arXiv subjects

A. Yu. Voronin

Publications and source records attributed to A. Yu. Voronin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Whispering Gallery States of Antihydrogen

We study theoretically interference of the long-living quasistationary quantum states of antihydrogen atoms, localized near a concave material surface. Such states are an antimatter analog of the whispering gallery states of neutrons and matter atoms, and similar to the whispering gallery modes of sound and electro-magnetic waves. Quantum states of antihydrogen are formed by the combined effect of quantum reflection from van der Waals/Casimir-Polder (vdW/CP) potential of the surface and the centrifugal potential. We point out a method for precision studies of quantum reflection of antiatoms from vdW/CP potential; this method uses interference of the whispering gallery states of antihydrogen.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Study of levitating nanoparticles using ultracold neutrons

Physical adsorption of atoms, molecules and clusters on surface is known. It is linked to many phenomena in physics, chemistry, and biology. Usually the studies of adsorption are limited to the particle sizes of up to ~10^2-10^3 atoms. Following a general formalism, we apply it to even larger objects and discover qualitatively new phenomena. A large particle is bound to surface in a deep and broad potential well formed by van der Waals/ Casimir-Polder forces. The well depth is significantly larger than the characteristic thermal energy. Nanoparticles in high-excited bound states form two-dimensional gas of objects quasi-freely traveling along surface. A particularly interesting prediction is small-energy-transfer scattering of UCN on solid/ liquid surfaces covered by such levitating nanoparticles/ nano-droplets. The change in UCN energy is due to the Doppler shift induced by UCN collisions with nanoparticles; the energy change is about as small as the UCN initial energy. We compare theoretical estimations of our model to all relevant existing data and state that they agree quite well. As our theoretical formalism provides robust predictions and the experimental data are rather precise, we conclude that the recently discovered intriguing phenomenon of small heating of UCN in traps is due to their collisions with such levitating nanoparticles. Moreover, this new phenomenon might be relevant to the striking contradiction between results of the neutron lifetime measurements with smallest reported uncertainties as it might cause major false effects in these experiments; thus it affects fundamental conclusions concerning precision checks of unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, cosmology, astrophysics. Dedicated measurements of UCN up-scattering on specially prepared surfaces and nanoparticles levitating above them might provide a unique method to study surface potentials.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2011

Antihydrogen Gravitational Quantum States

We present a theoretical study of the motion of the antihydrogen atom ($\bar{H}$) in the Earth's gravitational field above a material surface. We predict that $\bar{H}$ atom, falling in the Earth's gravitational field above a material surface, would settle in long-living quantum states. We point out a method of measuring the difference in energy of $\bar{H}$ in such states that allow us to apply spectroscopy of gravitational levels based on atom-interferometric principles. We analyze a general feasibility to perform experiments of this kind. We point out that such experiments provide a method of measuring the gravitational force ($Mg$) acting on $\bar{H}$ and they might be of interest in a context of testing the Weak Equivalence Principle for antimatter.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

Spin-Exchange in Hydrogen-Antihydrogen Collisions

We consider the spin-exchange in ultracold collisions of hydrogen ($H$) and antihydrogen ($\bar{H}$) atoms. The cross sections for transitions between various hyperfine states are calculated. We show that the process of spin exchange in $\bar{H}-H$ collisions is basically driven by the strong force between proton and antiproton, that spin-exchange cross-sections are proportional to the difference of singlet and triplet strong force S-wave scattering lengths, while the strong force effects are enhanced about $10^9$ times due to long range atomic forces. We show that any difference in hyperfine structure of $H$ and $\bar{H}$ (CPT violation) manifests itself in radical change of spin-exchange cross-sections energy behavior.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

On the electromagnetic form factors of hadrons in the time-like region near threshold

Hadron electromagnetic form factor in the time-like region at the boundary of the physical region is considered. The energy behavior of the form factor is shown to be determined by the strong hadron-antihadron interaction. Imaginary parts of the scattering lengths for $p\bar{p}$, $Λ\barΛ$, $Λ\barΣ^0 (\barΛΣ^0)$ and $Σ^0\barΣ^0$ are estimated. Developed approach enables us to estimate imaginary part of the scattering volume from $D^*\bar{D^*}$ experimental data. The form factor energy behavior away from the threshold is obtained within a semiphenomenological model of hadron-antihadron interaction.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2009

