An absence of neutrinos associated with cosmic-ray acceleration in γ-ray bursts

Very energetic astrophysical events are required to accelerate cosmic rays to above 10(18)?electronvolts. GRBs (γ-ray bursts) have been proposed as possible candidate sources. In the GRB 'fireball' model, cosmic-ray acceleration should be accompanied by neutrinos produced in the decay of charged pions created in interactions between the high-energy cosmic-ray protons and γ-rays. Previous searches for such neutrinos found none, but the constraints were weak because the sensitivity was at best approximately equal to the predicted flux. Here we report an upper limit on the flux of energetic neutrinos associated with GRBs that is at least a factor of 3.7 below the predictions. This implies either that GRBs are not the only sources of cosmic rays with energies exceeding 10(18)?electronvolts or that the efficiency of neutrino production is much lower than has been predicted.     

中微子质量与味混合

根据中微子质量项的不同类型 ,可以划分中微子的混合机制 .将中微子质量矩阵对角化 ,可以导致相应的混合 .给出了三种类型的中微子混合 .     

中微子佯谬解决及其对霍金实证论的支持

20世纪60年代后期,美国的戴维斯成功搜索到太阳中微子,但所得的数量只有标准太阳模型理论所预言的一半左右,由于弱电统一理论一直认为中微子的静止质量为零,这构成太阳中微子佯谬.然而,超级神冈探测器的实验显示:中微子的确发生了振荡,中微子拥有不为零质量,后续的Sudbury实验终于解决了中微子佯谬问题,引发了人们对弱电理论的质疑,思考其粒子物理学以及天体物理学意义,从而客观上支持了逻辑自洽的实证论.     

中微子超光速、洛伦兹对称性破坏和质量起源

本文评述OPERA实验声称的中微子超光速测量结果及其可信度;指出超光速效应将预示洛伦兹对称性破坏。然后,着重分析可能的洛伦兹对称性破坏效应应该发生的合理能量尺度,揭示这个尺度应该是普朗克能标10¹⁹GeV,比OPERA实验测量的实际能标17GeV高出18个数量级,这表明理论上预期OPERA实验可能观测到的超光速效应应该是10¹⁸量级,而非目前OPERA实验结果宣称的10^-5量级。本文进一步指出,现代相对论性量子场论完全可以自洽地描述中微子;但是,包括中微子在内的一切已知基本粒子质量的起源都必须借助于希格斯粒子（或称"上帝粒子"）,而上帝粒子至今尚未被发现,其质量又必须位于100-1000GeV范围,远远低于普朗克尺度。对这个粒子的探测是目前欧洲核子中心CERN正在运行的大型强子对撞机LHC的核心目标,发现或者彻底排除这个"上帝粒子"并由此揭示自然界一切基本粒子质量的起源是整个物理学界乃至科学界翘首期盼的划时代革命。     

粒子弱荷的研究

为了研究有质量的中微子，在理论上引入了粒子（基本费米子、中间玻色子和强子）弱荷的新概念首次报道了弱荷守恒定律，并提出了检验弱荷是否存在的实验方案，根据弱荷的手征性，合理地解释了宇称不守恒的原因，根据弱荷的对称性扩展了标准模型，指出所有的中微子都是有质量的Dirac粒子，但是右手中微子和左手反中微子的弱荷为零，它们不参与弱相互作用，因而称为暗粒子。     

大亚湾与江门中微子实验

中微子物理是粒子物理中最活跃的分支之一,存在众多未解之谜,可能成为超出标准模型的新物理的突破口.本文总结了中微子物理的现状和主要的科学问题,着重介绍了我国正在进行的大亚湾中微子实验和建造中的江门中微子实验.通过研究反应堆中微子,2012年大亚湾实验发现新的中微子振荡,测得了中微子混合角13.本文介绍了大亚湾实验的物理背景和项目背景,简述了实验方法和设计思想,并描述了探测器设计和建造.许多新的想法和技术创新在探测器设计与建造中采用,使探测器相关的相对误差仅为0.2%.在未来几十年内,大亚湾将保持对这一基本参数的最高测量精度.江门中微子实验2008年提出建议,2013年正式启动.通过在53 km处探测反应堆中微子振荡,它将能确定中微子质量顺序,并精确测量3个中微子混合参数.采用一个设计能量精度为3%的2×104 t液体闪烁体探测器,江门实验在研究超新星中微子、太阳中微子、地球中微子、大气中微子、以及奇异现象寻找方面也极具吸引力.它将对多个物理目标进行国际领先水平的研究.文中我们介绍了实验设计和研发的进展.除了大亚湾和江门实验,我们也参与了无中微子双贝塔衰变实验EXO,设计了一个新式的加速器中微子束流线,进一步扩展了中微子研究.     

