title: Effects of subfemtosecond quantum correlations in neutron scattering on water.
abstract: Several recent experiments have shown that protons, and to some extent also deuterons, show anomalous cross sections when the neutrons have energies in the range 10-100 eV (this results in a Compton scattering process where an essential part of the energy is transferred to one of the scattering particles). Here, an experiment on partially deuterated water, carried out by Chatzidimitriou-Dreismann et al., is analyzed in terms of a theory, which assumes that during the short duration (<10(-15) s) of this scattering process, protons are exchange correlated and cannot be considered as independent scattering objects. The quantum decoherence time for protons in liquid water is estimated from a simple model for the interaction of the water protons with hydrogen bonds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Uppsala University, Box 530, SE-75121 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Erik B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Karlsson