1,363 research outputs found
Variational theory of flux-line liquids
We formulate a variational (Hartree like) description of flux line liquids
which improves on the theory we developed in an earlier paper [A.M. Ettouhami,
Phys. Rev. B 65, 134504 (2002)]. We derive, in particular, how the massive term
confining the fluctuations of flux lines varies with temperature and show that
this term vanishes at high enough temperatures where the vortices behave as
freely fluctuating elastic lines.Comment: 10 pages, 1 postscript figur
Interstitials, Vacancies and Dislocations in Flux-Line Lattices: A Theory of Vortex Crystals, Supersolids and Liquids
We study a three dimensional Abrikosov vortex lattice in the presence of an
equilibrium concentration of vacancy, interstitial and dislocation loops.
Vacancies and interstitials renormalize the long-wavelength bulk and tilt
elastic moduli. Dislocation loops lead to the vanishing of the long-wavelength
shear modulus. The coupling to vacancies and interstitials - which are always
present in the liquid state - allows dislocations to relax stresses by climbing
out of their glide plane. Surprisingly, this mechanism does not yield any
further independent renormalization of the tilt and compressional moduli at
long wavelengths. The long wavelength properties of the resulting state are
formally identical to that of the ``flux-line hexatic'' that is a candidate
``normal'' hexatically ordered vortex liquid state.Comment: 21 RevTeX pgs, 7 eps figures uuencoded; corrected typos, published
versio
Universality of Frequency and Field Scaling of the Conductivity Measured by Ac-Susceptibility of a Ybco-Film
Utilizing a novel and exact inversion scheme, we determine the complex linear
conductivity from the linear magnetic ac-susceptibility
which has been measured from 3\,mHz to 50\,MHz in fields between 0.4\,T and
4\,T applied parallel to the c-axis of a 250\,nm thin disk. The frequency
derivative of the phase and the dynamical scaling of
above and below provide clear evidence for a
continuous phase transition at to a generic superconducting state. Based
on the vortex-glass scaling model, the resulting critical exponents and
are close to those frequently obtained on films by other means and
associated with an 'isotropic' vortex glass. The field effect on
can be related to the increase of the glass coherence length,
.Comment: 8 pages (5 figures upon request), revtex 3.0, APK.94.01.0
Hydrodynamics of liquids of arbitrarily curved flux-lines and vortex loops
We derive a hydrodynamic model for a liquid of arbitrarily curved flux-lines
and vortex loops using the mapping of the vortex liquid onto a liquid of
relativistic charged quantum bosons in 2+1 dimensions recently suggested by
Tesanovic and by Sudbo and collaborators. The loops in the flux-line system
correspond to particle-antiparticle fluctuations in the bosons. We explicitly
incorporate the externally applied magnetic field which in the boson model
corresponds to a chemical potential associated with the conserved charge
density of the bosons. We propose this model as a convenient and physically
appealing starting point for studying the properties of the vortex liquid
Vortex-line liquid phases: Longitudinal superconductivity in the lattice London model
We study the vortex-line lattice and liquid phases of a clean type-II
superconductor by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the lattice London model.
Motivated by a recent controversy regarding the presence, within this model, of
a vortex-liquid regime with longitudinal superconducting coherence over long
length scales, we directly compare two different ways to calculate the
longitudinal coherence. For an isotropic superconductor, we interpret our
results in terms of a temperature regime within the liquid phase in which
longitudinal superconducting coherence extends over length scales larger than
the system thickness studied. We note that this regime disappears in the
moderately anisotropic case due to a proliferation, close to the flux-line
lattice melting temperature, of vortex loops between the layers.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex, with eps figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Vortex Lattice Melting into Disentangled Liquid Followed by the 3D-2D Decoupling Transition in YBa_2Cu_4O_8 Single Crystals
A sharp resistance drop associated with vortex lattice melting was observed
in high quality YBa_2Cu_4O_8 single crystals. The melting line is well
described well by the anisotropic GL theory. Two thermally activated flux flow
regions, which were separated by a crossover line B_cr=1406.5(1-T/T_c)/T
(T_c=79.0 K, B_cr in T), were observed in the vortex liquid phase. Activation
energy for each region was obtained and the corresponding dissipation mechanism
was discussed. Our results suggest that the vortex lattice in YBa_2Cu_4O_8
single crystal melts into disentangled liquid, which then undergoes a 3D-2D
decoupling transition.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTex (Latex2.09
Muon-Spin Rotation Spectra in the Mixed Phase of High-T_c Superconductors : Thermal Fluctuations and Disorder Effects
We study muon-spin rotation (muSR) spectra in the mixed phase of highly
anisotropic layered superconductors, specifically Bi_2+xSr_2-xCaCu_2O_8+delta
(BSCCO), by modeling the fluid and solid phases of pancake vortices using
liquid-state and density functional methods. The role of thermal fluctuations
in causing motional narrowing of muSR lineshapes is quantified in terms of a