Detection of low enersy solar neutrinos by a two-phase cryosenic e-bubble detector

A new two-phase cryogenic neutrino detector using electron bubble （e-bubble） specifically in liquid helium is proposed and being developed for real time, high rate measurements of low-energy p-p reac- tion neutrinos from the sun. The e-bubble detector is a time projection chamber-like （TPC） tracking detector. The task of such a neutrino detector is to detect the ionization of the elastically scattered target electrons by incident neutrinos, and then to characterize their energy and direction and to dis- tinguish them from radioactive backgrounds. The ionization signals are expected to be small and hence undergo avalanche amplification in the saturated vapor above the liquid phase by gas electron multi- pliers （GEMs） at high gain. Higher granularity and intrinsically suppressed ion feedback give a good spatial resolution and are the major advantages of this technology. It should be possible to construct such a detector to track charged particles down to 100--200 keV in a massive liquid helium target with fractional millimeter spatial resolution in three-dimensional space, using the GEM-based TPC with a high-resolution CCD camera, for both the electronic and light readout.     

V~M和V~D中微子可区分性的讨论及其混合的建议

本文讨论了Mojorana型和Dirac型中微子的精确差异及其可区分性,指出近期由其它作者建议在标准模型中区分Dirac和Majorana中微子的方法,在不远的将来是不可能成立的。并提出了一个新的建议:β-衰变中中微子的辐射是占优势的无质量Majorana型中微子和17Kev的重Dirac型中微子。这个建议清楚地解释了β-衰变中由Simpson等人发现的重中微子辐射的证据,所存在的振荡现象也作了扼要的讨论。     

有挠引力理论对SN1987A中微子两次信号的解释

用有挠引力理论的粒子运动方程探讨了ＳＮ１９８７Ａ中微子的运动，得出中微子可沿两条路径经历不同的时间到达地球的结论，对所观察到的中微子两次信号作出了比较合理的解释。     

Neutrino mass hierarchy and lepton flavor mixing

In the standard model of particle physics there are three species of neutrinos whose masses were originally assumed to be zero. But the discovery of solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations indicates that neutrinos are massive and lepton flavors are mixed. In this brief review we first give an overview of our current knowledge about the neutrino mass spectrum and lepton flavor mixing angles, and then comment on the seesaw mechanisms which allow us to understand the origin of tiny neutrino masses. We pay particular attention to the nearly tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing pattern and the Friedberg-Lee symmetry to derive it. A relatively promising possibility of detecting hot and warm neutrino dark matter in the Universe will also be discussed.     

长基线中微子振荡实验的参数计算

本文应用中微子振荡理论，计算了长基线中微子振荡实验的几率和几率为确定值时的ｓｉｎ２θ和Δ之间的允许区情况以及中微子在物质（地球）中的传播轨迹。     

Detection and imaging of atmospheric radio flashes from cosmic ray air showers

The nature of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies >10(20) eV remains a mystery. They are likely to be of extragalactic origin, but should be absorbed within approximately 50 Mpc through interactions with the cosmic microwave background. As there are no sufficiently powerful accelerators within this distance from the Galaxy, explanations for UHECRs range from unusual astrophysical sources to exotic string physics. Also unclear is whether UHECRs consist of protons, heavy nuclei, neutrinos or gamma-rays. To resolve these questions, larger detectors with higher duty cycles and which combine multiple detection techniques are needed. Radio emission from UHECRs, on the other hand, is unaffected by attenuation, has a high duty cycle, gives calorimetric measurements and provides high directional accuracy. Here we report the detection of radio flashes from cosmic-ray air showers using low-cost digital radio receivers. We show that the radiation can be understood in terms of the geosynchrotron effect. Our results show that it should be possible to determine the nature and composition of UHECRs with combined radio and particle detectors, and to detect the ultrahigh-energy neutrinos expected from flavour mixing.     

大统一前子模型与N_y实验结果对比分析

本文讨论了最近西欧中心的LEP关于轻中微子个数N_7的实验结果对大统一前子模型的限制.由于LEP的精确实验结果给出N_y=3,可能的大统一前子模型为禁闭弱作用大统一前子模型.我们也讨论了若允许重中微子代存在时,LEP实验结果对大统一前子模型的限制.     

神秘的中微子

中微子是基本粒子家族中重要且具有特色的成员之一，是唯一只参与弱相互作用的粒子。泡利提出中微子假说之后，人们进行了一系列捕获中微子的实验。其中中微子的质量问题和中微子振荡现象是研究的热门课题。2011年9月意大利研究人员在实验中发现中微子超光速。这些引起理论界和实验界的争议，更将引发物理学家对中微子的不解之谜的探索和新的思路。     

中纬度地区粒子沉降和太阳耀斑对甚低频传播的影响分析

通过观测俄罗斯Alpha甚低频导航台到中纬度地区(新乡)之间的甚低频(VLF)信号的相位变化数据,发现在2002-07-17-2002-07-20期间,VLF信号发生了多次相位超前现象,观测到在2002-07-19和2002-07-20发生了高能粒子沉降事件,并分析出此次事件是由2002-07-17和2002-07-18发生的太阳耀斑引起.通过与美国发布的GOES卫星数据进行对比,发现两者的数据有很好的一致性.粒子沉降和太阳耀斑都会使甚低频信号的相位发生相位超前.粒子沉降大多数情况发生在极区,本次在新乡地区观测到高能粒子沉降,是一次极为宝贵的观测数据,对研究中纬度地区的高能粒子沉降有很大的作用.     

