Fermion helicity flip in higher-derivative electromagnetism

It is shown that massive fermions have their helicity flipped on account of their interaction with an electromagnetic field described by Podolsky's generalized electrodynamics. Massless fermions, in turn, seem to be unaffected by the electromagnetic field as far as their helicity is concerned. © Springer-Verlag 1997.

Preparation and characterization of uniform, spherical particles of Y2O2S and Y2O2S:Eu

The preparation of spherical Y2O2S and Y2O2S:Eu particles using a solid-gas reaction of monodispersed precursors with elemental sulfur vapor under an argon atmosphere has been investigated. The precursors, undoped and doped yttrium basic carbonates, are synthesized by aging a stock solution containing the respective cation chloride and urea at 82-84 °C. Y2O2S and Y2O2S:Eu were characterized in terms of their composition, crystallinity and morphology by chemical analysis, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), IR spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Eu-doped oxysulfide was also characterized by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and luminescence spectroscopy. The spherical morphology of oxysulfide products and of basic carbonate precursors suggests a topotatic inter-relationship between both compounds.

Do static sources outside a Schwarzschild black hole radiate?

We show that static sources coupled to a massless scalar field in Schwarzschild spacetime give rise to emission and absorption of zero-energy particles due to the presence of Hawking radiation. This is in complete analogy with the description of the bremsstrahlung by a uniformly accelerated charge from the coaccelerated observers' point of view. The response rate of the source is found to coincide with that in Minkowski spacetime as a function of its proper acceleration. It is interesting that this quantum result appears to reflect the classical equivalence principle.

Note on the point-splitting procedure to evaluate vacuum fluctuation in certain cylindrically symmetric backgrounds

We reexamine the two-point function approaches used to study vacuum fluctuation in wedge-shaped regions and conical backgrounds. The appearance of divergent integrals is discussed and circumvented. The issue is considered in the context of a massless scalar field in cosmic string spacetime.

Electric charge quantization in a chiral bilepton gauge model

In the context of the standard model the quantization of the electric charge occurs only family by family. When we consider the three families together with massless neutrinos the electric charge is not quantized any more. Here we show that a chiral bilepton gauge model based on the gauge group SU(3)C ⊗ SU(3)L ⊗ U(1)N explains the quantization of the electric charge when we take into account the three families of fermions. This result does not depend on the neutrino masses. Charge quantization occurs whether the neutrinos are massless or Dirac or Majorana massive fields.

Interaction of Hawking radiation with static sources outside a Schwarzschild black hole

We show that the response rate of (i) a static source interacting with Hawking radiation of a massless scalar field in Schwarzschild spacetime (with the Unruh vacuum) and that of (ii) a uniformly accelerated source with the same proper acceleration in Minkowski spacetime (with the Minkowski vacuum) are equal. We show that this equality will not hold if the Unruh vacuum is replaced by the Hartle-Hawking vacuum. It is verified that the source responds to the Hawking radiation near the horizon as if it were at rest in a thermal bath in Minkowski spacetime with the same temperature. It is also verified that the response rate in the Hartle-Hawking vacuum approaches that in Minkowski spacetime with the same temperature far away from the black hole. Finally, we compare our results with others in the literature.

Higgs- and Goldstone-boson-mediated long range forces

In certain mild extensions of the standard model, spin-independent long range forces can arise by exchange of two very light pseudoscalar spin-0 bosons. In particular, we have in mind models in which these bosons do not have direct tree level couplings to ordinary fermions. Using the dispersion theoretical method, we find a 1/r3 behavior of the potential for the exchange of very light pseudoscalars and a 1/r7 dependence if the pseudoscalars are true massless Goldstone bosons. ©1999 The American Physical Society.

Coordinate-space Faddeev-Hahn-type approach to three-body charge-transfer reactions involving exotic particles

Low-energy muon-transfer cross sections and rates in collisions of muonic atoms with hydrogen isotopes are calculated using a six-state close-coupling approximation to coordinate-space Faddeev-Hahn-type equations. In the muonic case satisfactory results are obtained for all hydrogen isotopes and the experimentaly observed strong isotopic dependence of transfer rates is also reproduced. A comparison with results of other theoretical and available experimental works is presented. The present model also leads to good transfer cross sections in the well-understood problem of antihydrogen formation in antiproton-positronium collision.

