Small Momentum Transfer Research Articles

Modeling of warm dense hydrogen via explicit real-time electron dynamics: Dynamic structure factors

We present two methods for computing the dynamic structure factor for warm dense hydrogen without invoking either the Born-Oppenheimer approximation or the Chihara decomposition, by employing a wave-packet description that resolves the electron dynamics during ion evolution. First, a semiclassical method is discussed, which is corrected based on known quantum constraints, and second, a direct computation of the density response function within the molecular dynamics. The wave-packet models are compared to PIMC and DFT-MD for the static and low-frequency behavior. For the high-frequency behavior the models recover the expected behavior in the limits of small and large momentum transfers and show the characteristic flattening of the plasmon dispersion for intermediate momentum transfers due to interactions, in agreement with commonly used models for x-ray Thomson scattering. By modeling the electrons and ions on an equal footing, both the ion and free electron part of the spectrum can now be treated within a single framework where we simultaneously resolve the ion-acoustic and plasmon mode, with a self-consistent description of collisions and screening. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Some remarks on Coulombic effects in pp and p¯p scattering and the determination of ρ

We point out a very simple method for calculating the mixed Coulomb-nuclear corrections to the pp and p¯p scattering amplitudes that has been missed in the extensive past work on this problem. The method expresses the correction in terms of a rapidly convergent integral involving the inverse Fourier-Bessel transform of the nuclear amplitude and a known factor containing the Coulomb phase shift with form-factor corrections. The transform can be calculated analytically for the exponential-type model nuclear amplitudes commonly used in fits to the high-energy data at small momentum transfers, and gives very accurate results for the corrections. We examine the possible effects of the Martin zero in the real part of the nuclear amplitude, and the accuracy of the Bethe-West-Yennie phase approximation for the Coulomb-nuclear corrections. We then apply the method to a redetermination of the ratio ρ of the real to the imaginary parts of the forward scattering amplitude in fits to high-energy Intersecting Storage Rings data previously analyzed using the approximate West-Yennie version of the correction. The only significant changes relative the accuracy of those fits are at 52.8 GeV. Our method is applicable more generally, and can be used also at lower energies and for proton-nucleus scattering. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Exclusive photoproduction of ηcγ pairs with large invariant mass

In this manuscript, we analyze the exclusive photoproduction of ηcγ pairs in the collinear factorization framework and evaluate its cross section in leading order in the strong coupling αs. We found that this channel is mostly sensitive to the behavior of the unpolarized gluon generalized parton distributions Hg in the Efremov-Radyushkin-Brodsky-Lepage kinematics. We estimated numerically the cross section and the expected counting rates in the kinematics of middle-energy photoproduction experiments, which can be realized at the future Electron-Ion Collider or in the ultraperipheral collisions at LHC. We found that the cross section is sufficiently large for dedicated experimental study. We also estimated the role of this process as a potential background to ηc photoproduction, which is considered as one of the possible gateways for studies of t-channel odderons. We found that the contribution of ηcγ (with undetected photon) is on par with expected contributions of odderons in the kinematics of small momentum transfer |t|≲0.5 GeV2, though decreases rapidly at larger |t|. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

The proton charge radius from dimuon photoproduction off the proton

We investigate the feasibility of measuring the proton charge radius through dimuon photoproduction off a proton target. Our findings indicate that the Bethe-Heitler mechanism, which dominates at small momentum transfers, allows for an extraction of the proton electromagnetic form factors in the extremely low Q2 region below 10−3 GeV2 in the spacelike region, when the incident photon beam energy exceeds several hundred MeV. The optimal kinematical region and a sensitivity study of the proton charge radius from dimuon photoproduction are presented. Such a measurement is expected to provide an alternative to the elastic muon-proton scattering measurements such as MUSE at PSI and AMBER at CERN.

