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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Polarizing Majorana Fermions, William Miyahira Jan 2018

Polarizing Majorana Fermions, William Miyahira

Summer Research

Classically, a spin-1/2 fermion can interact electromagnetically via four methods: its charge, electric and magnetic dipole moments, and anapole moment. One can polarize a collection of these particles, such that their spins align, by applying an external field or current. The particle experiences a torque that aligns its spin with the direction of the applied field or current. A Majorana fermion is a particle that is its own antiparticle, which means that it can only interact with currents via its anapole moment. These particles are natural candidates for dark matter particles given their electromagnetic properties. One could indirectly observe dark …


Radiation Reaction: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love E&M, Alexander R. Kaufman Jan 2017

Radiation Reaction: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love E&M, Alexander R. Kaufman

Summer Research

Here we present some approaches to understanding the Abraham-Lotentz-Dirac equation and their features. And a behavior found in numerical solutions to the 1-dimensional ALD in a co-moving reference frame for a single charged particle in a Coulombic field.


Scattering Of A Point-Like Anapole, Kyle Whitcomb Jan 2014

Scattering Of A Point-Like Anapole, Kyle Whitcomb

Summer Research

Majorana fermions, being elementary particles with half-integer spin which are their own antiparticle, are a hypothetical class of particle that are not currently in the Standard Model of particle physics. This research investigates the properties of Majorana fermions by calculating the scattering angle due to electromagnetic interactions between Majorana fermions and electrons. Since Majorana fermions interact solely via an electromagnetic term called the anapole moment, which is relatively weak compared to other terms, this problem was solved in the framework of quantum electrodynamics modeling the Majorana fermion as a point-like anapole. Additionally, since there is no restriction on the mass …