Phase diagram of the extended Hubbard chain with charge-dipole interactions

We consider a modified extended Hubbard model (EHM) which, in addition to the on-site repulsion U and nearest-neighbor repulsion V, includes polarization effects in second-order perturbation theory. The model is equivalent to an EHM with renormalized U plus a next-nearest-neighbor repulsion term. Using a method based on topological quantum numbers (charge and spin Berry phases), we generalize to finite hopping t the quantum phase diagram in one dimension constructed by van den Brink et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4658 (1995)). At hopping t=0 there are two charge density-wave phases, one spin density-wave phase and one intermediate phase with charge and spin ordering, depending on the parameter values. At t \neq 0 the nature of each phase is confirmed by studying correlation functions. However, in addition to the strong-coupling phases, a small region with bond ordering appears. The region occupied by the intermediate phase first increases and then decreases with increasing t, until it finally disappears for t of the order but larger than U. For small t, the topological transitions agree with the results of second order perturbation theory.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, two columns latex version. Accepted for publication in Physical Review B. Mistaken reference 16 has been correcte

Lattice Twisting Operators and Vertex Operators in Sine-Gordon Theory in One Dimension

In one dimension, the exponential position operators introduced in a theory of polarization are identified with the twisting operators appearing in the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis argument, and their finite-size expectation values $z_L$ measure the overlap between the unique ground state and an excited state. Insulators are characterized by $z_{\infty}\neq 0$. We identify $z_L$ with ground-state expectation values of vertex operators in the sine-Gordon model. This allows an accurate detection of quantum phase transitions in the universality classes of the Gaussian model. We apply this theory to the half-filled extended Hubbard model and obtain agreement with the level-crossing approach.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Phase diagram of the Hubbard chain with two atoms per cell

We obtain the quantum phase diagram of the Hubbard chain with alternating on-site energy at half filling. The model is relevant for the ferroelectric perovskites and organic mixed-stack donor-acceptor crystals. For any values of the parameters, the band insulator is separated from the Mott insulator by a dimer phase. The boundaries are determined accurately by crossing of excited levels with particular discrete symmetries. We show that these crossings coincide with jumps of charge and spin Berry phases with a clear geometrical meaning.Comment: 5 pages including 2 figures To be published in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Communications

Charge dynamics in the Mott insulating phase of the ionic Hubbard model

We extend to charge and bond operators the transformation that maps the ionic Hubbard model at half filling onto an effective spin Hamiltonian. Using these operators we calculate the amplitude of the charge density wave in different dimensions. In one dimension, the charge-charge correlations at large distance d decay as 1/(d^3 ln^{3/2}d), in spite of the presence of a charge gap, as a consequence of remaining charge-spin coupling. Bond-bond correlations decay as (-1)^d 1/(d ln^{3/2}d) as in the usual Hubbard model.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B printing errors corrected and some clarifications adde

Light Quark Masses in Multi-Quark Interactions

We suggest and discuss in detail a multi-quark three flavor Lagrangian of the Nambu -- Jona-Lasinio type, which includes a set of effective interactions proportional to the current quark masses. It is shown that within the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking regime, the masses of the pseudo Goldstone bosons and their chiral partners, members of the low lying scalar nonet, are in perfect agreement with current phenomenological expectations. The role of the new interactions is analyzed.Comment: 8 pages, published versio

Wave effect in gravitational lensing by a cosmic string

The wave effect in the gravitational lensing phenomenon by a straight cosmic string is investigated. The interference pattern is expressed in terms of a simple formula. We demonstrate that modulations of the interfered wave amplitude can be a unique signature of the wave effect. We briefly mention a possible chance of detecting the wave effect in future gravitational wave observatories.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Spin fluctuations and ferromagnetic order in two-dimensional itinerant systems with Van Hove singularities

The quasistatic approach is used to analyze the criterion of ferromagnetism for two-dimensional (2D) systems with the Fermi level near Van Hove (VH) singularities of the electron spectrum. It is shown that the spectrum of spin excitations (paramagnons) is positively defined when the interaction between electrons and paramagnons, determined by the Hubbard on-site repulsion U, is sufficiently large. Due to incommensurate spin fluctuations near the ferromagnetic quantum phase transition, the critical interaction Uc remains finite at VH filling and exceeds considerably its value obtained from the Stoner criterion. A comparison with the functional renormalization group results and mean-field approximation which yields a phase separation is also performed

Progress in QCD next-to-leading order calculations

I review progress related to the calculation of QCD jet cross sections at the NLO accuracy. After a short introduction into the theory of NLO calculations, I discuss two recent developments: the calculation of two- and three-jet leptoproduction at the NLO accuracy and the extension of the dipole subtraction method for computing NLO corrections for processes involving massive partons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX using JHEP3.cls, Invited talk at the International Europhysics Conference on High-Energy Physics (HEP 2001

Coherent dynamics of a Josephson charge qubit

We have fabricated a Josephson charge qubit by capacitively coupling a single-Cooper-pair box (SCB) to an electrometer based upon a single-electron transistor configured for radio-frequency readout (RF-SET). Charge quantization of 2e is observed and microwave spectroscopy is used to extract the Josephson and charging energies of the box. We perform coherent manipulation of the SCB by using very fast DC pulses and observe quantum oscillations in time of the charge that persist to ~=10ns. The observed contrast of the oscillations is high and agrees with that expected from the finite E_J/E_C ratio and finite rise-time of the DC pulses. In addition, we are able to demonstrate nearly 100% initial charge state polarization. We also present a method to determine the relaxation time T_1 when it is shorter than the measurement time T_{meas}.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Phase Diagram of a Spin Ladder with Cyclic Four Spin Exchange

We present the phase diagram of the $S=1/2$ Heisenberg model on the two leg ladder with cyclic four spin exchange, determined by a combination of Exact Diagonalization and Density Matrix Renormalization Group techniques. We find six different phases and regimes: the rung singlet phase, a ferromagnetic phase, two symmetry broken phases with staggered dimers and staggered scalar chiralities, and a gapped region with dominant vector chirality or collinear spin correlations. We localize the phase transitions and investigate their nature.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, REVTeX 4, published versio