Moments of the Charge Distribution Observed through Electron Scattering in 3H and 3He

Abstract The moments of the charge distributions obtained by the sum-of-Gaussians (SOG) analysis of electron-scattering data are examined in $^3$H and $^3$He, together with those obtained by the Fourier–Bessel (FB) analysis. The SOG and FB methods reproduce well the experimental form factors available at present, but provide different charge distributions from each other. As a result, they do not yield the same values of the moments of the charge distribution, although their analyses are called “model-independent.” The moments are sensitive to the tail of the charge distribution. The present experimental data are not enough for SOG and FB analyses to determine with reasonable accuracy the shape of the tails, in a quantum mechanical point of view. New, accurate experimental data at small momentum transfer squared less than 0.1 fm$^{-2}$ are desired.

Role of Coulomb interaction in elastic pion-proton scattering from holography

Differential cross sections of the elastic pion-proton scattering are investigated at very small momentum transfer in a holographic QCD model, considering both the strong and Coulomb interaction in the Regge regime. The strong interaction is described by the Pomeron and Reggeon exchange, and the Coulomb interaction is characterized by the one photon exchange. The two interactions are linked through an interference term and we only need to determine a single adjustable parameter involved in this term. As to the parameters for the strong interaction, we can utilize the values determined in the previous studies. The differential cross sections can be predicted without any additional parameters, and it is shown that our predictions are consistent with the experimental data. We explicitly show the momentum transfer dependence for the interference effect. The energy dependence of the contribution ratios for each component is also discussed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Theoretical study of valence excitations in fluoromethanes by high energy electron impact

We report a theoretical study of the electron-impact electronic excitation of fluoromethanes. Generalized oscillator strengths (GOSs) are calculated for the molecules at the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster singles and doubles level. To clarify the influence of nuclear dynamics on the electronic excitations, the effects of internal molecular vibrations are included in the calculation. Comparison with experimental data resolves some inconsistencies in the assignment of the transition bands. Furthermore, it is shown that the lengthening of the CH bond enhances the excitation from the highest occupied orbital to the 3s Rydberg orbital for CHF3, CH2F2, and CH3F, and that the CH stretching vibrations thus have a significant influence, especially at small momentum transfer where electric dipole transitions are dominant. Since the 2 1A1 state of CHF3 dissociates into CF3 + H, the result indicates that the CH stretching vibration causes an increase in the production of CF3 by electron collision and by photoabsorption.

Vibronic effect study of 1A2 state of H2O and D2O

The generalized oscillator strengths of the dipole-forbidden excitations of the 1A2 of H2O and D2O were calculated with the time dependent density functional theory, by taking into account the vibronic effect. It is found that the vibronic effect converts the dipole-forbidden excitation of the 1A2 into a dipole-allowed one, which enhances the intensities of the corresponding generalized oscillator strength in the small squared momentum transfer region. The present investigation shows that the vibronic effect of H2O is slightly stronger than that of D2O, which exhibits a clear isotopic effect.

Study of Neutral-Pion Pair Production in Two-Photon Scattering at BESIII

The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, aμ = (g−2)μ/2, is one of the most precisely measured observables of the Standard Model. However, its value shows a sizeable discrepancy to the Standard Model prediction. It is still under discussion whether this discrepancy is a hint for New Physics or proof of the limited understanding of strong interaction at low energies. To get a better understanding of this discrepancy, one needs to reduce the uncertainty of both, the Standard Model prediction and the direct measurement. Information on the production of pion pairs in two-photon fusion processes plays an important role in the dispersive calculation of the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to aμ, which is one of the two large contributions to the Standard Model predictions uncertainty. The BESIII experiment, located at the Institute of High Energy Physics in Beijing/China, offers a perfect testbed for the investigation of two-photon processes at small momentum transfers. The process e+e− → e+e−π0π0 is measured at the BESIII experiment at center-of-mass energies between 3.77 and 4.59 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of more than 13 fb−1, with more data being available in future. This presentation will discuss the current status of the analysis.

