Interference in interacting quantum dots with spin

We study spectral and transport properties of interacting quantum dots with spin. Two particular model systems are investigated: Lateral multilevel and two parallel quantum dots. In both cases different paths through the system can give rise to interference. We demonstrate that this strengthens the multilevel Kondo effect for which a simple two-stage mechanism is proposed. In parallel dots we show under which conditions the peak of an interference-induced orbital Kondo effect can be split.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

The Wide-field High-resolution Infrared TElescope (WHITE)

The Wide-field High-resolution Infrared TElescope (WHITE) will be dedicated in the first years of its life to carrying out a few (well focused in terms of science objectives and time) legacy surveys. WHITE would have an angular resolution of ~0.3'' homogeneous over ~0.7 sq. deg. in the wavelength range 1 - 5 um, which means that we will very efficiently use all the available observational time during night time and day time. Moreover, the deepest observations will be performed by summing up shorter individual frames. We will have a temporal information that can be used to study variable objects. The three key science objectives of WHITE are : 1) A complete survey of the Magellanic Clouds to make a complete census of young stellar objects in the clouds and in the bridge and to study their star formation history and the link with the Milky Way. The interaction of the two clouds with our Galaxy might the closest example of a minor merging event that could be the main driver of galaxy evolution in the last 5 Gyrs. 2) The building of the first sample of dusty supernovae at z<1.2 in the near infrared range (1-5 um) to constrain the equation of state from these obscured objects, study the formation of dust in galaxies and build the first high resolution sample of high redshift galaxies observed in their optical frame 3) A very wide weak lensing survey over that would allow to estimate the equation of state in a way that would favourably compete with space projects.Comment: Invited talk to the 2nd ARENA Conference : "The Astrophysical Science Cases at Dome C" Potsdam 17-21 September, 200

Steady-state selection in driven diffusive systems with open boundaries

We investigate the stationary states of one-dimensional driven diffusive systems, coupled to boundary reservoirs with fixed particle densities. We argue that the generic phase diagram is governed by an extremal principle for the macroscopic current irrespective of the local dynamics. In particular, we predict a minimal current phase for systems with local minimum in the current--density relation. This phase is explained by a dynamical phenomenon, the branching and coalescence of shocks, Monte-Carlo simulations confirm the theoretical scenario.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Multivalued Fields on the Complex Plane and Conformal Field Theories

In this paper a class of conformal field theories with nonabelian and discrete group of symmetry is investigated. These theories are realized in terms of free scalar fields starting from the simple $b-c$ systems and scalar fields on algebraic curves. The Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations for the conformal blocks can be explicitly solved. Besides of the fact that one obtains in this way an entire class of theories in which the operators obey a nonstandard statistics, these systems are interesting in exploring the connection between statistics and curved space-times, at least in the two dimensional case.Comment: (revised version), 30 pages + one figure (not included), (requires harvmac.tex), LMU-TPW 92-1

Dynamics and Structure of Three-Dimensional Trans-Alfvenic Jets. II. The Effect of Density and Winds

Two three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical simulations of strongly magnetized conical jets, one with a poloidal and one with a helical magnetic field, have been performed. In the poloidal simulation a significant sheath (wind) of magnetized moving material developed and partially stabilized the jet to helical twisting. The fundamental pinch mode was not similarly affected and emission knots developed in the poloidal simulation. Thus, astrophysical jets surrounded by outflowing winds could develop knotty structures along a straight jet triggered by pinching. Where helical twisting dominated the dynamics, magnetic field orientation along the line-of-sight could be organized by the toroidal flow field accompanying helical twisting. On astrophysical jets such structure could lead to a reversal of the direction of Faraday rotation in adjacent zones along a jet. Theoretical analysis showed that the different dynamical behavior of the two simulations could be entirely understood as a result of dependence on the velocity shear between jet and wind which must exceed a surface Alfven speed before the jet becomes unstable to helical and higher order modes of jet distortion.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, in press Astrophysical Journal (September

