Production of topological defects at the end of inflation

Hybrid inflation within supersymmetric grand unified theories, as well as inflation through brane collisions within braneworld cosmological models, lead to the formation of one-dimensional defects. Observational data, mainly from the cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies but also from the gravitational wave background, impose constraints on the free parameters of the models. I review these inflationary models and discuss the constraints from the currently available data.Comment: 9 pages, Invited talk in the Conference "Challenges in Particle Astrophysics" -- 6th Rencontres du Vietnam, Hanoi (Vietnam) 6-12 Aug. 200

Multifractal analysis of the electronic states in the Fibonacci superlattice under weak electric fields

Influence of the weak electric field on the electronic structure of the Fibonacci superlattice is considered. The electric field produces a nonlinear dynamics of the energy spectrum of the aperiodic superlattice. Mechanism of the nonlinearity is explained in terms of energy levels anticrossings. The multifractal formalism is applied to investigate the effect of weak electric field on the statistical properties of electronic eigenfunctions. It is shown that the applied electric field does not remove the multifractal character of the electronic eigenfunctions, and that the singularity spectrum remains non-parabolic, however with a modified shape. Changes of the distances between energy levels of neighbouring eigenstates lead to the changes of the inverse participation ratio of the corresponding eigenfunctions in the weak electric field. It is demonstrated, that the local minima of the inverse participation ratio in the vicinity of the anticrossings correspond to discontinuity of the first derivative of the difference between marginal values of the singularity strength. Analysis of the generalized dimension as a function of the electric field shows that the electric field correlates spatial fluctuations of the neighbouring electronic eigenfunction amplitudes in the vicinity of anticrossings, and the nonlinear character of the scaling exponent confirms multifractality of the corresponding electronic eigenfunctions.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Curvatons in Supersymmetric Models

We study the curvaton scenario in supersymmetric framework paying particular attention to the fact that scalar fields are inevitably complex in supersymmetric theories. If there are more than one scalar fields associated with the curvaton mechanism, isocurvature (entropy) fluctuations between those fields in general arise, which may significantly affect the properties of the cosmic density fluctuations. We examine several candidates for the curvaton in the supersymmetric framework, such as moduli fields, Affleck-Dine field, $F$- and $D$-flat directions, and right-handed sneutrino. We estimate how the isocurvature fluctuations generated in each case affect the cosmic microwave background angular power spectrum. With the use of the recent observational result of the WMAP, stringent constraints on the models are derived and, in particular, it is seen that large fraction of the parameter space is excluded if the Affleck-Dine field plays the role of the curvaton field. Natural and well-motivated candidates of the curvaton are also listed.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figure

Quantum walks: a comprehensive review

Quantum walks, the quantum mechanical counterpart of classical random walks, is an advanced tool for building quantum algorithms that has been recently shown to constitute a universal model of quantum computation. Quantum walks is now a solid field of research of quantum computation full of exciting open problems for physicists, computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers. In this paper we review theoretical advances on the foundations of both discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks, together with the role that randomness plays in quantum walks, the connections between the mathematical models of coined discrete quantum walks and continuous quantum walks, the quantumness of quantum walks, a summary of papers published on discrete quantum walks and entanglement as well as a succinct review of experimental proposals and realizations of discrete-time quantum walks. Furthermore, we have reviewed several algorithms based on both discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks as well as a most important result: the computational universality of both continuous- and discrete- time quantum walks.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in Quantum Information Processing Journa

Probing exotic phenomena at the interface of nuclear and particle physics with the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms: A unique window to hadronic and semi-leptonic CP violation

