Matter-wave localization in a random potential

By numerical and variational solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we studied the localization of a noninteracting and weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a disordered cold atom lattice and a speckle potential. In the case of a single BEC fragment, the variational analysis produced good results. For a weakly disordered potential, the localized BECs are found to have an exponential tail as in weak Anderson localization. We also investigated the expansion of a noninteracting BEC in these potential. We find that the BEC will be locked in an appropriate localized state after an initial expansion and will execute breathing oscillation around a mean shape when a BEC at equilibrium in a harmonic trap is suddenly released into a disorder potential

Metal-insulator transition in an aperiodic ladder network: an exact result

We show, in a completely analytical way, that a tight binding ladder network composed of atomic sites with on-site potentials distributed according to the quasiperiodic Aubry model can exhibit a metal-insulator transition at multiple values of the Fermi energy. For specific values of the first and second neighbor electron hopping, the result is obtained exactly. With a more general model, we calculate the two-terminal conductance numerically. The numerical results corroborate the analytical findings and yield a richer variety of spectrum showing multiple mobility edges.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Surface spin-flop phases and bulk discommensurations in antiferromagnets

Phase diagrams as a function of anisotropy D and magnetic field H are obtained for discommensurations and surface states for a model antiferromagnet in which $H$ is parallel to the easy axis. The surface spin-flop phase exists for all $D$. We show that there is a region where the penetration length of the surface spin-flop phase diverges. Introducing a discommensuration of even length then becomes preferable to reconstructing the surface. The results are used to clarify and correct previous studies in which discommensurations have been confused with genuine surface spin-flop states.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 2 Postscript figure

The Exact Ground State of the Frenkel-Kontorova Model with Repeated Parabolic Potential: I. Basic Results

The problem of finding the exact energies and configurations for the Frenkel-Kontorova model consisting of particles in one dimension connected to their nearest-neighbors by springs and placed in a periodic potential consisting of segments from parabolas of identical (positive) curvature but arbitrary height and spacing, is reduced to that of minimizing a certain convex function defined on a finite simplex.Comment: 12 RevTeX pages, using AMS-Fonts (amssym.tex,amssym.def), 6 Postscript figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Duality Between the Weak and Strong Interaction Limits for Randomly Interacting Fermions

We establish the existence of a duality transformation for generic models of interacting fermions with two-body interactions. The eigenstates at weak and strong interaction U possess similar statistical properties when expressed in the U=0 and U=infinity eigenstates bases respectively. This implies the existence of a duality point U_d where the eigenstates have the same spreading in both bases. U_d is surrounded by an interval of finite width which is characterized by a non Lorentzian spreading of the strength function in both bases. Scaling arguments predict the survival of this intermediate regime as the number of particles is increased.Comment: RevTex4, 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication at Phys. Rev. Let

Localization of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in a bichromatic optical lattice

By numerical simulation and variational analysis of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation we study the localization, with an exponential tail, of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (DBEC) of $^{52}$Cr atoms in a three-dimensional bichromatic optical-lattice (OL) generated by two monochromatic OL of incommensurate wavelengths along three orthogonal directions. For a fixed dipole-dipole interaction, a localized state of a small number of atoms ($\sim 1000$) could be obtained when the short-range interaction is not too attractive or not too repulsive. A phase diagram showing the region of stability of a DBEC with short-range interaction and dipole-dipole interaction is given

Surface spin-flop and discommensuration transitions in antiferromagnets

Phase diagrams as a function of anisotropy $D$ and magnetic field $H$ are obtained for discommensurations and surface states for an antiferromagnet in which $H$ is parallel to the easy axis, by modeling it using the ground states of a one-dimensional chain of classical XY spins. A surface spin-flop phase exists for all $D$, but the interval in $H$ over which it is stable becomes extremely small as $D$ goes to zero. First-order transitions, separating different surface states and ending in critical points, exist inside the surface spin-flop region. They accumulate at a field $H'$ (depending on $D$) significantly less than the value $H_{SF}$ for a bulk spin-flop transition. For $H' < H < H_{SF}$ there is no surface spin-flop phase in the strict sense; instead, the surface restructures by, in effect, producing a discommensuration infinitely far away in the bulk. The results are used to explain in detail the phase transitions occurring in systems consisting of a finite, even number of layers.Comment: Revtex 17 pages, 15 figure

Wave transmission, phonon localization and heat conduction of 1D Frenkel-Kontorova chain

We study the transmission coefficient of a plane wave through a 1D finite quasi-periodic system -- the Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model -- embedding in an infinite uniform harmonic chain. By varying the mass of atoms in the infinite uniform chain, we obtain the transmission coefficients for {\it all} eigenfrequencies. The phonon localization of the incommensurated FK chain is also studied in terms of the transmission coefficients and the Thouless exponents. Moreover, the heat conduction of Rubin-Greer-like model for FK chain at low temperature is calculated. It is found that the stationary heat flux $J(N)\sim N^{\alpha}$, and $\alpha$ depends on the strength of the external potential.Comment: 15 pages in Revtex, 8 EPS figure

Existence and Stability of Steady Fronts in Bistable CML

We prove the existence and we study the stability of the kink-like fixed points in a simple Coupled Map Lattice for which the local dynamics has two stable fixed points. The condition for the existence allows us to define a critical value of the coupling parameter where a (multi) generalized saddle-node bifurcation occurs and destroys these solutions. An extension of the results to other CML's in the same class is also displayed. Finally, we emphasize the property of spatial chaos for small coupling.Comment: 18 pages, uuencoded PostScript file, J. Stat. Phys. (In press