arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to V. A. Kuzmin.
This paper summarizes the relevant theoretical developments, outlines some ideas to improve experimental searches for free neutron-antineutron oscillations, and suggests avenues for future improvement in the experimental sensitivity.
The particle density in extensive air showers fluctuates at the ground level. These fluctuations, at the scale of the scintillator detector size (several meters), lead to the diversity of the individual detector responses. Therefore, small scale fluctuations contribute to the error in the estimation of the primary energy by a ground array. This contribution is shown to be non-Gaussian. The impact on the primary energy spectrum measured by a ground array is estimated. Ir is argued that super-GZK events observed by AGASA experiment do not result from the energy overestimation, due to small scale fluctuations, of lower energy events.
The spectrum of $^9$He was studied by means of the $^8$He($d$,$p$)$^9$He reaction at a lab energy of 25 MeV/n and small center of mass (c.m.) angles. Energy and angular correlations were obtained for the $^9$He decay products by complete kinematical reconstruction. The data do not show narrow states at $\sim $1.3 and $\sim $2.4 MeV reported before for $^9$He. The lowest resonant state of $^9$He is found at about 2 MeV with a width of $\sim $2 MeV and is identified as $1/2^-$. The observed angular correlation pattern is uniquely explained by the interference of the $1/2^-$ resonance with a virtual state $1/2^+$ (limit on the scattering length is obtained as $a > -20$ fm), and with the $5/2^+$ resonance at energy $\geq 4.2$ MeV.
Recently it was suggested that the neutrino may violate the Pauli exclusion Principle (PEP). This renews interest in the systematic search for bilinear commutation relations that could describe deviations from PEP. In the context of this search we prove a no-go theorem which forbids a finite occupancy limit for an arbitrary system with a bilinear commutation relation. In other words, either the upper limit on the occupancy number is 1 (the ordinary fermionic case) or there is no upper limit at all. Some examples of the latter class include the usual Bose statistics, as well as non-standard quon statistics and infinite statistics.
We considered propagation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) through the galaxy. We investigated models with sources of UHECR distributed in the same way as Cold Dark Matter (CDM) in a self-consistent way, taking into account both extra-galactic and Galactic contributions. Using a very simple toy model of galactic magnetic field we showed that in the case of galactic origin of UHECRs the anisotropy can reach considerable values. In the case of extragalactic UHECRs origin the anisotropy appears to be non-vanishing only for electron and photon components due to synchrotron losses, but it hardly can be reassured. The reason is an extremely low flux of UHE electrons and a too low level of gamma-ray anisotropy.
In the framework of field approach with finite time interval the particle oscillations in a medium are considered. The absorption in a final states do not lead to dramatic suppression of ab-transitions. Also we touch on the problem of infrared singularities. The approach under study is infrared-free. It is shown that "correction" published recently [A.Gal, Phys. Rev. C61 (2000) 028201] is clearly wrong.
We study spectra of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays assuming primaries are protons and photons, and that their sources are extragalactic. We assume power low for the injection spectra and take into account the influence of cosmic microwave, infrared, optical and radio backgrounds as well as extragalactic magnetic fields on propagation of primaries. Our additional free parameters are the maximum energy of injected particles and the distance to the nearest source. We find a parameter range where the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off is avoided.
Total Ordinary Muon Capture (OMC) rates are calculated on the basis of the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation for several spherical nuclei from 90^Zr to 208^Pb. It is shown that total OMC rates calculated with the free value of the axial-vector coupling constant g_A agree well with the experimental data for medium-size nuclei and exceed considerably the experimental rates for heavy nuclei. The sensitivity of theoretical OMC rates to the nuclear residual interactions is discussed.
The relations between the strengths of spin-isospin transition operators extracted from direct nuclear reactions, magnetic scattering of electrons and processes of semi-leptonic weak interactions are discussed.
Recent results of neutrino oscillation experiments point to a nonvanishing neutrino mass. Neutrino mass models favour Majorana-type neutrinos. In such circumstances it is natural that the supersymmetric counterpart of the neutrino, the sneutrino, bears also lepton number violating properties. On the other hand, the fact that the universe exhibits an asymmetry in the baryon and antibaryon numbers poses constraints on the extent of lepton number violation in the light sneutrino sector if the electroweak phase transition is second or weak first order. From the requirement that the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe should not be washed out by sneutrino induced lepton number violating interactions and sphalerons below the critical temperature of the electroweak phase transition we find that the mass splitting of the light sneutrino mass states is compatible with the sneutrino Cold Dark Matter hypothesis only for heavy gauginos and opposite sign gaugino mass parameters.
We developed numerical code for calculation of the extragalactic component of the spectra of leptons, nucleons and $γ$-rays resulting from ``top-down'' (non-acceleration) models for the case of uniform and isotropic source distribution. We explored two different classes of ``top-down'' scenarios: the wide earlier investigated class of X particles coming from collapse and/or annihilation of cosmic topological defects (such as cosmic strings, monopoles, etc.) and the models of super-heavy long-living X particles with lifetime of the order or much greater than the current Universe age.
Cosmic rays of the highest energy, above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off of the spectrum, may originate in decays of superheavy long-living X-particles. These particles may be produced in the early Universe from vacuum fluctuations during or after inflation and may constitute a considerable fraction of Cold Dark Matter. We calculate numerically their abundance for a wide range of models. X-particles are considered to be either bosons or fermions. Particles that are several times heavier than inflaton, m_inflaton \approx 10^{13} GeV, and were produced by this mechanism, can account for the critical mass in the Universe naturally. In some cases induced isocurvature density fluctuations can leave an imprint in anisotropy of cosmic microwave background radiation.
The highest energy cosmic rays, above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off of cosmic ray spectrum, may be produced in decays of superheavy long-living X-particles. We conjecture that these particles may be produced naturally in the early Universe from vacuum fluctuations during inflation and may constitute a considerable fraction of Cold Dark Matter. We predict a new cut-off in the UHE cosmic ray spectrum E_{cut-off} < m_inflaton \approx 10^{13} GeV, the exact position of the cut-off and the shape of the cosmic ray spectrum beyond the GZK cut-off being determined by the QCD quark/gluon fragmentation. The Pierre Auger Project installation might discover this phenomenon.
We conjecture that the highest energy cosmic rays beyond the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cut-off may provide a unique window into the very early epoch of the Universe, namely, that of reheating after inflation, provided these cosmic rays are due to decays of parent superheavy long-living X-particles. These particles may constitute a considerable fraction of cold dark matter in the Universe. We argue that the unconventionally long lifetime of the superheavy particles, which should be in the range of $10^{10} - 10^{22}$ years, might require novel particle physics mechanisms of their decays, such as instantons. We propose a toy model illustrating the instanton scenario. Generic expected features of ultra-high energy extensive air showers in our scenario are similar to those of other top-down scenarios. However, some properties of the upper part of the cosmic ray spectrum make the instanton scenario distinguishable, at least in principle, from other ones.