Abstract

Electromagnetic field in nuclear matter and nuclei are studied. In the nuclear matter, because the expectation value of the electric charge density operator is not zero, different in vacuum, the U(1) local gauge symmetry of electric charge is spontaneously broken, and consequently, the photon gains an effective mass through the Higgs mechanism. An alternative way to study the effective mass of photon is to calculate the self-energy of photon perturbatively. It shows that the effective mass of photon is about 5.42 MeV in the symmetric nuclear matter at the saturation density ρ0 = 0.16 fm -3 and about 2.0 MeV at the surface of 238U. It seems that the two-body decay of a massive photon causes the sharp lines of electron–positron pairs in the low energy heavy ion collision experiments of 238 U + 232 Th .

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.