Possible field-tuned SIT in high-Tc superconductors: implications for pairing at high magnetic fields

The behavior of some high temperature superconductors (HTSC) such as $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}$ and $\rm Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_xCuO_{6+\delta}$, at very high magnetic field, is similar to that of thin films of amorphous InOx near the magnetic field-tuned superconductor-insulator transition. Analyzing the InOx data at high fields in terms of persisting local pairing amplitude, we argue by analogy that local pairing amplitude also persists well into the dissipative state of the HTSCs, the regime commonly denoted as the "normal state" in very high magnetic field experiments.Comment: Revised figures and reference

Transport Properties of a spinon Fermi surface coupled to a U(1) gauge field

With the organic compound $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$-Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ in mind, we consider a spin liquid system where a spinon Fermi surface is coupled to a U(1) gauge field. Using the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism, we derive the Quantum Boltzmann Equation (QBE) for this system. In this system, however, one cannot a priori assume the existence of Landau quasiparticles. We show that even without this assumption one can still derive a linearized equation for a generalized distribution function. We show that the divergence of the effective mass and of the finite temperature self-energy do not enter these transport coefficients and thus they are well-defined. Moreover, using a variational method, we calculate the temperature dependence of the spin resistivity and thermal conductivity of this system.Comment: 12 page

Simulation of indivisible qubit channels in collision models

A sequence of controlled collisions between a quantum system and its environment (composed of a set of quantum objects) naturally simulates (with arbitrary precision) any Markovian quantum dynamics of the system under consideration. In this paper we propose and study the problem of simulation of an {\it arbitrary} quantum channel via collision models. We show that a correlated environment is capable to simulate {\it non-Markovian} evolutions leading to any indivisible qubit channel. In particular, we derive the corresponding master equation generating a continuous time non-Markovian dynamics implementing the universal NOT gate being an example of the most non-Markovian quantum channels.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to JP

Simultaneous Measurements of the Torsional Oscillator Anomaly and Thermal Conductivity in Solid 4He

In these torsional oscillator experiments the samples of solid $^4$He were characterized by measuring their thermal conducitvity. Polycrystalline samples of helium of either high isotopic purity or natural concentration of $^3$He were grown in an annular container by the blocked-capillary method and investigated before and after annealing. No correlation has been found between the magnitude of the low-temperature shift of the torsional oscillator frequency and the amount of crystalline defects as measured by the thermal conductivity. In samples with the natural $^3$He concentration a substantial excess thermal conductivity over the usual $T^3$ dependence was observed below 120 mK.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Signatures of exchange correlations in the thermopower of quantum dots

We use a many-body rate-equation approach to calculate the thermopower of a quantum dot in the presence of an exchange interaction. At temperatures much smaller than the single-particle level spacing, the known quantum jumps (discontinuities) in the thermopower are split by the exchange interaction. The origin and nature of the splitting are elucidated with a simple physical argument based on the nature of the intermediate excited state in the sequential tunneling approach. We show that this splitting is sensitive to the number parity of electrons in the dot and the dot's ground-state spin. These effects are suppressed when cotunneling dominates the electrical and thermal conductances. We calculate the thermopower in the presence of elastic cotunneling, and show that some signatures of exchange correlations should still be observed with current experimental methods. In particular, we propose a method to determine the strength of the exchange interaction from measurements of the thermopower.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures Revised figure 6, and changed discussion of figure

Equally-distant partially-entangled alphabet states for quantum channels

Each Bell state has the property that by performing just local operations on one qubit, the complete Bell basis can be generated. That is, states generated by local operations are totally distinguishable. This remarkable property is due to maximal quantum entanglement between the two particles. We present a set of local unitary transformations that generate out of partially entangled two-qubit state a set of four maximally distinguishable states that are mutually equally distant. We discuss quantum dense coding based on these alphabet states.Comment: 7 revtex pages, 2 eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. A 62, 1 November (2000

Shear viscosity of degenerate electron matter

We calculate the partial electron shear viscosity $\eta_{ee}$ limited by electron-electron collisions in a strongly degenerate electron gas taking into account the Landau damping of transverse plasmons. The Landau damping strongly suppresses $\eta_{ee}$ in the domain of ultrarelativistic degenerate electrons and modifies its %asymptotic temperature behavior. The efficiency of the electron shear viscosity in the cores of white dwarfs and envelopes of neutron stars is analyzed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Journal of Physics

Charge Ordering and Spin Dynamics in NaV2O5

We report high-resolution neutron inelastic scattering experiments on the spin excitations of NaV2O5. Below Tc, two branches associated with distinct energy gaps are identified. From the dispersion and intensity of the spin excitation modes, we deduce the precise zig-zag charge distribution on the ladder rungs and the corresponding charge order (about 0.6). We argue that the spin gaps observed in the low-T phase of this compound are primarily due to the charge transfer.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Heat transport of clean spin-ladders coupled to phonons: Umklapp scattering and drag

We study the low-temperature heat transport in clean two-leg spin ladder compounds coupled to three-dimensional phonons. We argue that the very large heat conductivities observed in such systems can be traced back to the existence of approximate symmetries and corresponding weakly violated conservation laws of the effective (gapful) low--energy model, namely pseudo-momenta. Depending on the ratios of spin gaps and Debye energy and on the temperature, the magnetic contribution to the heat conductivity can be positive or negative, and exhibit an activated or anti-activated behavior. In most regimes, the magnetic heat conductivity is dominated by the spin-phonon drag: the excitations of the two subsystems have almost the same drift velocity, and this allows for an estimate of the ratio of the magnetic and phononic contributions to the heat conductivity.Comment: revised version, 8 pages, 3 figures, added appendi