Table of contents

Theoretical aspects of the propagation of photons, electrons, and neutrinos in external electromagnetic fields at finite temperature and density are considered. The photon polarization operator and the radiative mass shifts and anomalous magnetic moments of the electron and the massive neutrino are investigated based on the finite-temperature quantum field theory with the use of exact solutions of the relativistic equations of motion for particles in external fields of various configurations. The present approach permits using model results as reference ones for experimental data as well as presenting a wider choice of interpretations for the results obtained.

The most important data from birefringence measurements on the structure, optical anisotropy, and formation kinetics of polymer surface layers are reviewed.

The current state of the ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of fullerene molecules is reviewed with the use of the authors' work. We focus our work on absorption and reaction of the C₆₀ and C₇₀ fullerenes, separately or in mixture, with semiconductor [Si(111)-7×7 and Si(100)-2×1] and metal [Cu(111)-1×1 and Ag(111)-1×1] surfaces. By using the STM, the adsorption geometry and the corresponding reconstruction are directly observed on these surfaces, and the intramolecular structures are revealed in high resolution STM images which are analyzed theoretically within the local charge distribution model. Results on the ordered growth of fullerene films on metal and semiconductor surfaces are presented and discussed.

A set of thought experiments with guided waves (as the simplest example of spatially localized fields) shows that photons occupying a waveguide mode possess all the characteristics of the nonzero inertial and gravitational rest mass. The corresponding quantity originates from the standing-wave component of the field and is merely an equivalent of the real energy from the 'raking up' of zero-point vacuum fluctuations from all unbounded space. It is impossible to distinguish this quantity from the standard concept of mass. This conclusion is valid for photons of any real spatially bounded fields. Two different classes of resonances with boson- and fermion-like features arise in waveguide ring structures depending on their field topology. The heuristic prospects for these observations are assessed.

Bell's paradoxes, due to the fundamental properties of light and the nature of the photon, are discussed within a single framework with a view to checking the hypothesis that a stationary, non-negative, joint probability distribution function exists. This hypothesis, related to the local theory of hidden parameters as a possible interpretation of quantum theory, enables experimentally verifiable Bell's inequalities to be formulated. The dependence of these inequalities on the number of observers V is considered. Quantum theory predicts the breakdown of Bell's inequalities in optical experiments. It is shown that as V increases, the requirements on the quantum effectiveness of the detector, η, are reduced from η > 2/3 at V = 2 to η > 1/2 for V → ∞. Examples of joint probability distribution functions are given for illustrative purposes, and a way to resolve the Greenberg–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox is suggested.

Studies of the Sagnac effect carried out during the latter part of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century are reviewed. A discussion of the chronology issue shows, in particular, that O. Lodge was the first to recognize the possibility of the effect. It is also shown that, apart from detecting rotation, in most studies the improvement of the Fresnel–Fizeau drag coefficient in rotating reference frame was the primary concern. As possible directions for the development of Sagnac interferometry, a wider operational range for electromagnetic waves, the interference of material de Broglie waves, and the interference of acoustic and magnetic surface waves are considered.

The nature of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), still unsettled 30 years after their discovery, is the most intriguing current astrophysical problem. In a recent Physics-Uspekhi review [1], a theory relating their origin to the Solar system periphery, as well as galactic and metagalactic hypotheses are discussed. For the latter two, the total GRB energy release proves to be large enough to enable cosmic rays (CRs) to be simultaneously produced by the same source. In this paper a fourth possibility, the present author's 'interstellar' hypothesis [3], which also permits the simultaneous production of CRs and GRBs in cosmic plasma pinches is discussed .