Ordinary Particles Research Articles

New approach to calculating the spectrum of a quantum space–time

We study the dynamics of a massive pointlike particle coupled to gravity in four space–time dimensions. It has the same degrees of freedom as an ordinary particle: its coordinates with respect to a chosen origin (observer) and the canonically conjugate momenta. The effect of gravity is that such a particle is a black hole: its momentum becomes spacelike at a distances to the origin less than the Schwarzschild radius. This happens because the phase space of the particle has a nontrivial structure: the momentum space has curvature, and this curvature depends on the position in the coordinate space. The momentum space curvature in turn leads to the coordinate operator in quantum theory having a nontrivial spectrum. This spectrum is independent of the particle mass and determines the accessible points of space–time.

Unitarity and microscopic acausality in a nonlocal theory

We consider unitarity and causality in a higher-derivative theory of infinite order, where propagators fall off more quickly in the ultraviolet due to the presence of a transcendental entire function of the momentum. Like Lee-Wick theories, these field theories might provide new avenues for addressing the hierarchy problem; unlike Lee-Wick theories, tree-level propagators do not have additional poles corresponding to unobserved particles with unusual properties. We consider microscopic acausality in these nonlocal theories. The acausal ordering of production and decay vertices for ordinary resonant particles may provide a phenomenologically distinct signature for these models.

Enhanced electrorheological performance and antisedimentation property of mesoporous anatase TiO2 shell prepared by hydrothermal process

Mesoporous anatase TiO2 hollow microspheres (MTHMs) with a high surface area (231.1 m2 g−1) were synthesized by sol-gel template-assisted approach and hydrothermal process. The materials possessed a uniform diameter of about 620 nm and a mesoporous shell with thickness of about 180 nm. The microspheres were used as dispersing materials for electrorheological (ER) fluids, which exhibited better ER performance and antisedimentation property than common anatase TiO2 hollow microspheres and ordinary anatase TiO2 particles. The yield stress of the MTHM-based ER fluid (30.0 vol%) was approximately 7.8 kPa under an electric field of 3 kV mm−1, and the sedimentation ratio was maintained above 78% after 250 h. The good ER activity of the MTHM-based ER fluid was mainly attributed to the high surface effect provided by mesoporous and hollow structure of the MTHMs, leading to a high interfacial polarization under the action of an external electric field. The mesoporous and hollow structure also improved the antisedimentation property of the suspensions by lowering the density of microspheres.

Growth process and morphology control of SBA-15 particles: synergistic effects of tetraethoxysilane and Pluronic-123 concentrations

The synergistic effects of the template [Pluronic-123 (P123)] and the silica source [tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)] concentrations on the SBA-15 mesoporous silica morphology were investigated through adjusting the system initial solution volume with the same amounts of silica source and template. It found interestingly that the SBA-15 morphology changed from the hexagonal plate-like shape to the gear-like shape with the decrease of the P123 and TEOS concentration. Based on the morphology variations, the growth of the gear-like morphology was speculated to be formed through the preferential growth at the corner and the layer-by-layer growth in the end face of the ordinary hexagonal plate-like particle.

Remediation of copper contaminated soil by using different particle sizes of apatite: a field experiment.

The particle size of apatite is one of the critical factors that influence the adsorption of heavy metals on apatite in the remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils using apatite. However, little research has been done evaluating the impact of different particle sizes of apatite on immobilization remediation of heavy metal polluted soils in field. In this study, the adsorption isothermal experiments of copper on three kinds of apatite was tested, and the field experiment by using different particle sizes apatite [nano-hydroxyapatite (NAP), micro-hydroxyapatite (MAP), ordinary particle apatite (OAP)] at a same dosage of 25.8 t/ha (1.16 %, W/W) was also conducted. Ryegrass was chosen as the test plant. The ryegrass biomass, the copper contents in ryegrass and the copper fractionations in soil were determined after field experiments. Results of adsorption experiments showed that the adsorption amounts of copper on OAP was the lowest among different particles. The adsorption amounts of copper on MAP was higher than NAP at high copper equilibrium concentration (>1 mmol L−1), an opposite trend was obtained at low copper concentration (<1 mmol L−1). In the field experiment, we found that the application of different apatites could effectively increase the soil pH, decrease the available copper concentration in soil, provide more nutrient phosphate and promote the growth of ryegrass. The ryegrass biomass and the copper accumulation in ryegrass were the highest in MAP among all treatments. The effective order of apatite in phytoremediation of copper contaminated field soil was MAP > NAP > OAP, which was attributed to the high adsorption capacity of copper and the strong releasing of phosphate by MAP.

