Two-color stabilization of atomic hydrogen in circularly polarized laser fields

Dynamic stabilization of atomic hydrogen against ionization in high-frequency single- and two-color, circularly polarized laser pulses is observed by numerically solving the three-dimensional, time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. The single-color case is revisited and numerically determined ionization rates are compared with both, exact and approximate high-frequency Floquet rates. The position of the peaks in the photoelectron spectra can be explained with the help of dressed initial states. In two-color laser fields of opposite circular polarization the stabilized probability density may be shaped in various ways. For laser frequencies $\omega_1$ and $\omega_2=n\omega_1$, $n=2,3,...$ and sufficiently large excursion amplitudes $n+1$ distinct probability density peaks are observed. This may be viewed as the generalization of the well-known ``dichotomy'' in linearly polarized laser fields, i.e, as ``trichotomy,'' ``quatrochotomy,'' ``pentachotomy'' etc. All those observed structures and their ``hula-hoop''-like dynamics can be understood with the help of high-frequency Floquet theory and the two-color Kramers-Henneberger transformation. The shaping of the probability density in the stabilization regime can be realized without additional loss in the survival probability, as compared to the corresponding single-color results.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX4, 11 eps-figures, see also http://www.physik.tu-darmstadt.de/tqe/dieter/publist.html for a manuscript with higher-quality figure

A numerical ab initio study of harmonic generation from a ring-shaped model molecule in laser fields

When a laser pulse impinges on a molecule which is invariant under certain symmetry operations selection rules for harmonic generation (HG) arise. In other words: symmetry controls which channels are open for the deposition and emission of laser energy---with the possible application of filtering or amplification. We review the derivation of HG selection rules and study numerically the interaction of laser pulses with an effectively one-dimensional ring-shaped model molecule. The harmonic yields obtained from that model and their dependence on laser frequency and intensity are discussed. In a real experiment obvious candidates for such molecules are benzene, other aromatic compounds, or even nanotubes.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The fundamental group and torsion group of Beauville surfaces

We give a survey on the fundamental group of surfaces isogenous to a higher product. If the surfaces are regular, e.g. if they are Beauville surfaces, the first homology group is a finite group. We present a MAGMA script which calculates the first homology groups of regular surfaces isogenous to a product.Comment: 14 pages; MAGMA script included; v2: minor corrections, final version to appear in the Proceedings of the Conference "Beauville Surfaces and Groups", Newcastle University (UK), 7-9th June 201

Time-dependent Kohn-Sham approach to quantum electrodynamics

We prove a generalization of the van Leeuwen theorem towards quantum electrodynamics, providing the formal foundations of a time-dependent Kohn-Sham construction for coupled quantized matter and electromagnetic fields. Thereby we circumvent the symmetry-causality problems associated with the action-functional approach to Kohn-Sham systems. We show that the effective external four-potential and four-current of the Kohn-Sham system are uniquely defined and that the effective four-current takes a very simple form. Further we rederive the Runge-Gross theorem for quantum electrodynamics.Comment: 8 page

Harmonic generation by atoms in circularly polarized laser fields: far-off and near resonances regimes

The generation of harmonics by atoms interacting with two circularly polarized and frequency related laser fields is addressed through ab initio numerical simulations. A detailed charaterization of a few specific harmonics is given. In particular, the two different cases where the total energy absorbed through photons is far-off or close to the energy gap between different atomic states are investigated. It is found that the conversion efficiency in the harmonic generation is strongly dependent on the inner atomic structure and in certain specific cases it can be significantly enhanced within a small frequency range.Comment: Submitted to Appl. Phys. B, 4 page

Large magnetoresistance in the antiferromagnetic semi-metal NdSb

There has been considerable interest in topological semi-metals that exhibit extreme magnetoresistance (XMR). These have included materials lacking inversion symmetry such as TaAs, as well Dirac semi-metals such as Cd3As2. However, it was reported recently that LaSb and LaBi also exhibit XMR, even though the rock-salt structure of these materials has inversion symmetry, and the band-structure calculations do not show a Dirac dispersion in the bulk. Here, we present magnetoresistance and specific heat measurements on NdSb, which is isostructural with LaSb. NdSb has an antiferromagnetic groundstate, and in analogy with the lanthanum monopnictides, is expected to be a topologically non-trivial semi-metal. We show that NdSb has an XMR of 10^4 %, even within the AFM state, illustrating that XMR can occur independently of the absence of time reversal symmetry breaking in zero magnetic field. The persistence of XMR in a magnetic system offers promise of new functionality when combining topological matter with electronic correlations. We also find that in an applied magnetic field below the Neel temperature there is a first order transition, consistent with evidence from previous neutron scattering work.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

The Tropos Software Development Methodology: Processes, Models and Diagrams

Tropos is a novel agent-oriented software development methodology founded on two key features: (i) the notions of agent, goal, plan and various other knowledge level concepts are fundamental primitives used uniformly throughout the software development process; and (ii) a crucial role is assigned to requirements analysis and specification when the system-to-be is analyzed with respect to its intended environment. This paper provides a (first) detailed account of the Tropos methodology. In particular, we describe the basic concepts on which Tropos is founded and the types of models one builds out of them. We also specify the analysis process through which design flows from external to system actors through a goal analysis and delegation. In addition, we provide an abstract syntax for Tropos diagrams and other linguistic constructs

Perturbations in the relaxation mechanism for a large cosmological constant

Recently, a mechanism for relaxing a large cosmological constant (CC) has been proposed [arxiv:0902.2215], which permits solutions with low Hubble rates at late times without fine-tuning. The setup is implemented in the LXCDM framework, and we found a reasonable cosmological background evolution similar to the LCDM model with a fine-tuned CC. In this work we analyse analytically the perturbations in this relaxation model, and we show that their evolution is also similar to the LCDM model, especially in the matter era. Some tracking properties of the vacuum energy are discussed, too.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX; discussion improved, accepted by CQ