Bethe Ansatz Solution for a Defect Particle in the Asymmetric Exclusion Process

The asymmetric exclusion process on a ring in one-dimension is considered with a single defect particle. The steady state has previously been solved by a matrix product method. Here we use the Bethe ansatz to solve exactly for the long time limit behaviour of the generating function of the distance travelled by the defect particle. This allows us to recover steady state properties known from the matrix approach such as the velocity, and obtain new results such as the diffusion constant of the defect particle. In the case where the defect particle is a second class particle we determine the large deviation function and show that in a certain range the distribution of the distance travelled about the mean is Gaussian. Moreover the variance (diffusion constant) grows as L to the power 1/2 where is the system size. This behaviour can be related to the superdiffusive spreading of excess mass fluctuations on an infinite system. In the case where the defect particle produces a shock, our expressions for the velocity and the diffusion constant coincide with those calculated previously for an infinite system by Ferrari and Fontes.Comment: Latex, 23 page

Shock Profiles for the Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process in One Dimension

The asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) on a one-dimensional lattice is a system of particles which jump at rates $p$ and $1-p$ (here $p>1/2$) to adjacent empty sites on their right and left respectively. The system is described on suitable macroscopic spatial and temporal scales by the inviscid Burgers' equation; the latter has shock solutions with a discontinuous jump from left density $\rho_-$ to right density $\rho_+$, $\rho_-<\rho_+$, which travel with velocity $(2p-1)(1-\rho_+-\rho_-)$. In the microscopic system we may track the shock position by introducing a second class particle, which is attracted to and travels with the shock. In this paper we obtain the time invariant measure for this shock solution in the ASEP, as seen from such a particle. The mean density at lattice site $n$, measured from this particle, approaches $\rho_{\pm}$ at an exponential rate as $n\to\pm\infty$, with a characteristic length which becomes independent of $p$ when $p/(1-p)>\sqrt{\rho_+(1-\rho_-)/\rho_-(1-\rho_+)}$. For a special value of the asymmetry, given by $p/(1-p)=\rho_+(1-\rho_-)/\rho_-(1-\rho_+)$, the measure is Bernoulli, with density $\rho_-$ on the left and $\rho_+$ on the right. In the weakly asymmetric limit, $2p-1\to0$, the microscopic width of the shock diverges as $(2p-1)^{-1}$. The stationary measure is then essentially a superposition of Bernoulli measures, corresponding to a convolution of a density profile described by the viscous Burgers equation with a well-defined distribution for the location of the second class particle.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures are included in the LaTeX file. Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Collisional properties of ultracold K-Rb mixtures

We determine the inter-species s-wave triplet scattering length a3 for all K-Rb isotopic mixtures by measuring the cross-section for collisions between 41K and 87Rb in different temperature regimes. The positive value a3=+163(+57,-12)a0 ensures the stability of binary 41K-87Rb Bose-Einstein condensates. For the fermion-boson mixture 40K-87Rb we obtain a large and negative scattering length which implies an efficient sympathetic cooling of the fermionic species down to the degenerate regime.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; revised version (references added and small changes

Detection methods for non-Gaussian gravitational wave stochastic backgrounds

We address the issue of finding an optimal detection method for a discontinuous or intermittent gravitational wave stochastic background. Such a signal might sound something like popcorn popping. We derive an appropriate version of the maximum likelihood detection statistic, and compare its performance to that of the standard cross-correlation statistic both analytically and with Monte Carlo simulations. The maximum likelihood statistic performs better than the cross-correlation statistic when the background is sufficiently non-Gaussian. For both ground and space based detectors, this results in a gain factor, ranging roughly from 1 to 3, in the minimum gravitational-wave energy density necessary for detection, depending on the duty cycle of the background. Our analysis is exploratory, as we assume that the time structure of the events cannot be resolved, and we assume white, Gaussian noise in two collocated, aligned detectors. Before this detection method can be used in practice with real detector data, further work is required to generalize our analysis to accommodate separated, misaligned detectors with realistic, colored, non-Gaussian noise.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, submitted to physical review D, added revisions in response to reviewers comment

Linux kernel compaction through cold code swapping

There is a growing trend to use general-purpose operating systems like Linux in embedded systems. Previous research focused on using compaction and specialization techniques to adapt a general-purpose OS to the memory-constrained environment, presented by most, embedded systems. However, there is still room for improvement: it has been shown that even after application of the aforementioned techniques more than 50% of the kernel code remains unexecuted under normal system operation. We introduce a new technique that reduces the Linux kernel code memory footprint, through on-demand code loading of infrequently executed code, for systems that support virtual memory. In this paper, we describe our general approach, and we study code placement algorithms to minimize the performance impact of the code loading. A code, size reduction of 68% is achieved, with a 2.2% execution speedup of the system-mode execution time, for a case study based on the MediaBench II benchmark suite