32 research outputs found
Results from a prospective, randomized, controlled study evaluating the acceptability and effects of routine pre‐IVF counselling
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate a model of routine pre‐IVF counselling focusing on the narrative capacities of couples. The acceptability of counselling, the effects on emotional factors and the participants' assessments were considered. METHODS: The study included 141 consecutive childless couples preparing for their first IVF. Randomization was carried out through sealed envelopes attributing participants to counselled and non‐counselled groups and was accepted by 100 couples. Another 12 couples refused randomization because they wanted counselling and 29 because they did not. Questionnaires including the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory and assessments of help were mailed to couples before IVF and counselling, and after the IVF outcome. RESULTS: Counselling was accepted by 79% (112/141) of couples. There was no significant effect of counselling on anxiety and depression scores which were within normal ranges at both times. Counselling provided help for 86% (75/87) of initially non‐demanding subjects and 96% (25/26) of those initially requesting a session. Help was noted in areas of psychological assistance, technical explanations and discussing relationships. CONCLUSIONS: This model of routine counselling centred on the narrative provides an acceptable form of psychological assistance for pre‐IVF couple
Evidence for composite nature of quasiparticles in the 2D t-J model
It is shown that the dynamics of a single hole in a quantum antiferromagnet
(described by the t--J model) can be simply understood in terms of a composite
quasiparticle. This description provides naturally two different energy scales
t and J corresponding to the inverse masses of the charge (holon) and spin
(spinon) elementary excitations respectively. This picture is consistent with
the exact results obtained on small clusters for the single hole spectral
function and optical conductivity providing that one assumes the existence of a
string-like force of magnitude J between the holon and the spinon. Then the
hole quasiparticle can be interpreted as a bound state of its two constituents.Comment: 5 pages (revtex), 6 figures uuencoded, (Submitted to Nuclear Physics
B
Thermodynamic and diamagnetic properties of weakly doped antiferromagnets
Finite-temperature properties of weakly doped antiferromagnets as modeled by
the two-dimensional t-J model and relevant to underdoped cuprates are
investigated by numerical studies of small model systems at low doping. Two
numerical methods are used: the worldline quantum Monte Carlo method with a
loop cluster algorithm and the finite-temperature Lanczos method, yielding
consistent results. Thermodynamic quantities: specific heat, entropy and spin
susceptibility reveal a sizeable perturbation induced by holes introduced into
a magnetic insulator, as well as a pronounced temperature dependence. The
diamagnetic susceptibility introduced by coupling of the magnetic field to the
orbital current reveals an anomalous temperature dependence, changing character
from diamagnetic to paramagnetic at intermediate temperatures.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Spin Susceptibility and Gap Structure of the Fractional-Statistics Gas
This paper establishes and tests procedures which can determine the electron
energy gap of the high-temperature superconductors using the model
with spinon and holon quasiparticles obeying fractional statistics. A simpler
problem with similar physics, the spin susceptibility spectrum of the spin 1/2
fractional-statistics gas, is studied. Interactions with the density
oscillations of the system substantially decrease the spin gap to a value of
, much less than the mean-field value of
. The lower few Landau levels remain visible, though broadened
and shifted, in the spin susceptibility. As a check of the methods, the
single-particle Green's function of the non-interacting Bose gas viewed in the
fermionic representation, as computed by the same approximation scheme, agrees
well with the exact results. The same mechanism would reduce the gap of the
model without eliminating it.Comment: 35 pages, written in REVTeX, 16 figures available upon request from
[email protected]
Electrons in a Strong Magnetic Field on a Disk
The problem of interacting electrons moving under the influence of a strong
magnetic field in two dimensions on a finite disk is reconsidered. First, the
results of exact diagonalizations for up to electrons for Coulomb as well
as for a short--range interaction are used in the search for a peculiar ground
state corresponding to filling factor . Not for the Coulomb, but only for
the short--range interaction, can the --state be safely identified amongst
the spectra of various filling factors close to . Second, the propositions
of the concept of quasiparticles, as used in the hierarchical theory, are
examined in view of the exact results for the disk geometry. Whereas the theory
for the quasiholes is in complete accordance with the spectra, for the
quasielectrons, finite size corrections make an analysis difficult. For the
quasielectron energy, an extrapolation to is given and
compared with the corresponding extrapolations of three different proposals for
trial wave functions. While the limiting value for the best trial wave function
is very close to the limit of the exact results, the behavior of the finite
size corrections of the exact energies and of the trial wave functions,
respectively, is qualitatively rather different.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures available upon request from W. Apel, LaTe
Second Generation of Composite Fermions in the Hamiltonian Theory
In the framework of a recently developed model of interacting composite
fermions restricted to a single level, we calculate the activation gaps of a
