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G. J. Stephenson Jr.

Publications and source records attributed to G. J. Stephenson Jr..

11 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2015

A Modest Revision of the Standard Model

With a modest revision of the mass sector of the Standard Model, the systematics of the fermion masses and mixings can be fully described and interpreted as providing information on matrix elements of physics beyond the Standard Model. A by-product is a reduction of the largest Higgs Yukawa fine structure constant by an order of magnitude. The extension to leptons provides for insight on the difference between quark mixing and lepton mixing as evidenced in neutrino oscillations. The large difference between the scale for up-quark and down-quark masses is not addressed. In this approach, improved detail and accuracy of the elements of the current mixing matrices can extend our knowledge and understanding of physics beyond the Standard Model.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

A Possible Connection Between Massive Fermions and Dark Energy

In a dense cloud of massive fermions interacting by exchange of a light scalar field, the effective mass of the fermion can become negligibly small. As the cloud expands, the effective mass and the total energy density eventually increase with decreasing density. In this regime, the pressure-density relation can approximate that required for dark energy. We apply this phenomenon to the expansion of the Universe with a very light scalar field and infer relations between the parameters available and cosmological observations. Majorana neutrinos at a mass that may have been recently determined, and fermions such as the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) may both be consistent with current observations of dark energy.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2009

Spin-induced non-geodesic motion, gyroscopic precession, Wigner rotation and EPR correlations of massive spin 1/2 particles in a gravitational field

We investigate in a covariant manner the spin-induced non-geodesic motion of massive spin 1/2 particles in an arbitrary gravitational field for trajectories that are initially geodesic when spin is ignored. Using the WKB approximation for the wave function in curved spacetime, we compute the O(hbar) correction to the Wigner rotation of the spin 1/2 particle, whose O(1) contribution is zero on timelike geodesics. We develop conditions for the motion of observers in which the Wigner rotation is null. For the spherically symmetric Schwarzschild metric, we consider specific examples of particle motion in the equatorial plane for (i) circular orbits and (ii) radially infalling trajectories. For the former case we consider the entanglement for a perfectly anti-correlated EPR entangled pair of spins as the separate qubits traverse the circular orbit in same direction.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1998

Oscillations of recoil particles against mixed states

Some consequences of the oscillations of neutral kaons and neutrinos are discussed, in particular, the possibility of oscillations of particles recoiling against kaons or neutrinos from the production process. We show that there are no stationary oscillations of these recoil particles in any order, and that the apparent long-wavelength oscillations, which might appear to result when an earlier treatment of ours was taken to higher order, are spurious. We show that the recoil particles may show a travelling interference pattern. It may be possible to observe this pattern for $Λ$s produced in a reaction, but there seems to be little hope of observing this for the case of neutrinos from muon decay.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

MSW-like Enhancements without Matter

We study the effects of a scalar field, coupled only to neutrinos, on oscillations among weak interaction current eigenstates. The effect of a real scalar field appears as effective masses for the neutrino mass eigenstates, the same for $\nbar$ as for $\n$. Under some conditions, this can lead to a vanishing of $δm^2$, giving rise to MSW-like effects. We discuss some examples and show that it is possible to resolve the apparent discrepancy in spectra required by r-process nucleosynthesis in the mantles of supernovae and by Solar neutrino solutions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

MSW Without Matter

We examine the effects of a scalar field, coupled only to neutrinos, on oscillations among weak interaction current eigenstates. The existence of a real scalar field is manifested as effective masses for the neutrino mass eigenstates, the same for $\nbar$ as for $\n$. Under some conditions, this can lead to a vanishing of $δm^2$, giving rise to MSW-like effects. We present an idealized example and show that it may be possible to resolve the apparent discrepancy in spectra required by r-process nucleosynthesis in the mantles of supernovae and by Solar neutrino solutions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

No Lambda oscillations

We examine a recently published calculation which predicts an oscillatory behaviour for the decay of Lambdas produced together with a neutral kaon, and proposes a new expression for the wavelength of kaon strangeness oscillations. We modify the calculation by imposing the requirement that the interference of the K_L and K_S components of the kaon wave function occurs at a specific space-time point. With this requirement, the unusual results predicted vanish, and the conventional results are recovered.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

Neutrino Clouds

We consider the possibility that neutrinos are coupled very weakly to an extremely light scalar boson. We first analyze the simple problem of one generation of neutrino and show that, for ranges of parameters that are allowed by existing data, such a system can have serious consequences for the evolution of stars and could impact precision laboratory measurements. We discuss the extension to more generations and show that the general conclusion remains viable. Finally, we note that, should such a scalar field be present, experiments give information about effective masses, not the masses that arise in unified field theories.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1995

Quark Model Calculations Of Symmetry Breaking in Parton Distributions

Using a quark model, we calculate symmetry breaking effects in the valence quark distributions of the nucleon. In particular, we examine the breaking of the quark model SU(4) symmetry by color magnetic effects, and find that color magnetism provides an explanation for deviation of the ratio $d_V(x)/u_V(x)$ from $1/2$. Additionally, we calculate the effect of charge symmetry breaking in the valence quark distributions of the proton and neutron and find, in contrast to other authors, that the effect is too small to be seen experimentally.

nucl-th↗
arXiv1993

Observable Consequences of a Scalar Boson Coupled only to Neutrinos

We have examined the consequences of assuming the existence of a light scalar boson, weakly coupled to neutrinos, and not coupled to any other light fermions. For a range of parameters, we find that this hypothesis leads to the development of neutrino clusters which form in the early Universe and which provide gravitational fluctuations on scales small compared to a parsec (i.e., the scale of solar systems). The existence of such clustering produces an effect which would appear as a negative mass squared for the electron neutrino in Tritium beta decay, without conflicting with other experiments. The neutrino masses arising in unified gauge theories would then be very much larger than the masses extracted from experiments within the solar system.

hep-ph↗