Longitudinal excitations in quantum antiferromagnets

By extending our recently proposed magnon-density-waves to low dimensions, we investigate, using a microscopic many-body approach, the longitudinal excitations of the quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1d) and quasi-2d Heisenberg antiferromagnetic systems on a bipartite lattice with a general spin quantum number. We obtain the full energy spectrum of the longitudinal mode as a function of the coupling constants in the original lattice Hamiltonian and find that it always has a non-zero energy gap if the ground state has a long-range order and becomes gapless for the pure isotropic 1d model. The numerical value of the minimum gap in our approximation agrees with that of a longitudinal mode observed in the quasi-1d antiferromagnetic compound KCuF${}_3$ at low temperature. It will be interesting to compare values of the energy spectrum at other momenta if their experimental results are available.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

A simple parallel prefix algorithm for compact finite-difference schemes

A compact scheme is a discretization scheme that is advantageous in obtaining highly accurate solutions. However, the resulting systems from compact schemes are tridiagonal systems that are difficult to solve efficiently on parallel computers. Considering the almost symmetric Toeplitz structure, a parallel algorithm, simple parallel prefix (SPP), is proposed. The SPP algorithm requires less memory than the conventional LU decomposition and is highly efficient on parallel machines. It consists of a prefix communication pattern and AXPY operations. Both the computation and the communication can be truncated without degrading the accuracy when the system is diagonally dominant. A formal accuracy study was conducted to provide a simple truncation formula. Experimental results were measured on a MasPar MP-1 SIMD machine and on a Cray 2 vector machine. Experimental results show that the simple parallel prefix algorithm is a good algorithm for the compact scheme on high-performance computers

Excited states of quantum many-body interacting systems: A variational coupled-cluster description

We extend recently proposed variational coupled-cluster method to describe excitation states of quantum many-body interacting systems. We discuss, in general terms, both quasiparticle excitations and quasiparticle-density-wave excitations (collective modes). In application to quantum antiferromagnets, we reproduce the well-known spin-wave excitations, i.e. quasiparticle magnons of spin $\pm 1$. In addition, we obtain new, spin-zero magnon-density-wave excitations which has been missing in Anserson's spin-wave theory. Implications of these new collective modes are discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Study of the cofactor conditions: conditions of supercompatibility between phases

The cofactor conditions, introduced in James and Zhang, are conditions of compatibility between phases in martensitic materials. They consist of three subconditions: i) the condition that the middle principal stretch of the transformation stretch tensor $\mathbf U$ is unity ($\lambda_2 = 1$), ii) the condition \mathbf a \cdot \mathbf U\, \cof (\mathbf U^2 - \mathbf I)\mathbf n = 0, where the vectors $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf n$ are certain vectors arising in the specification of the twin system, and iii) the inequality ${\rm tr} \mathbf U^2 + \det \mathbf U^2 -(1/4) |\mathbf a|^2 |\mathbf n|^2\ge 2$. Together, these conditions are necessary and sufficient for the equations of the crystallographic theory of martensite to be satisfied for the given twin system but for any volume fraction f of the twins, $0 \le f \le 1$. This contrasts sharply with the generic solutions of the crystallographic theory which have at most two such volume fractions for a given twin system of the form $f^*$ and $1-f^*$. In this paper we simplify the form of the cofactor conditions, we give their specific forms for various symmetries and twin types, we clarify the extent to which the satisfaction of the cofactor conditions for one twin system implies its satisfaction for other twin systems. In particular, we prove that the satisfaction of the cofactor conditions for either Type I or Type II twins implies that there are solutions of the crystallographic theory using these twins that have no elastic transition layer. We show that the latter further implies macroscopically curved, transition-layer-free austenite/martensite interfaces for Type I twins, and planar transition-layer-free interfaces for Type II twins which nevertheless permit significant flexibility of the martensite. We identify some real material systems nearly satisfying the cofactor conditions.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solid

On AdS to dS transitions in higher-curvature gravity

We study the possible existence of gravitational phase transitions from AdS to dS geometries in the context of higher-curvature gravities. We use Lanczos-Gauss-Bonnet (LGB) theory with a positive cosmological constant as a toy model. This theory has two maximally symmetric vacua with positive (dS) and negative (AdS) constant curvature. We show that a phase transition from the AdS vacuum to a dS black hole geometry takes place when the temperature reaches a critical value. The transition is produced by nucleation of bubbles of the new phase that expand afterwards. We claim that this phenomenon is not particular to the model under study, and shall also be part of generic gravitational theories with higher-curvature terms.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures; v2: comments and references adde