Bag Formation in Quantum Hall Ferromagnets

Charged skyrmions or spin-textures in the quantum Hall ferromagnet at filling factor nu=1 are reinvestigated using the Hartree-Fock method in the lowest Landau level approximation. It is shown that the single Slater determinant with the minimum energy in the unit charge sector is always of the hedgehog form. It is observed that the magnetization vector's length deviates locally from unity, i.e. a bag is formed which accommodates the excess charge. In terms of a gradient expansion for extended spin-textures a novel O(3) type of effective action is presented, which takes bag formation into account.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Skyrmion Physics Beyond the Lowest Landau Level Approximation

The effects of Landau level mixing and finite thickness of the two-dimensional electron gas on the relative stability of skyrmion and single spin-flip excitations at Landau level filling factor $\nu=1$ have been investigated. Landau level mixing is studied by fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo and finite thickness is included by modifying the effective Coulomb interaction. Both Landau level mixing and finite thickness lower skyrmion excitation energies and favor skyrmions with fewer spin flips. However, the two effects do not work `coherently'. When finite thickness is included the effect of Landau level mixing is strongly suppressed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Recent developments on the ALICE central Trigger processor

The ALI CE Central Trigger Processor has been constructed and tested, and will shortly be installed in the experimental area. In this review, we introduce the new developments in hardware and software, present a measurement of the minimum propagation time, and illustrate various trigger applications

Timing in the ALICE trigger system

In this paper we discuss trigger signals synchronisation and trigger input alignment in the ALICE trigger system. The synchronisation procedure adjusts the phase of the input signals with respect to the local Bunch Crossing (BC) clock and, indirectly, with respect to the LHC bunch crossing instant. The synchronisation delays are within one clock period: 0-25 ns. The alignment assures that the trigger signals originating from the same bunch crossing reach the processor logic in the same clock cycle. It is achieved by delaying signals by an appropriate number of full clock periods. We propose a procedure which will allow us to nd alignment delays during the system con guration, and to monitor them during the data taking

Quantum Monte Carlo calculation of Compton profiles of solid lithium

Recent high resolution Compton scattering experiments in lithium have shown significant discrepancies with conventional band theoretical results. We present a pseudopotential quantum Monte Carlo study of electron-electron and electron-ion correlation effects on the momentum distribution of lithium. We compute the correlation correction to the valence Compton profiles obtained within Kohn-Sham density functional theory in the local density approximation and determine that electronic correlation does not account for the discrepancy with the experimental results. Our calculations lead do different conclusions than recent GW studies and indicate that other effects (thermal disorder, core-valence separation etc.) must be invoked to explain the discrepancy with experiments.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Activation Energy in a Quantum Hall Ferromagnet and Non-Hartree-Fock Skyrmions

The energy of Skyrmions is calculated with the help of a technique based on the excitonic representation: the basic set of one-exciton states is used for the perturbation-theory formalism instead of the basic set of one-particle states. We use the approach, at which a skyrmion-type excitation (at zero Lande factor) is considered as a smooth non-uniform rotation in the 3D spin space. The result within the framework of an excitonically diagonalized part of the Coulomb Hamiltonian can be obtained by any ratio $r_{\tiny C}=(e^2/\epsilon {}l_B)/\hbar \omega_c$ [where $e^2/\epsilon {}l_B$ is the typical Coulomb energy (${}l_B$ being the magnetic length); $\omega_c$ is the cyclotron frequency], and the Landau-level mixing is thereby taken into account. In parallel with this, the result is also found exactly, to second order in terms of the $r_{\tiny C}$ (if supposing $r_{\tiny C}$ to be small) with use of the total Hamiltonian. When extrapolated to the region $r_{\tiny C}\sim 1$, our calculations show that the skyrmion gap becomes substantially reduced in comparison with the Hartree-Fock calculations. This fact brings the theory essentially closer to the available experimental data.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure. to appear in Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 65 (Numbers ~ 19-22), 200

Centrality dependence of the expansion dynamics in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c

Two-particle correlation functions of negatively charged hadrons from Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon have been measured by the WA97 experiment at the CERN SPS. A Coulomb correction procedure that assumes an expanding source has been implemented. Within the framework of an expanding thermalized source model the size and dynamical state of the collision fireball at freeze-out have been reconstructed as a function of the centrality of the collision. Less central collisions exhibit a different dynamics than central ones: both transverse and longitudinal expansion velocities are slower, the expansion duration is shorter and the system freezes out showing smaller dimensions and higher temperature.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, Te

Free energy and molecular dynamics calculations for the cubic-tetragonal phase transition in zirconia

The high-temperature cubic-tetragonal phase transition of pure stoichiometric zirconia is studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and within the framework of the Landau theory of phase transformations. The interatomic forces are calculated using an empirical, self-consistent, orthogonal tight-binding (SC-TB) model, which includes atomic polarizabilities up to the quadrupolar level. A first set of standard MD calculations shows that, on increasing temperature, one particular vibrational frequency softens. The temperature evolution of the free energy surfaces around the phase transition is then studied with a second set of calculations. These combine the thermodynamic integration technique with constrained MD simulations. The results seem to support the thesis of a second-order phase transition but with unusual, very anharmonic behaviour above the transition temperature

Expansion dynamics of Pb-Pb collisions at 40 A GeV/c viewed by negatively charged hadrons

In this paper we present results on transverse mass spectra and Hanbury-Brown and Twiss correlation functions of negatively charged hadrons, which are expected to be mostly negative pions, measured in Pb-Pb collisions at 40 A GeV/c beam momentum. Based on these data, the collision dynamics and the space-time extent of the system at the thermal freeze-out are studied over a centrality range corresponding to the most central 53% of the Pb--Pb inelastic cross section. Comparisons with freeze-out conditions of strange particles and HBT results from other experiments are discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 18 figure

Rapidity distributions around mid-rapidity of strange particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 AA GeV/c

The production at central rapidity of K0s, Lambda, Xi and Omega particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c has been measured by the NA57 experiment over a centrality range corresponding to the most central 53% of the inelastic Pb-Pb cross section. In this paper we present the rapidity distribution of each particle in the central rapidity unit as a function of the event centrality. The distributions are analyzed based on hydrodynamical models of the collisions.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure