49,062 research outputs found
Vacuum tunneling in gravity
Topologically non-trivial vacuum structure in gravity models with Cartan
variables (vielbein and contortion) is considered. We study the possibility of
vacuum space-time tunneling in Einstein gravity assuming that the vielbein may
play a fundamental role in quantum gravitational phenomena. It has been shown
that in the case of RP3 space topology the tunneling between non-trivial
topological vacuums can be realized by means of Eguchi-Hanson gravitational
instanton. In Riemann-Cartan geometric approach to quantum gravity the vacuum
tunneling can be provided by means of contortion quantum fluctuations. We
define double self-duality condition for the contortion and give explicit
self-dual configurations which can contribute to vacuum tunneling amplitude.Comment: 11 pages, 1 fig. is added, final versio
Cho and Pak reply to Lamm et al. comment on "A Convergent Series for the QED Effective Action"
Cho and Pak reply to Lamm et al. [hep-th/0007108] comment on "A Convergent
Series for the Effective Action of QED" [hep-th/0006057].Comment: 1 pag
A strongly inhomogeneous superfluid in an iron-based superconductor
Among the mysteries surrounding unconventional, strongly correlated
superconductors is the possibility of spatial variations in their superfluid
density. We use atomic-resolution Josephson scanning tunneling microscopy to
reveal a strongly inhomogeneous superfluid in the iron-based superconductor
FeTe0.55Se0.45. By simultaneously measuring the topographic and electronic
properties, we find that this inhomogeneity in the superfluid density is not
caused by structural disorder or strong inter-pocket scattering, and does not
correlate with variations in Cooper pair-breaking gap. Instead, we see a clear
spatial correlation between superfluid density and quasiparticle strength,
putting the iron-based superconductors on equal footing with the cuprates and
demonstrating that locally, the quasiparticles are sharpest when the
superconductivity is strongest. When repeated at different temperatures, our
technique could further help elucidate what local and global mechanisms limit
the critical temperature in unconventional superconductors
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