On the neutron-antineutron oscillations
This is a draft of my brief note on the early history of $n\bar{n}$ oscillations written for the Project X at the request of Chris Quigg in March 2013.
hep-ph↗
arXiv subjects
L. B. Okun
Publications and source records attributed to L. B. Okun.
On the concepts of vacuum and mass and the search for higgs
Some recollections on the recent history of the concepts of vacuum and mass and the search for higgs. According to the widely spread terminology the Higgs field permeates vacuum and serves as the origin of masses of all fundamental particles including the Higgs Boson -- the higgs.
physics.hist-ph↗
The "Relativistic" Mug
This note is an attempt to explain in simple words why the famous relation $E=mc^2$ misrepresents the essence of Einstein's relativity theory. The note is addressed to high-school teachers, and a part of it - to those university professors who permit themselves to say that the mass of a body increases with its velocity or momentum and thus mislead the teachers and their students. ----- Contains both English and Russian versions.
physics.pop-ph↗
The theory of relativity and the Pythagorean theorem
It is shown that the most important effects of special and general theory of relativity can be understood in a simple and straightforward way. The system of units in which the speed of light $c$ is the unit of velocity allows to cast all formulas in a very simple form.The Pythagorean theorem graphically relates energy, momentum and mass. The paper is addressed to those who teach and popularize the theory of relativity.
physics.class-ph↗
The Einstein formula: E_0=mc^2 "Isn't the Lord laughing?"
The article traces the way Einstein formulated the relation between energy and mass in his work from 1905 to 1955. Einstein emphasized quite often that the mass $m$ of a body is equivalent to its rest energy $E_0$. At the same time he frequently resorted to the less clear-cut statement of equivalence of energy and mass. As a result, Einstein's formula $E_0=mc^2$ still remains much less known than its popular form, $E=mc^2$, in which $E$ is the total energy equal to the sum of the rest energy and the kinetic energy of a freely moving body. One of the consequences of this is the widespread fallacy that the mass of a body increases when its velocity increases and even that this is an experimental fact. As wrote the playwright A N Ostrovsky "Something must exist for people, something so austere, so lofty, so sacrosanct that it would make profaning it unthinkable."
physics.hist-ph↗
The impact of the Sakata model
The evolution of the Sakata model is described on the basis of personal recollections, proceedings of international conferences on high energy physics and some journal articles.
hep-ph↗
Mirror particles and mirror matter: 50 years of speculation and search
This review describes the history of discovery of violation of spatial parity P, charge conjugation parity C, combined parity CP. The hypothesis of existence of mirror particles was called upon by its authors to restore the symmetry between left and right. The review presents the emergence and evolution of the concepts ``mirror particles'' and ``mirror matter''. It could serve as a concise guide to the ``mirror-land''. An important part of the review is the list of about 250 references with their titles.
hep-ph↗
Photon: history, mass, charge
The talk consists of three parts. ``History'' briefly describes the emergence and evolution of the concept of photon during the first two decades of the 20th century. ``Mass'' gives a short review of the literature on the upper limit of the photon's mass. ``Charge'' is a critical discussion of the existing interpretation of searches for photon charge. Schemes, in which all photons are charged, are grossly inconsistent. A model with three kinds of photons (positive, negative and neutral) seems at first sight to be more consistent, but turns out to have its own serious problems.
hep-ph↗
The Concept of Mass in the Einstein Year
Various facets of the concept of mass are discussed. The masses of elementary particles and the search for higgs. The masses of hadrons. The pedagogical virus of relativistic mass.
hep-ph↗
Neutrino wave function and oscillation suppression
We consider a thought experiment, in which a neutrino is produced by an electron on a nucleus in a crystal. The wave function of the oscillating neutrino is calculated assuming that the electron is described by a wave packet. If the electron is relativistic and the spatial size of its wave packet is much larger than the size of the crystal cell, then the wave packet of the produced neutrino has essentially the same size as the wave packet of the electron. We investigate the suppression of neutrino oscillations at large distances caused by two mechanisms: 1) spatial separation of wave packets corresponding to different neutrino masses; 2) neutrino energy dispersion for given neutrino mass eigenstates. We resolve contributions of these two mechanisms.
hep-ph↗
On the charge of the photon
The papers setting upper bounds on the value of electric charge of the photon are briefly reviewed. The theoretical framework of these bounds is shown to be incomplete. Hence the bounds seem to be unreliable.
hep-ph↗
Oscillations of neutrinos produced and detected in crystals
We analyze neutrino oscillations in a thought experiment in which neutrinos are produced by electrons on target nuclei. The neutrinos are detected through charged lepton production in their collision with nuclei in detector. Both the target and the detector are assumed to be crystals. The neutrinos are described by propagators. We find that different neutrino mass eigenstates have equal energies. We reproduce the standard phase of oscillations and demonstrate that at large distance from the production point oscillations disappear.
hep-ph↗
Oscillations of neutrinos produced by a beam of electrons
We analyze a thought neutrino oscillation experiment in which neutrinos are produced by electrons colliding with atomic nuclei of a target. The neutrinos are detected by observing charged leptons, which are produced by neutrinos colliding with nuclei of the detector. We consider the case when both the target and detector nuclei have finite masses. (The case of infinitely heavy nuclei was considered in the literature earlier.)
hep-ph↗
SI, CGSG, and ch units: metrology and special relativity
Invited report at the 8th Meeting of the Working Group ``Base units and fundamental constants'' of the French Academy of Sciences. June 14, 2004. The text consists of seven sections: 1. Great importance of SI. 2. The necessity of updating SI. 3. Special relativity: four-dimensional quantities. 4. Maxwell equations in vacuum in CGSG units. 5. Maxwell equations in vacuum in SI. 6. $c \hbar$ units. 7. Systems CGSG and $c \hbar$ should be legalized.
physics.class-ph↗
Plane waves and wave packets in particle oscillations
Manipulation with ill-defined notions creates an illusion of a simple derivation of the standard phase of neutrino oscillations in hep-ph/0311241 and hep-ph/0312180.
hep-ph↗
Astrophysical constraints on hypothetical variability of fundamental constants
(Abridged) Many-multiplet (MM) method applied to three inhomogeneous samples of Keck/HIRES quasar absorption spectra gives a shift in the value of the fine-structure constant of Delta alpha/alpha = (-5.4+/-1.2) 10^{-6} in the redshift range 0.2 < z < 3.7 (Murphy et al. 2003).The 1sigma error is, however, much too small and cannot be maintained by current observations of quasars. We present a modified MM method to set an upper limit on Delta alpha/alpha from a homogeneous sample of FeII lines identified in the up-to-date best quality VLT/UVES spectrum of HE 0515-4414. Our result is Delta alpha/alpha = (1.1+/-1.1) 10^{-5} at z = 1.149. Theoretical models of the fundamental physical interactions predict that the proton-to-electron mass ratio (mu = m_p/m_e) may relate to the shift in Delta alpha/alpha as Delta mu/mu = R Delta alpha/alpha. We use VLT/UVES high-resolution observations of molecular hydrogen H2 ultraviolet absorption lines at z = 3.025 toward Q 0347-3818 to bound the value of R. The obtained constraints on Delta ln mu = (2.1+/-3.6) 10^{-5} and on Delta ln alpha = (1.1+/-1.1) 10^{-5} rule out vary large values of |R| > 6.
astro-ph↗
Critical velocities $c/\sqrt 3$ and $c/\sqrt 2$ in general theory of relativity
We consider a few thought experiments of radial motion of massive particles in the gravitational fields outside and inside various celestial bodies: Earth, Sun, black hole. All other interactions except gravity are disregarded. For the outside motion there exists a critical value of coordinate velocity ${\rm v}_c = c/\sqrt 3$: particles with ${\rm v} < {\rm v}_c$ are accelerated by the field, like Newtonian apples, particles with ${\rm v} > {\rm v}_c$ are decelerated like photons. Particles moving inside a body with constant density have no critical velocity; they are always accelerated. We consider also the motion of a ball inside a tower, when it is thrown from the top (bottom) of the tower and after classically bouncing at the bottom (top) comes back to the original point. The total time of flight is the same in these two cases if the initial proper velocity $v_0$ is equal to $c/\sqrt 2$.
gr-qc↗
The Life and Legacy of Pomeranchuk
The life of Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk was short (20.05.1913 -- 14.12.1966). But the impact of his personality and his works on physics and physicists is remarkable. The talk describes the biography of I.Ya. Pomeranchuk, his major contibutions to condenced matter physics, nuclear and elementary particle physics. The talk is appended by a complete bibliography of I.Ya. Pomeranchuk's publications.
physics.hist-ph↗