Dusty-gas model. Allowance for surface forces

The dusty-gas model has been extended to the case of nanoporous media, in which the action of surface forces must be taken into account. A basic set of transport equations underlying the model has been derived proceeding from a set of kinetic equations for an ordinary gas and dust particles. In the kinetic equations, the interaction between the gas and dust particles is represented as a sum of a long-range (analog of surface forces) and short-range components. The contribution of the long-range component has been taken into account in the self-consistent approximation, while the short-range component has been considered in the standard manner. Allowance for the surface forces has been shown to result in a substantial modification of the equation for gas transport through porous bodies, with this modification being most pronounced at nonuniform temperatures.

Exploring the hadronic axion window via delayed neutralino decay to axinos at the LHC

The addition of the QCD axion to the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) not only solves the strong CP problem but also modifies the dark sector with new dark matter candidates. While SUSY axion phenomenology is usually restricted to searches for the axion itself or searches for the ordinary SUSY particles, this work focuses on scenarios where the axion's superpartner, the axino, may be detectable at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the decays of neutralinos displaced from the primary vertex. In particular, we focus on the KSVZ axino within the hadronic axion window. The decay length of neutralinos in this scenario easily fits the ATLAS detector for SUSY spectra expected to be testable at the 14 TeV LHC. We compare this signature of displaced decays to axinos to other well motivated scenarios containing a long lived neutralino which decays inside the detector. These alternative scenarios can in some cases very closely mimic the expected axino signature, and the degree to which they are distinguishable is discussed. We also briefly comment on the cosmological viability of such a scenario.

Toward a quantum theory of tachyon fields

We construct momentum space expansions for the wave functions that solve the Klein–Gordon and Dirac equations for tachyons, recognizing that the mass shell for such fields is very different from what we are used to for ordinary (slower than light) particles. We find that we can postulate commutation or anticommutation rules for the operators that lead to physically sensible results: causality, for tachyon fields, means that there is no connection between space–time points separated by a timelike interval. Calculating the conserved charge and four-momentum for these fields allows us to interpret the number operators for particles and antiparticles in a consistent manner; and we see that helicity plays a critical role for the spinor field. Some questions about Lorentz invariance are addressed and some remain unresolved; and we show how to handle the group representation for tachyon spinors.

Study on formaldehyde emissions from porous building material under non-isothermal conditions

Based on an improved model of formaldehyde emissions from building material under non-isothermal conditions, the mechanisms of formaldehyde emissions in dry porous building material are discussed. The formaldehyde emissions in an ordinary particle board are simulated under the different non-isothermal conditions, using floor heating and air circulation heating systems. The concentration of formaldehyde that remained in the board is strongly affected by the thermal boundary condition. Experiments demonstrating the emission of formaldehyde during floor heating and air circulation systems are carried out in a controlled environmental chamber. The experimental results validate the proposed model qualitatively. The present work showed that the equilibrium concentration in an airtight chamber having floor heating system is higher than that in an air circulation heating system.

Amplitude-dependent orbital period in alternating gradient accelerators

Orbital period in a ring accelerator and time of flight in a linear accelerator depend on the amplitude of betatron oscillations. The variation is negligible in ordinary particle accelerators with relatively small beam emittance. In an accelerator for large emittance beams like muons and unstable nuclei, however, this effect cannot be ignored. We measured orbital period in a linear non-scaling fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator, which is a candidate for muon acceleration, and compared with the theoretical prediction. The good agreement between them gives important ground for the design of particle accelerators for a new generation of particle and nuclear physics experiments.

Black holes and high energy physics

Three mechanisms of getting high energies in particle collisions in the ergosphere of the rotating black holes are considered. The consequences of these mechanisms for observation of ultra high energy cosmic rays particles on the Earth as result of conversion of superheavy dark matter particles into ordinary particles are discussed.

Long-Lived Gluinos and Stable Axinos.

In this Letter we present a novel version of "long-lived" gluinos in supersymmetric models with the gluino lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle (LOSP) and the axino lightest supersymmetric particle. Within certain ranges of the axion decay constant f_{a}<1×10^{10} GeV, the gluino mass bounds are reduced to less than 1000GeV. The best limits can be obtained by looking for decaying R hadrons in the detector where the gluino decays to a gluon and axino in the calorimeters. Supersymmetry (SUSY) models with a gluino LOSP can occur over a significant region of parameter space in either mirage mediation or general gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models. The gluino LOSP is not constrained by cosmology, but in this scenario the axion or axino may be a good dark matter candidate.

Axino dark matter with low reheating temperature

We examine axino dark matter in the regime of a low reheating temperature T_R after inflation and taking into account that reheating is a non-instantaneous process. This can have a significant effect on the dark matter abundance, mainly due to entropy production in inflaton decays. We study both thermal and non-thermal production of axinos in the context of the MSSM with ten free parameters. We identify the ranges of the axino mass and the reheating temperature allowed by the LHC and other particle physics data in different models of axino interactions. We confront these limits with cosmological constraints coming the observed dark matter density, large structures formation and big bang nucleosynthesis. We find a number of differences in the phenomenologically acceptable values of the axino mass and the reheating temperature relative to previous studies. In particular, an upper bound on the axino mass becomes dependent on T_R, reaching a maximum value at T_R~10^2 GeV. If the lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle is a wino or a higgsino, we obtain lower a limit of approximately 10 GeV for the reheating temperature. We demonstrate also that entropy production during reheating affects the maximum allowed axino mass and lowest values of the reheating temperature.

ORIGIN OF INTERPLANETARY DUST THROUGH OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF ZODIACAL LIGHT

This study investigates the origin of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) through the optical properties, albedo and spectral gradient, of zodiacal light. The optical properties were compared with those of potential parent bodies in the solar system, which include D-type (as analogue of cometary nuclei), C-type, S-type, X-type, and B-type asteroids. We applied Bayesian inference on the mixture model made from the distribution of these sources, and found that >90% of the interplanetary dust particles originate from comets (or its spectral analogues, D-type asteroids). Although some classes of asteroids (C-type and X-type) may make a moderate contribution, ordinary chondrite-like particles from S-type asteroids occupy a negligible fraction of the interplanetary dust cloud complex. The overall optical properties of the zodiacal light were similar to those of chondritic porous IDPs, supporting the dominance of cometary particles in zodiacal cloud.

Auto-concealment of supersymmetry in extra dimensions

In supersymmetric (SUSY) theories with extra dimensions the visible energy in sparticle decays can be significantly reduced and its energy distribution broadened, thus significantly weakening the present collider limits on SUSY. The mechanism applies when the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a bulk state-- e.g. a bulk modulino, axino, or gravitino-- the size of the extra dimensions larger than ~$10^{-14}$ cm, and for a broad variety of visible sparticle spectra. In such cases the lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle (LOSP), necessarily a brane-localised state, decays to the Kaluza-Klein (KK) discretuum of the LSP. This dynamically realises the compression mechanism for hiding SUSY as decays into the more numerous heavier KK LSP states are favored. We find LHC limits on right-handed slepton LOSPs evaporate, while LHC limits on stop LOSPs weaken to ~350-410 GeV compared to ~700 GeV for a stop decaying to a massless LSP. Similarly, for the searches we consider, present limits on direct production of degenerate first and second generation squarks drop to ~450 GeV compared to ~800 GeV for a squark decaying to a massless LSP. Auto-concealment typically works for a fundamental gravitational scale of $M_*$~10-100 TeV, a scale sufficiently high that traditional searches for signatures of extra dimensions are mostly avoided. If superpartners are discovered, their prompt, displaced, or stopped decays can also provide new search opportunities for extra dimensions with the potential to reach $M_*$~$10^9$ GeV. This mechanism applies more generally than just SUSY theories, pertaining to any theory where there is a discrete quantum number shared by both brane and bulk sectors.

