Modern Technique for Real Photon Radiative Correction Calculations

The problem of the bremsstrahlung contribution calculation as a part of the radiative corrections in the case of single gauge boson production was discussed. It was shown that the hard photon bremsstrahlung contribution can be divided into the finite and divergent terms. The exact calculation of soft photon bremsstrahlung and infrared part of hard photon bremsstrahlung was presented in frame of the dimensional regularization scheme. Numerical analysis of radiative corrections to the cross sections of single gauge boson production was performed.

Beam Asymmetries from Light Scalar Meson Production on the Proton at GlueX

The GlueX facility, featuring a linearly polarised 9 GeV real photon beam delivered to a large-acceptance detector system, has recently completed its first phase of running, and analysis efforts of this dataset are well underway. It has been suggested that at GlueX energies, quark systems beyond the three quark and quark-antiquark systems of baryons and mesons, such as hybrid mesons, tetraquarks and glueballs, should exist, and studies of these systems could shed new light on how quarks combine under the strong force, particularly the role played by gluons. Meticulous study of the spectrum of hadronic states is required to understand the strong force in the non-perturbative energy regime, and the light scalar meson sector is an area that remains poorly understood. GlueX data encompasses final states at energies where photoproduction of the a0 (980) and f 0 (980) mesons can provide discriminatory evidence between various models, manifested in experimental observables such as the cross section and beam asymmetry, and performing detailed measurements of these quantities is considered a priority of the ongoing research program. The work presented showcases efforts to measure the beam asymmetry of the reaction γp→pηπ whose mass spectrum encompasses several mesons, including the a 0(980) light scalar, and the a 2(1320) tensor. Future prospects for related analyses in the light scalar meson sector, informed by this measurement, will also be discussed.

Infrared finiteness of a complete theory of charged scalars and fermions at finite temperature

It is known that the infrared (IR) divergences accruing from pure fermion–photon interactions at finite temperature cancel to all orders in perturbation theory. The corresponding infrared finiteness of scalar thermal QED has also been established recently. Here, we study the IR behaviour, at finite temperature, of theories where charged scalars and fermions interact with neutrals that could potentially be dark matter candidates. Such thermal field theories contain both linear and sub-leading logarithmic divergences. We prove that the theory is IR-finite to all orders in perturbation, with the divergences cancelling order by order between virtual and real photon corrections, when both absorption and emission of photons from and into the heat bath are taken into account. The calculation follows closely the technique used by Grammer and Yennie for zero temperature field theory. The result is generic and applicable to a variety of models, independent of the specific form of the neutral-fermion–scalar interaction vertex.

Studying time-like electromagnetic baryonic transitions with HADES in pion induced reactions

A dedicated programme aiming at studying electromagnetic baryonic transitions in the time-like region has started at GSI using the pion beam and the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) set-up. A pioneering experiment has been carried out in the second resonance region, at a center-of-mass energy of 1.49 GeV, using carbon and polyethylene targets, allowing for an analysis of the inclusive e+e- production and of the exclusive quasi-free π-p → ne+e- reaction, in complement to hadronic channels. Predictions for the Dalitz decay of N(1520) and N(1535) based on real photon couplings strongly underestimate the e+e- yield at invariant masses larger than 300 MeV/c2, which signals effects of time-like baryon transition form factors, in qualitative agreement with the Vector Dominance Models (VDM). A quantitative description of the observed e+e- yield is achieved by taking into account the contribution from off-shell ρs. The latter was provided by the preliminary results of a Bonn-Gatchina Partial Wave Analysis of the two-pion production channels, which were measured simultaneously in our experiment. A good agreement is also obtained using a covariant model for the time-like electromagnetic form factors for the N-N(1520) transition. The angular distributions for the e+e- production contain additional selective information on the spin structure of the different transitions. The measurements with the pion beam will be extended in future in the third resonance region. Hyperon Dalitz decay studies in proton induced reactions are also foreseen.

Observation of long-range dipole-dipole interactions in hyperbolic metamaterials

Dipole-dipole interactions (Vdd) between closely spaced atoms and molecules are related to real photon and virtual photon exchange between them and decrease in the near field connected with the characteristic Coulombic dipole field law. The control and modification of this marked scaling with distance have become a long-standing theme in quantum engineering since dipole-dipole interactions govern Van der Waals forces, collective Lamb shifts, atom blockade effects, and Förster resonance energy transfer. We show that metamaterials can fundamentally modify these interactions despite large physical separation between interacting quantum emitters. We demonstrate a two orders of magnitude increase in the near-field resonant dipole-dipole interactions at intermediate field distances (10 times the near field) and observe the distance scaling law consistent with a super-Coulombic interaction theory curtailed only by absorption and finite size effects of the metamaterial constituents. We develop a first-principles numerical approach of many-body dipole-dipole interactions in metamaterials to confirm our theoretical predictions and experimental observations. In marked distinction to existing approaches of engineering radiative interactions, our work paves the way for controlling long-range dipole-dipole interactions using hyperbolic metamaterials and natural hyperbolic two-dimensional materials.