Photonic band gap and x-ray optics in warm dense matter

Photonic band gaps for the soft x-rays, formed in the periodic structures of solids or dense plasmas, are theoretically investigated. Optical manipulation mechanisms for the soft x-rays, which are based on these band gaps, are computationally demonstrated. The reflection and amplification of the soft x-rays, and the compression and stretching of chirped soft x-ray pulses are discussed. A scheme for lasing with atoms with two energy levels, utilizing the band gap, is also studied.Comment: 3 figures, will be published on Po

Entanglement transfer from continuous variables to qubits

We show that two qubits can be entangled by local interactions with an entangled two-mode continuous variable state. This is illustrated by the evolution of two two-level atoms interacting with a two-mode squeezed state. Two modes of the squeezed field are injected respectively into two spatially separate cavities and the atoms are then sent into the cavities to resonantly interact with the cavity field. We find that the atoms may be entangled even by a two-mode squeezed state which has been decohered while penetrating into the cavity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Valence bond solid order near impurities in two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets

Recent scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) experiments on underdoped cuprates have displayed modulations in the local electronic density of states which are centered on a Cu-O-Cu bond (Kohsaka et. al., cond-mat/0703309). As a paradigm of the pinning of such bond-centered ordering in strongly correlated systems, we present the theory of valence bond solid (VBS) correlations near a single impurity in a square lattice antiferromagnet. The antiferromagnet is assumed to be in the vicinity of a quantum transition from a magnetically ordered Neel state to a spin-gap state with long-range VBS order. We identify two distinct classes of impurities: i) local modulation in the exchange constants, and ii) a missing or additional spin, for which the impurity perturbation is represented by an uncompensated Berry phase. The `boundary' critical theory for these classes is developed: in the second class we find a `VBS pinwheel' around the impurity, accompanied by a suppression in the VBS susceptibility. Implications for numerical studies of quantum antiferromagnets and for STM experiments on the cuprates are noted.Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures; (v2) Minor changes in terminology, added reference

Asymptotic deconfinement in high-density QCD

We discuss QCD with two light flavors at large baryon chemical potential mu. Color superconductivity leads to partial breaking of the color SU(3) group. We show that the infrared physics is governed by the gluodynamics of the remaining SU(2) group with an exponentially soft confinement scale Lambda_QCD' Delta*exp[-a*mu/(g*Delta)], where Delta<<mu is the superconducting gap, g is the strong coupling, and a=0.81... We estimate that at moderate baryon densities Lambda_QCD' is O(10 MeV) or smaller. The confinement radius increases exponentially with density, leading to "asymptotic deconfinement." The velocity of the SU(2) gluons is small due to the large dielectric constant of the medium.Comment: 4 pages; restructured, published versio

Response of strongly-interacting matter to magnetic field: some exact results

We derive some exact results concerning the response of strongly-interacting matter to external magnetic fields. Our results come from consideration of triangle anomalies in medium. First, we define an "axial magnetic susceptibility," then we examine its beahvior in two flavor QCD via response theory. In the chirally restored phase, this quantity is proportional to the fermion chemical potential, while in the phase of broken chiral symmetry it can be related, through triangle anomalies, to an in-medium amplitude for the neutral pion to decay to two photons. We confirm the latter result by calculation in a linear sigma model, where this amplitude is already known in the literature.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, To be submitted to Physical Review D, fixed an omitted referenc

Electroweak phase transition in the MSSM with four generations

By assuming the existence of the sequential fourth generation to the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we study the possibility of a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition. We find that there is a parameter region of the MSSM where the electroweak phase transition is strongly first order. In that parameter region, the mass of the lighter scalar Higgs boson is calculated to be above the experimental lower bound, and the scalar quarks of the third and the fourth generations are heavier than the corresponding quarks.Comment: 12 pages, 2 tables, 2 figure

Domain walls of high-density QCD

We show that in very dense quark matter there must exist metastable domain walls where the axial U(1) phase of the color-superconducting condensate changes by 2pi. The decay rate of the domain walls is exponentially suppressed and we compute it semiclassically. We give an estimate of the critical chemical potential above which our analysis is under theoretical control.Comment: 4 pages; Eq. (16) corrected, 2 new references added, published versio