Searching for Machos (and other Dark Matter Candidates) in a Simulated Galaxy

We conduct gravitational microlensing experiments in a galaxy taken from a cosmological N-body simulation. Hypothetical observers measure the optical depth and event rate toward hypothetical LMCs and compare their results with model predictions. Since we control the accuracy and sophistication of the model, we can determine how good it has to be for statistical errors to dominate over systematic ones. Several thousand independent microlensing experiments are performed. When the ``best-fit'' triaxial model for the mass distribution of the halo is used, the agreement between the measured and predicted optical depths is quite good: by and large the discrepancies are consistent with statistical fluctuations. If, on the other hand, a spherical model is used, systematic errors dominate. Even with our ``best-fit'' model, there are a few rare experiments where the deviation between the measured and predicted optical depths cannot be understood in terms of statistical fluctuations. In these experiments there is typically a clump of particles crossing the line of sight to the hypothetical LMC. These clumps can be either gravitationally bound systems or transient phenomena in a galaxy that is still undergoing phase mixing. Substructure of this type, if present in the Galactic distribution of Machos, can lead to large systematic errors in the analysis of microlensing experiments. We also describe how hypothetical WIMP and axion detection experiments might be conducted in a simulated N-body galaxy.Comment: 18 pages of text (LaTeX, AASTeX) with 12 figures. submitted to the Astrophysical Journa

Incoherent matter-wave solitons

The dynamics of matter-wave solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) is considerably affected by the presence of a surrounding thermal cloud and by condensate depletion during its evolution. We analyze these aspects of BEC soliton dynamics, using time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (TDHFB) theory. The condensate is initially prepared within a harmonic trap at finite temperature, and solitonic behavior is studied by subsequently propagating the TDHFB equations without confinement. Numerical results demonstrate the collapse of the BEC via collisional emission of atom pairs into the thermal cloud, resulting in splitting of the initial density into two solitonic structures with opposite momentum. Each one of these solitary matter waves is a mixture of condensed and noncondensed particles, constituting an analog of optical random-phase solitons.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, new TDHFB result

Asymmetric quantum error correction via code conversion

In many physical systems it is expected that environmental decoherence will exhibit an asymmetry between dephasing and relaxation that may result in qubits experiencing discrete phase errors more frequently than discrete bit errors. In the presence of such an error asymmetry, an appropriately asymmetric quantum code - that is, a code that can correct more phase errors than bit errors - will be more efficient than a traditional, symmetric quantum code. Here we construct fault tolerant circuits to convert between an asymmetric subsystem code and a symmetric subsystem code. We show that, for a moderate error asymmetry, the failure rate of a logical circuit can be reduced by using a combined symmetric asymmetric system and that doing so does not preclude universality.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, presentation revised, figures and references adde

Theoretical Description of Coulomb Balls - Fluid Phase

A theoretical description for the radial density profile of a finite number of identical charged particles confined in a harmonic trap is developed for application over a wide range of Coulomb coupling (or, equivalently, temperatures) and particle numbers. A simple mean field approximation neglecting correlations yields a density profile which is monotonically decreasing with radius for all temperatures, in contrast to molecular dynamics simulations and experiments showing shell structure at lower temperatures. A more complete theoretical description including charge correlations is developed here by an extension of the hypernetted chain approximation, developed for bulk fluids, to the confined charges. The results reproduce all of the qualitative features observed in molecular dynamics simulations and experiments. These predictions are then tested quantitatively by comparison with new benchmark Monte Carlo simulations. Quantitative accuracy of the theory is obtained for the selected conditions by correcting the hypernetted chain approximation with a representation for the associated bridge functions.Comment: 10 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Descriptions of membrane mechanics from microscopic and effective two-dimensional perspectives

Mechanics of fluid membranes may be described in terms of the concepts of mechanical deformations and stresses, or in terms of mechanical free-energy functions. In this paper, each of the two descriptions is developed by viewing a membrane from two perspectives: a microscopic perspective, in which the membrane appears as a thin layer of finite thickness and with highly inhomogeneous material and force distributions in its transverse direction, and an effective, two-dimensional perspective, in which the membrane is treated as an infinitely thin surface, with effective material and mechanical properties. A connection between these two perspectives is then established. Moreover, the functional dependence of the variation in the mechanical free energy of the membrane on its mechanical deformations is first studied in the microscopic perspective. The result is then used to examine to what extent different, effective mechanical stresses and forces can be derived from a given, effective functional of the mechanical free energy.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures, minor change

Alfven-Wave Studies On Pretext

Fusion Research Cente

Exact longitudinal plasmon dispersion relations for one and two dimensional Wigner crystals

We derive the exact longitudinal plasmon dispersion relations, $\omega(k)$ of classical one and two dimensional Wigner crystals at T=0 from the real space equations of motion, of which properly accounts for the full unscreened Coulomb interactions. We make use of the polylogarithm function in order to evaluate the infinite lattice sums of the electrostatic force constants. From our exact results we recover the correct long-wavelength behavior of previous approximate methods. In 1D, $\omega(k) \sim | k |\log ^{1/2} (1/k)$, validating the known RPA and bosonization form. In 2D $\omega(k) \sim \sqrt k$, agreeing remarkably with the celebrated Ewald summation result. Additionally, we extend this analysis to calculate the band structure of tight-binding models of non-interacting electrons with arbitrary power law hopping.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Important typos and errors fixed, 2D dispersion adde