Milne-Eddington Solutions for Relativistic Plane-Parallel Flows

Radiative transfer in a relativistic plane-parallel flow, e.g., an accretion disk wind, is examined in the fully special relativistic treatment. Under the assumption of a constant flow speed, for the relativistically moving atmosphere we analytically obtain generalized Milne-Eddington solutions of radiative moment equations; the radiation energy density, the radiative flux, and the radiation pressure. In the static limit these solutions reduce to the traditional Milne-Eddington ones for the plane-parallel static atmosphere, whereas the source function nearly becomes constant as the flow speed increases. Using the analytical solutions, we analytically integrate the relativistic transfer equation to obtain the specific intensity. This specific intensity also reduces to the Milne-Eddinton case in the static limit, while the emergent intensity is strongly enhanced toward the flow direction due to the Doppler and aberration effects as the flow speed increases (relativistic peaking).Comment: 1o pages, 5 figure

The physical origin of the electron-phonon vertex correction

The electron-phonon vertex correction has a complex structure both in momentum and frequency. We explain this structure on the basis of physical considerations and we show how the vertex correction can be decomposed into two terms with different physical origins. In particular, the first term describes the lattice polarization induced by the electrons and it is essentially a single-electron process whereas the second term is governed by the particle-hole excitations due to the exchange part of the phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction. We show that by weakening the influence of the exchange interaction the vertex takes mostly positive values giving rise to an enhanced effective coupling in the scattering with phonons. This weakening of the exchange interaction can be obtained by lowering the density of the electrons, or by considering only long-ranged (small q) electron-phonon couplings. These findings permit to understand why in the High-Tc materials the small carrier density and the long ranged electron-phonon interaction may play a positive role in enhancing Tc.Comment: 11 pages, 5 postscript figure

Multiple scattering of classical waves: from microscopy to mesoscopy and diffusion

A tutorial discussion of the propagation of waves in random media is presented. In first approximation the transport of the multiple scattered waves is given by diffusion theory, but important corrections are present. These corrections are calculated with the radiative transfer or Schwarzschild-Milne equation, which describes intensity transport at the ``mesoscopic'' level and is derived from the ``microscopic'' wave equation. A precise treatment of the diffuse intensity is derived which automatically includes the effects of boundary layers. Effects such as the enhanced backscatter cone and imaging of objects in opaque media are also discussed within this framework. In the second part the approach is extended to mesoscopic correlations between multiple scattered intensities which arise when scattering is strong. These correlations arise from the underlying wave character. The derivation of correlation functions and intensity distribution functions is given and experimental data are discussed. Although the focus is on light scattering, the theory is also applicable to micro waves, sound waves and non-interacting electrons.Comment: Review. 86 pages Latex, 32 eps-figures included. To appear in Rev. Mod. Phy

Foerster resonance energy transfer rate and local density of optical states are uncorrelated in any dielectric nanophotonic medium

Motivated by the ongoing debate about nanophotonic control of Foerster resonance energy transfer (FRET), notably by the local density of optical states (LDOS), we study an analytic model system wherein a pair of ideal dipole emitters - donor and acceptor - exhibit energy transfer in the vicinity of an ideal mirror. The FRET rate is controlled by the mirror up to distances comparable to the donor-acceptor distance, that is, the few-nanometer range. For vanishing distance, we find a complete inhibition or a four-fold enhancement, depending on dipole orientation. For mirror distances on the wavelength scale, where the well-known `Drexhage' modification of the spontaneous-emission rate occurs, the FRET rate is constant. Hence there is no correlation between the Foerster (or total) energy transfer rate and the LDOS. At any distance to the mirror, the total energy transfer between a closely-spaced donor and acceptor is dominated by Foerster transfer, i.e., by the static dipole-dipole interaction that yields the characteristic inverse-sixth-power donor-acceptor distance dependence in homogeneous media. Generalizing to arbitrary inhomogeneous media with weak dispersion and weak absorption in the frequency overlap range of donor and acceptor, we derive two main theoretical results. Firstly, the spatially dependent Foerster energy transfer rate does not depend on frequency, hence not on the LDOS. Secondly the FRET rate is expressed as a frequency integral of the imaginary part of the Green function. This leads to an approximate FRET rate in terms of the LDOS integrated over a huge bandwidth from zero frequency to about 10 times the donor emission frequency, corresponding to the vacuum-ultraviolet. Even then, the broadband LDOS hardly contributes to the energy transfer rates. We discuss practical consequences including quantum information processing.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

