5,881 research outputs found
Description of isolated macroscopic systems inside quantum mechanics
For an isolated macrosystem classical state parameters are
introduced inside a quantum mechanical treatment. By a suitable mathematical
representation of the actual preparation procedure in the time interval
a statistical operator is constructed as a solution of the Liouville
von Neumann equation, exhibiting at time the state parameters ,
, and {\it preparation parameters} related to times . Relation with Zubarev's non-equilibrium statistical operator is
discussed. A mechanism for memory loss is investigated and time evolution by a
semigroup is obtained for a restricted set of relevant observables, slowly
varying on a suitable time scale.Comment: 13 pages, latex, romp31 style, no figures, to appear in the
Proceedings of the XXXI Symposium on Mathematical Physics (Torun, Poland), to
be published in Rep. Math. Phy
Effective calculation of LEED intensities using symmetry-adapted functions
The calculation of LEED intensities in a spherical-wave representation can be substantially simplified by symmetry relations. The wave field around each atom is expanded in symmetry-adapted functions where the local point symmetry of the atomic site applies. For overlayer systems with more than one atom per unit cell symmetry-adapted functions can be used when the division of the crystal into monoatomic subplanes is replaced by division into subplanes containing all symmetrically equivalent atomic positions
Modelsimulaties van het stadsklimaat van Rotterdam
Modelsimulaties zijn uitgevoerd ter inschatting van het Urban Heat Island effect van Rotterdam. Hiervoor is de meest recente versie van het Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model gebruikt dat is uitgerust met een Urban Canopy Model. Bovendien is gebruik gemaakt van specifieke stadeigenschappen die zeer recent beschikbaar zijn gekome
Self-induced decoherence approach: Strong limitations on its validity in a simple spin bath model and on its general physical relevance
The "self-induced decoherence" (SID) approach suggests that (1) the
expectation value of any observable becomes diagonal in the eigenstates of the
total Hamiltonian for systems endowed with a continuous energy spectrum, and
(2), that this process can be interpreted as decoherence. We evaluate the first
claim in the context of a simple spin bath model. We find that even for large
environments, corresponding to an approximately continuous energy spectrum,
diagonalization of the expectation value of random observables does in general
not occur. We explain this result and conjecture that SID is likely to fail
also in other systems composed of discrete subsystems. Regarding the second
claim, we emphasize that SID does not describe a physically meaningful
decoherence process for individual measurements, but only involves destructive
interference that occurs collectively within an ensemble of presupposed
"values" of measurements. This leads us to question the relevance of SID for
treating observed decoherence effects.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Final published versio
Decoherence time in self-induced decoherence
A general method for obtaining the decoherence time in self-induced
decoherence is presented. In particular, it is shown that such a time can be
computed from the poles of the resolvent or of the initial conditions in the
complex extension of the Hamiltonian's spectrum. Several decoherence times are
estimated: for microscopic systems, and
for macroscopic bodies. For the particular case of a
thermal bath, our results agree with those obtained by the einselection
(environment-induced decoherence) approach.Comment: 11 page
Modelling and observing urban climate in the Netherlands
Volgens de klimaatscenario’s van het KNMI uit 2006 zal de gemiddelde temperatuur in Nederland in de komende decennia verder stijgen. Hittegolven zullen naar verwachting vaker voorkomen en de intensiteit van met name zomerse buien kan toenemen. In steden zijn de gevolgen van de opwarming extra voelbaar, omdat de temperaturen er door het zogenoemde Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect veel hoger kunnen zijn dan in het omliggende gebied. Zulke periodes met hoge temperaturen gaan veelal gepaard met verslechterde luchtkwaliteit en droogte. Dit alles kan grote gevolgen hebben voor de leefbaarheid en de gezondheid van de bevolking in stedelijke gebieden. Veranderingen in de buienintensiteit beïnvloeden de waterhuishouding van de stad
Self-limited oxide formation in Ni(111) oxidation
The oxidation of the Ni(111) surface is studied experimentally with low
energy electron microscopy and theoretically by calculating the electron
reflectivity for realistic models of the NiO/Ni(111) surface with an ab-initio
scattering theory. Oxygen exposure at 300 K under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions
leads to the formation of a continuous NiO(111)-like film consisting of
nanosized domains. At 750 K, we observe the formation of a nano-heterogeneous
film composed primarily of NiO(111)-like surface oxide nuclei, which exhibit
virtually the same energy-dependent reflectivity as in the case of 300 K and
which are separated by oxygen-free Ni(111) terraces. The scattering theory
explains the observed normal incidence reflectivity R(E) of both the clean and
the oxidized Ni(111) surface. At low energies R(E) of the oxidized surface is
determined by a forbidden gap in the k_parallel=0 projected energy spectrum of
the bulk NiO crystal. However, for both low and high temperature oxidation a
rapid decrease of the reflectivity in approaching zero kinetic energy is
experimentally observed. This feature is shown to characterize the thickness of
the oxide layer, suggesting an average oxide thickness of two NiO layers.Comment: 10 pages (in journal format), 9 figure
Manifestation of quantum chaos on scattering techniques: application to low-energy and photo-electron diffraction intensities
Intensities of LEED and PED are analyzed from a statistical point of view.
The probability distribution is compared with a Porter-Thomas law,
characteristic of a chaotic quantum system. The agreement obtained is
understood in terms of analogies between simple models and Berry's conjecture
for a typical wavefunction of a chaotic system. The consequences of this
behaviour on surface structural analysis are qualitatively discussed by looking
at the behaviour of standard correlation factors.Comment: 5 pages, 4 postscript figures, Latex, APS,
http://www.icmm.csic.es/Pandres/pedro.ht
Fermi's golden rule and exponential decay as a RG fixed point
We discuss the decay of unstable states into a quasicontinuum using models of
the effective Hamiltonian type. The goal is to show that exponential decay and
the golden rule are exact in a suitable scaling limit, and that there is an
associated renormalization group (RG) with these properties as a fixed point.
The method is inspired by a limit theorem for infinitely divisible
distributions in probability theory, where there is a RG with a Cauchy
distribution, i.e. a Lorentz line shape, as a fixed point. Our method of
solving for the spectrum is well known; it does not involve a perturbation
expansion in the interaction, and needs no assumption of a weak interaction. We
use random matrices for the interaction, and show that the ensemble
fluctuations vanish in the scaling limit. Thus the limit is the same for every
model in the ensemble with probability one.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur
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