546 research outputs found
Origin of Strong Coupling in Lithium under Pressure
In an attempt to provide a clearer understanding of the impressive increase
in T_c under pressure in elemental Li, linear response calculation of the
phonon dispersion curves, electron-phonon matrix elements, phonon linewidths
and mode lambda's have been carried out on a finer mesh (24^3 in the Brillouin
zone) than done previously, for the volume corresponding to 20 GPa pressure.
The result illustrates the great need for a fine mesh (even finer than this)
for converged results of lambda and the spectral function alpha^2 F. Although
the initial pressure-induced transverse T_1 phonon instability (in harmonic
approximation) near the symmetry point K has dominated attention, the current
results show that the high value of T_c gets strong contributions from
elsewhere in the zone, particularly from the longitudinal mode along (100).Comment: Proceedings for M2
Extreme Electron-Phonon Coupling in Boron-based Layered Superconductors
The phonon-mode decomposition of the electron-phonon coupling in the
MgB2-like system Li_{1-x}BC is explored using first principles calculations. It
is found that the high temperature superconductivity of such systems results
from extremely strong coupling to only ~2% of the phonon modes. Novel
characteristics of E_2g branches include (1) ``mode lambda'' values of 25 and
greater compared to a mean of for other modes, (2) a precipitous
Kohn anomaly, and (3) E_2g phonon linewidths within a factor of ~2 of the
frequency itself, indicating impending breakdown of linear electron-phonon
theory. This behavior in borne out by recent inelastic x-ray scattering studies
of MgB2 by Shukla et al.Comment: 4 two-column pages, 4 figures. Equations simplified. Figure 4
changed. Comparison with new data include
BRST analysis of topologically massive gauge theory: novel observations
A dynamical non-Abelian 2-form gauge theory (with B \wedge F term) is endowed
with the "scalar" and "vector" gauge symmetry transformations. In our present
endeavor, we exploit the latter gauge symmetry transformations and perform the
Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) analysis of the four (3 + 1)-dimensional (4D)
topologically massive non-Abelian 2-form gauge theory. We demonstrate the
existence of some novel features that have, hitherto, not been observed in the
context of BRST approach to 4D (non-)Abelian 1-form as well as Abelian 2-form
and 3-form gauge theories. We comment on the differences between the novel
features that emerge in the BRST analysis of the "scalar" and "vector" gauge
symmetries of the theory.Comment: LaTeX file, 14 pages, an appendix added, references expanded, version
to appear in EPJ
Polaronic Signatures in Mid-Infrared Spectra: Prediction for LaMnO3 and CaMnO3
Hole-doped LaMnO3 and electron-doped CaMnO3 form self-trapped electronic
states. The spectra of these states have been calculated using a two orbital
(Mn eg Jahn-Teller) model, from which the non-adiabatic optical conductivity
spectra are obtained. In both cases the optical spectrum contains weight in the
gap region, whose observation will indicate the self-trapped nature of the
carrier states. The predicted spectra are proportional to the concentration of
the doped carriers in the dilute regime, with coefficients calculated with no
further model parameters.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figures imbedde
Quantum-critical pairing with varying exponents
We analyse the onset temperature T_p for the pairing in cuprate
superconductors at small doping, when tendency towards antiferromagnetism is
strong. We consider the model of Moon and Sachdev (MS), which assumes that
electron and hole pockets survive in a paramagnetic phase. Within this model,
the pairing between fermions is mediated by a gauge boson, whose propagator
remains massless in a paramagnet. We relate the MS model to a generic
\gamma-model of quantum-critical pairing with the pairing kernel \lambda
(\Omega) \propto 1/\Omega^{\gamma}. We show that, over some range of
parameters, the MS model is equivalent to the \gamma-model with \gamma =1/3
(\lambda (\Omega) \propto \Omega^{-1/3}). We find, however, that the parameter
range where this analogy works is bounded on both ends. At larger deviations
from a magnetic phase, the MS model becomes equivalent to the \gamma-model with
varying \gamma >1/3, whose value depends on the distance to a magnetic
transition and approaches \gamma =1 deep in a paramagnetic phase. Very near the
transition, the MS model becomes equivalent to the \gamma-model with varying
\gamma <1/3. Right at the magnetic QCP, the MS model is equivalent to the
\gamma-model with \gamma =0+ (\lambda (\Omega) \propto \log \Omega), which is
the model for color superconductivity. Using this analogy, we verified the
formula for T_c derived for color superconductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted to JLTP for a focused issue on Quantum
Phase Transition
Optical absorption in the strong coupling limit of Eliashberg theory
We calculate the optical conductivity of superconductors in the
strong-coupling limit. In this anomalous limit the typical energy scale is set
by the coupling energy, and other energy scales such as the energy of the
bosons mediating the attraction are negligibly small. We find a universal
frequency dependence of the optical absorption which is dominated by bound
states and differs significantly from the weak coupling results. A comparison
with absorption spectra of superconductors with enhanced electron-phonon
coupling shows that typical features of the strong-coupling limit are already
present at intermediate coupling.Comment: 10 pages, revtex, 4 uuencoded figure
Effects of a nanoscopic filler on the structure and dynamics of a simulated polymer melt and the relationship to ultra-thin films
We perform molecular dynamics simulations of an idealized polymer melt
surrounding a nanoscopic filler particle to probe the effects of a filler on
the local melt structure and dynamics. We show that the glass transition
temperature of the melt can be shifted to either higher or lower
