Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · cond-mat/0102105

Collisional Frequency Shifts of Absorption Lines in an Atomic Hydrogen Gas

C. J. Pethick·H. T. C. Stoof
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We consider the effect of interactions on the line shape of the two-photon 1s-2s transition in a (doubly) spin-polarized atomic hydrogen gas in terms of the interatomic interaction potentials. We show that the frequency-weighted sum rule for the intensity of the line is not given simply in terms of the pseudopotentials that describe the interactions between low-energy atoms. The origin of the departures from the simple pseudopotential result for the frequency-weighted sum rule is traced to what we refer to as incoherent contributions to the spectral weight. These arise from more complicated final states of the many-body system than the ones usually considered. In particular, we show how the relevant response function may be treated in a manner similar to the density-density response function for Fermi liquids, and express it as a coherent part coming from single particle-hole pairs, and an incoherent part coming from other excitations. We argue that in experiments only the coherent part of the response of the system is observed, and its contribution to the frequency-weighted sum rule is shown to be given correctly by the pseudopotential approximation. Finally we calculate the width of the coherent part of the line due to collisional damping.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.stat-mech

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

C. J. Pethick, H. T. C. Stoof. 2001-02-06. Collisional Frequency Shifts of Absorption Lines in an Atomic Hydrogen Gas. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.64.013618

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Information geometry of perturbed gradient flow systems on hypergraphs: A perspective towards nonequilibrium physics

This article serves to concisely review the link between gradient flow systems on hypergraphs and information geometry which has been established within the last five years. Gradient flow systems describe a wealth of physical phenomena and provide powerful analytical technquies which are based on the variational energy-dissipation principle. Modern nonequilbrium physics has complemented this classical principle with thermodynamic uncertaintly relations, speed limits, entropy production rate decompositions, and many more. In this article, we formulate these modern principles within the framework of perturbed gradient flow systems on hypergraphs. In particular, we discuss the geometry induced by the Bregman divergence, the physical implications of dual foliations, as well as the corresponding infinitesimal Riemannian geometry for gradient flow systems. Through the geometrical perspective, we are naturally led to new concepts such as moduli spaces for perturbed gradient flow systems and thermodynamical area which is crucial for understanding speed limits. We hope to encourage the readers working in either of the two fields to further expand on and foster the interaction between the two fields.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2026

Kinetic Interference in Translational Control: A Path-Measure Framework for Collision-Triggered Transcript Decay

I connect two literatures developed independently: the path-measure formulation of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, where a trajectory action decomposes into a time-antisymmetric (entropic) and time-symmetric (frenetic) sector, and the stochastic modelling of ribosomal traffic on messenger RNA. The biological target is a proposed intervention -- antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) interference with wobble-uridine (U34) modification of transfer RNA -- whose intended effect is not to abolish translation but to perturb its timing, driving ribosome collisions and collision-triggered transcript decay preferentially on high-flux, codon-biased transcripts. Dynamical-activity and large-deviation analyses of generic lattice exclusion models -- notably the symmetric and totally asymmetric simple exclusion processes -- are well established. To my knowledge their formalization specifically for ribosomal traffic queues, translation elongation, and collision-triggered no-go decay remains unoccupied; this paper addresses that narrower gap, not the general one. Two claims here are load-bearing and untested. First, selectivity: transcripts whose loss is therapeutically desirable are separable, by vulnerable-codon-pair burden, from transcripts whose loss is toxic. Second, non-redundancy: the frenetic decomposition yields predictions, specific to ribosomal queueing and collision-triggered decay, not already obtainable from rate-level exclusion-process models or existing activity/large-deviation analyses of exclusion processes. This paper establishes neither. It specifies both as falsifiable tests with pre-registered decision rules, including outcomes under which the framework should be abandoned or narrowed. It is a research programme proposal, not a result. No new experimental, computational, or bioinformatic results are reported.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2026

Thermodynamic efficiency of communication channels

We identify a broad class of communication channels that captures common physical constraints in both artificial and natural systems and derive bounds on their thermodynamic cost. We find that the entropy production per channel use is bounded from below by the input-output mutual information, and their ratio -mutual information divided by entropy production- defines the thermodynamic efficiency. Unlike previous studies of energy-constrained communication channels, our analysis shows that thermodynamic costs must be assigned not only to the input symbols themselves, but also to transitions between successive symbols. As a result, maximizing thermodynamic efficiency favors a biased input that switches only rarely, rather than the capacity-achieving input. For the binary symmetric channel, this preference emerges through a pitchfork bifurcation that spontaneously breaks the symmetry of the channel. A minimal model of cellular sensing exhibits the same phenomenon.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