first-principles theory of the flux-lattice melting transition. The effects of
random point pinning are investigated using a replica treatment of liquid state
correlations and a replicated density functional theory. Our results indicate
that motional narrowing in the pure system, although substantial, cannot
account for the remarkably small linewidths obtained experimentally at
relatively high fields and low temperatures. We find that satisfactory
agreement with the muSR data for BSCCO in this regime can be obtained through
the ansatz that this ``phase'' is characterized by frozen short-range
positional correlations reflecting the structure of the liquid just above the
melting transition. This proposal is consistent with recent suggestions of a
``pinned liquid'' or ``glassy'' state of pancake vortices in the presence of
pinning disorder. Our results for the high-temperature liquid phase indicate
that measurable linewidths may be obtained in this phase as a consequence of
density inhomogeneities induced by the pinning disorder. The results presented
here comprise a unified, first-principles theoretical treatment of muSR spectra
in highly anisotropic layered superconductors in terms of a controlled set of
approximations.Comment: 50 pages Latex file, including 10 postscript figure
Effects of columnar disorder on flux-lattice melting in high-temperature superconductors
The effect of columnar pins on the flux-lines melting transition in
high-temperature superconductors is studied using Path Integral Monte Carlo
simulations. We highlight the similarities and differences in the effects of
columnar disorder on the melting transition in YBaCuO
(YBCO) and the highly anisotropic BiSrCaCuO (BSCCO) at
magnetic fields such that the mean separation between flux-lines is smaller
than the penetration length. For pure systems, a first order transition from a
flux-line solid to a liquid phase is seen as the temperature is increased. When
adding columnar defects to the system, the transition temperature is not
affected in both materials as long as the strength of an individual columnar
defect (expressed as a flux-line defect interaction) is less than a certain
threshold for a given density of randomly distributed columnar pins. This
threshold strength is lower for YBCO than for BSCCO. For higher strengths the
transition line is shifted for both materials towards higher temperatures, and
the sharp jump in energy, characteristic of a first order transition, gives way
to a smoother and gradual rise of the energy, characteristic of a second order
transition. Also, when columnar defects are present, the vortex solid phase is
replaced by a pinned Bose glass phase and this is manifested by a marked
decrease in translational order and orientational order as measured by the
appropriate structure factors. For BSCCO, we report an unusual rise of the
translational order and the hexatic order just before the melting transition.
No such rise is observed in YBCO.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, revte
X-ray Reflection By Photoionized Accretion Discs
We present the results of reflection calculations that treat the relevant
physics with a minimum of assumptions. The temperature and ionization structure
of the top five Thomson depths of an illuminated disc are calculated while also
demanding that the atmosphere is in hydrostatic equilibrium. In agreement with
Nayakshin, Kazanas & Kallman, we find that there is a rapid transition from hot
to cold material in the illuminated layer. However, the transition is usually
not sharp so that often we find a small but finite region in Thomson depth
where there is a stable temperature zone at T \sim 2 x 10^{6} K due to
photoelectric heating from recombining ions. As a result, the reflection
spectra often exhibit strong features from partially-ionized material,
including helium-like Fe K lines and edges. We find that due to the highly
ionized features in the spectra these models have difficulty correctly
parameterizing the new reflection spectra. There is evidence for a spurious
correlation in the ASCA energy range, where is the reflection
fraction for a power-law continuum of index , confirming the suggestion
of Done & Nayakshin that at least part of the R-Gamma correlation reported by
Zdziarski, Lubinski & Smith for Seyfert galaxies and X-ray binaries might be
due to ionization effects. Although many of the reflection spectra show strong
ionized features, these are not typically observed in most Seyfert and quasar
X-ray spectra.Comment: 16 pages, accepted by MNRAS, Fig. 8 is in colour Figures and tables
changed by a code update. Conclusions unchange
Simultaneous Diagonal and Off Diagonal Order in the Bose--Hubbard Hamiltonian
The Bose-Hubbard model exhibits a rich phase diagram consisting both of
insulating regimes where diagonal long range (solid) order dominates as well as
conducting regimes where off diagonal long range order (superfluidity) is
present. In this paper we describe the results of Quantum Monte Carlo
calculations of the phase diagram, both for the hard and soft core cases, with
a particular focus on the possibility of simultaneous superfluid and solid
order. We also discuss the appearance of phase separation in the model. The
simulations are compared with analytic calculations of the phase diagram and
spin wave dispersion.Comment: 28 pages plus 24 figures, uuencoded Revtex+postscript file
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