Evolutionary Algorithms Applied to Landau-Gauge Fixing

Current algorithms used to put a lattice gauge configuration into Landau gauge either suffer from the problem of critical slowing-down or involve an additional computational expense to overcome it. Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), which have been widely applied to other global optimisation problems, may be of use in gauge fixing. Also, being global, they should not suffer from critical slowing-down as do local gradient based algorithms. We apply EA's and also a Steepest Descent (SD) based method to the problem of Landau Gauge Fixing and compare their performance.Comment: LATTICE98(algorithms), 3 pages, 6 figure

Mott insulators in strong electric fields

Recent experiments on ultracold atomic gases in an optical lattice potential have produced a Mott insulating state of Rb atoms. This state is stable to a small applied potential gradient (an `electric' field), but a resonant response was observed when the potential energy drop per lattice spacing (E), was close to the repulsive interaction energy (U) between two atoms in the same lattice potential well. We identify all states which are resonantly coupled to the Mott insulator for E close to U via an infinitesimal tunneling amplitude between neighboring potential wells. The strong correlation between these states is described by an effective Hamiltonian for the resonant subspace. This Hamiltonian exhibits quantum phase transitions associated with an Ising density wave order, and with the appearance of superfluidity in the directions transverse to the electric field. We suggest that the observed resonant response is related to these transitions, and propose experiments to directly detect the order parameters. The generalizations to electric fields applied in different directions, and to a variety of lattices, should allow study of numerous other correlated quantum phases.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures; (v2) minor additions and new reference

Optimal Hypercontractivity for Fermi Fields and Related Non-Commutative Integration

Optimal hypercontractivity bounds for the fermion oscillator semigroup are obtained. These are the fermion analogs of the optimal hypercontractivity bounds for the boson oscillator semigroup obtained by Nelson. In the process, several results of independent interest in the theory of non-commutative integration are established. {}.Comment: 18 p., princeton/ecel/7-12-9

Low-cost hyperspectral imaging with a smartphone

Recent advances in smartphone technologies have opened the door to the development of accessible, highly portable sensing tools capable of accurate and reliable data collection in a range of environmental settings. In this article, we introduce a low-cost smartphone-based hyperspectral imaging system that can convert a standard smartphone camera into a visible wavelength hyperspectral sensor for ca. £100. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first smartphone capable of hyperspectral data collection without the need for extensive post processing. The Hyperspectral Smartphone’s abilities are tested in a variety of environmental applications and its capabilities directly compared to the laboratory-based analogue from our previous research, as well as the wider existing literature. The Hyperspectral Smartphone is capable of accurate, laboratory- and field-based hyperspectral data collection, demonstrating the significant promise of both this device and smartphone-based hyperspectral imaging as a whole

Recurrent dynamical symmetry breaking and restoration by Wilson lines at finite densities on a torus

In this paper we derive the general expression of a one-loop effective potential of the nonintegrable phases of Wilson lines for an SU(N) gauge theory with a massless adjoint fermion defined on the spactime manifold $R^{1,d-3}\times T^2$ at finite temperature and fermion density. The Phase structure of the vacuum is presented for the case with $d=4$ and N=2 at zero temperature. It is found that gauge symmetry is broken and restored alternately as the fermion density increases, a feature not found in the Higgs mechanism. It is the manifestation of the quantum effects of the nonintegrable phases.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Antarctic ice sheet discharge driven by atmosphere-ocean feedbacks at the Last Glacial Termination

Reconstructing the dynamic response of the Antarctic ice sheets to warming during the Last Glacial Termination (LGT; 18,000–11,650 yrs ago) allows us to disentangle ice-climate feedbacks that are key to improving future projections. Whilst the sequence of events during this period is reasonably well-known, relatively poor chronological control has precluded precise alignment of ice, atmospheric and marine records, making it difficult to assess relationships between Antarctic ice-sheet (AIS) dynamics, climate change and sea level. Here we present results from a highly-resolved ‘horizontal ice core’ from the Weddell Sea Embayment, which records millennial-scale AIS dynamics across this extensive region. Counterintuitively, we find AIS mass-loss across the full duration of the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR; 14,600–12,700 yrs ago), with stabilisation during the subsequent millennia of atmospheric warming. Earth-system and ice-sheet modelling suggests these contrasting trends were likely Antarctic-wide, sustained by feedbacks amplified by the delivery of Circumpolar Deep Water onto the continental shelf. Given the anti-phase relationship between inter-hemispheric climate trends across the LGT our findings demonstrate that Southern Ocean-AIS feedbacks were controlled by global atmospheric teleconnections. With increasing stratification of the Southern Ocean and intensification of mid-latitude westerly winds today, such teleconnections could amplify AIS mass loss and accelerate global sea-level rise

Infrared exponents and the strong-coupling limit in lattice Landau gauge

We study the gluon and ghost propagators of lattice Landau gauge in the strong-coupling limit beta=0 in pure SU(2) lattice gauge theory to find evidence of the conformal infrared behavior of these propagators as predicted by a variety of functional continuum methods for asymptotically small momenta $q^2 \ll \Lambda_\mathrm{QCD}^2$. In the strong-coupling limit, this same behavior is obtained for the larger values of a^2q^2 (in units of the lattice spacing a), where it is otherwise swamped by the gauge field dynamics. Deviations for a^2q^2 < 1 are well parameterized by a transverse gluon mass $\propto 1/a$. Perhaps unexpectedly, these deviations are thus no finite-volume effect but persist in the infinite-volume limit. They furthermore depend on the definition of gauge fields on the lattice, while the asymptotic conformal behavior does not. We also comment on a misinterpretation of our results by Cucchieri and Mendes in Phys. Rev. D81 (2010) 016005.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Revised version (mainly sections I and II); references and comments on subsequent work on the subject added

Brane matter, hidden or mirror matter, their various avatars and mixings: many faces of the same physics

Numerous papers deal with the phenomenology related to photon-hidden photon kinetic mixing and with the effects of a mass mixing on particle-hidden particle oscillations. In addition, recent papers underline the existence of a geometrical mixing between branes which would allow a matter swapping between branes. These approaches and their phenomenologies are reminiscent of each other but rely on different physical concepts. In the present paper, we suggest there is no rivalry between these models, which are probably many faces of the same physics. We discuss some phenomenological consequences of a global framework.Comment: 9 pages. Typo corrected. Published in European Physical Journal