QCD with Large Number of Quarks: Effects of the Instanton -- Anti-instanton Pairs

We calculate the contribution of the instanton -- anti-instanton ($I\bar I$) pairs to the vacuum energy of QCD-like theories with $N_f$ light fermions using the saddle point method. We find a qualitative change of the behavior: for $N_f \ge 6$ it starts to oscillate with $N_f$. Similar behaviour was known for quantum mechanical systems interacting with fermions. We discuss the possible consequences of this phenomenon, and its relation to the mechanism of chiral symmetry breaking in these theories. We also discuss the asymptotics of the perturbative series associated with the $I\bar I$ contribution, comparing our results with those in literature.Comment: 11 pages, Late

Theory of enhancement of thermoelectric properties of materials with nanoinclusions

Based on the concept of band bending at metal/semiconductor interfaces as an energy filter for electrons, we present a theory for the enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of semiconductor materials with metallic nanoinclusions. We show that the Seebeck coefficient can be significantly increased due to a strongly energy-dependent electronic scattering time. By including phonon scattering, we find that the enhancement of ZT due to electron scattering is important for high doping, while at low doping it is primarily due to a decrease in the phonon thermal conductivity

Instanton -- Antiinstanton interaction and asymptotics of perturbation theory expansion in double well oscillator

Instanton -- antiinstanton pair is considered as a source of singularity at the Borel plane for the ground state energy of anharmonic oscillator. The problem of defining the short range instanton -- antiinstanton interaction reduces to calculation of a smooth part of the Borel function, which cannot be found without explicit calculation of several terms of ordinary perturbation theory. On the other hand, the large order terms of perturbative expansion are dominated by large fluctuations in the functional integral like well separated instanton and antiinstanton. The preasymptotics ($\sim 1/n$) of large order perturbation theory contribution to the ground state energy of anharmonic oscillator was found analytically. To this end the subleading long range asymptotics of the classical instanton -- antiinstanton interaction, the one -- loop quantum contribution to instanton -- antiinstanton interaction and the second quantum correction to a single instanton density were considered.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, BUDKERINP 94-2

Instanton--anti-instanton pair induced contributions to Re+e−→hadronsR_{e^+e^-\to hadrons} and Rτ→hadronsR_{\tau \to hadrons}

The instanton--anti-instanton pair induced asymptotics of perturbation theory expansion for the cross section of electron--positron pair annihilation to hadrons and hadronic width of $\tau$-lepton was found. For $N_f = N_c$ the nonperturbative instanton contribution is finite and may be calculated without phenomenological input. The instanton induced peturbative asymptotics was shown to be enhanced as $(n+10)!$ and in the intermediate region $n<15$ may exceed the renormalon contribution. Unfortunately, the analysis of $\sim 1/n$ corrections shows that for $n \sim 10$ the obtained asymptotic expressions are at best only the order of magnitude estimate. The asymptotic series for $R_{e^+ e^- \rightarrow hadrons}$ , though obtained formally for $N_f =N_c$, is valid up to energies $\sim 15$Gev. The instanton--anti-instanton pair nonperturbative contribution to $R_{\tau \rightarrow hadrons}$ blows up. On the one hand, this means that instantons could not be considered {\it ab--initio} at such energies. On the other hand, this result casts a strong doubt upon the possibility to determine the $\alpha_s$ from the $\tau$--lepton width.Comment: 22 pages, latex, no figure

A Convergent Iterative Solution of the Quantum Double-well Potential

We present a new convergent iterative solution for the two lowest quantum wave functions $\psi_{ev}$ and $\psi_{od}$ of the Hamiltonian with a quartic double well potential $V$ in one dimension. By starting from a trial function, which is by itself the exact lowest even or odd eigenstate of a different Hamiltonian with a modified potential $V+\delta V$, we construct the Green's function for the modified potential. The true wave functions, $\psi_{ev}$ or $\psi_{od}$, then satisfies a linear inhomogeneous integral equation, in which the inhomogeneous term is the trial function, and the kernel is the product of the Green's function times the sum of $\delta V$, the potential difference, and the corresponding energy shift. By iterating this equation we obtain successive approximations to the true wave function; furthermore, the approximate energy shift is also adjusted at each iteration so that the approximate wave function is well behaved everywhere. We are able to prove that this iterative procedure converges for both the energy and the wave function at all $x$.Comment: 76 pages, Latex, no figure, 1 tabl

Bound States in Time-Dependent Quantum Transport: Oscillations and Memory Effects in Current and Density

The presence of bound states in a nanoscale electronic system attached to two biased, macroscopic electrodes is shown to give rise to persistent, non-decaying, localized current oscillations which can be much larger than the steady part of the current. The amplitude of these oscillations depends on the entire history of the applied potential. The bound-state contribution to the {\em static} density is history-dependent as well. Moreover, the time-dependent formulation leads to a natural definition of the bound-state occupations out of equilibrium.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure