Track Etching: Methodology and Geometry

Lower and upper bounds on CSL parameters from latent image formation and IGM heating

“…Detailed accounts of etched track detectors are given in the books of Durrani and Bull [12] and Avan et al [8], from which we draw the needed parameters. Passage of a charged particle results in a cylindrical region of lattice distortion around the charged particle path, with a typical radius of 6-12 nm (i.e., 60-120 Å or 0.6-1.2 ×10 −6 cm), which we take as giving the displacement in equation (6a).…”

“…Pearle and Squires [5] have estimated the rate of bound state excitation in the mass-proportional CSL model and applied it to various physical systems. Their equation (12) gives for the rate Ṗ of internal excitation of atoms…”

“…The total energy per unit volume released this way must not exceed a small fraction, say 0.1, of the energy per unit volume in the 3 • (∼2.6 × 10 −4 eV) microwave background radiation. Taking account of the fact that there are ∼10 9 microwave background radiation photons per proton in the universe, this gives the bound that λ must be less than ∼10 12 of the standard CSL value.…”

“…Assuming a temperature T at z = 3 of 2 × 10 4 K, this gives an energy loss rate of 0.5 × 10 −16 eV s −1 . Equating this to an energy gain from proton stochastic heating, from equation (12), gives a value of λ equal to 8 × 10 8 times the standard CSL value as an upper bound.…”

“…Yet another cosmological bound comes from considering interstellar dust grains. Here we compare the rate of energy accumulation, given by equation (12), with the rate of energy radiation by the grain. Assuming 10 24 nucleons per cubic centimetre, the rate of volume energy production for the standard CSL value of λ is ∼7 × 10 −2 eV s −1 cm −3 .…”