Two alternate proofs of Wang's lune formula for sparse distributed memory and an integral approximation

In Kanerva's Sparse Distributed Memory, writing to and reading from the memory are done in relation to spheres in an n-dimensional binary vector space. Thus it is important to know how many points are in the intersection of two spheres in this space. Two proofs are given of Wang's formula for spheres of unequal radii, and an integral approximation for the intersection in this case

Trembling cavities in the canonical approach

We present a canonical formalism facilitating investigations of the dynamical Casimir effect by means of a response theory approach. We consider a massless scalar field confined inside of an arbitaray domain $G(t)$, which undergoes small displacements for a certain period of time. Under rather general conditions a formula for the number of created particles per mode is derived. The pertubative approach reveals the occurance of two generic processes contributing to the particle production: the squeezing of the vacuum by changing the shape and an acceleration effect due to motion af the boundaries. The method is applied to the configuration of moving mirror(s). Some properties as well as the relation to local Green function methods are discussed. PACS-numbers: 12.20; 42.50; 03.70.+k; 42.65.Vh Keywords: Dynamical Casimir effect; Moving mirrors; Cavity quantum field theory; Vibrating boundary

Coulomb's law corrections from a gauge-kinetic mixing

We study the static quantum potential for a gauge theory which includes the mixing between the familiar photon $U(1)_{QED}$ and a second massive gauge field living in the so-called hidden-sector $U(1)_h$. Our discussion is carried out using the gauge-invariant but path-dependent variables formalism, which is alternative to the Wilson loop approach. Our results show that the static potential is a Yukawa correction to the usual static Coulomb potential. Interestingly, when this calculation is done inside a superconducting box, the Coulombic piece disappears leading to a screening phase.Comment: 4 page

Renormalization flow of QED

We investigate textbook QED in the framework of the exact renormalization group. In the strong-coupling region, we study the influence of fluctuation-induced photonic and fermionic self-interactions on the nonperturbative running of the gauge coupling. Our findings confirm the triviality hypothesis of complete charge screening if the ultraviolet cutoff is sent to infinity. Though the Landau pole does not belong to the physical coupling domain owing to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking (chiSB), the theory predicts a scale of maximal UV extension of the same order as the Landau pole scale. In addition, we verify that the chiSB phase of the theory which is characterized by a light fermion and a Goldstone boson also has a trivial Yukawa coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

An Extension for Direct Gauge Mediation of Metastable Supersymmetry Breaking

We study the direct mediation of metastable supersymmetry breaking by a \Phi^2-deformation to the ISS model and extend it by splitting both Tr\Phi and Tr\Phi^2 terms in the superpotential and gauging the flavor symmetry. We find that with such an extension the enough long-lived metastable vacua can be obtained and the proper gaugino masses can be generated. Also, this allows for constructing a kind of models which can avoid the Landau pole problem. Especially, in our metastable vacua there exist a large region for the parameter m_3 which can satisfy the phenomenology requirements and allow for a low SUSY breaking scale (\sim 100 TeV).Comment: version in Europhys. Let

What measurable zero point fluctuations can(not) tell us about dark energy

We show that laboratory experiments cannot measure the absolute value of dark energy. All known experiments rely on electromagnetic interactions. They are thus insensitive to particles and fields that interact only weakly with ordinary matter. In addition, Josephson junction experiments only measure differences in vacuum energy similar to Casimir force measurements. Gravity, however, couples to the absolute value. Finally we note that Casimir force measurements have tested zero point fluctuations up to energies of ~10 eV, well above the dark energy scale of ~0.01 eV. Hence, the proposed cut-off in the fluctuation spectrum is ruled out experimentally.Comment: 4 page

New Experimental limit on Optical Photon Coupling to Neutral, Scalar Bosons

We report on the first results of a sensitive search for scalar coupling of photons to a light neutral boson in the mass range of approximately 1.0 milli-electron volts and coupling strength greater than 10$^-6$ GeV$^-1$ using optical photons. This was a photon regeneration experiment using the "light shining through a wall" technique in which laser light was passed through a strong magnetic field upstream of an optical beam dump; regenerated laser light was then searched for downstream of a second magnetic field region optically shielded from the former. Our results show no evidence for scalar coupling in this region of parameter space.Comment: pdf-file, 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Axion interpretation of the PVLAS data?

The PVLAS collaboration has recently reported the observation of a rotation of the polarization plane of light propagating through a transverse static magnetic field. Such an effect can arise from the production of a light, m_A ~ meV, pseudoscalar coupled to two photons with coupling strength g_{A\gamma} ~ 5x10^{-6} GeV^{-1}. Here, we review these experimental findings, discuss how astrophysical and helioscope bounds on this coupling can be evaded, and emphasize some experimental proposals to test the scenario.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, jpconf.cls, talk presented at the ninth International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, TAUP 2005, Zaragoza, Spain, September 10-14, 200

Exact enumeration of Hamiltonian circuits, walks, and chains in two and three dimensions

We present an algorithm for enumerating exactly the number of Hamiltonian chains on regular lattices in low dimensions. By definition, these are sets of k disjoint paths whose union visits each lattice vertex exactly once. The well-known Hamiltonian circuits and walks appear as the special cases k=0 and k=1 respectively. In two dimensions, we enumerate chains on L x L square lattices up to L=12, walks up to L=17, and circuits up to L=20. Some results for three dimensions are also given. Using our data we extract several quantities of physical interest