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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Physics

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Series

2011

Atoms

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Thermal Correction To The Molar Polarizability Of A Boltzmann Gas, Ulrich D. Jentschura, Mariusz Puchalski, Peter J. Mohr Dec 2011

Thermal Correction To The Molar Polarizability Of A Boltzmann Gas, Ulrich D. Jentschura, Mariusz Puchalski, Peter J. Mohr

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Metrology in atomic physics has been crucial for a number of advanced determinations of fundamental constants. In addition to very precise frequency measurements, the molar polarizability of an atomic gas has recently also been measured very accurately. Part of the motivation for the measurements is due to ongoing efforts to redefine the International System of Units (SI), for which an accurate value of the Boltzmann constant is needed. Here we calculate the dominant shift of the molar polarizability in an atomic gas due to thermal effects. It is given by the relativistic correction to the dipole interaction, which emerges when …


Manipulating Atomic Fragmentation Processes By Controlling The Projectile Coherence, Kisra N. Egodapitiya, Sachin D. Sharma, Ahmad Hasan, Aaron C. Laforge, Don H. Madison, Robert Moshammer, Michael Schulz Apr 2011

Manipulating Atomic Fragmentation Processes By Controlling The Projectile Coherence, Kisra N. Egodapitiya, Sachin D. Sharma, Ahmad Hasan, Aaron C. Laforge, Don H. Madison, Robert Moshammer, Michael Schulz

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We have measured the scattering angle dependence of cross sections for ionization in p+H2 collisions for a fixed projectile energy loss. Depending on the projectile coherence, interference due to indistinguishable diffraction of the projectile from the two atomic centers was either present or absent in the data. This shows that, due to the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, the preparation of the beam must be included in theoretical calculations. The results have far-reaching implications on formal atomic scattering theory because this critical aspect has been overlooked for several decades.