Ground-State g Factor of Highly Charged ^{229}Th Ions: An Access to the M1 Transition Probability between the Isomeric and Ground Nuclear States.

A method is proposed to determine the M1 nuclear transition amplitude and hence the lifetime of the "nuclear clock transition" between the low-lying (∼8  eV) first isomeric state and the ground state of ^{229}Th from a measurement of the ground-state g factor of few-electron ^{229}Th ions. As a tool, the effect of nuclear hyperfine mixing in highly charged ^{229}Th ions such as ^{229}Th^{89+} or ^{229}Th^{87+} is used. The ground-state-only g-factor measurement would also provide first experimental evidence of nuclear hyperfine mixing in atomic ions.

g Factor of Lithiumlike Silicon: New Challenge to Bound-State QED.

The recently established agreement between experiment and theory for the g factors of lithiumlike silicon and calcium ions manifests the most stringent test of the many-electron bound-state quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects in the presence of a magnetic field. In this Letter, we present a significant simultaneous improvement of both theoretical g_{th}=2.000 889 894 4 (34) and experimental g_{exp}=2.

How to Observe the Vacuum Decay in Low-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions.

In slow collisions of two bare nuclei with the total charge larger than the critical value Z_{cr}≈173, the initially neutral vacuum can spontaneously decay into the charged vacuum and two positrons. The detection of the spontaneous emission of positrons would be direct evidence of this fundamental phenomenon. However, the spontaneously produced particles are indistinguishable from the dynamical background in the positron spectra.

Nuclear Excitation by Two-Photon Electron Transition.

A new mechanism of nuclear excitation via two-photon electron transitions (NETP) is proposed and studied theoretically. As a generic example, detailed calculations are performed for the E1E1 1s2s^{1}S_{0}→1s^{2}^{1}S_{0} two-photon decay of a He-like ^{225}Ac^{87+} ion with a resonant excitation of the 3/2+ nuclear state with an energy of 40.09(5) keV.

Nuclear polarization study: new frontiers for tests of QED in heavy highly charged ions.

A systematic investigation of the nuclear polarization effects in one- and few-electron heavy ions is presented. The nuclear polarization corrections in the zeroth and first orders in 1/Z are evaluated to the binding energies, the hyperfine splitting, and the bound-electron g factor. It is shown that the nuclear polarization contributions can be substantially canceled simultaneously with the rigid nuclear corrections.

Many-electron QED corrections to the g factor of lithiumlike ions.

A rigorous QED evaluation of the two-photon exchange corrections to the g factor of lithiumlike ions is presented. The screened self-energy corrections are calculated for the intermediate-Z region, and its accuracy for the high-Z region is essentially improved in comparison with that of previous calculations. As a result, the theoretical accuracy of the g factor of lithiumlike ions is significantly increased.

g Factor of lithiumlike silicon 28Si11+.

The g factor of lithiumlike silicon (28)Si(11+) has been measured in a triple-Penning trap with a relative uncertainty of 1.1×10(-9) to be g(exp)=2.000 889 889 9(21).

Test of many-electron QED effects in the hyperfine splitting of heavy high-Z ions.

A rigorous evaluation of the two-photon exchange corrections to the hyperfine structure in lithiumlike heavy ions is presented. As a result, the theoretical accuracy of the specific difference between the hyperfine splitting values of H- and Li-like Bi ions is significantly improved. This opens a possibility for the stringent test of the many-electron QED effects on a few percent level in the strongest electromagnetic field presently available in experiments.

Screened QED corrections in lithiumlike heavy ions in the presence of magnetic fields.

A rigorous evaluation of the complete gauge-invariant set of the screened one-loop QED corrections to the hyperfine structure and g factor in lithiumlike heavy ions is presented. The calculations are performed in both Feynman and Coulomb gauges for the virtual photon mediating the interelectronic interaction. As a result, the most accurate theoretical predictions for the specific difference between the hyperfine splitting values of H- and Li-like Bi ions as well as for the g factor of the Li-like Pb ion are obtained.

Theoretical study of the accuracy limits of optical resonance frequency measurements.

The principal limits for the accuracy of the resonance frequency measurements set by the asymmetry of the natural resonance line shape are studied and applied to the recent accurate frequency measurements in the two-photon 1s-2s resonance and in the one-photon 1s-2p resonance in a hydrogen atom. This limit for 1s-2s resonance is found to be approximately 10(-5) Hz compared to the accuracy achieved in experiment +/-46 Hz. In the case of a deuterium atom the limit is essentially larger: 10(-2) Hz.

