Interferometric probes of ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

We suggest that pion and kaon interlerometry are complementary probes that help differentiate hadronic resonance gas from plasma dynamical models. We also discuss how interferometry could be used to test the presence of resonances at AGS energies. Finally, we study the A dependence of interferometry in the resonance model at 200 A GeV. © 1991.

Nuclear coherent versus incoherent effects in peripheral RHI collisions

We derive simple and physically transparent expressions for the contribution of the strong interaction to one-nucleon-removal processes in peripheral relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The coherent contribution, i.e., the excitation of a giant dipole resonance via meson exchange, is shown to be negligible as well as the interference between Coulomb and nuclear excitation. The incoherent nucleon-knockout contribution is also derived suggesting the nature of the nuclear interaction in this class of processes. We also justify the simple formulae used to fit the data of the E814 Collaboration. © 1995 Elseier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Affine Toda systems coupled to matter fields

We investigate higher grading integrable generalizations of the affine Toda systems, where the flat connections defining the models take values in eigensubspaces of an integral gradation of an affine Kac-Moody algebra, with grades varying from l to -l (l > 1). The corresponding target space possesses nontrivial vacua and soliton configurations, which can be interpreted as particles of the theory, on the same footing as those associated to fundamental fields. The models can also be formulated by a hamiltonian reduction procedure from the so-called two-loop WZNW models. We construct the general solution and show the classes corresponding to the solitons. Some of the particles and solitons become massive when the conformal symmetry is spontaneously broken by a mechanism with an intriguing topological character and leading to a very simple mass formula. The massive fields associated to nonzero grade generators obey field equations of the Dirac type and may be regarded as matter fields. A special class of models is remarkable. These theories possess a U(1 ) Noether current, which, after a special gauge fixing of the conformal symmetry, is proportional to a topological current. This leads to the confinement of the matter field inside the solitons, which can be regarded as a one-dimensional bag model for QCD. These models are also relevant to the study of electron self-localization in (quasi-)one-dimensional electron-phonon systems.

LEP sensitivities to spontaneous R-parity violating signals

We illustrate the sensitivities of LEP experiments to leptonic signals associated to models where supersymmetry (SUSY) is realized with spontaneous breaking of R-parity. We focus on missing transverse momentum plus acoplanar muon events (p Τ + μ + μ -) arising from lightest neutralino single production xv as well as pair production xx, followed by x decays, where x denotes the lightest neutralino. We show that the integrated luminosity achieved at LEP already starts probing the basic parameters of the theory. We discuss the significance of these constraints for the simplest spontaneous R-parity breaking models and their relevance for future searches of SUSY particles.

An updated analysis on atmospheric neutrinos

We have reanalysed the atmospheric neutrino data including new results from Super-Kamiokande and Soudan-II experiments, under the assumption of two-flavor neutrino oscillation. We present the allowed region of oscillation parameters for the νμ → ντ channel. In performing this re-analysis we also take into account some recent theoretical improvements in the flux calculations.

Droplet formation in cold asymmetric nuclear matter in the quark-meson-coupling model

The quark-meson-coupling model is used to study droplet formation from the liquid-gas phase transition in cold asymmetric nuclear matter. The critical density and proton fraction for the phase transition are determined in the mean field approximation. Droplet properties are calculated in the Thomas-Fermi approximation. The electromagnetic field is explicitly included and its effects on droplet properties are studied. The results are compared with the ones obtained with the NL1 parametrization of the non-linear Walecka model. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.

Effects of nuclear structure on parity nonconservation in atomic cesium in relativistic mean field theory

We use relativistic mean field theory, which includes scalar and vector mesons, to calculate the binding energy and charge radii in 125Cs - 139Cs. We then evaluate the nuclear structure corrections to the weak charges for a series of cesium isotopes using different parameters and estimate their uncertainty in the framework of this model.

Can one cure the nonunitarity of three-dimensional quadratic gravity using a topological Chern-Simons term?

