Anomalous neutron Compton scattering in Nb hydride: Indications of proton correlations

E. B. Karlsson; C. A. Chatzidimitriou-Dreismann; T. Abdul-Redah; R. M. F. Streffer; B. Hjörvarsson; J. Öhrmalm; J. Mayers

doi:10.1209/epl/i1999-00310-1

All issues

Volume 46 / No 5 (June I 1999)

Europhys. Lett., 46 5 (1999) 617-623

Abstract

Issue		Europhys. Lett. Volume 46, Number 5, June I 1999


Page(s)		617 - 623
Section		Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1999-00310-1
Published online		01 September 2002

Europhys. Lett., 46 (5), pp. 617-623 (1999)

Anomalous neutron Compton scattering in Nb hydride: Indications of proton correlations

E. B. Karlsson¹, C. A. Chatzidimitriou-Dreismann², T. Abdul-Redah², R. M. F. Streffer², B. Hjörvarsson³, J. Öhrmalm⁴ and J. Mayers⁴

¹ Department of Physics, Uppsala University - P.O. Box 530, S-75121 Uppsala, Sweden
² I. N. Stranski-Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie Technische Universität Berlin - Str.d.17. Juni 112, D-10623 Berlin, Germany
³ Department of Physics, Royal Institute of Technology - S-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
⁴ Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory - Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK

Received: 25 January 1999
Accepted: 23 March 1999

Abstract

Neutron Compton scattering probes properties of matter at time scales of the order of 10^-16- $10^{-15}\,{\rm s}$ . Very strong anomalies in the cross-sections for protons were observed for scattering on ${\rm NbH}_x$ and ${\rm NbH}_x{\rm D}_y$ . The effective proton cross-section was found to vary with the time of observation (first used as a parameter in the present experiments) being reduced by 30% at times around $\rm 10^{-16}\,s$ but reaching its conventional value for times larger than $\rm 2\cdot 10^{-15}\, s$ . No conventional explanation for this anomaly (which indicates some kind of very short-lived correlations) is known. A tentative explanation is that during such short time intervals, nearby protons are quantum correlated (even at ambient temperatures) in such a manner that their neutron cross-sections are modified.

PACS: 61.12.-q – Neutron diffraction and scattering / 03.65.-w – Quantum mechanics / 67.20.+k – Quantum effects on the structure and dynamics of nondegenerate fluids (e.g., normal phase liquid $\rm {}^{4}He$ )

Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.

Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.

Initial download of the metrics may take a while.