Constraints on spin-dependent short-range interactions using gravitational quantum levels of ultracold neutrons

In this paper, we discuss a possibility to improve constraints on spin-dependent short-range interactions in the range of 1 - 200 micrometer significantly. For such interactions, our constraints are without competition at the moment. They were obtained through the observation of gravitationally bound states of ultracold neutrons. We are going to improve these constraints by about three orders of magnitude in a dedicated experiment with polarized neutrons using the next-generation spectrometer GRANIT.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2009

A method to measure the resonance transitions between the gravitationally bound quantum states of neutrons in the GRANIT spectrometer

We present a method to measure the resonance transitions between the gravitationally bound quantum states of neutrons in the GRANIT spectrometer. The purpose of GRANIT is to improve the accuracy of measurement of the quantum states parameters by several orders of magnitude, taking advantage of long storage of Ultracold neutrons at specula trajectories. The transitions could be excited using a periodic spatial variation of a magnetic field gradient. If the frequency of such a perturbation (in the frame of a moving neutron) coincides with a resonance frequency defined by the energy difference of two quantum states, the transition probability will sharply increase. The GRANIT experiment is motivated by searches for short-range interactions (in particular spin-dependent interactions), by studying the interaction of a quantum system with a gravitational field, by searches for extensions of the Standard model, by the unique possibility to check the equivalence principle for an object in a quantum state and by studying various quantum optics phenomena.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2008

Electromagnetic form factors of hadrons in the time-like region

Hadron electromagnetic form factors of hadrons in the time-like region at the boundary of the physical region is considered. The energy behaviour of the form factor is shown to be dominantely determined by the strong hadron-antihadron interaction. The scattering length imaginary part for $p-\bar{p}$, $Λ-\barΛ$, $Σ^0-\bar{Σ^0}$ are evaluated. We propose experiments to extract the information on the nearthreshold baryon-antibaryon interaction by using of hadron form foctors.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Resonant Phenomena in Antihydrogen-Hydrogen Scattering

We present a treatment of cold hydrogen-antihydrogen collisions based on the asymptotic properties of atom-antiatom interactions. We derive general formulas for the elastic and inelastic cross sections and for the scattering lengths and analyze their sensitivity to the parameters characterizing the inelasticity of the collision process. Given the inelasticity, we obtain bounds for the complex scattering length. We investigate the influence of strong nuclear forces and the isotope effects in $\bar{\rm H}{\rm H}$ and $\bar{\rm H}{\rm D}$ collisions and demonstrate enhancement of these effects due to the presence of the near-threshold narrow ${\rm H}\bar{\rm H}$ ($\bar{\rm H}{\rm D}$) states. The values of the elastic and inelastic cross-sections with simultaneous account of rearrangement and strong forces are presented. General expressions for the (complex) energies of the near-threshold $\rm{H}\bar{\rm H}$ states are obtained.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2008

Centrifugal quantum states of neutrons

We propose a method for observation of the quasi-stationary states of neutrons, localized near the curved mirror surface. The bounding effective well is formed by the centrifugal potential and the mirror Fermi-potential. This phenomenon is an example of an exactly solvable "quantum bouncer" problem that could be studied experimentally. It could provide a promising tool for studying fundamental neutron-matter interactions, as well as quantum neutron optics and surface physics effects. We develop formalism, which describes quantitatively the neutron motion near the mirror surface. The effects of mirror roughness are taken into account.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

GRANIT project: a trap for gravitational quantum states of UCN

Previous studies of gravitationally bound states of ultracold neutrons showed the quantization of energy levels, and confirmed quantum mechanical predictions for the average size of the two lowest energy states wave functions. Improvements in position-like measurements can increase the accuracy by an order of magnitude only. We therefore develop another approach, consisting in accurate measurements of the energy levels. The GRANIT experiment is devoted to the study of resonant transitions between quantum states induced by an oscillating perturbation. According to Heisenberg's uncertainty relations, the accuracy of measurement of the energy levels is limited by the time available to perform the transitions. Thus, trapping quantum states will be necessary, and each source of losses has to be controlled in order to maximize the lifetime of the states. We discuss the general principles of transitions between quantum states, and consider the main systematical losses of neutrons in a trap.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Interaction of Ultracold Antihydrogen with a Conducting Wall

We investigate the interaction of ultracold antihydrogen with a conducting surface. Our discussion focuses on the physical regime where the phenomenon of quantum reflection manifests. We calculate the reflection probability as function of incident atom energy. We find that, for ground state $\bar{H}$ atoms (with $T< 10^{-5}$ K), the probability of reflection is $R \simeq 1-k b$, where $k$ is the momentum of the atom and $b = 2174.0$ a.u. is a constant determined solely by the van der Waals-Casimir tail of the atom-wall interaction. We show that quantum reflection, which suppresses the direct contact of ultra-cold atoms with the surface, allows for the possibility of confinement and storage of cold antihydrogen atoms. We calculate the life-time of confinement as a function of antihydrogen energy. We develop a theory of $\bar{H}$ in a wave-guide and propose its application to fundamental measurements. In particular, for measurement of retardation corrections in the long-range component of the antiatom - wall potential. We demonstrate, for $\bar{H}$ falling in the gravitational field of Earth onto a conducting surface, the existence of quantized $\bar{H}$ states. We calculate that the lifetime of ultracold $\bar{H}$ in its lowest gravitational state and obtain $τ=(Mg b/2\hbar)^{-1}\simeq 0.1$ s, where $Mg$ is a gravitational force acting on the antiatom. We propose that measurement of this lifetime may provide a new test for the gravitational properties of antimatter.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2006

A New Constraint for the Coupling of Axion-like particles to Matter via Ultra-Cold Neutron Gravitational Experiments

We present a new constraint for the axion monopole-dipole coupling in the range of 1 micrometer to a few millimeters, previously unavailable for experimental study. The constraint was obtained using our recent results on the observation of neutron quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field. We exploit the ultimate sensitivity of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) in the lowest gravitational states above a material surface to any additional interaction between the UCN and the matter, if the characteristic interaction range is within the mentioned domain. In particular, we find that the upper limit for the axion monopole-dipole coupling constant is (g_p g_s)/(\hbar c)<2 x 10^{-15} for the axion mass in the ``promising'' axion mass region of ~1 meV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

A quantum mechanical description of the experiment on the observation of gravitationally bound states

Quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field were observed, when ultra-cold neutrons fall under gravity. The experimental results can be described by the quantum mechanical scattering model as it is presented here. We also discuss other geometries of the experimental setup which correspond to the absence or the reversion of gravity. Since our quantum mechanical model describes, particularly, the experimentally realized situation of reversed gravity quantitatively, we can practically rule out alternative explanations of the quantum states in terms of pure confinement effects.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Quantum motion of a neutron in a wave-guide in the gravitational field

We study theoretically the quantum motion of a neutron in a horizontal wave-guide in the gravitational field of the Earth. The wave-guide in question is equipped with a mirror below and a rough absorber above. We show that such a system acts as a quantum filter, i.e. it effectively absorbs quantum states with sufficiently high transversal energy but transmits low-energy states. The states transmitted are mainly determined by the potential well formed by the gravitational field of the Earth and the mirror. The formalism developed for quantum motion in an absorbing wave-guide is applied to the description of the recent experiment on the observation of the quantum states of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Study of the neutron quantum states in the gravity field

We have studied neutron quantum states in the potential well formed by the earth's gravitational field and a horizontal mirror. The estimated characteristic sizes of the neutron wave functions in the two lowest quantum states correspond to expectations with an experimental accuracy. A position-sensitive neutron detector with an extra-high spatial resolution of ~2 microns was developed and tested for this particular experiment, to be used to measure the spatial density distribution in a standing neutron wave above a mirror for a set of some of the lowest quantum states. The present experiment can be used to set an upper limit for an additional short-range fundamental force. We studied methodological uncertainties as well as the feasibility of improving further the accuracy of this experiment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

The optical model of $N\bar{N}$ interaction without cut-off

We suggest a regular potential model of $N\bar{N}$ interaction without any cut-off. The effect of singular terms of OBE potential, modified by annihilation is shown to be repulsive. The experimental data for S- and P-wave scattering lengths are well reproduced.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2003

Measurement of quantum states of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field

The lowest stationary quantum state of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field is identified in the measurement of neutron transmission between a horizontal mirror on the bottom and an absorber on top. Such an assembly is not transparent for neutrons if the absorber height is smaller than the "height" of the lowest quantum state.

hep-ph↗