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Related Concept Videos

Electric Field of a Non Uniformly Charged Sphere01:22

Electric Field of a Non Uniformly Charged Sphere

Gauss's law states that the electric flux through any closed surface equals the net charge enclosed within the surface. This law is beneficial for determining the expressions for the electric field for a particular charge distribution if the electric flux is known.
Consider a non-uniformly charged sphere, for which the density of charge depends only on the distance from a point in space and not on the direction. Such a sphere has a spherically symmetrical charge distribution. Here, the electric...
Coulomb's Law01:30

Coulomb's Law

Experiments with electric charges have shown that if two objects each have an electric charge, they exert an electric force on each other. The magnitude of the force is linearly proportional to the net charge on each object and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The direction of the force vector is along the imaginary line joining the two objects and is dictated by the signs of the charges involved.
Newton's third law applies to the Coulomb force — the force on...
Calculations of Electric Potential I01:15

Calculations of Electric Potential I

Consider a ring of radius R with a uniform charge density λ. What will the electric potential be at point M, which is located on the axis of the ring at a distance x from the center of the ring?
The ring is divided into infinitesimal small arcs such that point M is equidistant from all the arcs. Here, the cylindrical coordinate system is used to calculate the electric potential at point M. A general element of the arc between angles θ and θ + dθ is of the length Rdθ and has a charge of λRdθ.
Gauss's Law: Spherical Symmetry01:26

Gauss's Law: Spherical Symmetry

A charge distribution has spherical symmetry if the density of charge depends only on the distance from a point in space and not on the direction. In other words, if the system is rotated, it doesn't look different. For instance, if a sphere of radius R is uniformly charged with charge density ρ0, then the distribution has spherical symmetry. On the other hand, if a sphere of radius R is charged so that the top half of the sphere has a uniform charge density ρ1 and the bottom half has a uniform...
Sources and Properties of Electric Charge01:15

Sources and Properties of Electric Charge

All objects we see around us consist of atoms, which combine to form molecules. The lightest element in the universe is hydrogen, and a hydrogen atom consists of a positively charged proton and a negatively charged electron. The magnitude of charge that a proton and an electron carry are the same, and it is the fundamental unit of charge. In SI units, it is 1.602 times 10-19 coulomb.
Most atoms additionally constitute another fundamental particle, the neutron. It carries no electrical charge. A...
Electric Field of a Charged Disk01:23

Electric Field of a Charged Disk

The simplest case of a surface charge distribution is the uniformly charged disk. Calculating its electric field also helps us calculate the electric field of a large plane of charge.
The system's symmetry is in the cylindrical directions across the plane of the charge. As a result, the electric fields created by various surface charge elements nullify each other in the direction parallel to the surface. Thereby, the resulting electric field is perpendicular to the plane. Since the disk is...

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Universal charge-radius relation for subatomic and astrophysical compact objects.

Jes Madsen1

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Arhus C, Denmark.

Physical Review Letters
|June 4, 2008
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Electron-positron pair creation sets charge limits for compact objects like neutron stars and black holes. These universal charge bounds, dependent on object size, improve upon existing theoretical limits.

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Area of Science:

  • Nuclear Physics
  • Astrophysics
  • Quantum Electrodynamics

Background:

  • Supercritical electric fields lead to electron-positron pair creation.
  • This phenomenon imposes fundamental limits on the net charge of dense objects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish universal upper bounds on the net charge of static, spherical objects.
  • To investigate charge limits for various compact objects, including nuclei, strangelets, and compact stars.

Main Methods:

  • Derivation of universal charge-radius relations based on quantum electrodynamics in strong fields.
  • Application of these relations to objects with nuclear density.

Main Results:

  • Established universal charge-radius relations: Z=0.71R(fm) for 4x10^2-10^4 fm radii and Z=7x10^-5 R^2(fm) for larger radii.
  • Derived charge-baryon number relations: Z~0.7A^(1/3) and Z~7x10^-5 A^(2/3) for nuclear density objects.
  • These bounds are more stringent than some existing limits.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides fundamental, size-dependent upper limits on the net charge of compact objects.
  • These findings have implications for understanding the properties of superheavy nuclei, strangelets, compact stars, and black holes.