The current status of electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms which involves the synergy between atomic experiments and three different theoretical areas -- particle, nuclear and atomic is reviewed. Various models of particle physics that predict CP violation, which is necessary for the existence of such electric dipole moments, are presented. These include the standard model of particle physics and various extensions of it. Effective hadron level combined charge conjugation (C) and parity (P) symmetry violating interactions are derived taking into consideration different ways in which a nucleon interacts with other nucleons as well as with electrons. Nuclear structure calculations of the CP-odd nuclear Schiff moment are discussed using the shell model and other theoretical approaches. Results of the calculations of atomic electric dipole moments due to the interaction of the nuclear Schiff moment with the electrons and the P and time-reversal (T) symmetry violating tensor-pseudotensor electron-nucleus are elucidated using different relativistic many-body theories. The principles of the measurement of the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms are outlined. Upper limits for the nuclear Schiff moment and tensor-pseudotensor coupling constant are obtained combining the results of atomic experiments and relativistic many-body theories. The coefficients for the different sources of CP violation have been estimated at the elementary particle level for all the diamagnetic atoms of current experimental interest and their implications for physics beyond the standard model is discussed. Possible improvements of the current results of the measurements as well as quantum chromodynamics, nuclear and atomic calculations are suggested.Comment: 46 pages, 19 tables and 16 figures. A review article accepted for EPJ

Central Santa Catarina coastal dunefields chronology and their relation to relative sea level and climatic changes

During the past decades, there have been contrarian explanations for the formation and stabilization of coastal dunefields: while many authors believe the dunes formation would be enhanced by falling sea level, others argue that a rising or stable sea level context would be favorable. For Brazilian coastal dunefields, the second hypothesis seems to be more consistent with the luminescence ages found so far; however, most of these data were obtained without using the SAR protocol. Another point of concern is the role of climate change in the aeolian system, which is still not very clear. The aim of this paper is to try to clarify these two questions. To this end, five coastal dunefields were selected in central Santa Catarina coast. The remote sensing and dating results allowed the discrimination and mapping of at least four aeolian generations. Their age distribution in relation to the global curve of relative sea level variation during the Late Pleistocene allows us to suggest that the formation of Aeolian dunefields in the coastal context is supported by stable relative sea level. However, relative sea level is not the only determinant for the formation and preservation of the aeolian coastal dunes. Evidences of climatic control indicate that the initiation of dunefields would be favored by periods of less humidity while their stabilization would occur preferably during the periods of rain intensification, connected to monsoon activity

Search for strong gravity in multijet final states produced in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC

A search is conducted for new physics in multijet final states using 3.6 inverse femtobarns of data from proton-proton collisions at √s = 13TeV taken at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector. Events are selected containing at least three jets with scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) greater than 1TeV. No excess is seen at large HT and limits are presented on new physics: models which produce final states containing at least three jets and having cross sections larger than 1.6 fb with HT > 5.8 TeV are excluded. Limits are also given in terms of new physics models of strong gravity that hypothesize additional space-time dimensions

Operation and performance of the ATLAS semiconductor tracker

The semiconductor tracker is a silicon microstrip detector forming part of the inner tracking system of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The operation and performance of the semiconductor tracker during the first years of LHC running are described. More than 99% of the detector modules were operational during this period, with an average intrinsic hit efficiency of (99.74±0.04)%. The evolution of the noise occupancy is discussed, and measurements of the Lorentz angle, δ-ray production and energy loss presented. The alignment of the detector is found to be stable at the few-micron level over long periods of time. Radiation damage measurements, which include the evolution of detector leakage currents, are found to be consistent with predictions and are used in the verification of radiation background simulations

Measurement of the correlation between flow harmonics of different order in lead-lead collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Correlations between the elliptic or triangular flow coefficients vm (m=2 or 3) and other flow harmonics vn (n=2 to 5) are measured using √sNN=2.76 TeV Pb+Pb collision data collected in 2010 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 7 μb−1. The vm−vn correlations are measured in midrapidity as a function of centrality, and, for events within the same centrality interval, as a function of event ellipticity or triangularity defined in a forward rapidity region. For events within the same centrality interval, v3 is found to be anticorrelated with v2 and this anticorrelation is consistent with similar anticorrelations between the corresponding eccentricities, ε2 and ε3. However, it is observed that v4 increases strongly with v2, and v5 increases strongly with both v2 and v3. The trend and strength of the vm−vn correlations for n=4 and 5 are found to disagree with εm−εn correlations predicted by initial-geometry models. Instead, these correlations are found to be consistent with the combined effects of a linear contribution to vn and a nonlinear term that is a function of v22 or of v2v3, as predicted by hydrodynamic models. A simple two-component fit is used to separate these two contributions. The extracted linear and nonlinear contributions to v4 and v5 are found to be consistent with previously measured event-plane correlations