No Arabic abstract
In calculating the energy corrections to the hydrogen levels we can identify two different types of modifications of the Coulomb potential $V_{C}$, with one of them being the standard quantum electrodynamics corrections, $delta V$, satisfying $left|delta Vright|llleft|V_{C}right|$ over the whole range of the radial variable $r$. The other possible addition to $V_{C}$ is a potential arising due to the finite size of the atomic nucleus and as a matter of fact, can be larger than $V_{C}$ in a very short range. We focus here on the latter and show that the electric potential of the proton displays some undesirable features. Among others, the energy content of the electric field associated with this potential is very close to the threshold of $e^+e^-$ pair production. We contrast this large electric field of the Maxwell theory with one emerging from the non-linear Euler-Heisenberg theory and show how in this theory the short range electric field becomes smaller and is well below the pair production threshold.
We have observed short-range photoassociation of LiRb to the two lowest vibrational states of the $d,^3Pi$ potential. These $d,^3Pi$ molecules then spontaneously decay to vibrational levels of the $a^3,Sigma^+$ state with generation rates of $sim10^3$ molecules per second. This is the first observation of many of these $a,^3Sigma^+$ levels. We observe an alternation of the peak heights in the rotational photoassociation spectrum that suggests a $p$-wave shape resonance in the scattering state. Franck-Condon overlap calculations predict that photoassociation to higher vibrational levels of the $d,^3Pi$, in particular the sixth vibrational level, should populate the lowest vibrational level of the $a,^3Sigma^+$ state with a rate as high as $10^4$ molecules per second. These results encourage further work to explain our observed LiRb collisional physics using PECs. This work also motivates an experimental search for short-range photoassociation to other bound molecules, such as the $c,^3Sigma^+$ or $b,^3Pi$, as prospects for preparing ground-state molecules.
We have studied the relaxation of a spin-polarized gas in a magnetic field, in the presence of short-range spin-dependent interactions. As a main result we have established a link between the specific properties of the interaction and the dependence of the spin-relaxation rate on the magnitude of the holding magnetic field. This allows us to formulate a new, extremely sensitive method to study (pseudo-) magnetic properties at the sub-millimeter scale, which are difficult to access by other means. The method has been used as a probe for nucleon-nucleon axion-like P,T violating interactions which yields a two-order-of-magnitude improved constraint on the coupling strength ($g_s g_p$) as a function of the force range ($lambda$): $g_s g_p lambda^2 < 3 times 10^{-27}$ m$^2$.
The interaction of two excited hydrogen atoms in metastable states constitutes a theoretically interesting problem because of the quasi-degenerate 2P_{1/2} levels which are removed from the 2S states only by the Lamb shift. The total Hamiltonian of the system is composed of the van der Waals Hamiltonian, the Lamb shift and the hyperfine effects. The van der Waals shift becomes commensurate with the 2S-2P_{3/2} fine-structure splitting only for close approach (R < 100 a_0, where a_0 is the Bohr radius) and one may thus restrict the discussion to the levels with n=2 and J=1/2 to good approximation. Because each S or P state splits into an F=1 triplet and an F=0 hyperfine singlet (eight states for each atom), the Hamiltonian matrix {em a priori} is of dimension 64. A careful analysis of symmetries the problem allows one to reduce the dimensionality of the most involved irreducible submatrix to 12. We determine the Hamiltonian matrices and the leading-order van der Waals shifts for states which are degenerate under the action of the unperturbed Hamiltonian (Lamb shift plus hyperfine structure). The leading first- and second-order van der Waals shifts lead to interaction energies proportional to 1/R^3 and 1/R^6 and are evaluated within the hyperfine manifolds. When both atoms are metastable 2S states, we find an interaction energy of order E_h chi (a_0/R)^6, where E_h and L are the Hartree and Lamb shift energies, respectively, and chi = E_h/L ~ 6.22 times 10^6 is their ratio.
Short-range quark-quark correlations are introduced into the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model phenomenologically. We study the effect of the correlations on the structure of the nucleon in dense nuclear matter. With the addition of correlations, the saturation curve for symmetric nuclear matter is much improved at high density.
Atom interferometers offer excellent sensitivity to gravitational and inertial signals but have limited dynamic range. We introduce a scheme that improves on this trade-off by a factor of 50 using composite fringes, obtained from sets of measurements with slightly varying interrogation times. We analyze analytically the performance gain in this approach and the trade-offs it entails between sensitivity, dynamic range, and temporal bandwidth, and we experimentally validate the analysis over a wide range of parameters. By combining composite-fringe measurements with a particle-filter estimation protocol, we demonstrate continuous tracking of a rapidly varying signal over a span two orders of magnitude larger than the dynamic range of a traditional atom interferometer.