Impurity and boundary effects in one and two-dimensional inhomogeneous Heisenberg antiferromagnets

We calculate the ground-state energy of one and two-dimensional spatially inhomogeneous antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models for spins 1/2, 1, 3/2 and 2. Our calculations become possible as a consequence of the recent formulation of density-functional theory for Heisenberg models. The method is similar to spin-density-functional theory, but employs a local-density-type approximation designed specifically for the Heisenberg model, allowing us to explore parameter regimes that are hard to access by traditional methods, and to consider complications that are important specifically for nanomagnetic devices, such as the effects of impurities, finite-size, and boundary geometry, in chains, ladders, and higher-dimensional systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Thermal versus quantum fluctuations of optical-lattice fermions

We show that, for fermionic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice, the fraction of atoms in doubly occupied sites is a highly nonmonotonic function of temperature. We demonstrate that this property persists even in the presence of realistic harmonic confinement, and that it leads to a suppression of entropy at intermediate temperatures that offers a route to adiabatic cooling. Our interpretation of the suppression is that such intermediate temperatures are simultaneously too high for quantum coherence and too low for significant thermal excitation of double occupancy thus offering a clear indicator of the onset of quantum fluctuations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

BCS and generalized BCS superconductivity in relativistic quantum field theory. I. formulation

We investigate the BCS and generalized BCS theories in the relativistic quantum field theory. We select the gauge freedom as U(1), and introduce a BCS-type effective attractive interaction. After introducing the Gor'kov formalism and performing the group theoretical consideration of the mean fields, we solve the relativistic Gor'kov equation and obtain the Green's functions in analytical forms. We obtain various types of gap equations.Comment: 31 page

The entanglement of few-particle systems when using the local-density approximation

In this chapter we discuss methods to calculate the entanglement of a system using density-functional theory. We firstly introduce density-functional theory and the local-density approximation (LDA). We then discuss the concept of the `interacting LDA system'. This is characterised by an interacting many-body Hamiltonian which reproduces, uniquely and exactly, the ground state density obtained from the single-particle Kohn-Sham equations of density-functional theory when the local-density approximation is used. We motivate why this idea can be useful for appraising the local-density approximation in many-body physics particularly with regards to entanglement and related quantum information applications. Using an iterative scheme, we find the Hamiltonian characterising the interacting LDA system in relation to the test systems of Hooke's atom and helium-like atoms. The interacting LDA system ground state wavefunction is then used to calculate the spatial entanglement and the results are compared and contrasted with the exact entanglement for the two test systems. For Hooke's atom we also compare the entanglement to our previous estimates of an LDA entanglement. These were obtained using a combination of evolutionary algorithm and gradient descent, and using an LDA-based perturbative approach. We finally discuss if the position-space information entropy of the density---which can be obtained directly from the system density and hence easily from density-functional theory methods---can be considered as a proxy measure for the spatial entanglement for the test systems.Comment: 12 pages and 5 figures

Hydrogen effect on fatigue life of a pipe steel

Transport by pipe is the means more used, at the present time, to convey energies of their point of extraction until their field sites final. To limit any risk of explosion or of escape and thus to limit the geological problems of pollution and the human risks, it is necessary to be able to know the mechanical properties of the steels used in the manufacture of these pipes. With the reduction in oil stocks, it is necessary to find a new energy. Hydrogen is this new energy vector, it thus will also be necessary to be able to transport it. This study makes it possible to emphasize the assignment of the lifespan of hydrogen on a pipeline steel normally used in the transport of gas. The fatigue tests in 3 points bending are carried out on samples not standards because of dimensions of the tube of origin

Exact and approximate relations for the spin-dependence of the exchange energy in high magnetic fields

The exchange energy of an arbitrary collinear-spin many-body system in an external magnetic field is a functional of the spin-resolved charge and current densities, $E_x[n_{\uparrow},n_{\downarrow},j_{\uparrow},j_{\downarrow}]$. Within the framework of density-functional theory (DFT), we show that the dependence of this functional on the four densities can be fully reconstructed from either of two extreme limits: a fully polarized system or a completely unpolarized system. Reconstruction from the limit of an unpolarized system yields a generalization of the Oliver-Perdew spin scaling relations from spin-DFT to current-DFT. Reconstruction from the limit of a fully polarized system is used to derive the high-field form of the local-spin-density approximation to current-DFT and to magnetic-field DFT.Comment: Int. J. Mod Phys. B, accepted, 2008 (Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on High Magnetic Fields in Semiconductor Physics and Nanotechnology). 5 page

Trends to determine fracture intiation and propagation of a pipe under service pressure

A fracture toughness transferability curve has been established for the X52 pipe steels described by a linear relationship between the notch critical stress intensity factor and the average value of T stress over the opening stress distribution. This curve is used to determine the fracture toughness associated with the structure. the characteristic length of the fracture process. Crack extension modelled by Finite Element method using CTOA criterion coupled with the the node release technique is used to predict the crack velocity, the arrest pressure and crack length. This method is compared with the different Two Curves Methods Batelle, HLP and HLP-Sumitom

Density-functional calculation of ionization energies of current-carrying atomic states

Current-density-functional theory is used to calculate ionization energies of current-carrying atomic states. A perturbative approximation to full current-density-functional theory is implemented for the first time, and found to be numerically feasible. Different parametrizations for the current-dependence of the density functional are critically compared. Orbital currents in open-shell atoms turn out to produce a small shift in the ionization energies. We find that modern density functionals have reached an accuracy at which small current-related terms appearing in open-shell configurations are not negligible anymore compared to the remaining difference to experiment.Comment: 7 pages, 2 tables, accepted by Phys. Rev.