Chemical short-range order in liquid Ni–Cu

Neutron diffraction in combination with isotopic substitution on the zero-scatterer 62Ni43 63Cu57 shows indications for chemical short-range order in the stable liquid as evidenced by oscillations in the concentration–concentration structure factor S CC(q). This points towards a non-ideal solution behavior of Ni–Cu contrary to common believe but in agreement with measurements of free enthalpy of mixing. The temperature dependence of S CC at small momentum transfer provides evidence of critical compositional fluctuations in Ni43Cu57 melts.

Topological superconductivity from forward phonon scatterings

Searching for topological superconductors with non-Abelian states has been attracting broad interest. The most commonly used recipe for building topological superconductors utilizes the proximity effect, which significantly limits the working temperature. Here, we propose a mechanism to attain topological superconductivity via forward phonon scatterings. Our crucial observation is that electron-phonon interactions with small momentum transfers favor spin-triplet Cooper pairing under an applied magnetic field. This process facilitates the formation of chiral topological superconductivity even without Rashba spin-orbit coupling. As a proof of concept, we propose an experimentally feasible heterostructure to systematically study the entangled relationship among forward-phonon scatterings, Rashba spin-orbit coupling, pairing symmetries, and the topological property of the superconducting state. This theory not only deepens our understanding of the superconductivity induced by the electron-phonon interaction but also sheds light on the critical role of the electron-phonon coupling in pursuing non-Abelian Majorana quasiparticles.

Spin-fluctuation glue disfavors high-critical temperature of superconductivity?

Antiferromagnetic fluctuations are believed to be a promising glue to drive high-temperature superconductivity especially in cuprates. Here, we perform a close inspection of the superconducting mechanism from spin fluctuations in the Eliashberg framework by employing a typical one-band model on a square lattice. While spin fluctuations can eventually drive superconductivity as is well established, we find that the superconducting tendency is suppressed substantially by a seemingly negligible contribution from a small momentum transfer far away from . This suppression comes from phase frustration of the pairing gap and is expected to be a general feature due to the repulsive pairing interaction of spin fluctuations. Furthermore, we find that the momentum dependence of the pairing gap largely deviates from the functional form of , although this form is well established in cuprate superconductors. We argue that an instantaneous magnetic interaction plays the important role to understand high-critical temperature of superconductivity as well as the momentum dependence of the pairing gap.

Anisotropic momentum distribution of 11B and 11C produced from 12C beam at 100 MeV/nucleon

Longitudinal (P L) and transverse (P T) momentum distributions of 11B and 11C produced from a 12C beam with C, Al, Nb, Tb, and Au targets observed at E = 100 MeV/nucleon are investigated. The observed P T distribution systematically changes according to the target and this change in behavior can be consistently explained by the orbital deflection effect, which is determined by the competitive contributions of attractive nuclear and repulsive Coulomb potentials acting between the projectile and target. The comprehensive examination of the observed P L and P T distributions resolves the fragmentation reaction into two reaction channels. One is the pure abrasion channel, which is characterized by small momentum transfer and an isotropic Gaussian function. The second is the two-step reaction channel, which is characterized by large momentum transfer and an anisotropic Gaussian function. The anisotropy of the second channel is consistently explained by the momentum of a picked-up nucleon.

Precision calculations of Bd,s → π, K decay form factors in soft-collinear effective theory

