arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A. B. Balantekin.
We explore the implications of imposing the constraint that two neutrino flavors (which for definiteness we take to be the mu and tau neutrinos) are similarly coupled to the mass basis in addition to the unitarity constraints. We allow three active and an arbitrary number of sterile neutrinos. We show that in this scheme one of the mass eigenstates decouples from the problem, reducing the dimension of the flavor space by one.
In these Canberra summer school lectures we treat a number of topical issues in neutrino astrophysics: the solar neutrino problem, including the physics of the standard solar model, helioseismology, and the possibility that the solution involves new particle physics; atmospheric neutrinos; Dirac and Majorana neutrino masses and their consequences for low-energy weak interactions; red giant evolution as a test of new particle astrophysics; the supernova mechanism; spin-flavor oscillations and oscillations into sterile states, including the effects of density fluctuations; and neutrino-induced and explosive nucleosynthesis.
We discuss how matter-enhanced active-sterile neutrino transformation in both neutrino and antineutrino channels could enable the production of the rapid neutron capture (r-process) nuclei in neutrino-heated supernova ejecta. In this scheme the lightest sterile neutrino would be heavier than the electron neutrino and split from it by a vacuum mass-squared difference roughly between 3 and 70 eV$^2$ and vacuum mixing angle given by $\sin^2 2θ_{es} > 10^{-4}$.
Self-similar potentials generalize the concept of shape-invariance which was originally introduced to explore exactly-solvable potentials in quantum mechanics. In this article it is shown that previously introduced algebraic approach to the latter can be generalized to the former. The infinite Lie algebras introduced in this context are shown to be closely related to the q-algebras. The associated coherent states are investigated.
The enhancement of neutrino oscillations in matter is briefly reviewed. Exact and approximate solutions of the equations describing neutrino oscillations in matter are discussed. The role of stochasticity of the media that the neutrinos propagate through is elucidated.
The single-particle nuclear potential is intrinsically nonlocal. In this paper, we consider nonlocalities which arise from the many-body and fermionic nature of the nucleus. We investigate the effects of nonlocality in the nuclear potential by developing the Green's function for nonlocal potentials. The formal Green's function integral is solved analytically in two different limits of the wavelength as compared to the scale of nonlocality. Both results are studied in a quasi-free limit. The results illuminate some of the basic effects of nonlocality in the nuclear medium.
We introduce simple analytic expressions for the neutrino survival probability in media valid in the quasi-adiabatic limit. These expressions provide a quick but accurate alternative to numerical solution of the neutrino propagation equations for the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect. They can also be used to extract information about the density scale height from the neutrino data. As an example, we present calculations for solar neutrinos.
The integrability condition called shape invariance is shown to have an underlying algebraic structure and the associated Lie algebras are identified. These shape-invariance algebras transform the parameters of the potentials such as strength and range. Shape-invariance algebras, in general, are shown to be infinite-dimensional. The conditions under which they become finite-dimensional are explored.
The analogy between supersymmetric quantum mechanics and matter-enhanced neutrino oscillations is exploited to obtain exact solutions for a class of electron density profiles. This integrability condition is analogous to the shape-invariance in supersymmetric quantum mechanics. This method seems to be the most direct way to obtain the exact survival probabilities for a number of density profiles of interest, such as linear and exponential density profiles. The resulting neutrino amplitudes can also be utilized as comparison amplitudes for the uniform semiclassical treatment of neutrino propagation in arbitrary electron density profiles.
Much use has been made of the techniques of supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) for studying bound-state problems characterized by a superpotential $ϕ(x)$. Under the analytic continuation $ϕ(x) \to iϕ(x)$, a pair of superpartner bound-state problems is transformed into a two-state level-crossing problem in the continuum. The description of matter-enhanced neutrino flavor oscillations involves a level-crossing problem. We treat this with the techniques of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. For the benefit of those not familiar with neutrino oscillations and their description, enough details are given to make the rest of the paper understandable. Many other level-crossing problems in physics are of exactly the same form. Particular attention is given to the fact that different semiclassical techniques yield different results. The best result is obtained with a uniform approximation that explicitly recognizes the supersymmetric nature of the system.
Recent theoretical advances in the study of heavy ion fusion reactions below the Coulomb barrier are reviewed. Particular emphasis is given to new ways of analyzing data, such as studying barrier distributions; new approaches to channel coupling, such as the path integral and Green function formalisms; and alternative methods to describe nuclear structure effects, such as those using the Interacting Boson Model. The roles of nucleon transfer, asymmetry effects, higher-order couplings, and shape-phase transitions are elucidated. The current status of the fusion of unstable nuclei and very massive systems are briefly discussed.
We study the combined effects of vacuum polarization, relativity, Bremsstrahlung, and atomic polarization in nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest. It is shown that these effects do not solve the longstanding differences between the experimental data of astrophysical nuclear reactions at very low energies and the theoretical calculations which aim to include electron screening.
This review covers a subset of the astrophysical phenomena where neutrinos play a significant role and where the underlying microphysics is nuclear physics. The current status of the solar neutrino problem, atmospheric neutrino experiments, the role of neutrinos in determining the dynamics of type-II supernovae, and recent developments in exploring neutrino propagation in stochastic media are reviewed.
Recent theoretical developments in using the Interacting Boson Model to describe nuclear structure effects in fusion reactions below the Coulomb barrier are reviewed. Methods dealing with linear and all orders coupling between the nuclear excitations and the translational motion are discussed, and the latter is found to lead to a better description of the barrier distribution data. A systematic study of the available data (cross sections, barrier and spin distributions) in rare-earth nuclei is presented.
Eigen-channel approach to heavy-ion fusion reactions is exact only when the excitation energy of the intrinsic motion is zero. In order to take into account effects of finite excitation energy, we introduce an energy dependence to weight factors in the eigen-channel approximation. Using two channel problem, we show that the weight factors are slowly changing functions of incident energy. This suggests that the concept of the fusion barrier distribution still holds to a good approximation even when the excitation energy of the intrinsic motion is finite. A transition to the adiabatic tunneling, where the coupling leads to a static potential renormalization, is also discussed.
We study the effect of vacuum polarization in nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest. This effect has the opposite sign compared to the screening by the atomic electrons. It is shown that vacuum polarization further increases the longstanding differences between the experimental data of astrophysical nuclear reactions at very low energies and the theoretical calculations which aim to include electron screening, albeit by a small amount.
We study the relations between moments of fusion cross sections and averages of angular momentum. The role of the centrifugal barrier and the target deformation in determining the effective barrier radius are clarified. A simple method for extracting average angular momentum from fusion cross sections is demonstrated using numerical examples as well as actual data.
The matter-enhanced oscillations of two neutrino flavors are studied using a uniform semiclassical approximation. Unlike some analytic studies which have focused on certain exactly-solvable densities, this method can be used for an arbitrary monotonic density profile. The method is applicable to a wider range of mixing parameters than previous approximate methods for arbitrary densities. The approximation is excellent in the adiabatic regime and up to the extreme nonadiabatic limit. In particular, the range of validity for this approximation extends farther into the nonadiabatic regime than for the linear Landau-Zener result. This method also allows calculation of the source- and detector-dependent terms in the unaveraged survival probability, and analytic results for these terms are given. These interference terms may be important in studying neutrino mixing in the sun or in supernovae.