Tunnelling between non-centrosymmetric superconductors with significant spin-orbit splitting studied theoretically within a two-band treatment

Tunnelling between non-centrosymmetric superconductors with significant spin-orbit splitting is studied theoretically in a two-band treatment of the problem. We find that the critical Josephson current may be modulated by changing the relative angle between the vectors describing absence of inversion symmetry on each side of the junction. The presence of two gaps also results in multiple steps in the quasiparticle current-voltage characteristics. We argue that both these effects may help to determine the pairing states in materials like CePt$_3$Si, UIr and Cd$_2$Re$_2$O$_7$. We propose experimental tests of these ideas, including scanning tunnelling microscopy.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Minor changes. Some new references added. Journal-ref. adde

Self-dual solitons in N=2 supersymmetric semilocal Chern-Simons theory

We embed the semilocal Chern-Simons-Higgs theory into an N=2 supersymmetric system. We construct the corresponding conserved supercharges and derive the Bogomol'nyi equations of the model from supersymmetry considerations. We show that these equations hold provided certain conditions on the coupling constants as well as on the Higgs potential of the system, which are a consequence of the huge symmetry of the theory, are satisfied. They admit string-like solutions which break one half of the supersymmetries --BPS Chern-Simons semilocal cosmic strings-- whose magnetic flux is concentrated at the center of the vortex. We study such solutions and show that their stability is provided by supersymmetry through the existence of a lower bound for the energy, even though the manifold of the Higgs vacuum does not contain non-contractible loops.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, no figures, to appear in Modern Physics Letters

Decisional strategy determines whether frame influences treatment preferences for medical decisions

Decision makers are influenced by the frame of information such that preferences vary depending on whether survival or mortality data are presented. Research is inconsistent as to whether and how age impacts framing effects. This paper presents two studies that used qualitative analyses of think-aloud protocols to understand how the type of information used in the decision making process varies by frame and age. In Study 1, 40 older adults, age 65 to 89, and 40 younger adults, age 18 to 24, responded to a hypothetical lung cancer scenario in a within-subject design. Participants received both a survival and mortality frame. Qualitative analyses revealed that two main decisional strategies were used by all participants: one strategy reflected a data-driven decisional process, whereas the other reflected an experience-driven process. Age predicted decisional strategy, with older adults less likely to use a data-driven strategy. Frame interacted with strategy to predict treatment choice; only those using a data-driven strategy demonstrated framing effects. In Study 2, 61 older adults, age 65 to 98, and 63 younger adults, age 18 to 30, responded to the same scenarios as in Study 1 in a between-subject design. The results of Study 1 were replicated, with age significantly predicting decisional strategy and frame interacting with strategy to predict treatment choice. Findings suggest that framing effects may be more related to decisional strategy than to age

Supersymmetric Electroweak Cosmic Strings

We study the connection between $N=2$ supersymmetry and a topological bound in a two-Higgs-doublet system with an $SU(2)\times U(1)_Y\times U(1)_{Y^{\prime}}$ gauge group. We derive the Bogomol'nyi equations from supersymmetry considerations showing that they hold provided certain conditions on the coupling constants, which are a consequence of the huge symmetry of the theory, are satisfied. Their solutions, which can be interpreted as electroweak cosmic strings breaking one half of the supersymmetries of the theory, are studied. Certain interesting limiting cases of our model which have recently been considered in the literature are finally analyzed.Comment: 20 pages, RevTe

Phases of dual superconductivity and confinement in softly broken N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories

We study the electric flux tubes that undertake color confinement in N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories softly broken down to N=1 by perturbing with the first two Casimir operators. The relevant Abelian Higgs model is not the standard one due to the presence of an off-diagonal coupling among different magnetic U(1) factors. We perform a preliminary study of this model at a qualitative level. BPS vortices are explicitely obtained for particular values of the soft breaking parameters. Generically however, even in the ultrastrong scaling limit, vortices are not critical but live in a "hybrid" type II phase. Also, ratios among string tensions are seen to follow no simple pattern. We examine the situation at the half Higgsed vacua and find evidence for solutions with the behaviour of superconducting strings. In some cases they are solutions to BPS equations.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, revtex; v2: typos corrected, final versio