Criticality in the scale invariant standard model (squared)

We consider first the standard model Lagrangian with μh2 Higgs potential term set to zero. We point out that this classically scale invariant theory potentially exhibits radiative electroweak/scale symmetry breaking with very high vacuum expectation value (VEV) for the Higgs field, 〈ϕ〉≈1017–18 GeV. Furthermore, if such a vacuum were realized then cancellation of vacuum energy automatically implies that this nontrivial vacuum is degenerate with the trivial unbroken vacuum. Such a theory would therefore be critical with the Higgs self-coupling and its beta function nearly vanishing at the symmetry breaking minimum, λ(μ=〈ϕ〉)≈βλ(μ=〈ϕ〉)≈0. A phenomenologically viable model that predicts this criticality property arises if we consider two copies of the standard model Lagrangian, with exact Z2 symmetry swapping each ordinary particle with a partner. The spontaneously broken vacuum can then arise where one sector gains the high scale VEV, while the other gains the electroweak scale VEV. The low scale VEV is perturbed away from zero due to a Higgs portal coupling, or via the usual small Higgs mass terms μh2, which softly break the scale invariance. In either case, the cancellation of vacuum energy requires Mt=(171.53±0.42) GeV, which is close to its measured value of (173.34±0.76) GeV.

ZSM-5-supported multiply-twinned nickel particles: Formation, surface properties, and high catalytic performance in hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose

Nickel multiply-twinned particles (Ni MTPs) imbedded onto ZSM-5 were prepared, and their formation and chemical and electronic properties were characterized by HRTEM, XPS, CO-FTIR, and H2-TPD. HRTEM showed the formation of Ni MTPs with triangular, square, hexagonal, and spherical shapes. The multiply-twinned particles were composed of f.c.c. nanocrystals dominated by (111) crystal face. Ni MTPs indicate an enhanced CO adsorption capability as compared with ordinary Ni particles. Ni MTPs were electron deficient and inherently strained, which is responsible for high catalytic activity in the hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose.

An Improved Global Particle Swarm Optimization for Faster Optimization Process

An efficient Global Particle Swarm Optimization (GPSO) is proposed in order to overcome the concern of trapping in the local optimal point especially in high dimensional while using ordinary Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). GPSO is able to bring all the particles to be closely clumped together faster than PSO. In this paper, an improved GPSO is proposed in order to get a closely clumped particles group faster than using GPSO. The original GPSO is improved by taking into account the global best fitness error and particle fitness clumping size of every iteration. The improved GPSO is simulated by using several two dimension mathematical function and benchmarked with the original GPSO. The improved GPSO is shown to be able to obtain closely clumped particles much more faster than the original GPSO up to 62%. The performances are also evaluated by comparing the standard deviation, average, best particle and worst particles obtained through a 50 independent runs. In term of the four factors mentioned, the improved GPSO performance is shown to be as good of the original GPSO.

Local Particle-Ghost Symmetry

We study the quantization of systems with local particle-ghost symmetries. The systems contain ordinary particles including gauge bosons and their counterparts obeying different statistics. The particle-ghost symmetry is a kind of fermionic symmetry, different from the space-time supersymmetry and the BRST symmetry. Subsidiary conditions on states guarantee the unitarity of systems.

Experimental Study on the Formaldehyde Emission under Non-isothermal Conditions

The adverse effects of formaldehyde on the indoor air quality is of serious concern. An experimental apparatus is fabricated to investigate the features of formaldehyde migration from dry porous building materials under non-isothermal conditions. The coupled heat and formaldehyde migration process in an ordinary particle board is investigated in both floor heating system and air circulation system. The instantaneous concentration of formaldehyde in the chamber, the instantaneous temperature of the air, and the instantaneous temperature of the top surface of the board is studied. The temperature of the bottom surface of the board is maintained at 15°C throughout the process. As shown in the experimental process, the equilibrium concentration of formaldehyde increases with an increase in the temperature of air. The equilibrium concentration in an airtight chamber having floor heating system is higher than that in an air circulation heating system. The experimental results validated proposed model. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the ventilation of the rooms using such systems.