameters of the bare atom and of the external las…
Quantum Disorder in Macroscopic Systems of Interacting Atoms and Radiation Fields
1978
The linear interaction between a system of two-level atoms and an electromagnetic field can be described as taking place through a number of elementary acts in which photons are absorbed or emitted, while atoms change their states. It is conceivable that these processes tend to modify the original statistical properties characteristic of the atomic system and of the electromagnetic field at t = 0, when we assume that the interaction is “turned on”. The problem is of conceptual importance, and might become of practical importance in connection with laser processes in unusual ranges of frequency. In fact, it has recently received increasing attention in the case of one-photon interactions [1]…