42 research outputs found
Magnetic fluctuations in 2D metals close to the Stoner instability
We consider the effect of potential disorder on magnetic properties of a
two-dimensional metallic system (with conductance ) when interaction in
the triplet channel is so strong that the system is close to the threshold of
the Stoner instability. We show, that under these conditions there is an
exponentially small probability for the system to form local spin droplets
which are local regions with non zero spin density. Using a non-local version
of the optimal fluctuation method we find analytically the probability
distribution and the typical spin of a local spin droplet (LSD). In particular,
we show that both the probability to form a LSD and its typical spin are
independent of the size of the droplet (within the exponential accuracy). The
LSDs manifest themselves in temperature dependence of observable quantities. We
show, that below certain cross-over temperature the paramagnetic susceptibility
acquires the Curie-like temperature dependence, while the dephasing time
(extracted from magneto-resistance measurements) saturates.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Phase separation in the two-dimensional electron liquid in MOSFETs
We show that the existence of an intermediate phase between the Fermi liquid
and the Wigner crystal phases is a generic property of the two-dimensional pure
electron liqd in MOSFET's at zero temperature. The physical reason for the
existence of these phases is a partial separation of the uniform phases.
We discuss properties of these phases and a possible explanation of
experimental results on transport properties of low density electron gas in Si
MOSFET's. We also argue that in certain range of parameters the partial phase
separation corresponds to a supersolid phas e discussed in [AndreevLifshitz].Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Loss of Pi-Junction Behaviour in an Interacting Impurity Josephson Junction
Using a generalization of the non-crossing approximation which incorporates
Andreev reflection, we study the properties of an infinite-U Anderson impurity
coupled to two superconducting leads. In the regime where and
are comparable, we find that the position of the sub-gap resonance in the
impurity spectral function develops a strong anomalous phase dependence-- its
energy is a minimum when the phase difference between the superconductors is
equal to . Calculating the Josephson current through the impurity, we find
that -junction behaviour is lost as the position of the bound-state moves
above the Fermi energy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; labelling of Fig. 3 corrected; final published
form, only trivial change
Josephson current in unconventional superconductors through an Anderson impurity
Josephson current for a system consisting of an Anderson impurity weakly
coupled to two unconventional superconductors is studied and shown to be driven
by a surface zero energy (mid-gap) bound-state. The repulsive Coulomb
interaction in the dot can turn a junction into a 0-junction. This effect
is more pronounced in p-wave superconductors while in high-temperature
superconductors with symmetry it can exit for rather large
artificial centers at which tunneling occurs within a finite region.Comment: 4 pages 3.eps figure
On the absence of ferromagnetism in typical 2D ferromagnets
We consider the Ising systems in dimensions with nearest-neighbor
ferromagnetic interactions and long-range repulsive (antiferromagnetic)
interactions which decay with a power, , of the distance. The physical
context of such models is discussed; primarily this is and where,
at long distances, genuine magnetic interactions between genuine magnetic
dipoles are of this form. We prove that when the power of decay lies above
and does not exceed , then for all temperatures, the spontaneous
magnetization is zero. In contrast, we also show that for powers exceeding
(with ) magnetic order can occur.Comment: 15 pages, CMP style fil
Josephson Coupling through a Quantum Dot
We derive, via fourth order perturbation theory, an expression for the
Josephson current through a gated interacting quantum dot. We analyze our
expression for two different models of the superconductor-dot-superconductor
(SDS) system. When the matrix elements connecting dot and leads are featureless
constants, we compute the Josephson coupling J_c as a function of the gate
voltage and Coulomb interaction. In the diffusive dot limit, we compute the
probability distribution P(J_c) of Josephson couplings. In both cases, pi
junction behavior (J_c < 0) is possible, and is not simply dependent on the
parity of the dot occupancy.Comment: 9 pages; 3 encapsulated PostScript figure
Quantum superconductor-metal transition
We consider a system of superconducting grains embedded in a normal metal. At
zero temperature this system exhibits a quantum superconductor-normal metal
phase transition. This transition can take place at arbitrarily large
conductance of the normal metal.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure include
Temporal fluctuations of waves in weakly nonlinear disordered media
We consider the multiple scattering of a scalar wave in a disordered medium
with a weak nonlinearity of Kerr type. The perturbation theory, developed to
calculate the temporal autocorrelation function of scattered wave, fails at
short correlation times. A self-consistent calculation shows that for
nonlinearities exceeding a certain threshold value, the multiple-scattering
speckle pattern becomes unstable and exhibits spontaneous fluctuations even in
the absence of scatterer motion. The instability is due to a distributed
feedback in the system "coherent wave + nonlinear disordered medium". The
feedback is provided by the multiple scattering. The development of instability
is independent of the sign of nonlinearity.Comment: RevTeX, 15 pages (including 5 figures), accepted for publication in
Phys. Rev.
