The Cost of Stability in Coalitional Games

A key question in cooperative game theory is that of coalitional stability, usually captured by the notion of the \emph{core}--the set of outcomes such that no subgroup of players has an incentive to deviate. However, some coalitional games have empty cores, and any outcome in such a game is unstable. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of stabilizing a coalitional game by using external payments. We consider a scenario where an external party, which is interested in having the players work together, offers a supplemental payment to the grand coalition (or, more generally, a particular coalition structure). This payment is conditional on players not deviating from their coalition(s). The sum of this payment plus the actual gains of the coalition(s) may then be divided among the agents so as to promote stability. We define the \emph{cost of stability (CoS)} as the minimal external payment that stabilizes the game. We provide general bounds on the cost of stability in several classes of games, and explore its algorithmic properties. To develop a better intuition for the concepts we introduce, we provide a detailed algorithmic study of the cost of stability in weighted voting games, a simple but expressive class of games which can model decision-making in political bodies, and cooperation in multiagent settings. Finally, we extend our model and results to games with coalition structures.Comment: 20 pages; will be presented at SAGT'0

The Josephson effect throughout the BCS-BEC crossover

We study the stationary Josephson effect for neutral fermions across the BCS-BEC crossover, by solving numerically the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations at zero temperature. The Josephson current is found to be considerably enhanced for all barriers at about unitarity. For vanishing barrier, the Josephson critical current approaches the Landau limiting value which, depending on the coupling, is determined by either pair-breaking or sound-mode excitations. In the coupling range from the BCS limit to unitarity, a procedure is proposed to extract the pairing gap from the Landau limiting current.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; improved version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Macroscopic Symmetry Group Describes Josephson Tunneling in Twinned Crystals

A macroscopic symmetry group describing the superconducting state of an orthorhombically twinned crystal of YBCO is introduced. This macroscopic symmetry group is different for different symmetries of twin boundaries. Josephson tunneling experiments performed on twinned crystals of YBCO determine this macroscopic symmetry group and hence determine the twin boundary symmetry (but do not experimentally determine whether the microscopic order parameter is primarily d- or s-wave). A consequence of the odd-symmetry twin boundaries in YBCO is the stability of vortices containing one half an elementary flux quantum at the intersection of a twin boundary and certain grain boundaries.Comment: 6 pages, to be published in the Proceedings of the MOS96 Conference in the Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Pion Propagation near the QCD Chiral Phase Transition

We point out that, in analogy with spin waves in antiferromagnets, all parameters describing the real-time propagation of soft pions at temperatures below the QCD chiral phase transition can be expressed in terms of static correlators. This allows, in principle, the determination of the soft pion dispersion relation on the lattice. Using scaling and universality arguments, we determine the critical behavior of the parameters of pion propagation. We predict that when the critical temperature is approached from below, the pole mass of the pion drops despite the growth of the pion screening mass. This fact is attributed to the decrease of the pion velocity near the phase transition.Comment: 8 pages (single column), RevTeX; added references, version to be published in PR

The transition temperature of the dilute interacting Bose gas

We show that the critical temperature of a uniform dilute Bose gas must increase linearly with the s-wave scattering length describing the repulsion between the particles. Because of infrared divergences, the magnitude of the shift cannot be obtained from perturbation theory, even in the weak coupling regime; rather, it is proportional to the size of the critical region in momentum space. By means of a self-consistent calculation of the quasiparticle spectrum at low momenta at the transition, we find an estimate of the effect in reasonable agreement with numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, to be published in Physical Review Letter

Critical fluctuations in superconductors and the magnetic field penetration depth

The superconducting transition is studied within the one-loop renormalization group in fixed dimension $D=3$ and at the critical point. A tricritical behavior is found, and for $\kappa > \kappa_c$, an attractive charged fixed point, distinct from that of a neutral superfluid. The critical exponents of the continuous transition are evaluated, and it is shown that the anomalous dimension of the gauge field equals unity. This implies the proportionality of the magnetic field penetration depth and the superconducting correlation length below the transition. The penetration depth exponent is nonclassical. We argue that it can not be extracted from the dual theory in a straightforward manner since it is not renormalized by fluctuations of the dual field.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, two figures available upon reques

DC and AC Josephson effects with superfluid Fermi atoms across a Feshbach resonance

We show that both DC and AC Josephson effects with superfluid Fermi atoms in the BCS-BEC crossover can be described at zero temperature by a nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE). By comparing our NLSE with mean-field extended BCS calculations, we find that the NLSE is reliable in the BEC side of the crossover up to the unitarity limit. The NLSE can be used for weakly-linked atomic superfluids also in the BCS side of the crossover by taking the tunneling energy as a phenomenological parameter.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, presented at the Scientific Seminar on Physics of Cold Trapped Atoms, 17th International Laser Physics Workshop (Trondheim, June 30 - July 4, 2008

Avoided Critical Behavior in O(n) Systems

Long-range frustrating interactions, even if their strength is infinitesimal, can give rise to a dramatic proliferations of ground or near-ground states. As a consequence, the ordering temperature can exhibit a discontinuous drop as a function of the frustration. A simple model of the doped Mott insulator, where the short-range tendency of the holes to phase separate competes with long-range Coulomb effects, exhibits this "avoided critical" behavior. This model may serve as a paradigm for many other systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Composite excitation of Josephson phase and spin waves in Josephson junctions with ferromagnetic insulator

Coupling of Josephson-phase and spin-waves is theoretically studied in a superconductor/ferromagnetic insulator/superconductor (S/FI/S) junction. Electromagnetic (EM) field inside the junction and the Josephson current coupled with spin-waves in FI are calculated by combining Maxwell and Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations. In the S/FI/S junction, it is found that the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic shows two resonant peaks. Voltages at the resonant peaks are obtained as a function of the normal modes of EM field, which indicates a composite excitation of the EM field and spin-waves in the S/FI/S junction. We also examine another type of junction, in which a nonmagnetic insulator (I) is located at one of interfaces between S and FI. In such a S/I/FI/S junction, three resonant peaks appear in the I-V curve, since the Josephson-phase couples to the EM field in the I layer.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Topological properties of superconducting junctions

Motivated by recent developments in the field of one-dimensional topological superconductors, we investigate the topological properties of s-matrix of generic superconducting junctions where dimension should not play any role. We argue that for a finite junction the s-matrix is always topologically trivial. We resolve an apparent contradiction with the previous results by taking into account the low-energy resonant poles of s-matrix. Thus no common topological transition occur in a finite junction. We reveal a transition of a different kind that concerns the configuration of the resonant poles