2,224 research outputs found
Condensing Nielsen-Olesen strings and the vortex-boson duality in 3+1 and higher dimensions
The vortex-boson (or Abelian-Higgs, XY) duality in 2+1 dimensions
demonstrates that the quantum disordered superfluid is equivalent to an ordered
superconductor and the other way around. Such a duality structure should be
ubiquitous but in 3+1 (and higher) dimensions a precise formulation of the
duality is lacking. The problem is that the topological defects become extended
objects, strings in 3+1D. We argue how the condensate of such vortex strings
must behave from the known physics of the disordered superfluid, namely the
Bose-Mott insulator. A flaw in earlier proposals is repaired, and a more direct
viewpoint, avoiding gauge fields, in terms of the physical supercurrent is laid
out, that also easily generalizes to higher-dimensional and more complicated
systems. Furthermore topological defects are readily identified; we demonstrate
that the Bose-Mott insulator supports line defects, which may be seen in cold
atom experiments.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, 5 figures; several revisions and addition
Type-II Bose-Mott insulators
The Mott insulating state formed from bosons is ubiquitous in solid He-4,
cold atom systems, Josephson junction networks and perhaps underdoped high-Tc
superconductors. We predict that close to the quantum phase transition to the
superconducting state the Mott insulator is not at all as featureless as is
commonly believed. In three dimensions there is a phase transition to a low
temperature state where, under influence of an external current, a
superconducting state consisting of a regular array of 'wires' that each carry
a quantized flux of supercurrent is realized. This prediction of the "type-II
Mott insulator" follows from a field theoretical weak-strong duality, showing
that this 'current lattice' is the dual of the famous Abrikosov lattice of
magnetic fluxes in normal superconductors. We argue that this can be exploited
to investigate experimentally whether preformed Cooper pairs exist in high-Tc
superconductors.Comment: RevTeX, 17 pages, 6 figures, published versio
Fabrication and Characterization of Topological Insulator BiSe Nanocrystals
In the recently discovered class of materials known as topological
insulators, the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling causes certain
topological invariants in the bulk to differ from their values in vacuum. The
sudden change of invariants at the interface results in metallic, time reversal
invariant surface states whose properties are useful for applications in
spintronics and quantum computation. However, a key challenge is to fabricate
these materials on the nanoscale appropriate for devices and probing the
surface. To this end we have produced 2 nm thick nanocrystals of the
topological insulator BiSe via mechanical exfoliation. For crystals
thinner than 10 nm we observe the emergence of an additional mode in the Raman
spectrum. The emergent mode intensity together with the other results presented
here provide a recipe for production and thickness characterization of
BiSe nanocrystals.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (accepted for publication in Applied Physics
Letters
The development and psychometric evaluation of the Questionnaire Epistemic Trust (QET):A self-report assessment of epistemic trust
Epistemic trust (ET) refers to the predisposition to trust information as authentic, trustworthy and relevant to the self. Epistemic distrust - resulting from early adversity - may interfere with openness to social learning within the therapeutic encounter, reducing the ability to benefit from treatment. The self-report Questionnaire Epistemic Trust (QET) is a newly developed instrument that aims to assess ET. This study presents the first results on the psychometric properties of the QET in both a community and a clinical sample. Our findings indicate that the QET is composed of four meaningful subscales with good to excellent internal consistency. The QET shows relevant associations with related constructs like personality functioning, symptom distress and quality of life. QET scores clearly distinguish between a clinical and community sample and are associated with the quality of the therapeutic alliance. The QET provides a promising, brief and user-friendly instrument that could be used for a range of clinical and research purposes. Future studies with larger samples are needed to strengthen construct validity and to investigate the value of the QET to predict differential treatment responses or to study mechanisms of change
An Optical Study of BG Geminorum: An Ellipsoidal Binary with an Unseen Primar Star
We describe optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the bright
variable BG Geminorum. Optical photometry shows a pronounced ellipsoidal
variation of the K0 I secondary, with amplitudes of ~0.5 mag at VRI and a
period of 91.645 days. A deep primary eclipse is visible for wavelengths <
4400A; a shallower secondary eclipse is present at longer wavelengths. Eclipse
timings and the radial velocity curve of the K0 secondary star indicate an
interacting binary where a lobe-filling secondary, M_2 ~ 0.5 Msun, transfers
material into a extended disk around a massive primary, M_1 ~ 4.5 Msun. The
primary star is either an early B-type star or a black hole. If it did contain
a black hole, BG Gem would be the longest period black hole binary known by a
factor of 10, as well as the only eclipsing black hole binary system.Comment: 27 pages, includes 8 figures and 5 tables, accepted to A
Physical health and the onset and persistence of depression in older adults: an eight-wave prospective community based study.
Background. Poor physical health has long been recognized to be one of the most important risk factors for depression in older adults. Since many aspects of physical health can be targeted for improvement in primary care, it is important to know whether physical health problems predict the onset and/or the persistence of depression. Methods. The study is based on a sample which at the outset consisted of 327 depressed and 325 non-depressed older adults (55-85) drawn from a larger random community-based sample in the Netherlands. Depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) at eight successive waves. Results. From all incident episodes, the majority (57%) was short-lived. These short episodes could generally not be predicted by physical health problems. The remaining incident episodes (43%) were not short-lived and could be predicted by poor physical health. Chronicity (34%) was also predicted by physical health problems. Conclusions. The study design with its frequent measurements recognized more incident cases than previous studies; these cases however did have a better prognosis than is often assumed. The prognosis of prevalent cases was rather poor. Physical health problems were demonstrated to be a predictor of both the onset and the persistence of depression. This may well have implications for prevention and intervention
Electrodynamics of Abrikosov vortices: the Field Theoretical Formulation
Electrodynamic phenomena related to vortices in superconductors have been
studied since their prediction by Abrikosov, and seem to hold no fundamental
mysteries. However, most of the effects are treated separately, with no guiding
principle. We demonstrate that the relativistic vortex worldsheet in spacetime
is the object that naturally conveys all electric and magnetic information, for
which we obtain simple and concise equations. Breaking Lorentz invariance leads
to down-to-earth Abrikosov vortices, and special limits of these equations
include for instance dynamic Meissner screening and the AC Josephson relation.
On a deeper level, we explore the electrodynamics of two-form sources in the
absence of electric monopoles, in which the electromagnetic field strength
itself acquires the characteristics of a gauge field. This novel framework
leaves room for unexpected surprises.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, 5 figure
Student Showcase Concert
Ida GotkovskyRobert PlanelEdith Piaf & Louis GuglielmiJohnny MandelKen ThomsonBob Becke
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