Renormalization of the upper critical field by superconducting fluctuations
We study the effect of superconducting fluctuations on the upper critical
field of a disordered superconducting film at low temperatures. The first order
fluctuation correction is found explicitly. In the framework of the
perturbative analysis, superconducting fluctuations are shown to shift the
upper critical field line toward lower fields and do not lead to an upward
curvature. Higher order corrections to the quadratic term coefficient in the
Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional are studied. We extract a family of the
mostly divergent diagrams and formulate a general rule of calculating a diagram
of an arbitrary order. We find that the singularity gets more severe with
increasing perturbation theory order. We conclude that the renormalization of
the Ginzburg-Landau coefficients by superconducting fluctuations is an
essentially non-perturbative effect. As a result, the genuine transition line
may be strongly shifted from the classical mean-field curve in a
two-dimensional superconductor.Comment: 7 pages, 5 Eps figures; replaced with revised versio
Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995-2009: analysis of individual data for 25,676,887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2)
BACKGROUND:
Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control.
METHODS:
Individual tumour records were submitted by 279 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries for 25·7 million adults (age 15-99 years) and 75,000 children (age 0-14 years) diagnosed with cancer during 1995-2009 and followed up to Dec 31, 2009, or later. We looked at cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary, and prostate in adults, and adult and childhood leukaemia. Standardised quality control procedures were applied; errors were corrected by the registry concerned. We estimated 5-year net survival, adjusted for background mortality in every country or region by age (single year), sex, and calendar year, and by race or ethnic origin in some countries. Estimates were age-standardised with the International Cancer Survival Standard weights.
FINDINGS:
5-year survival from colon, rectal, and breast cancers has increased steadily in most developed countries. For patients diagnosed during 2005-09, survival for colon and rectal cancer reached 60% or more in 22 countries around the world; for breast cancer, 5-year survival rose to 85% or higher in 17 countries worldwide. Liver and lung cancer remain lethal in all nations: for both cancers, 5-year survival is below 20% everywhere in Europe, in the range 15-19% in North America, and as low as 7-9% in Mongolia and Thailand. Striking rises in 5-year survival from prostate cancer have occurred in many countries: survival rose by 10-20% between 1995-99 and 2005-09 in 22 countries in South America, Asia, and Europe, but survival still varies widely around the world, from less than 60% in Bulgaria and Thailand to 95% or more in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the USA. For cervical cancer, national estimates of 5-year survival range from less than 50% to more than 70%; regional variations are much wider, and improvements between 1995-99 and 2005-09 have generally been slight. For women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005-09, 5-year survival was 40% or higher only in Ecuador, the USA, and 17 countries in Asia and Europe. 5-year survival for stomach cancer in 2005-09 was high (54-58%) in Japan and South Korea, compared with less than 40% in other countries. By contrast, 5-year survival from adult leukaemia in Japan and South Korea (18-23%) is lower than in most other countries. 5-year survival from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is less than 60% in several countries, but as high as 90% in Canada and four European countries, which suggests major deficiencies in the management of a largely curable disease.
INTERPRETATION:
International comparison of survival trends reveals very wide differences that are likely to be attributable to differences in access to early diagnosis and optimum treatment. Continuous worldwide surveillance of cancer survival should become an indispensable source of information for cancer patients and researchers and a stimulus for politicians to improve health policy and health-care systems