temperatures by appropriately tuning the interactions between polymer and
filler. A gradual change of the polymer dynamics approaching the filler surface
causes the change in the glass transition. We also find that while the bulk
structure of the polymers changes little, the polymers close to the surface
tend to be elongated and flattened, independent of the type of interaction we
study. Consequently, the dynamics appear strongly influenced by the
interactions, while the melt structure is only altered by the geometric
constraints imposed by the presence of the filler. Our findings show a strong
similarity to those obtained for ultra-thin polymer films (thickness nm) suggesting that both ultra-thin films and filled-polymer systems might
be understood in the same context
Pressure-dependence of electron-phonon coupling and the superconducting phase in hcp Fe - a linear response study
A recent experiment by Shimizu et al. has provided evidence of a
superconducting phase in hcp Fe under pressure. To study the
pressure-dependence of this superconducting phase we have calculated the phonon
frequencies and the electron-phonon coupling in hcp Fe as a function of the
lattice parameter, using the linear response (LR) scheme and the full potential
linear muffin-tin orbital (FP-LMTO) method. Calculated phonon spectra and the
Eliashberg functions indicate that conventional s-wave
electron-phonon coupling can definitely account for the appearance of the
superconducting phase in hcp Fe. However, the observed change in the transition
temperature with increasing pressure is far too rapid compared with the
calculated results. For comparison with the linear response results, we have
computed the electron-phonon coupling also by using the rigid muffin-tin (RMT)
approximation. From both the LR and the RMT results it appears that
electron-phonon interaction alone cannot explain the small range of volume over
which superconductivity is observed. It is shown that
ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations as well as scattering from
magnetic impurities (spin-ordered clusters) can account for the observed values
of the transition temperatures but cannot substantially improve the agreeemnt
between the calculated and observed presure/volume range of the superconducting
phase. A simplified treatment of p-wave pairing leads to extremely small ( K) transition temperatures. Thus our calculations seem to rule out
both - and - wave superconductivity in hcp Fe.Comment: 12 pages, submitted to PR
Raman Deuterium Isotope Probing Reveals Microbial Metabolism at the Single-Cell Level
We illustrate that single-cell Raman microspectroscopy, coupled with deuterium isotope probing (Raman-DIP), provides a culture-independent and nondestructive approach to probe metabolic pathways of carbon substrates at the single-cell level. We found a distinguishable C-D vibration band at 2070-2300 cm-1 in single-cell Raman spectra (SCRS) when Escherichia coli used deuterated glucose and Pseudomonas sp. used deuterated naphthalene as sole carbon sources. The intensity of the C-D band is proportional to the extent of deuteration in the carbon source, and as little as 5% deuteration can be distinguished by analysis of SCRS. It suggests that Raman-DIP could be used to semiquantitatively and sensitively indicate the metabolism of deuterated carbon source in microbes. A lower lipid conversion rate of deuterated naphthalene compared to that of deuterated glucose was observed, presumably owing to different anabolic pathways and membrane alteration. Apart from the C-D band shift from C-H, SCRS also reveal several isotopic shifts of the phenylalanine band, of which the positions correlate well with a computational model. A reduction in phenylalanine deuteration in Pseudomonas sp. compared to that in E. coli is due to the dilution effect of different pathways of phenylalanine biosynthesis in Pseudomonas sp. Collectively, we demonstrate that Raman-DIP can not only indicate metabolic activity using deuterated carbon sources but also reveal different metabolic pathways by analyzing SCRS. By harnessing such low-cost and versatile deuterated substrates, Raman-DIP has the potential to probe a wide range of metabolic pathways and functions at the single-cell level
Influence of next-nearest-neighbor electron hopping on the static and dynamical properties of the 2D Hubbard model
Comparing experimental data for high temperature cuprate superconductors with
numerical results for electronic models, it is becoming apparent that a hopping
along the plaquette diagonals has to be included to obtain a quantitative
agreement. According to recent estimations the value of the diagonal hopping
appears to be material dependent. However, the values for discussed
in the literature were obtained comparing theoretical results in the weak
coupling limit with experimental photoemission data and band structure
calculations. The goal of this paper is to study how gets renormalized as
the interaction between electrons, , increases. For this purpose, the effect
of adding a bare diagonal hopping to the fully interacting two dimensional
Hubbard model Hamiltonian is investigated using numerical techniques. Positive
and negative values of are analyzed. Spin-spin correlations, ,
vs , and local magnetic moments are studied for values
of ranging from 0 to 6, and as a function of the electronic density. The
influence of the diagonal hopping in the spectral function
is also discussed, and the changes in the gap present in the density of states
at half-filling are studied. We introduce a new criterion to determine probable
locations of Fermi surfaces at zero temperature from data obtained
at finite temperature. It appears that hole pockets at
may be induced for negative while a positive produces similar
features at and . Comparisons with the standard 2D
Hubbard () model indicate that a negative hopping amplitude appears
to be dynamically generated. In general, we conclude that it is very dangerous
to extract a bare parameter of the Hamiltonian from PES data whereComment: 9 pages (RevTex 3.0), 12 figures (postscript), files packed with
uufile
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