7,846 research outputs found
Breathers in inhomogeneous nonlinear lattices: an analysis via centre manifold reduction
We consider an infinite chain of particles linearly coupled to their nearest
neighbours and subject to an anharmonic local potential. The chain is assumed
weakly inhomogeneous. We look for small amplitude discrete breathers. The
problem is reformulated as a nonautonomous recurrence in a space of
time-periodic functions, where the dynamics is considered along the discrete
spatial coordinate. We show that small amplitude oscillations are determined by
finite-dimensional nonautonomous mappings, whose dimension depends on the
solutions frequency. We consider the case of two-dimensional reduced mappings,
which occurs for frequencies close to the edges of the phonon band. For an
homogeneous chain, the reduced map is autonomous and reversible, and
bifurcations of reversible homoclinics or heteroclinic solutions are found for
appropriate parameter values. These orbits correspond respectively to discrete
breathers, or dark breathers superposed on a spatially extended standing wave.
Breather existence is shown in some cases for any value of the coupling
constant, which generalizes an existence result obtained by MacKay and Aubry at
small coupling. For an inhomogeneous chain the study of the nonautonomous
reduced map is in general far more involved. For the principal part of the
reduced recurrence, using the assumption of weak inhomogeneity, we show that
homoclinics to 0 exist when the image of the unstable manifold under a linear
transformation intersects the stable manifold. This provides a geometrical
understanding of tangent bifurcations of discrete breathers. The case of a mass
impurity is studied in detail, and our geometrical analysis is successfully
compared with direct numerical simulations
Thermodynamics of quantum degenerate gases in optical lattices
The entropy-temperature curves are calculated for non-interacting Bose and
Fermi gases in a 3D optical lattice. These curves facilitate understanding of
how adiabatic changes in the lattice depth affect the temperature, and we
demonstrate regimes where the atomic sample can be significantly heated or
cooled by the loading process. We assess the effects of interactions on a Bose
gas in a deep optical lattice, and show that interactions ultimately limit the
extent of cooling that can occur during lattice loading.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to proceedings of Laser Physics 2006
Worksho
Equilibrium Phases of Tilted Dipolar Lattice Bosons
The recent advances in creating nearly degenerate quantum dipolar gases in
optical lattices are opening the doors for the exploration of equilibrium
physics of quantum systems with anisotropic and long-range dipolar
interactions. In this paper we study the zero- and finite-temperature phase
diagrams of a system of hard-core dipolar bosons at half-filling, trapped in a
two-dimensional optical lattice. The dipoles are aligned parallel to one
another and tilted out of the optical lattice plane by means of an external
electric field. At zero-temperature, the system is a superfluid at all tilt
angles provided that the strength of dipolar interaction is below a
critical value . Upon increasing the interaction strength while
keeping fixed, the superfluid phase is destabilized in favor of a
checkerboard or a stripe solid depending on the tilt angle. We explore the
nature of the phase transition between the two solid phases and find evidence
of a micro-emulsion phase, following the Spivak-Kivelson scenario, separating
these two solid phases. Additionally, we study the stability of these quantum
phases against thermal fluctuations and find that the stripe solid is the most
robust, making it the best candidate for experimental observation.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Oxidative phosphorylation efficiency, proton conductance and reactive oxygen species production of liver mitochondria correlates with body mass in frogs
ody size is a central biological parameter affecting most biological processes (especially energetics) and mitochondria is a key organelle controlling metabolism and is also the cell's main source of chemical energy. However, the link between body size and mitochondrial function is still unclear, especially in ectotherms. In this study, we investigated several parameters of mitochondrial bioenergetics in the liver of three closely related species of frogs (the common frog Rana temporaria, the marsh frog Pelophylax ridibundus and the bull frog Lithobates catesbeiana). These particular species were chosen due to their differences in adult body mass. We found that the mitochondrial coupling efficiency was markedly increased with animal size, which lead to a higher ATP production (+70%) in the larger frogs (L. catesbeiana) compared to the smaller frogs (R. temporaria). This was essentially driven by a strong negative dependence of mitochondrial proton conductance on body mass. Liver mitochondria from the larger frogs (L. catesbeiana) displayed 50% of the proton conductance of mitochondria from the smaller frogs (R. temporaria). Contrary to our prediction, the low mitochondrial proton conductance measured in L. catesbeiana was not associated with higher radical oxygen species production. Instead, liver mitochondria from the larger individuals produced significantly lower radical oxygen species than those from the smaller frogs. Collectively, the data shows that key bioenergetics parameters of mitochondria (proton leak, ATP production efficiency and radical oxygen species production) are correlated with body mass in frogs. This research expands our understanding of the relationship between mitochondrial function and the evolution of allometric scaling in ectotherms
Theory of correlations between ultra-cold bosons released from an optical lattice
In this paper we develop a theoretical description of the correlations
between ultra-cold bosons after free expansion from confinement in an optical
lattice. We consider the system evolution during expansion and give criteria
for a far field regime. We develop expressions for first and second order
two-point correlations based on a variety of commonly used approximations to
the many-body state of the system including Bogoliubov, meanfield decoupling,
and particle-hole perturbative solution about the perfect Mott-insulator state.