Phonons, electronic charge response and electron-phonon interaction in the high-temperature superconductors

We investigate in the framework of linear response theory the complete phonon dispersion, phonon induced electronic charge response, electron-phonon interaction and dielectric and infrared properties of the high-temperature superconductors (HTSC's). In particular the experimentally observed strong renormalization of the in-plane oxygen bond-stretching modes (OBSM) which appear upon doping in the HTSC's is discussed. It is shown that the characteristic softening, indicating a strong EPI, is most likely a generic effect of the CuO plane and is driven by a nonlocal coupling of the displaced ions to the localized charge-fluctuations (CF's) at the Cu and O ions. The different behaviour of the OBSM during the insulator-metal transition via the underdoped phase is calculated and from a comparison of these modes conclusions about the electronic state in the HTSC's are drawn. The underdoped state is modelled in terms of a charge response which is insulator-like at the Cu and is competing with a metallic charge response at the O-network in the CuO plane. For the non-cuprate HTSC Ba-Bi-O also a strong renormalization of the OBSM is predicted. C-axis polarized infrared and Raman-active modes of the HTSC's are calculated in terms of CF's and anisotropic dipole-fluctuations and the problem of a metallic character of the BiO planes is studied.Interlayer phonons and their accompanying charge response are investigated. Depending on the interlayer coupling calculations are performed from the static, adiabatic- to the non-adiabatic regime.It is shown that phonon-plasmon mixing and a strong long-ranged non-adiabatic EPI becomes evident within a certain region around the c-axis. Both the OBSM and the non-adiabatic coupled c-axis phonon-plasmon modes are found to be important for pairing in the HTSC's.Comment: 65 pages,20 figures. Extended version to appear in Physica Status Solidi (b) 2004; figure 20 has been corrected; references have been adde

Radiative Heat Transfer and Effective Transport Coefficients

The theory of heat transfer by electromagnetic radiation is based on the radiative transfer equation (RTE) for the radiation intensity, or equivalently on the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) for the photon distribution. We focus in this review article, after a brief overview on different solution methods, on a recently introduced approach based on truncated moment expansion. Due to the linearity of the underlying BTE, the appropriate closure of the system of moment equations is entropy production rate minimization. This closure provides a distribution function and the associated effective transport coefficients, like mean absorption coefficients and the Eddington factor, for an arbitrary number of moments. The moment approach is finally illustrated with an application of the two-moment equations to an electrical arc

Neglecting the porosity of hot-star winds can lead to underestimating mass-loss rates

Context: The mass-loss rate is a key parameter of massive stars. Adequate stellar atmosphere models are required for spectral analyses and mass-loss determinations. Present models can only account for the inhomogeneity of stellar winds in the approximation of small-scale structures that are optically thin. This treatment of ``microclumping'' has led to reducing empirical mass-loss rates by factors of two and more. Aims: Stellar wind clumps can be optically thick in spectral lines. We investigate how this ``macroclumping'' impacts on empirical mass-loss rates. Methods: The Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) model atmosphere code is generalized in the ``formal integral'' to account for clumps that are not necessarily optically thin. Results: Optically thick clumps reduce the effective opacity. This has a pronounced effect on the emergent spectrum. Our modeling for the O-type supergiant zeta Puppis reveals that the optically thin H-alpha line is not affected by wind porosity, but that the PV resonance doublet becomes significantly weaker when macroclumping is taken into account. The reported discrepancies between resonance-line and recombination-line diagnostics can be resolved entirely with the macroclumping modeling without downward revision of the mass-loss rate. Conclusions: Mass-loss rates inferred from optically thin emission, such as the H-alpha line in O stars, are not influenced by macroclumping. The strength of optically thick lines, however, is reduced because of the porosity effects. Therefore, neglecting the porosity in stellar wind modeling can lead to underestimating empirical mass-loss rates.Comment: A&A (in press), see full abstract in the tex