Ferromagnetism in Fe-doped Ba6Ge25 Chiral Clathrate

We have successfully synthesized a Ba6Ge25 clathrate, substituting 3 Fe per formula unit by Ge. This chiral clathrate has Ge sites forming a framework of closed cages and helical tunnel networks. Fe atoms randomly occupy these sites, and exhibit high-spin magnetic moments. A ferromagnetic transition is observed with Tc = 170 K, the highest observed Tc for a magnetic clathrate. However, the magnetic phase is significantly disordered, and exhibits a transformation to a re-entrant spin glass phase. This system has a number of features in common with other dilute magnetic semiconductors.Comment: Submitted to Applied Physics Letters. Fig. 1 resolution reduced for online archive versio

Talbot effect for dispersion in linear optical fibers and a wavelet approach

We shortly recall the mathematical and physical aspects of Talbot's self-imaging effect occurring in near-field diffraction. In the rational paraxial approximation, the Talbot images are formed at distances z=p/q, where p and q are coprimes, and are superpositions of q equally spaced images of the original binary transmission (Ronchi) grating. This interpretation offers the possibility to express the Talbot effect through Gauss sums. Here, we pay attention to the Talbot effect in the case of dispersion in optical fibers presenting our considerations based on the close relationships of the mathematical representations of diffraction and dispersion. Although dispersion deals with continuous functions, such as gaussian and supergaussian pulses, whereas in diffraction one frequently deals with discontinuous functions, the mathematical correspondence enables one to characterize the Talbot effect in the two cases with minor differences. In addition, we apply, for the first time to our knowledge, the wavelet transform to the fractal Talbot effect in both diffraction and fiber dispersion. In the first case, the self similar character of the transverse paraxial field at irrational multiples of the Talbot distance is confirmed, whereas in the second case it is shown that the field is not self similar for supergaussian pulses. Finally, a high-precision measurement of irrational distances employing the fractal index determined with the wavelet transform is pointed outComment: 15 text pages + 7 gif figs, accepted at Int. J. Mod. Phys. B, final version of a contribution at ICSSUR-Besancon (May/05). Color figs available from the first autho

Integrable Systems and Poisson-Lie T-duality: a finite dimensional example

We study the deep connection between integrable models and Poisson-Lie T-duality working on a finite dimensional example constructed on SL(2,C) and its Iwasawa factors SU(2) and B. We shown the way in which Adler-Kostant-Symes theory and collective dynamics combine to solve the equivalent systems from solving the factorization problem of an exponential curve in SL(2,C). It is shown that the Toda system embraces the dynamics of the systems on SU(2) and B.Comment: 34 page

"Quasi-particle breakdown" in the quasi-one-dimensional Ising ferromagnet CoNb2_2O6_6

We present experimental and theoretical evidence that an interesting quantum many-body effect -- quasi-particle breakdown -- occurs in the quasi-one-dimensional spin-1/2 Ising-like ferromagnet CoNb$_2$O$_6$ in its paramagnetic phase at high transverse field as a result of explicit breaking of spin inversion symmetry. We propose a quantum spin Hamiltonian capturing the essential one-dimensional physics of CoNb$_2$O$_6$ and determine the exchange parameters of this model by fitting the calculated single particle dispersion to the one observed experimentally in applied transverse magnetic fields. We present high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the single particle dispersion which observe "anomalous broadening" effects over a narrow energy range at intermediate energies. We propose that this effect originates from the decay of the one particle mode into two-particle states. This decay arises from (i) a finite overlap between the one-particle dispersion and the two-particle continuum in a narrow energy-momentum range and (ii) a small misalignment of the applied field away from the direction perpendicular to the Ising axis in the experiments, which allows for non-zero matrix elements for decay by breaking the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ spin inversion symmetry of the Hamiltonian.Comment: v1: 15 pages, 10 figures. v2: 16 pages, 10 figures, minor changes, as accepted to PR

Limits to the presence of transiting circumbinary planets in CoRoT data

The CoRoT mission during its flight-phase 2007-2012 delivered the light-curves for over 2000 eclipsing binaries. Data from the Kepler mission have proven the existence of several transiting circumbinary planets. Albeit light-curves from CoRoT have typically lower precision and shorter coverage, CoRoT's number of targets is similar to Kepler, and some of the known circumbinary planets could potentially be detected in CoRoT data as well. The aim of this work has been a revision of the entire CoRoT data-set for the presence of circumbinary planets, and the derivation of limits to the abundances of such planets. We developed a code which removes the light curve of the eclipsing binaries and searches for quasi-periodic transit-like features in a light curve after removal of binary eclipses and instrumental features. The code needs little information on the sample systems and can be used for other space missions as well, like Kepler, K2, TESS and PLATO. The code is broad in the requirements leading to detections, but was tuned to deliver an amount of detections that is manageable in a subsequent, mainly visual, revision about their nature. In the CoRoT sample we identified three planet candidates whose transits would have arisen from a single pass across the central binary. No candidates remained however with transit events from multiple planetary orbits. We calculated the upper limits for the number of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune sized planets in co-planar orbits for different orbital period ranges. We found that there are much less giant planets in short-periodic orbits around close binary systems than around single stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 11 pages, 4 figures and 4 tables. Updated to fix error in acknowledgemen