Table of contents

We study the heat capacity and neutrino emission reactions (direct and modified Urca processes, nucleon–nucleon bremsstrahlung, Cooper pairing of nucleons) in the supranuclear density matter of neutron star cores with superfluid neutrons and protons. Various superfluidity types are analysed (singlet-state pairing and two types of triplet-state pairing, without and with gap nodes at the nucleon Fermi surface). The results are used for cooling simulations of isolated neutron stars. Both the standard cooling and the cooling enhanced by the direct Urca process are strongly affected by nucleon superfluidity. Comparison of the cooling theory of isolated neutron stars with observations of their thermal radiation may give stringent constraints on the critical temperatures of the neutron and proton superfluidities in the neutron star cores.

Recent results of studies of magnetic materials using synchrotron radiation are reviewed. The influence of magnetic effects on X-ray scattering is studied for linearly and circularly polarized photons, and the effects of magnetic circular dichroism on the spectra of X-ray absorption and photoelectron emission are discussed. It is shown that X-ray magnetooptic techniques provide fine detail of crystal and magnetic structures and also make it possible to separate the spin and orbital contributions to the total moment; to obtain element- and position-sensitive information on the magnetic properties of the material; to visualize domains and domain walls; and to probe magnetization reversal dynamics. A comparison of magnetic neutron and X-ray methods is given.

The oxidation – reduction enzymatic reaction is treated as a nonadiabatic multiquantum transition from the initial substrate – enzyme complex to a free product and free enzyme, taking into account the contribution of low-frequency (conformational) degrees of freedom of the enzyme molecule to the quantum transition described in terms of the reaction coordinate. It is demonstrated that the electromagnetic field has a marked effect on the enzymatic reaction rate by exciting low-frequency vibrations of enzyme molecules, a fact from which the nature of the so-called narrow biological resonances may be understood. A new mechanism giving rise to ultraviolet radiation from biological membranes is discussed. The theory can be used to explain the origin of ultraviolet radiation and dipole ordering of globular cell proteins.

The analogy between polarization optics effects and the dynamics of a spin in a magnetic field is analyzed based on the fact that the Bloch equation for a spin in a magnetic field is formally identical to the evolution equation for the quasi-spin vector of a light propagating in an optically anisotropic medium. Among the effects discussed within this framework are light polarization beats in a birefringent medium; optical activity suppression in the media with linear birefringence; suppression of linear birefringence in the media with spatially modulated gyration; 'adiabatic' transformation of light polarization in media of smoothly varying anisotropy, and two- and three-pulse polarization echoes.