New Method for a Continuous Determination of the Spin Tune in Storage Rings and Implications for Precision Experiments

A new method to determine the spin tune is described and tested. In an ideal planar magnetic ring, the spin tune-defined as the number of spin precessions per turn-is given by ν(s)=γG (γ is the Lorentz factor, G the gyromagnetic anomaly). At 970  MeV/c, the deuteron spins coherently precess at a frequency of ≈120  kHz in the Cooler Synchrotron COSY. The spin tune is deduced from the up-down asymmetry of deuteron-carbon scattering. In a time interval of 2.6 s, the spin tune was determined with a precision of the order 10^{-8}, and to 1×10^{-10} for a continuous 100 s accelerator cycle. This renders the presented method a new precision tool for accelerator physics; controlling the spin motion of particles to high precision is mandatory, in particular, for the measurement of electric dipole moments of charged particles in a storage ring.

Abashian-Booth-Crowe effect in basic double-pionic fusion: a new resonance?

We report on an exclusive and kinematically complete high-statistics measurement of the basic double-pionic fusion reaction pn→dπ(0)π(0) over the full energy region of the ABC effect, a pronounced low-mass enhancement in the ππ-invariant mass spectrum. The measurements, which cover also the transition region to the conventional t-channel ΔΔ process, were performed with the upgraded WASA detector setup at COSY. The data reveal the Abashian-Booth-Crowe effect to be uniquely correlated with a Lorentzian energy dependence in the integral cross section. The observables are consistent with a narrow resonance with m=2.37  GeV, Γ≈70  MeV and I(J(P))=0(3(+)) in both pn and ΔΔ systems. Necessary further tests of the resonance interpretation are discussed.

Casimir interaction among objects immersed in a fermionic environment

Using ensembles of two, three, and four spheres immersed in a fermionic background we evaluate the (integrated) density of states and the Casimir energy. We thus infer that for sufficiently smooth objects, whose various geometric characteristic lengths are larger then the Fermi wave length one can use the simplest semiclassical approximation (the contribution due shortest periodic orbits only) to evaluate the Casimir energy. We also show that the Casimir energy for several objects can be represented fairly accurately as a sum of pairwise Casimir interactions between pairs of objects.

Validity of the semiclassical periodic orbit approximation in the two- and three-disk problems

The high-lying resonances in the quantum mechanical scattering problem of a point particle from two or three equally sized (and spaced) circular hard disks in the two-dimensional plane are predicted quite well by the classical cycle expansion. There are, however, noticeable deviations for the lowest resonances. Therefore, the leading corrections from creeping paths to the cycle expansion in the two-disk scattering problem are constructed. Generalizations to the three-disk problem are indicated. The size of the corrections are estimated. They are shown to be too small to account for the deviations mentioned above. Finally, arguments are given that, for the two- and three-disk problem, the semiclassical predictions of the low-lying resonance poles are bound to fail.