On the effects of irrelevant boundary scaling operators

We investigate consequences of adding irrelevant (or less relevant) boundary operators to a (1+1)-dimensional field theory, using the Ising and the boundary sine-Gordon model as examples. In the integrable case, irrelevant perturbations are shown to multiply reflection matrices by CDD factors: the low-energy behavior is not changed, while various high-energy behaviors are possible, including ``roaming'' RG trajectories. In the non-integrable case, a Monte Carlo study shows that the IR behavior is again generically unchanged, provided scaling variables are appropriately renormalized.Comment: 4 Pages RevTeX, 3 figures (eps files

Doping- and size-dependent suppression of tunneling in carbon nanotubes

We study the effect of doping in the suppression of tunneling observed in multi-walled nanotubes, incorporating as well the influence of the finite dimensions of the system. A scaling approach allows us to encompass the different values of the critical exponent $\alpha$ measured for the tunneling density of states in carbon nanotubes. We predict that further reduction of $\alpha$ should be observed in multi-walled nanotubes with a sizeable amount of doping. In the case of nanotubes with a very large radius, we find a pronounced crossover between a high-energy regime with persistent quasiparticles and a low-energy regime with the properties of a one-dimensional conductor.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX file, pacs: 71.10.Pm, 71.20.Tx, 72.80.R

Transport in Double-Crossed Luttinger Liquids

We study transport through two Luttinger liquids (one-dimensional electrons interacting through a Coulomb repulsion in a metal) coupled together at {\it two} points. External voltage biases are incorporated through boundary conditions. We include density-density couplings as well as single-particle hops at the contacts. For weak repulsive interactions, transport through the wires remains undisturbed by the inter-wire couplings, which renormalise to zero. For strong repulsive interactions, the inter-wire couplings become strong. For symmetric barriers and no external voltage bias, a single gate voltage is sufficient to tune for resonance transmission in both wires. However, for asymmetric couplings or for finite external biases, the system is insulating.Comment: Latex file, 11 pages, one eps figur

Electroneutrality and the Friedel sum rule in a Luttinger liquid

Screening in one-dimensional metals is studied for arbitrary electron-electron interactions. It is shown that for finite-range interactions (Luttinger liquid) electroneutrality is violated. This apparent inconsistency can be traced to the presence of external screening gates responsible for the effectively short-ranged Coulomb interactions. We also draw attention to the breakdown of linear screening for wavevectors close to 2 K_f.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, incl one figure, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Fabrication of an active nanostencil with integrated microshutters

An active nanostencil, consisting of a thin (200 nm) silicon nitride membrane with attached polysilicon microactuators that can be used to dynamically open and/or close holes in the silicon nitride membrane, is presented. This nanostencil can be used as a shadow mask in an evaporation setup. Main features of the nanostencil are the absence of sacrificial oxide in the final product, strengthening of the membrane by a polysilicon hexagonal structure that is attached directly to the membrane and the use of low-doped regions in the polysilicon to separate the stator and rotor electrically

Measurement of the Michel Parameter xi" in Polarized Muon Decay and Implications on Exotic Couplings of the Leptonic Weak Interaction

The Michel parameter xi" has been determined from a measurement of the longitudinal polarization of positrons emitted in the decay of polarized and depolarized muons. The result, xi" = 0.981 +- 0.045stat +- 0.003syst, is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of unity, and provides an order of magnitude improvement in the relative precision of this parameter. This value sets new constraints on exotic couplings beyond the dominant V-A description of the leptonic weak interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Luttinger liquid behavior in multi-wall carbon nanotubes

The low-energy theory for multi-wall carbon nanotubes including the long-ranged Coulomb interactions, internal screening effects, and single-electron hopping between graphite shells is derived and analyzed by bosonization methods. Characteristic Luttinger liquid power laws are found for the tunneling density of states, with exponents approaching their Fermi liquid value only very slowly as the number of conducting shells increases. With minor modifications, the same conclusions apply to transport in ropes of single-wall nanotubes.Comment: 4 pages Revte

A search for soft X-ray emission associated with prominent high-velocity-cloud complexes

We correlate the ROSAT 1/4 keV all-sky survey with the Leiden/Dwingeloo HI survey, looking for soft X-ray signatures of prominent high-velocity-cloud (HVC) complexes. We study the transfer of 1/4 keV photons through the interstellar medium in order to distinguish variations in the soft X-ray background (SXRB) intensity caused by photoelectric absorption effects from those due to excess X-ray emission. The X-ray data are modelled as a combination of emission from the Local Hot Bubble (LHB) and emission from a distant plasma in the galactic halo and extragalactic sources. The X-ray radiation intensity of the galactic halo and extragalactic X-ray background is modulated by the photoelectric absorption of the intervening galactic interstellar matter. We show that large- and small-scale intensity variations of the 1/4 keV SXRB are caused by photoelectric absorption which is predominantly traced by the total N(HI) distribution. The extensive coverage of the two surveys supports evidence for a hot, X-ray emitting corona. We show that this leads to a good representation of the SXRB observations. For four large areas on the sky, we search for regions where the modelled and observed X-ray emission differ. We find that there is excess X-ray emission towards regions near HVC complexes C, D, and GCN. We suggest that the excess X-ray emission is positionally correlated with the high-velocity clouds. Some lines of sight towards HVCs also pass through significant amounts of intermediate-velocity gas, so we cannot constrain the possible role played by IVC gas in these directions of HVC and IVC overlap, in determining the X-ray excesses.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics main journa

Coulomb drag shot noise in coupled Luttinger liquids

Coulomb drag shot noise has been studied theoretically for 1D interacting electron systems, which are realized e.g. in single-wall nanotubes. We show that under adiabatic coupling to external leads, the Coulomb drag shot noise of two coupled or crossed nanotubes contains surprising effects, in particular a complete locking of the shot noise in the tubes. In contrast to Coulomb drag of the average current, the noise locking is based on a symmetry of the underlying Hamiltonian and is not limited to asymptotically small energy scales.Comment: 4 pages Revtex, accepted for publication in PR