120208172
Little groups, the quark model and gauge transformations
Two modern applications of Wigner's original work on the Poincare group are discussed. The little group for a particle with non-zero mass is O(3), and that for a massless particle is isomorphic to E(2). First, we use the covariant harmonic-oscillator model to illustrate that the basic symmetry of the space-time separation between the quarks inside a hadron is isomorphic to that of O(3). Second, we give a realization of the E(2) group which described both the rotation and gauge transformation of the photon wave function.
1673726
Symmetries Shared by the Poincaré Group and the Poincaré Sphere
Henri Poincare formulated the mathematics of Lorentz transformations, known as the Poincare group. He also formulated the Poincare sphere for polarization optics. It is shown that these two mathematical instruments can be derived from the two-by-two representations of the Lorentz group. Wigner’s little groups for internal space-time symmetries are studied in detail. While the particle mass is a Lorentz-invariant quantity, it is shown to be possible to address its variations in terms of the decoherence mechanism in polarization optics.
14939249
Coupled Harmonic Oscillators and Feynman's Rest of the Universe
According to Feynman, the universe consists of two parts - the system in which we are interested and the rest of the universe which our measurement process does not reach. Feynman then formulates the density matrix in terms of the observable world and the rest of the universe. It is shown that coupled harmonic oscillators can serve as an illustrative example for Feynman's ``rest of the universe.'' It is pointed out that this simple example has far-reaching consequences in many branches of physics, including statistical mechanics, measurement theory, information theory, thermo-field dynamics, quantum optics, and relativistic quantum mechanics. It is shown that our ignorance of the rest of the universe increases the uncertainty and entropy in the system in which we are interested.
73571003
Time separation as a hidden variable to the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics
The Bohr radius is a space‐like separation between the proton and electron in the hydrogen atom. According to the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics, the proton is sitting in the absolute Lorentz frame. If this hydrogen atom is observed from a different Lorentz frame, there is a time‐like separation linearly mixed with the Bohr radius. Indeed, the time‐separation is one of the essential variables in high‐energy hadronic physics where the hadron is a bound state of the quarks, while thoroughly hidden in the present form of quantum mechanics. It will be concluded that this variable is hidden in Feynman’s rest of the universe. It is noted first that Feynman’s Lorentz‐invariant differential equation for the bound‐state quarks has a set of solutions which describe all essential features of hadronic physics. These solutions explicitly depend on the time separation between the quarks. This set also forms the mathematical basis for two‐mode squeezed states in quantum optics, where both photons are observable,...
668406
Quantization of electromagnetic fields in a circular cylindrical cavity
We present a quantization procedure for the electromagnetic field in a circular cylindrical cavity with perfectly conducting walls, which is based on the decomposition of the field. A new decomposition procedure is proposed; all vector mode functions satisfying the boundary conditions are obtained with the help of this decomposition. After expanding the quantized field in terms of the vector mode functions, it is possible to derive the Hamiltonian for this quantized system.
1320799
Wigner rotations and Iwasawa decompositions in polarization optics.
Wigner rotations and Iwasawa decompositions are manifestations of the internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles, respectively. It is shown to be possible to produce combinations of optical filters which exhibit transformations corresponding to Wigner rotations and Iwasawa decompositions. This is possible because the combined effects of rotation, phase-shift, and attenuation filters lead to transformation matrices of the six-parameter Lorentz group applicable to Jones vectors and Stokes parameters for polarized light waves. The symmetry transformations in special relativity lead to a set of experiments which can be performed in optics laboratories.
17884247
Performance of the LHCb RICH detector at the LHC
The LHCb experiment has been taking data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN since the end of 2009. One of its key detector components is the Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) system. This provides charged particle identification over a wide momentum range, from 2–100 GeV/c. The operation and control, software, and online monitoring of the RICH system are described. The particle identification performance is presented, as measured using data from the LHC. Excellent separation of hadronic particle types (π, K, p) is achieved.
119447142
Renormalization group analysis ofρ-meson properties at finite density
We calculate the density dependence of the $\rho$-meson mass and coupling constant($g_{\rho NN}$) for $\rho$-nucleon-nucleon vertex at one loop using the lagrangian where the $\rho$-meson is included as a dynamical gauge boson of a hidden local symmetry. From the condition that thermodynamic potential should not depend on the arbitrary energy scale, renormalization scale, one can construct a renormalization group equation for the thermodynamic potential and argue that the various renormalization group coefficients are functions of the density or temperature. We calculate the $\beta$-function for $\rho$-nucleon-nucleon coupling constant ($g_{\rho NN}$) and $\gamma$-function for $\rho$-meson mass ($\gamma_{m_\rho}$). We found that the $\rho$-meson mass and the coupling constant for $g_{\rho NN}$ drop as density increases in the low energy limit.
55335409
New design and development of 13 MeV PET cyclotron in Korea
Since 1997 design studies have been in progress in a joint collaboration between the Korea Cancer Center Hospital (KCCH) and the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) for a 13 MeV PET (Positron Emission Tomography) cyclotron. It will accelerate H/sup -/ (negatively charged hydrogen) ions, which, after acceleration, will be stripped of its electrons by a stripping foil and then, on entering the target chamber, interact with the target material to produce positron emitters such as /sup 18/F, /sup 15/O, /sup 13/N and /sup 11/C. In this paper we describe the main features of the cyclotron.
119099546
Quark number susceptibility with finite chemical potential in holographic QCD
We study the quark number susceptibility in holographic QCD with a finite chemical potential or under an external magnetic field at finite temperature. We first consider the quark number susceptibility with the chemical potential. We observe that approaching Tc from high temperature regime, χq/T2 develops a peak as we increase the chemical potential, which confirms recent lattice QCD results. We discuss this behavior in connection with the existence of the critical end point in the QCD phase diagram. We also consider the quark number susceptibility under the external magnetic field. We predict that the quark number susceptibility exhibits a blow-up behavior at low temperature as we raise the value of the magnetic field. We finally spell out some limitations of our study.
18064237
The effect of kaon condensation on quark-antiquark condensate in dense matter
Abstract Assuming that at sufficiently high densities the constituent quarks become relevant degrees of freedom, we study within the framework of a chiral quark model the influence of s -wave K − condensation on the quark–antiquark condensates. We find that, in linear density approximation, the presence of a K − condensate quenches the u ¯ u condensate, but that the d ¯ d condensate remains unaffected up to the chiral order under consideration. We discuss the implication of the suppressed u ¯ u condensate for flavor-dependent chiral symmetry restoration in dense matter.