Extremely asymmetrical scattering in gratings with varying mean structural parameters

Extremely asymmetrical scattering (EAS) is an unusual type of Bragg scattering in slanted periodic gratings with the scattered wave (the +1 diffracted order) propagating parallel to the grating boundaries. Here, a unique and strong sensitivity of EAS to small stepwise variations of mean structural parameters at the grating boundaries is predicted theoretically (by means of approximate and rigorous analyses) for bulk TE electromagnetic waves and slab optical modes of arbitrary polarization in holographic (for bulk waves) and corrugation (for slab modes) gratings. The predicted effects are explained using one of the main physical reasons for EAS--the diffractional divergence of the scattered wave (similar to divergence of a laser beam). The approximate method of analysis is based on this understanding of the role of the divergence of the scattered wave, while the rigorous analysis uses the enhanced T-matrix algorithm. The effect of small and large stepwise variations of the mean permittivity at the grating boundaries is analysed. Two distinctly different and unusual patterns of EAS are predicted in the cases of wide and narrow (compared to a critical width) gratings. Comparison between the approximate and rigorous theories is carried out.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

The electronic pseudogap in optimally doped NCCO

We study the effect of antiferromagnetic correlations in the three-band Emery model, in comparison with the experimental angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) spectra in optimally doped NCCO. The same calculation, formerly used to describe BSCCO, is relevant here, but in contrast to BSCCO, where quantum paramagnon fluctuations are important, the characteristic energy of the dispersive paramagnons in NCCO is of the order of Tc. The wide dispersing features of the single-electron spectrum in NCCO are analogous to the BSCCO hump. The Fermi surface is pseudogapped in both the nodal and antinodal directions, although the detailed features differ, being dominated by loss of intensity in the nodal direction, and loss of coherence in the antinodal one. Direct oxygen-oxygen hopping is important in NCCO as well as in BSCCO, in order to obtain overall agreement with the measured ARPES spectra.Comment: Final version as accepted in PRB(RC), one paragraph added, 4 pages, 3 figure

Melting Pattern of Diquark Condensates in Quark Matter

Thermal color superconducting phase transitions in high density three-flavor quark matter are investigated in the Ginzburg-Landau approach. Effects of nonzero strange quark mass, electric and color charge neutrality, and direct instantons are considered. Weak coupling calculations show that an interplay between the mass and electric neutrality effects near the critical temperature gives rise to three successive second-order phase transitions as the temperature increases: a modified color-flavor locked (mCFL) phase (ud, ds, and us pairings) -> a ``dSC'' phase (ud and ds pairings) -> an isoscalar pairing phase (ud pairing) -> a normal phase (no pairing). The dSC phase is novel in the sense that while all eight gluons are massive as in the mCFL phase, three out of nine quark quasiparticles are gapless.Comment: minor changes in the text, fig.2 modifie

Mass Terms in Effective Theories of High Density Quark Matter

We study the structure of mass terms in the effective theory for quasi-particles in QCD at high baryon density. To next-to-leading order in the $1/p_F$ expansion we find two types of mass terms, chirality conserving two-fermion operators and chirality violating four-fermion operators. In the effective chiral theory for Goldstone modes in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase the former terms correspond to effective chemical potentials, while the latter lead to Lorentz invariant mass terms. We compute the masses of Goldstone bosons in the CFL phase, confirming earlier results by Son and Stephanov as well as Bedaque and Sch\"afer. We show that to leading order in the coupling constant $g$ there is no anti-particle gap contribution to the mass of Goldstone modes, and that our results are independent of the choice of gauge.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure