Session J5: General Physics

Exploring the Vacuum with High Intensity Lasers

Strong field processes in Quantum Electrodynamics are believed to cause polarization and even breakdown of the vacuum in the presence of fields strengths soon to be accessible in high intensity laser experiments. Less explored consequences of strong field electrodynamics include effects from Born Infeld type of electromagnetic theories. I propose that Four Wave Mixing, a nonlinear optical effect, can differentiate between these two extensions of Maxwell's electrodynamics.   

Biological and Chemical Evaluation of Biocidal Plasma Jets

Plasma jets that produce ``cold'' plasma can disinfect or sterilize surfaces without the need for elevated temperatures or aggressive liquid chemical treatment. The active ingredients in most cold plasmas are reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as singlet oxygen, OH, and hydrogen peroxide. While many studies of plasma jets for biological applications have been published, there is a need to develop a quantitative measure of the plasma's biological activity that is simpler than testing the jet with biological samples. In this paper, we study a simple method developed to evaluate a plasma jet's ability to cause oxidative stress to biological targets. The method uses a ferrous-oxidation-xylenol-orange chemical indicator to quantify the presence of ROS, which is then correlated with measurements of the plasma jet's biological activity. The physical chemistry of the plasma-to-solution transfer process can be modeled and correlated with bacterial survival data. Our long-term objective is to refine this antimicrobial technology for applications on a number of surfaces.   

Collective Bases for Spin 1/2 Systems

Robert H. Dicke studied collective spontaneous emission from a small cloud of atoms, and in 1954 predicted that collective states would have qualitatively different decay rates vs. individual atomic states.\footnote{R.H. Dicke, Physical Review. 93, 99 (1954).} Recent experiments have reportedly harnessed this phenomenon, for example, to produce ``superradiant lasers'' of high spectral purity.\footnote{ J.G. Bohnet, Nature 484, 78?81 (05 April 2012)} Central to superradiance is the notion of the symmetric Dicke state, a collective quantum state created by the superposition of manyindividual atomic spin states. This symmetric Dicke state is the maximally symmetric state with a total of one excitation. It can be asked whether there are pseudo-symmetric states that can complete the state space, and if so, what can we say about them? This problem becomes combinatorially complex as the number of excitations increases. Mathematically, this problem involves the tensor product of spin representations. There is a beautiful expression for the decomposition of this tensor product into irreducible representations. In one particular geometry, a surprising connection with coding theory has physical significance.   

Demonstrating Entanglement in a Classical Device

We describe a proposed experiment to measure entanglement in a classical device. The experimental procedure and data analysis protocol follow that of a previous experiment to measure an entanglement witness with polarized photons prepared in a mixed state [M. Barbieri \textit{et al.}, Phys.\ Rev.\ Lett.\ \textbf{91}, 227901 (2003)]. Numerical simulations suggest excellent agreement can be achieved with both the aforementioned photon experiment and quantum mechanical predictions.   

An Extension of the Ritz Force Law

In 1908, Walter Ritz published a detailed theory of electromagnetism that remains inside the framework of Newtonian mechanics. Unfortunately, his untimely death in 1909 did not allow him to further refine this theory. We will show how to extend his equation in order to be able to describe blackbody radiation correctly and indicate how this formula can be modified to describe microscopic systems such as the hydrogen atom.   

Most observed phenomena cannot be explained by any existing theory of physics

Scaling, fractals and power laws remain a mystery [M. Mitchell, ``Complexity'']. No existing theory of Physics can explain them. The same applies to emergence, self-organization, adaptation, semantics, brain function. The theories themselves do not scale. A new fundamental theory of Physics is needed. To build the theory, we look for symmetries, structure, meaningful invariants. The working hypothesis is that information is fundamental, not spacetime or matter. Start from the principle of causality. Represent any system, at any scale, as a discrete set of cause-effect pairs -- a causal set C. Find the groupoid G of C, the block system B induced by G on C, and the (smaller) causal set C' of B. Repeat for C'. You get a fractal hierarchy of physically meaningful invariants. This means: information is universally recursive, fractal, structured, always scales, always obeys power laws. The invariants can be anything: particles, galaxies, thoughts, companies, species, theories. It works. There are already confirmed predictions: 1: Dendrite trees in the brain are optimally short (published). 2: The Traveling Salesman problem is solved, and P=NP is confirmed (under review). In my talk I will explain how heuristics make theories loose scalability.   

A Newtonian Hydrogen molecule

We will present a model of the hydrogen molecule that utilizes only Newtonian mechanics. First, we will review the electromagnetic force formula of Walter Ritz and adapt it to microscopic phenemena. Its most important attribute for us will be its ability to have two electrons be attracted to each other, something non-Newtonian theories such as Maxwell's is unable to do. This electron attraction will be pivotal to modeling the chemical bond. After this pictorial review, we will present simulation results that model both stability and vibrational frequencies.   

Studying Top Quarks at the Fermilab Tevatron

The Fermilab Tevatron is one of only two places in the world where a particle accelerator was able to create top quarks in a collision and study their properties; the other being the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We study the top quarks produced at the Tevatron from proton antiproton collisions. In this case, the top quarks are expected to be produced in a direction closer to the initial proton beam. We present our results and find that some deviations have been observed, and discuss the potential implications for particle physics.