Using these approaches we examine the effects of quantum depletion and pairing
on the system correlations. Comparison with the directly calculated correlation
functions is used to justify a Gaussian form of our theory from which we
develop a general three-dimensional formalism for inhomogeneous lattice systems
suitable for numerical calculations of realistic experimental regimes.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. A. (few minor changes
made and typos fixed
Collective Coordinates Theory for Discrete Soliton Ratchets in the sine-Gordon Model
A collective coordinate theory is develop for soliton ratchets in the damped
discrete sine-Gordon model driven by a biharmonic force. An ansatz with two
collective coordinates, namely the center and the width of the soliton, is
assumed as an approximated solution of the discrete non-linear equation. The
evolution of these two collective coordinates, obtained by means of the
Generalized Travelling Wave Method, explains the mechanism underlying the
soliton ratchet and captures qualitatively all the main features of this
phenomenon. The theory accounts for the existence of a non-zero depinning
threshold, the non-sinusoidal behaviour of the average velocity as a function
of the difference phase between the harmonics of the driver, the non-monotonic
dependence of the average velocity on the damping and the existence of
non-transporting regimes beyond the depinning threshold. In particular it
provides a good description of the intriguing and complex pattern of subspaces
corresponding to different dynamical regimes in parameter space
Linear response in the uniformly heated granular gas
We analyse the linear response properties of the uniformly heated granular
gas. The intensity of the stochastic driving fixes the value of the granular
temperature in the non-equilibrium steady state reached by the system. Here, we
investigate two specific situations. First, we look into the ``direct''
relaxation of the system after a single (small) jump of the driving intensity.
This study is carried out by two different methods. Not only do we linearise
the evolution equations around the steady state, but also derive generalised
out-of-equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation relations for the relevant response
functions. Second, we investigate the behaviour of the system in a more complex
experiment, specifically a Kovacs-like protocol with two jumps in the driving.
The emergence of anomalous Kovacs response is explained in terms of the
properties of the direct relaxation function: it is the second mode changing
sign at the critical value of the inelasticity that demarcates anomalous from
normal behaviour. The analytical results are compared with numerical
simulations of the kinetic equation, and a good agreement is found.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures; major revision; completely new section on
non-equilibrium FDR; accepted for publication in PR
Double Quantum Dots in Carbon Nanotubes
We study the two-electron eigenspectrum of a carbon-nanotube double quantum
dot with spin-orbit coupling. Exact calculation are combined with a simple
model to provide an intuitive and accurate description of single-particle and
interaction effects. For symmetric dots and weak magnetic fields, the
two-electron ground state is antisymmetric in the spin-valley degree of freedom
and is not a pure spin-singlet state. When double occupation of one dot is
favored by increasing the detuning between the dots, the Coulomb interaction
causes strong correlation effects realized by higher orbital-level mixing.
Changes in the double-dot configuration affect the relative strength of the
electron-electron interactions and can lead to different ground state
transitions. In particular, they can favor a ferromagnetic ground state both in
spin and valley degrees of freedom. The strong suppression of the energy gap
can cause the disappearance of the Pauli blockade in transport experiments and
thereby can also limit the stability of spin-qubits in quantum information
proposals. Our analysis is generalized to an array of coupled dots which is
expected to exhibit rich many-body behavior.Comment: 14 pages, 11 pages and 1 table. Typos in text and Figs.4 and 6
correcte
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