Excited states of the helium-antihydrogen system.

Potential energy curves for excited leptonic states of the helium-antihydrogen system are calculated within the Ritz variational approach. An explicitly correlated ansatz for the leptonic wave function is employed describing accurately the motion of the leptons (two electrons and positron) in the field of the helium nucleus and of the antiproton with an arbitrary orbital angular momentum projection Lambda onto the internuclear axis. Results for Lambda=0, 1, and 30 are presented.

Double ionization of lithiumlike ions by Compton scattering of high-energy photons.

The double ionization of lithiumlike ions by Compton scattering of photons is investigated in the asymptotic high-energy region. To leading order of the nonrelativistic perturbation theory, the total cross section for double Compton effect is calculated, taking into account the channels of simultaneous and sequential emission of two electrons. Relationships between the cross sections for double ionization of He- and Li-like ions with the same nuclear charge Z are established.

Potential energy curves for excited states of the hydrogen-antihydrogen system.

The potential energy curves for the hydrogen-antihydrogen (HH) system in states with a leptonic orbital angular momentum projection Lambda=0, 1, 2, 6, and 30 are presented. Within the framework of the adiabatic picture, explicitly correlated Gaussians are used as basis functions which describe accurately the hydrogen-antihydrogen interaction. The critical internuclear distances where the system transforms into positronium and protonium atoms are found.

g-Factor of heavy ions: a new access to the fine structure constant.

A possibility for a determination of the fine structure constant in experiments on the bound-electron g-factor is examined. It is found that studying a specific difference of the g-factors of B- and H-like ions of the same spinless isotope in the Pb region to the currently accessible experimental accuracy of 7 x 10(-10) would lead to a determination of the fine structure constant to an accuracy which is better than that of the currently accepted value. Further improvements of the experimental and theoretical accuracy could provide a value of the fine structure constant which is several times more precise than the currently accepted one.

Resonant cavity photon creation via the dynamical Casimir effect.

Motivated by a recent proposal for an experimental verification of the dynamical Casimir effect, the macroscopic electromagnetic field within a perfect cavity containing a thin slab with a time-dependent dielectric permittivity is quantized in terms of the dual potentials. For the resonance case, the number of photons created out of the vacuum due to the dynamical Casimir effect is calculated for both polarizations. It turns out that only TM modes can be excited efficiently.

Dual kinetic balance approach to basis-set expansions for the dirac equation.

A new approach to finite basis sets for the Dirac equation is developed. It does not involve spurious states and improves the convergence properties of basis-set calculations. Efficiency of the method is demonstrated for finite basis sets constructed from B splines by calculating the one-loop self-energy correction for a hydrogenlike ion.

Nuclear-polarization correction to the bound-electron g factor in heavy hydrogenlike ions.

The influence of nuclear polarization on the bound-electron g factor in heavy hydrogenlike ions is investigated. Numerical calculations are performed for the K- and L-shell electrons taking into account the dominant virtual nuclear excitations. This determines the ultimate limit for tests of QED utilizing measurements of the bound-electron g factor in highly charged ions.

Dielectric black hole analogs.

As an alternative to the sonic black hole analogs we discuss a different scenario for modeling the Schwarzschild geometry in a laboratory--the dielectric black hole. The dielectric analog of the horizon occurs if the velocity of a medium with a finite permittivity exceeds the speed of light in that medium. The relevance for experimental tests of the Hawking effect and possible implications are addressed.

Asymmetry of the natural line profile for the hydrogen atom.

The asymmetry of the natural line profile for transitions in hydrogenlike atoms is evaluated within a QED framework. For the Lyman- alpha 1s-2p absorption transition in neutral hydrogen this asymmetry results in an additional energy shift of 2.929 856 Hz.

Dynamical casimir effect at finite temperature.

Thermal effects on the creation of particles under the influence of time-dependent boundary conditions are investigated. The dominant temperature correction to the energy radiated by a moving mirror is derived by means of response theory. For a resonantly vibrating cavity the thermal effect on the number of created photons is obtained nonperturbatively.

Hyperfine structure of highly charged 23892U ions with rotationally excited nuclei.

The hyperfine structure (hfs) of electron levels of 23892U ions with the nucleus excited in the low-lying rotational 2(+) state with an energy E(2(+)) = 44.91 keV is investigated. In hydrogenlike uranium, the hfs splitting for the 1s(1/2) ground state of the electron constitutes 1.