Constraining models with superlight gravitino, scalar and pseudoscalar particles

In some supergravity models there are light weakly coupled scalar (S)-and pseudoscalar (P) particles. These particles arise following a superlight gravitino. In these models the decay SIP → γγ exists. We examine constraints on this process considering these photons as responsible by the extragalactic background light. We also consider the amount of SIP particles produced through the fusion of the cosmic background photons and contributing to the effective number of light neutrino species during primordial nucleosynthesis. We obtain bounds on the gravitino mass complementary to the existing ones.

Quadratic effective action for QED in D=2,3 dimensions

We calculate the effective action for quantum electrodynamics (QED) in D=2,3 dimensions at the quadratic approximation in the gauge fields. We analyze the analytic structure of the corresponding nonlocal boson propagators nonperturbatively in k/m. In two dimensions for any nonzero fermion mass, we end up with one massless pole for the gauge boson. We also calculate in D=2 the effective potential between two static charges separated by a distance L and find it to be a linearly increasing function of L in agreement with the bosonized theory (massive sine-Gordon model). In three dimensions we find nonperturbatively in k/m one massive pole in the effective bosonic action leading to screening. Fitting the numerical results we derive a simple expression for the functional dependence of the boson mass upon the dimensionless parameter e2/m. ©2000 The American Physical Society.

Formation of colloidal particles of hydrous iron oxide by forced hydrolysis

The mechanism of formation and growth of hydrous iron oxide (FeOOH) during the initial stages of forced hydrolyses of ferric chloride aqueous solution was studied by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The effect of the hydrolysis temperature (60°C, 70°C and 80°C) and of the addition of urea on the formation of colloidal particles under isothermal conditions were investigated. Based on the experimental scattering functions in the Guinier range, we suggest the presence of elongated colloidal particles. The particle diameter and length, and their variation with time, were determined by fitting the form factor of prolate ellipsoids to the experimental scattering functions. We have assumed that our solutions are in a dilute state and that all colloidal particles are approximately of the same size. The colloidal particles have geometrical shapes similar to those of the subcrystals that build up the superstructure of β-FeOOH crystals, indicating that the formation of this hydrous iron oxide is governed by an aggregation process. Otherwise, the addition of urea hinders the growth and yields smaller particles, with a reduction in size greater than 50%. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Protected magnetic particles: Silica on yttrium iron garnet

The formation of silica on core yttrium iron garnet presents a variety of different applications as corrosion resistance and stabilization of magnetic properties. Well-defined magnetic particles were prepared by heterocoagulating silica on yttrium iron garnet to protect the core. Yttrium iron garnet was obtained using a homogeneous nucleation process by controlling the chemical routes from cation hydrolysis in acid medium. The heterocoagulation was induced by tetraethyl orthosilicate hydrolysis in appropriate yttrium iron garnet dispersion medium. The presence of silica on yttrium iron garnet was characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, small area electron diffraction and differential thermal analysis. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic properties of spindle-type iron fine particles obtained from hematite

Spindle-type iron fine particles have been prepared by reduction of silica-coated-hematite particles. Hydrogen reduction of the coated-hematite cores yielded uniform spindle-type iron particles, which were stabilized by surface oxidation. Narrow particle distributions are observed from TEM measurements. X-ray, Mössbauer and magnetization data are in agreement with the presence of nanosized α-Fe particles, having surface layer of spinel structure oxide. Mössbauer spectra show that the oxide surface is superparamagnetic at room temperature. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A surface modification for hydrogen storage intermetallic particles by sol-gel method

A new process for the surface modification of hydrogen storage intermetallic particles used as anode material in secondary batteries is proposed in this article. The copper oxide particles coverage obtained by the sol-gel method is proposed to produce, under operational conditions of a Ni-MH battery, a metallic framework that tolerates the volume changes in charge/discharge cycles and does not inhibit the hydrogen absorption. Furthermore it was noticed an enhancement on the discharge capacity of the electrode material that can be related to a new hydrogen storage phase or to an inhibition of the surface oxidation promoted by the film coverage.

Effect of barium titanate seed particles on the sintering and lattice parameters in PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3 ceramics

PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3 (PMN) powder was prepared by citrate organic solution, and barium titanate (BT) seed particles were added to encourage the perovskite phase formation. Sintering was followed using the constant heating rate mode of a dilatometer, and it was observed that the seed concentration affected the PMN shrinkage rate and crystal structure. The study of the lattice parameters of the samples after the sintering process indicates that the diffusion of the titanium and of the barium inside perovskite and pyrochlore PMN phases occurs. Moreover, this substitution provoked a decrease of the lattice parameters as showed by the Rietveld refinement.