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Kezerashvili Gurami (Guram) Yakovlevich (Russian

() ) (June
15, 1952 - November 27, 1999) - an outstanding Russian
physicist, Doctor of Science, professor. One of the most
brilliant and productive Russian experimental physicists
in 80s and 90s of the twentieth century. He made a
pioneer contribution to the development of a new
direction in experimental physics - the generation of
intense Compton Backscattering gamma-quanta beams
of high energy. He was first with his group to observe a
photon splitting.

Biography

Guram was born June 15, 1952 to the family of Yakov


Moiseyevich Kezerashvili and Rosa Rahamovna
Dzhanashvili in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital - then the
capital of the Georgian SSR in the former Soviet Union.
His father was a military man. Location of the military
service changed often. So, Guram spent childhood years
in small towns near the service locations of his father,
with exception of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and
short breaks between the moves and for holidays in
Tbilisi. The family settled in Tbilisi at the end of 1965.
Since that time, Guram began to study in public school
78, and then moved to 42nd physical-mathematical
school, which he graduated in 1969. Guram manifested
interest in physics early, in particular under the influence
of his elder brother Roman, who began his studies at the Gurami Yakovlevich Kezerashvili
Physics Department of Tbilisi State University (TSU) in
1966. Years of study in 42nd school were accompanied by active radio tinkering at home. The first skills of independent
experimental work were laid down here.
In 1969, G.Ya. Kezerashvili began to study at the Physics Department of TSU. In 1973, he went for graduate studies at the
Physics and Engineering Faculty of the Novosibirsk Electro Technical Institute (NETI), where he received master degree in
1975 with major in Physical Electronics. He stayed at NETI as lab assistant and, later, as junior research scientist. His friend
S.A. Nikitin recalls that "holographic table with a laser, mirrors, optical lenses and instruments" became Gurams
workplace, then. He conducted applied research on the use of holographic interferometry for solving the problems of
experimental mechanics, in particular, to control the surface quality of aviation turbine blades. It was at NETI where G.Ya.
Kezerashvili gained the experimental work experience with quantum electronics and optics, which played so unique role in
his future research.
In 1976, G.Ya. Kezerashvili married Olga Sergeevna Kezerashvili (maiden name Bryushkova).
In October 1977, G.Ya. Kezerashvili joined a group at Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (BINP), which at that time was
seeking experimentalist who could work with lasers. Since then, G.Ya. Kezerashvili linked his professional destiny with
BINP. At BINP he worked his way up from senior laboratory assistant to leading scientist. His D. Sc. thesis (1994)
summarized the development of a new direction in experimental physics method of Compton Backscattering (CBS) on
relativistic electron and positron beams, whose foundations were laid in the works included in his Ph.D. thesis (1986). The
method has been widely used in the experiments on nuclear and particle physics. In particular, pioneering results on
photofission were obtained. Remarkable experiments on nonlinear quantum electrodynamics were carried out, including the
observation of the photon splitting.
90th brought an international recognition to G.Ya. Kezerashvili. He participated in international collaborations, conducted
joint experiments at BINP and abroad. He was invited to deliver lectures and seminar talks in the USA, Italy, France and
Germany. He vigorously promoted his pioneering experience by helping to develop the CBS method in the laboratories he
visited where he advocated new results obtained by this method at BINP.
G.Ya. Kezerashvili skillfully combined fruitful activity in science with teaching. Physics graduate and undergraduate
students from the Novosibirsk State University and NETI were involved in actual research in a new physics he was
developing. Several Ph.D. and numerous master and bachelor degrees were received under his leadership. He lectured on
problems of modern physics at the Novosibirsk State Agrarian University. These captivating lectures were widely popular
by their clarity, unexpected content, and a sparkling humor.
On June 30, 1995, after a short illness G.Ya. Kezerashvilis wife and an intimate friend past away. They had no children. In
essence, a married part of Olga Seergevnas very short life was dedicated to G.Ya. Kezerashvili and his science.
November 27, 1999 G.Ya. Kezerashvili life tragically ended.

Years at BINP

The first years at BINP were


dedicated to purely
methodological problems of
beam diagnostics in the storage
rings. The problem of quick and
accurate polarization
measurement of the electron or
positron beam was unresolved at
that time. On the way to solve
this problem the Compton
Backscattering of the undulator
photons was observed (1980).
The experiment was beautiful by
its symmetry and seeming
simplicity. Two helical undulators
were inserted in VEPP-2M
storage ring next to the collision
point. The photons radiated by
Gurami Yakovlevich Kezerashvili surrounded by VEPP-2M collider electrons as they pass the first
undulator were backscattered on
oncoming positron beam. At the same time, the photons generated by positrons as they pass second undulator were
backscattered on oncoming electron beam. No one had seen this effect before. This effect was used for a quick and accurate
measurement of the radiation polarization of electron or positron beam. Described experimental setup, in essence, is a
prototype of the facilities for CBS gamma-quanta production using free electron laser.
Simultaneously with work at the VEPP-2M similar work was conducted at the VEPP-4 collider. In 1982, "Laser
Polarimeter" facility, later named ROKK-1 (ROKK is Russian abbreviation for Backscattered Compton Quanta) was
launched. Instead of the undulator photons, optical laser photons were utilized. At BINP ROKK-1 produced the first intense
polarized monochromatic high energy gamma-quanta beam with high beam filling factor and almost no neutron or radiation
background. ROKK-1 allowed gradual energy change in a wide range with upper limit close to the energy of a charged
beam. Being second in the world after LADON facility (1978) at the ADONE storage ring, Frascati (Italy) by start time
ROKK-1 had significant advantages in addition to providing the first tagged beam. Tagging system allowed accurate
knowledge of energy of each gamma quanta without loss of beam intensity.
I.N. Meshkov, corresponding member of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) aptly remarks: "After the pioneering
experiments performed in the early 60s at FIAN by O.F. Kulikov with coauthors, which demonstrated effect of CBS on the
bunches of electrons accelerated in a synchrotron, this effect remained "unclaimed" in a physical experiment. Apparently
because of lack of adequate accelerator and laser techniques and experimenters experienced in both techniques. Happy
combination of first and second terms at BINP has led, in essence, to the birth of a highly efficient experimental method in
particle and nuclear physics." Much of the credit for the fact that "happy combination" materialized at BINP goes to G.Ya.
Kezerashvili, who not only was able to work with the lasers, but also knew how to "fasten" them to the accelerator.
ROKK-1 was used to measure the degree of radiation polarization and to the precision measurement of electron beam
absolute energy by resonance depolarization. Achieved level of accuracy of the beam polarization and its absolute energy
allowed to measure upsilon meson mass with a record precision.
In 1991, G.Ya. Kezerashvili together with academician of RAN A.N. Skrinsky proposed new elegant method of measuring
of a super small beam size. The essence of the method consists in measuring the intensity of Compton scattered gamma-
quanta during the time when the standing wave from laser is getting pulled across the charged beam. The depth of the
intensity modulation contains the information about the size of a charged beam. The beam size resolution of this method is
limited by laser wavelength.
In addition to the fact that the photon is the most studied particle and interacts only electromagnetically, CBS gamma-quanta
have wavelengths of the order of the nucleon and less. This makes them a powerful tool for the study of strongly interacting
particles, and simplifies the theoretical analysis. That is why ROKK-1 became indispensable in experiments on the
photofission of nuclei conducted together with a group from INR RAN (1983-1985). Systematic errors in the measurement
of relative fissiliti of nuclei were reduced by several times at ROKK-1 in compare to other methods. As a result, with high
reliability an excess of 30% of the divisibility of Np-237 on the divisibility of U-238 was measured, whereas the theory
predicted equal divisibility. Significant contribution to the divisibility from low energy and momentum transfer processes
was observed. These results indicated the possible existence of additional mechanisms of excitation of nuclei other than the
hadron mechanism.
ROKK-1 was the first of three facilities of this type built at BINP. In 1987, ROKK-2 was built at the VEPP-3. It was
intended for further experiments on photonuclear physics. These experiments have been conducted continuously for four
years, from 1987 to 1991. Launch of the VEPP-4M collider initiated the creation of a new facility. ROKK-1M was launched
in 1993 and had a number of new features, including ability to obtain gamma-quanta both from electron and positron beams.
Tagging system tagged energy of each photon of gamma-quanta beam with an accuracy of 0.2 percent - the world's best
precision for this kind of activity.
The table from the review article on Physics with photon beams (CERN Courier, July 1999) lists main parameters of the
facilities, which were, or are making physics with gamma-quanta beams produced by the CBS.

Significant contribution of BINP into establishment of the method of generation of CBS gamma-quanta beams of high
energy, including priority in obtaining tagged beams, is obvious. Such BINP standing is largely due to the pioneering work
of G.Ya. Kezerashvili.
Unique features of ROKK-1M facility were at high demand. Work went in several directions. Photon beam of ROKK-1M
was indispensable for solving the problems of precision measurements of parameters of the colliders charged beams, as
well as to study the properties of the new detector systems. Absolute calibration of the energy scale was performed, energy
and spatial resolution was determined for the prototypes of the LKr calorimeter of KEDR detector at BINP and CsI
calorimeter of BELLE detector at B-factory at KEK, Japan. New technique of absolute energy calibration based solely on
the kinematics of inverse Compton scattering of two laser lines with known energy was proposed in collaboration with
N.Yu. Muchnoi. This proposal was very appealing in its simplicity and clarity.
Photonuclear experiments have been continued in collaboration with groups of physicists from the University of Rome, the
Frascati Laboratory, The George Washington University, and the Brazilian Center for Nuclear Research.
Finally, exceptional features of ROKK-1M were used in the ground breaking experiments to verify the nonlinear QED
effects. One of them, photon splitting, is a process of nonlinear QED of high order, in which two photons in initial state, one
real and one virtual corresponding to the Coulomb field of the nucleus, are interacting with an electromagnetic loop and
producing two real photons in final state. The fundamental nature of this extremely rare process attracted much attention of
theoretical physicists. There have been many theoretical works. Theorists at BINP especially excelled in the understanding
of this phenomenon. G.Ya Kezerashvili with team of young researchers eager to make new physics decided to carry
seemingly hopeless experiment. It was expected to see only one event of interest for every 10 million registered. The first
attempt was made in 1994. The necessary statistics was collected in two runs in 1995 and 1996. The effect has been reliably
observed. Preliminary results were presented by G.Ya Kezerashvili at several international conferences since 1996. The final
result was published in 2002. First observation of photon splitting was awarded an article in the Physical Review Focus
(Phys. Rev. Focus 10, 3 (2002)) spotlighting exceptional research in physics. Also, in the same experiment the first precise
observation of another nonlinear QED effect - Delbrck scattering (bending of photon trajectory in strong Coulomb field),
was made.
The quantity and quality of the results obtained in the late 80s and 90s, especially from 1993 to 1999, causes sense of
astonishment. It is enhanced by understanding that this time was one of the most difficult for science in the modern history
of Russia. To paraphrase an expression of N.Yu. Muchnoi G.Ya Kezerashvili talented pupil - you had to be open, honest
and brave man and have G.Ya Kezerashvili passion for science to do so much! It is interesting to quote a very distinctive
expression of academician of RAN LM Barkov about G.Ya. Kezerashvili style of work, which he watched over the years:
"... throughout all the time, when I saw his work, I was struck by very high economy of expenses of all kinds, when he
produced any kind of work. Facilities that were made - they were created by him almost for nothing from all kind of remains
of equipment left over from other works" and then "...it seems to me that besides such an economy of work performed, it is
still very surprising that usually Guram the experimenter, worked in very small team of the work participants. This is also
very important to be able to work that way. Very much has been done, if you look, and basically the whole burden of the
experimental work was on him."
Much water has flowed under the bridge, but the youthful passion for experimentation did not pass in vain. It only got
stronger and brought forth much fruit. Publications, with name of G.Ya Kezerashvili in the authors list continued to appear
within three years after he died.

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