Chaotic behavior in a Z_2 x Z_2 field theory

We investigate the presence of chaos in a system of two real scalar fields with discrete Z_2 x Z_2 symmetry. The potential that identify the system is defined with a real parameter r and presents distinct features for r>0 and for r<0. For static field configurations, the system supports two topological sectors for r>0, and only one for r<0. Under the assumption of spatially homogeneous fields, the system exhibts chaotic behavior almost everywhere in parameter space. In particular a more complex dynamics appears for r>0; in this case chaos can decrease for increasing energy, a fact that is absent for r<0.Comment: Revtex, 13 pages, no figures. Version with figures in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A14 (1999) 496

Chern-Simons Vortices in Supergravity

We study supersymmetric vortex solutions in three-dimensional abelian gauged supergravity. First, we construct the general U(1)-gauged D=3, N=2 supergravity whose scalar sector is an arbitrary Kahler manifold with U(1) isometry. This construction clarifies the connection between local supersymmetry and the specific forms of some scalar potentials previously found in the literature -- in particular, it provides the locally supersymmetric embedding of the abelian Chern-Simons Higgs model. We show that the Killing spinor equations admit rotationally symmetric vortex solutions with asymptotically conical geometry which preserve half of the supersymmetry.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX2

On the Lifshitz tail in the density of states of a superconductor with magnetic impurities

We argue that any superconductor with magnetic impurities is gapless due to a Lifshitz tail in the density of states extending to zero energy. At low energy the density of states $\nu(E \to 0)$ remains finite. We show that fluctuations in the impurity distribution produce regions of suppressed superconductivity, which are responsible for the low energy density of states.Comment: 4 pages, uuencoded latex file + ps figure file

A quantization procedure based on completely positive maps and Markov operators

We describe $\omega$-limit sets of completely positive (CP) maps over finite-dimensional spaces. In such sets and in its corresponding convex hulls, CP maps present isometric behavior and the states contained in it commute with each other. Motivated by these facts, we describe a quantization procedure based on CP maps which are induced by Markov (transfer) operators. Classical dynamics are described by an action over essentially bounded functions. A non-expansive linear map, which depends on a choice of a probability measure, is the centerpiece connecting phenomena over function and matrix spaces

Pion and Kaon Polarizabilities and Radiative Transitions

CERN COMPASS plans measurements of gamma-pi and gamma-K interactions using 50-280 GeV pion (kaon) beams and a virtual photon target. Pion (kaon) polarizabilities and radiative transitions will be measured via Primakoff effect reactions such as pi+gamma->pi'+gamma and pi+gamma->meson. The former can test a precise prediction of chiral symmetry; the latter for pi+gamma->a1(1260) is important for understanding the polarizability. The radiative transition of a pion to a low mass two-pion system, pi+gamma->pi+pi0, can also be studied to measure the chiral anomaly amplitude F(3pi) (characterizing gamma->3pi), arising from the effective Chiral Lagrangian. We review here the motivation for the above physics program. We describe the beam, target, detector, and trigger requirements for these experiments. We also describe FNAL SELEX attempts to study related physics via the interaction of 600 GeV pions with target electrons. Data analysis in progress aims to identify the reactions pi+e->pi'+e'+pi0 related to the chiral anomaly, and pi+e->pi'+e'+gamma related to pion polarizabilities.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, Latex Springer-Verlag style Tel Aviv U. Preprint TAUP-2469-97, Contribution to the Workshop on Chiral Dynamics Theory and Experiment, U. of Mainz, Sept. 1-5, 1997, to be published in Springer-Verlag, Eds. A. Bernstein, Th. Walcher, 199