Quadratic gravity in (2+1)D is nonunitarity at the tree level. When a topological Chern-Simons term is added to this theory, the harmless massive scalar mode of the former gives rise to a troublesome massive spin-0 ghost, while the massive spin-2 ghost is replaced by two massive physical particles both of spin-2. Therefore, unlike what it is claimed in the literature, quadratic Chern-Simons gravity in (2+1)D is nonunitary at the tree level. © 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Quintessential inflation and non-oscillatory reheating model

A numerical study of the non-oscillatory reheating mechanism in a quintessential inflation context shows that high reheating temperature can be achieved compared with the usual reheating mechanism in which particles are produced gravitationally. We find that even for a very small coupling between the inflaton field and a massless scalar field, the non-oscillatory reheating production of particles dominates over the gravitational production mechanism. © 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Pseudospin symmetry and the relativistic harmonic oscillator

A generalized relativistic harmonic oscillator for spin 1/2 particles is studied. The Dirac Hamiltonian contains a scalar S and a vector V quadratic potentials in the radial coordinate, as well as a tensor potential U linear in r. Setting either or both combinations Σ=5+V and δ=V-S to zero, analytical solutions for bound states of the corresponding Dirac equations are found. The eigenenergies and wave functions are presented and particular cases are discussed, devoting a special attention to the nonrelativistic limit and the case Σ=0, for which pseudospin symmetry is exact. We also show that the case U=δ=0 is the most natural generalization of the nonrelativistic harmonic oscillator. The radial node structure of the Dirac spinor is studied for several combinations of harmonic-oscillator potentials, and that study allows us to explain why nuclear intruder levels cannot be described in the framework of the relativistic harmonic oscillator in the pseudospin limit.

Estados ligados em mecânica quântica relativística

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Contaminação radioativa: aspectos fundamentais associados à poluição nuclear

Since its discovery, radioactivity has brought numerous benefits to human societies. It has many applications in medicine, serving as a tool for non-invasive methods for diagnosis and therapies against diseases such as cancer. It also applies to technologies for energy in nuclear power plants with relatively low impacts on terms of perfect security. All applications, however, have risks, requiring maximum caution to drive processes and operations involving radioactive elements because, once released into the environment, they have extremely harmful effects on organisms affected. This paper presents fundamental concepts and principles of nuclear physics in order to understand the effects of radioactive elements released into the environment, culminating on the issue of radioactive contamination. Literature review allowed us to understand the radioactive contamination problem on living beings. Three major nuclear accidents have happened in the last thirty years, two of them in consecutive years. The nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, polluted large areas, condemning hundreds of thousands of people to live with consequences of the accident and effects of radiation, killing thousands of people throughout the years. In 1987, a major radiological accident occurred in Goiania (GO) when a source of radioactive cesium was violated, leading to the death of those who had direct or indirect contact with cesium. The most recent accident, in March, 2011, was located at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami hit the region. There is no extensive and accurate knowledge about the consequences of the contamination entailed in that accident, although it is possible to verify signals on a global scale. An analysis of reports of contamination of large areas generated by nuclear plants with release of hazardous wastes suggests it is necessary to rethink the energy matrix of the various countries...

Estudo teórico da contribuição do espalhamento nuclear não elástico na trajetória de prótons de energias entre 50 e 250 MeV em materiais de interesse em radiologia: aplicação em tomografia com prótons

The goal of this work is to study the process of interaction of protons with matter through Monte Carlo simulation. For this purpose, it was employed the SRIM program (Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter ) and MCNPX (Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended) v2.50. This work is going to support the development of a tomography system with protons. It was studied the interaction of proton with the follow materials: Polimethyl Mehacralate (PMMA), MS20 Tissue Substitute and water. This work employed energies in range of 50 MeV and 250 MeV, that is the range of clinical interest. The energy loss of proton after cross a material layer, the decreasing of its intensity, the angular and lateral de ection of incident beam, including and excluding nuclear interactions. This work is related with Medical Physics and Material Physics, like interaction of radiation with matter, particle transport phenomena, and the experimental methods in Nuclear Physics like simulation and computational by Monte Carlo method

Produção de partículas secundárias em reações de “spallation” induzidas por prótons

Cosmic radiation has been identi ed as one of the main hazard to crew, aircraft and sensitive equipments involved in long-term missions and even high-altitude commercial ights. Generally, shields are used in spatial units to avoid excessive exposure, by holding the incident radiation. Unfortunatelly, shielding in space is problematic, especially when high-energy cosmic particles are considered, due to the production of large number of secondary particles, mainly neutrons, protons and alpha particles, caused by spallation reactions and quasi-elastic processes of the corpuscular radiation with the shield. Good parameters for checking the secondary particle production at target material are diferential cross section and energy deposited in the shield. Addition experiments, some computer codes based on Monte Carlo method show themselves a suitable tool to calculate shield parameters, due to have evaluated nuclear data libraries implemented on the algorithm. In view of this, the aim of this work is determining the parameters evaluated in shielding materials, by using MCNPX code, who shows good agreement with experimental data from literature. Among the materials, Aluminium had lower emission and production of secondary particles

O bóson de Higgs no modelo padrão das interações eletrofracas: aspectos fenomenológicos do setor escalar e resultados experimentais

Pós-graduação em Física - FEG