We improve QCD calculations of the semileptonic Bd,s→ π, K decay form factors at large hadronic recoil by implementing the next-to-leading-logarithmic resummation for the obtained leading-power light-cone sum rules in the soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) framework and by computing for the first time the non-vanishing spectator-quark mass correction dictating the SU(3)-flavour symmetry breaking effects between these fundamental quantities at the one-loop accuracy. Additionally, we endeavour to investigate a variety of the subleading-power contributions to these heavy-to-light form factors at mathcal{O}left({alpha}_s^0right) with the same methodology, by including the higher-order terms in the heavy-quark expansion of the hard-collinear quark propagator, by evaluating the desired effective matrix element of the next-to-leading-order term in the SCETI representation of the weak transition current, by taking into account the off-light-cone contributions of the two-body heavy-quark effective theory (HQET) matrix elements as well as the three-particle higher-twist corrections from the subleading bottom-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes (LCDAs), and by computing the twist-five and twist-six four-body higher-twist effects with the aid of the factorization approximation. Having at our disposal the SCET sum rules for the exclusive B-meson decay form factors under discussion, we further explore in detail numerical implications of the newly computed subleading-power corrections by employing the three-parameter model for both the leading-twist and higher-twist B-meson distribution amplitudes. Taking advantage of the customary Bourrely-Caprini-Lellouch (BCL) parametrization for the complete set of the semileptonic Bd,s→ π, K form factors, we then determine the correlated numerical results for the interesting series coefficients, by carrying out the simultaneous fit of the exclusive B-meson decay form factors to both the achieved SCET sum rule predictions at small momentum transfer (q2) and the available lattice QCD results at large momentum transfer. Subsequently, we perform a comprehensive phenomenological analysis of the full angular observables, the lepton-flavour university ratios and the lepton polarization asymmetries for the flavour-changing charged- current Bto pi ell {overline{nu}}_{ell } and {B}_sto Kell {overline{nu}}_{ell } decays (with ℓ = μ, τ) together with the differential q2-distribution for the exclusive rare Bto K{nu}_{ell }{overline{nu}}_{ell } decays in the Standard Model.

Theoretical Study of Valence Shell Excitation by Electron Impact in CCl4

This paper reports a theoretical study of valence shell excitation in CCl4 by high-energy electron impact. Generalized oscillator strengths are calculated for the molecule at the equation-of-motion coupled-cluster singles and doubles level. To elucidate the influence of nuclear dynamics on electron excitation cross-sections, the effects of molecular vibration are included in the calculation. Based on a comparison with recent experimental data, several reassignments of spectral features are made, and it is found that excitations from the Cl 3p nonbonding orbitals to σ* antibonding orbitals, 7a1 and 8t2, play dominant roles below the excitation energy of ∼9 eV. Furthermore, the calculations reveal that distortion of the molecular structure due to the asymmetric stretching vibration significantly affects the valence excitations at small momentum transfers, where contributions from dipole transitions are dominant. It indicates that vibrational effects have a considerable influence on Cl formation in the photolysis of CCl4.

A model of pseudo-Nambu–Goldstone dark matter from a softly brokenSU(2) global symmetry with aU(1) gauge symmetry

AbstractA model of the pseudo-Nambu–Goldstone (pNG) dark matter (DM) is proposed. We assume that there is an SU(2)g global symmetry and a U(1)X gauge symmetry in the dark sector, and they are spontaneously broken into a U(1)D global symmetry after a scalar field develops a vacuum expectation value. We add a soft symmetry-breaking term that breaks the SU(2)g global symmetry into the U(1)g global symmetry explicitly. Our model predicts a stable complex pNG particle under the U(1)D global symmetry. One of the virtues of the pNG DM models is that the models can explain the current null results of the direct detection experiments. The small momentum transfer suppresses the scattering amplitudes thanks to the low-energy behavior of the Nambu–Goldstone boson. In our model, the soft symmetry-breaking term is uniquely determined. This is the advantage of our model compared to some earlier works in which some soft symmetry-breaking terms cannot be forbidden but are simply assumed to be absent to avoid the constraints from the direct detection experiments. We calculate the thermal relic abundance of the pNG DM and find that the model can explain the measured value of the DM energy density under some constraints from perturbative unitarity.

The Migdal effect in semiconductors for dark matter with masses below ∼ 100 MeV

Dark matter scattering off a nucleus has a small probability of inducing an observable ionization through the inelastic excitation of an electron, called the Migdal effect. We use an effective field theory to extend the computation of the Migdal effect in semiconductors to regions of small momentum transfer to the nucleus, where the final state of the nucleus is no longer well described by a plane wave. Our analytical result can be fully quantified by the measurable dynamic structure factor of the semiconductor, which accounts for the vibrational degrees of freedom (phonons) in a crystal. We show that, due to the sum rules obeyed by the structure factor, the inclusive Migdal rate and the shape of the electron recoil spectrum is well captured by approximating the nuclei in the crystal as free ions; however, the exclusive differential rate with respect to energy depositions to the crystal depends on the phonon dynamics encoded in the dynamic structure function of the specific material. Our results now allow the Migdal effect in semiconductors to be evaluated even for the lightest dark matter candidates (mχ ≳ 1 MeV) that can kinematically excite electrons.