Interference between two indistinguishable electrons from independent sources

Very much like the ubiquitous quantum interference of a single particle with itself, quantum interference of two independent, but indistinguishable, particles is also possible. For a single particle, the interference is between the amplitudes of the particle's wavefunctions, whereas the interference between two particles is a direct result of quantum exchange statistics. Such interference is observed only in the joint probability of finding the particles in two separated detectors, after they were injected from two spatially separated and independent sources. Experimental realizations of two-particle interferometers have been proposed; in these proposals it was shown that such correlations are a direct signature of quantum entanglement between the spatial degrees of freedom of the two particles ('orbital entanglement'), even though they do not interact with each other. In optics, experiments using indistinguishable pairs of photons encountered difficulties in generating pairs of independent photons and synchronizing their arrival times; thus they have concentrated on detecting bunching of photons (bosons) by coincidence measurements. Similar experiments with electrons are rather scarce. Cross-correlation measurements between partitioned currents, emanating from one source, yielded similar information to that obtained from auto-correlation (shot noise) measurements. The proposal of ref. 3 is an electronic analogue to the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment with classical light. It is based on the electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer that uses edge channels in the quantum Hall effect regime. Here we implement such an interferometer. We partitioned two independent and mutually incoherent electron beams into two trajectories, so that the combined four trajectories enclosed an Aharonov-Bohm flux. Although individual currents and their fluctuations (shot noise measured by auto-correlation) were found to be independent of the Aharonov-Bohm flux, the cross-correlation between current fluctuations at two opposite points across the device exhibited strong Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, suggesting orbital entanglement between the two electron beams.     

An extreme distortion of the Van Allen belt arising from the 'Hallowe'en' solar storm in 2003

The Earth's radiation belts--also known as the Van Allen belts--contain high-energy electrons trapped on magnetic field lines. The centre of the outer belt is usually 20,000-25,000 km from Earth. The region between the belts is normally devoid of particles, and is accordingly favoured as a location for spacecraft operation because of the benign environment. Here we report that the outer Van Allen belt was compressed dramatically by a solar storm known as the 'Hallowe'en storm' of 2003. From 1 to 10 November, the outer belt had its centre only approximately 10,000 km from Earth's equatorial surface, and the plasmasphere was similarly displaced inwards. The region between the belts became the location of high particle radiation intensity. This remarkable deformation of the entire magnetosphere implies surprisingly powerful acceleration and loss processes deep within the magnetosphere.     

毫秒脉冲星的高能辐射

 根据自恰毫秒脉冲星磁层外隙模型讨论毫秒脉冲星的高能辐射机制.其中X射线由2个热成分和1个幂律成分组成,γ射线由外隙粒子同步-曲率辐射产生.在此基础上,理论计算了11颗X射线波段及其他39颗在射电波段观测到的毫秒脉冲星,所得理论与观测符合较好,表明该模型能较好地解释毫秒脉冲星的高能辐射机制.     

Faster than Light Neutrinos

In September, the OPERA experiment in Italy claimed to have observed neutrinos which travel faster than light. Strong experimental constraints are placed by neutrinos observed from the supernova SN1987A and from various terrestrial and astrophysical measurements of synchrotron radiation. I will review the many experimental and theoretical challenges faced by any theory which attempts to explain this result, and speculate on just which theories may succeed.     

High-energy particle acceleration in the shell of a supernova remnant

A significant fraction of the energy density of the interstellar medium is in the form of high-energy charged particles (cosmic rays). The origin of these particles remains uncertain. Although it is generally accepted that the only sources capable of supplying the energy required to accelerate the bulk of Galactic cosmic rays are supernova explosions, and even though the mechanism of particle acceleration in expanding supernova remnant (SNR) shocks is thought to be well understood theoretically, unequivocal evidence for the production of high-energy particles in supernova shells has proven remarkably hard to find. Here we report on observations of the SNR RX J1713.7 - 3946 (G347.3 - 0.5), which was discovered by ROSAT in the X-ray spectrum and later claimed as a source of high-energy gamma-rays of TeV energies (1 TeV = 10(12) eV). We present a TeV gamma-ray image of the SNR: the spatially resolved remnant has a shell morphology similar to that seen in X-rays, which demonstrates that very-high-energy particles are accelerated there. The energy spectrum indicates efficient acceleration of charged particles to energies beyond 100 TeV, consistent with current ideas of particle acceleration in young SNR shocks.