In a recent letter, the AMS collaboration reported the detailed and extensive data concerning the distribution in energy of electron and positron cosmic rays. A central result of the experimental work resides in the energy regime $30 {rm GeV}< E < 1
{rm TeV}$ wherein the power law exponent of the energy distribution is measured to be $alpha ({rm experiment})=3.17$. In virtue of the Fermi statistics obeyed by electrons and positrons, a theoretical value was predicted as $alpha ({rm theory})=3.151374$ in very good agreement with experimental data. The consequences of this agreement between theory and experiment concerning the sources of cosmic ray electrons and positrons are briefly explored.
We have recently shown that the cosmic ray energy distributions as detected on earthbound, low flying balloon or high flying satellite detectors can be computed by employing the heats of evaporation of high energy particles from astrophysical sources
. In this manner, the experimentally well known power law exponents of the cosmic ray energy distribution have been theoretically computed as 2.701178 for the case of ideal Bose statistics, 3.000000 for the case of ideal Boltzmann statistics and 3.151374 for the case of ideal Fermi statistics. By ideal we mean virtually zero mass (i.e. ultra-relativistic) and noninteracting. These results are in excellent agreement with the experimental indices of 2.7 with a shift to 3.1 at the high energy ~ PeV knee in the energy distribution. Our purpose here is to discuss the nature of cosmic ray power law exponents obtained by employing conventional thermal quantum field theoretical models such as quantum chromodynamics to the cosmic ray sources in a thermodynamic scheme wherein gamma and zeta function regulation is employed. The key reason for the surprising accuracy of the ideal boson and ideal fermion cases resides in the asymptotic freedom or equivalently the Feynman parton structure of the ultra-high energy tails of spectral functions.
Low-energy reflectivity of electrons from single- and multi-layer graphene is examined both theoretically and experimentally. A series of minima in the reflectivity over the energy range of 0 - 8 eV are found, with the number of minima depending on t
he number of graphene layers. Using first-principles computations, it is demonstrated that a free standing n-layer graphene slab produces n-1 reflectivity minima. This same result is also found experimentally for graphene supported on SiO2. For graphene bonded onto other substrates it is argued that a similar series of reflectivity minima is expected, although in certain cases an additional minimum occurs, at an energy that depends on the graphene-substrate separation and the effective potential in that space.
There is a recent comment (Ciuchi et al., 2012) concerning the theory of collective many body effects on the neutron production rates in a chemical battery cathode. Ciuchi et al employ an inverse beta decay expression that contains a two body amplitu
de. Only one electron and one proton may exist in the Ciuchi et al model initial state wave function. A flaw in their reasoning is that one cannot in reality describe collective many body correlations with only a two particle wave function. One needs very many particles to describe collective effects. In the model wave functions of Ciuchi et al there are no metallic hydrides, there are no cathodes and there are no chemical batteries. Employing a wave function with only one electron and one proton is inadequate for describing collective metallic hydride surface quantum plasma physics in cathodes accurately.
Recent experimental reports of super-luminal velocity neutrinos moving between Geneva and Gran Sasso in no way contradict the special relativity considerations of conventional quantum field theory. A neutrino exchanged between Geneva and Gran Sasso i
s both virtual and space-like. The Lorentz invariant space-like distance $L$ and the Lorentz invariant space-like four momentum transfered $varpi $ between Geneva and Gran Sasso can be extracted from experimental data as will be shown in this work.
The morphology of graphene on SiC {0001} surfaces formed in various environments including ultra-high vacuum, 1 atm of argon, and 10^-6 to 10^-4 Torr of disilane is studied by atomic force microscopy, low-energy electron microscopy, and Raman spectro
scopy. The graphene is formed by heating the surface to 1100 - 1600 C, which causes preferential sublimation of the Si atoms. The argon atmosphere or the background of disilane decreases the sublimation rate so that a higher graphitization temperature is required, thus improving the morphology of the films. For the (0001) surface, large areas of monolayer-thick graphene are formed in this way, with the size of these areas depending on the miscut of the sample. Results on the (000-1) surface are more complex. This surface graphitizes at a lower temperature than for the (0001) surface and consequently the growth is more three-dimensional. In an atmosphere of argon the morphology becomes even worse, with the surface displaying markedly inhomogeneous nucleation, an effect attributed to unintentional oxidation of the surface during graphitization. Use of a disilane environment for the (000-1) surface is found to produce improved morphology, with relatively large areas of monolayer-thick graphene.
The standard model of strong interactions invokes the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) of quarks and gluons interacting within a fluid. At sufficiently small length scales, the effective interactions between the color charged particles within the fluid a
re thought to be weak. Short distance asymptotic freedom provides the perturbation theory basis for comparisons between QCD theory and laboratory high energy scattering experiments. It is here shown that the asymptotically free vacuum has negative dissipation implicit in the color electrical conductivity. Negative dissipation implies an asymptotically free QCD negative temperature {em excited state amplifier} unstable to decay. The qualitative experimental implications of this instability are explored.