second generation of spin-polarized composite fermions. These composite
particles consist each of a composite fermion of the first generation and a
vortex-like excitation and may be responsible for the recently observed
fractional quantum Hall states at unusual filling factors such as
nu=4/11,5/13,5/17, and 6/17. Because the gaps of composite fermions of the
second generation are found to be more than one order of magnitude smaller than
those of the first generation, these states are less visible than the usual
states observed at filling factors nu=p/(2ps+1). Their stability is discussed
in the context of a pseudopotential expansion of the composite-fermion
interaction potential.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; after publication in PRB, we have realized that a
factor was missing in one of the expressions; the erroneous results are now
corrected; an erratum has been sent to PR
Quasiparticle vanishing driven by geometrical frustration
We investigate the single hole dynamics in the triangular t-J model. We study
the structure of the hole spectral function, assuming the existence of a 120
magnetic Neel order. Within the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA) there
is a strong momentum and t sign dependence of the spectra, related to the
underlying magnetic structure and the particle-hole asymmetry of the model. For
positive t, and in the strong coupling regime, we find that the low energy
quasiparticle excitations vanish outside the neighbourhood of the magnetic
Goldstone modes; while for negative t the quasiparticle excitations are always
well defined. In the latter, we also find resonances of magnetic origin whose
energies scale as (J/t)^2/3 and can be identified with string excitations. We
argue that this complex structure of the spectra is due to the subtle interplay
between magnon-assisted and free hopping mechanisms. Our predictions are
supported by an excellent agreement between the SCBA and the exact results on
finite size clusters. We conclude that the conventional quasiparticle picture
can be broken by the effect of geometrical magnetic frustration.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures. Published versio
Single hole dynamics in the t-J model on a square lattice
We present quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations for a single hole in a t-J
model from J=0.4t to J=4t on square lattices with up to 24 x 24 sites. The
lower edge of the spectrum is directly extracted from the imaginary time
Green's function. In agreement with earlier calculations, we find flat bands
around , and the minimum of the dispersion at
. For small J both self-consistent Born approximation and
series expansions give a bandwidth for the lower edge of the spectrum in
agreement with the simulations, whereas for J/t > 1, only series expansions
agree quantitatively with our QMC results. This band corresponds to a coherent
quasiparticle. This is shown by a finite size scaling of the quasiparticle
weight that leads to a finite result in the thermodynamic limit for
the considered values of . The spectral function is
obtained from the imaginary time Green's function via the maximum entropy
method. Resonances above the lowest edge of the spectrum are identified, whose
J-dependence is quantitatively described by string excitations up to J/t=2
Quasiparticle Interactions in Fractional Quantum Hall Systems: Justification of Different Hierarchy Schemes
The pseudopotentials describing the interactions of quasiparticles in
fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states are studied. Rules for the identification
of incompressible quantum fluid ground states are found, based upon the form of
the pseudopotentials. States belonging to the Jain sequence nu=n/(1+2pn), where
n and p are integers, appear to be the only incompressible states in the
thermodynamic limit, although other FQH hierarchy states occur for finite size
systems. This explains the success of the composite Fermion picture.Comment: RevTeX, 10 pages, 7 EPS figures, submitted fo Phys.Rev.
Theory of anyon excitons: Relation to excitons of nu=1/3 and nu=2/3 incompressible liquids
Elementary excitations of incompressible quantum liquids (IQL's) are anyons,
i.e., quasiparticles carrying fractional charges and obeying fractional
statistics. To find out how the properties of these quasiparticles manifest
themselves in the optical spectra, we have developed the anyon exciton model
(AEM) and compared the results with the finite-size data for excitons of nu=1/3
and nu=2/3 IQL's. The model considers an exciton as a neutral composite
consisting of three quasielectrons and a single hole. The AEM works well when
the separation between electron and hole confinement planes, h, is larger than
the magnetic length l. In the framework of the AEM an exciton possesses
momentum k and two internal quantum numbers, one of which can be chosen as the
angular momentum, L, of the k=0 state. Existence of the internal degrees of
freedom results in the multiple branch energy spectrum, crater-like electron
density shape and 120 degrees density correlations for k=0 excitons, and the
splitting of the electron shell into bunches for non-zero k excitons. For h
larger than 2l the bottom states obey the superselection rule L=3m (m are
integers starting from 2), all of them are hard core states. For h nearly 2l
there is one-to-one correspondence between the low-energy spectra found for the
AEM and the many- electron exciton spectra of the nu=2/3 IQL, whereas some
states are absent from the many-electron spectra of the nu=1/3 IQL. We argue
that this striking difference in the spectra originates from the different
populational statistics of the quasielectrons of charge conjugate IQL's and
show that the proper account of the statistical requirements eliminates
excessive states from the spectrum. Apparently, this phenomenon is the first
manifestation of the exclusion statistics in the anyon bound states.Comment: 26 pages with 9 figures, typos correcte