The Viscosity and Self-Diffusion of Some Real Colloidal Ferrofluids

One primary concern in colloid science is understanding the relationship of its macroscopic rheology and diffusion behavior with the observed microscopic arrangements of the nanoparticles in the fluid. This manuscript addresses the study of these dynamical properties through a first-principle stochastic method. Both properties directly relate to the observed fluid structure factor, which depends on a few known material parameters. However, in the literature, this static quantity is reported up to the first prominent peak of its small momentum transfer of the scattered radiation, leading to inaccurate determination of the transport properties. Here, it is proposed to use the rescaled mean spherical approximation under the requirement of fitting the experimental data of the structure beyond the dependence of more significant wave numbers. The predicted viscosity agrees with the observed ones at a low volume fraction of particles for ferrofluids dispersed in polymer solvents. This rheological quantity is inversely related to the self-diffusion coefficient of a tracer particle.

Proton hot spots and exclusive vector meson production

We explore consequences of the existence of gluonic hot spots inside the proton for coherent and incoherent exclusive vector meson production cross sections in deep inelastic scattering. By working in the dilute limit of the Color Glass Condensate framework to compute the cross sections for Gaussian hot spots of fluctuating color charges and employing a non-relativistic vector meson wave function, we are able to perform large parts of the calculation analytically. We find that the coherent cross section is sensitive to both the size of the target and the structure of the probe. The incoherent cross section is dominated by color fluctuations at small transverse momentum transfer ($t$), by proton and hot spot sizes as well as the structure of the probe at medium $t$ and again by color fluctuations at large $t$. While the $t$-dependence of the cross section is well reproduced in our model, the relative normalization between the coherent and the incoherent cross sections points to the need for additional fluctuations in the proton.

Soft-photon radiation in high-energy proton-proton collisions within the tensor-Pomeron approach: Bremsstrahlung

We discuss diffractive processes in proton-proton collisions at small momentum transfers without and with photon radiation. We consider the soft exclusive reactions $pp\ensuremath{\rightarrow}pp$, $p\overline{p}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}p\overline{p}$, and $pp\ensuremath{\rightarrow}pp\ensuremath{\gamma}$ within the tensor-Pomeron and vector-odderon approach. We compare our results with the data for $pp$ and $p\overline{p}$ total cross sections, for the ratio of real to imaginary parts of the forward scattering amplitude, and for the elastic $pp$ cross sections, especially those from TOTEM. To describe the low-energy data more accurately, the secondary reggeons must be included. We write down the amplitudes for the photon bremsstrahlung in high-energy proton-proton collisions using the tensor-Pomeron model. These results are relevant for the c.m. energies presently available at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and at the LHC. We present predictions for the proposed measurements of soft photons with the planned future upgrade of the ALICE experiment at the LHC. We investigate the limits of applicability of the soft-photon approximation (SPA) based on Low's theorem. The corresponding SPA results are compared to those obtained from our complete model. The regions of phase space are given quantitatively where SPA and our complete tensor-Pomeron results are close to each other. As an example, let ${k}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$, $\mathrm{y}$, and $\ensuremath{\omega}$, be the absolute value of the transverse momentum, the rapidity, and the energy of the photon, respectively, in the overall c.m. system. For the region $1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}<{k}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}<100\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$ and $3.5<|\mathrm{y}|<5.0$, we find that the SPA Ansatz with only the pole terms $\ensuremath{\propto}{\ensuremath{\omega}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ agrees at the percent level with our complete model result up to $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\cong}2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$.