## ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.

In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.

Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.

The OLYMPUS experiment measured the two-photon exchange contribution to elastic electron-proton scattering, over a range of four-momentum transfer from $$0.6 < Q^2 < 2.2$$ $$(\mathrm{GeV/c})^2$$. The motivation for the experiment stemmed from measurements of the electric-to-magnetic form factor ratio of the proton $$\mu G_E/G_M$$ extracted from polarization observables in polarized electron-proton scattering. Polarized electron-proton scattering experiments have revealed a significant decrease in $$\mu G_E/G_M$$ at large $$Q^2$$, in contrast to previous measurements from unpolarized electron-proton scattering. The commonly accepted hypothesis is that the discrepancy in the form factor ratio is due to neglected higher-order terms in the elastic electron-proton scattering …

Contributors
Ice, Lauren Diane, Alarcon, Ricardo O, Dugger, Michael, et al.
Created Date
2016

The theory of quantum electrodynamics predicts that beta decay of the neutron into a proton, electron, and anti-neutrino should be accompanied by a continuous spectrum of photons. A recent experiment, RDK I, reported the first detection of radiative decay photons from neutron beta decay with a branching ratio of (3.09 &plusmn; 0.32) &times; 10-3 in the energy range of 15 keV to 340 keV. This was achieved by prompt coincident detection of an electron and photon, in delayed coincidence with a proton. The photons were detected by using a single bar of bismuth germanate scintillating crystal coupled to an avalanche …

Contributors
O'Neill, Benjamin William, Alarcon, Ricardo, Drucker, Jeffery, et al.
Created Date
2012

Monte Carlo methods often used in nuclear physics, such as auxiliary field diffusion Monte Carlo and Green's function Monte Carlo, have typically relied on phenomenological local real-space potentials containing as few derivatives as possible, such as the Argonne-Urbana family of interactions, to make sampling simple and efficient. Basis set methods such as no-core shell model or coupled-cluster techniques typically use softer non-local potentials because of their more rapid convergence with basis set size. These non-local potentials are typically defined in momentum space and are often based on effective field theory. Comparisons of the results of the two types of methods …

Contributors
Lynn, Joel Eric, Schmidt, Kevin E, Alarcón, Ricardo, et al.
Created Date
2013

In the first part of this thesis, we use the generalized Landau-level represen- tation to study the effect of screening on the properties of the graphene quantum Hall states with integer filling factors. The analysis is performed in the low-energy Dirac model in the mean-field approximation, in which the long-range Coulomb in- teraction is modified by the one-loop static screening effects. The solutions demon- strate that static screening leads to a substantial suppression of the gap parameters in the quantum Hall states with a broken U (4) flavor symmetry. The results of the temperature dependence of the energy gaps mimic …

Contributors
Xia, Lifang, Shovkovy, Igor, Lebed, Richard, et al.
Created Date
2016

Spin-orbit interactions are important in determining nuclear structure. They lead to a shift in the energy levels in the nuclear shell model, which could explain the sequence of magic numbers in nuclei. Also in nucleon-nucleon scattering, the large nucleon polarization observed perpendicular to the plane of scattering needs to be explained by adding the spin-orbit interactions in the potential. Their effects change the equation of state and other properties of nuclear matter. Therefore, the simulation of spin-orbit interactions is necessary in nuclear matter. The auxiliary field diffusion Monte Carlo is an effective and accurate method for calculating the ground state …

Contributors
Zhang, Jie, Schmidt, Kevin E, Alarcon, Ricardo, et al.
Created Date
2014

Quark matter at sufficiently high density and low temperature is expected to be a color superconductor, and may exist in the interior of neutron stars. The properties of two simplest possible color-superconducting phases, i.e., the color-flavor-locked (CFL) and two-flavor superconducting (2SC) phases, are reviewed. The effect of a magnetic field on the pairing dynamics in two-flavor color-superconducting dense quark matter is investigated. A universal form of the gap equation for an arbitrary magnetic field is derived in the weakly coupled regime of QCD at asymptotically high density, using the framework of Schwinger-Dyson equation in the improved rainbow approximation. The results …

Contributors
Yu, Lang, Shovkovy, Igor A., Lunardini, Cecilia, et al.
Created Date
2012