Non-equilibrium chemistry and dust formation in AGB stars as probed by SiO line emission

We have performed high spatial resolution observations of SiO line emission for a sample of 11 AGB stars using the ATCA, VLA and SMA interferometers. Detailed radiative transfer modelling suggests that there are steep chemical gradients of SiO in their circumstellar envelopes. The emerging picture is one where the radial SiO abundance distribution starts at an initial high abundance, in the case of M-stars consistent with LTE chemistry, that drastically decreases at a radius of ~1E15 cm. This is consistent with a scenario where SiO freezes out onto dust grains. The region of the wind with low abundance is much more extended, typically ~1E16 cm, and limited by photodissociation. The surpisingly high SiO abundances found in carbon stars requires non-equilibrium chemical processes.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. To be published in the proceedings of the conference "Why Galaxies Care about AGB Stars", held in Vienna, August 7-11, 2006; F. Kerschbaum, C. Charbonnel, B. Wing eds, ASP Conf.Ser. in pres

Neutron Scattering and the B_{1g} Phonon in the Cuprates

The momentum dependent lineshape of the out-of-phase oxygen vibration as measured in recent neutron scattering measurements is investigated. Starting from a microscopic coupling of the phonon vibration to a local crystal field, the phonon lineshift and broadening is calculated as a function of transfered momentum in the superconducting state of YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7}$. It is shown that the anisotropy of the density of states, superconducting energy gap, and the electron-phonon coupling are all crucial in order to explain these experiments.Comment: new figures and discussio

Collective Spin Fluctuation Mode and Raman Scattering in Superconducting Cuprates

Although the low frequency electronic Raman response in the superconducting state of the cuprates can be largely understood in terms of a d-wave energy gap, a long standing problem has been an explanation for the spectra observed in the $A_{1g}$ polarization orientations. We present calculations which suggest that the peak position of the observed $A_{1g}$ spectra is due to a collective spin fluctuation mode.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figure

Low-energy Effective Theory for One-dimensional Lattice Bosons near Integer Filling

A low-energy effective theory for interacting bosons on a one-dimensional lattice at and near integer fillings is proposed. It is found that two sets of bosonic phase fields are necessary in order to explain the complete phase diagram. Using the present effective theory, the nature of the quantum phase transitions among various phases can be identified. Moreover, the general condition for the appearance of the recently proposed Pfaffian-like state can be realized from our effective action.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

On the full Boltzmann equations for Leptogenesis

We consider the full Boltzmann equations for standard and soft leptogenesis, instead of the usual integrated Boltzmann equations which assume kinetic equilibrium for all species. Decays and inverse decays may be inefficient for thermalising the heavy-(s)neutrino distribution function, leading to significant deviations from kinetic equilibrium. We analyse the impact of using the full kinetic equations in the case of a previously generated lepton asymmetry, and find that the washout of this initial asymmetry due to the interactions of the right-handed neutrino is larger than when calculated via the integrated equations. We also solve the full Boltzmann equations for soft leptogenesis, where the lepton asymmetry induced by the soft SUSY-breaking terms in sneutrino decays is a purely thermal effect, since at T=0 the asymmetry in leptons cancels the one in sleptons. In this case, we obtain that in the weak washout regime (K ~< 1) the final lepton asymmetry can change up to a factor four with respect to previous estimates.Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures, to be published in JCA

On graded polynomial identities with an antiautomorphism

AbstractLet G be a commutative monoid with cancellation and let R be a strongly G-graded associative algebra with finite G-grading and with antiautomorphism. Suppose that R satisfies a graded polynomial identity with antiautomorphism. We show that R is a PI algebra

Pre-Service Teachers' Internet Usage a Function of Demographic Factors: the Case of a Nigerian College of Education

With the overreaching acceptance of ICT in education and access to Internet occasioned by advancement in technology, this paper investigates pre-service teachers' use of Internet in a college of education. The study was a descriptive survey. Data was collected using a researcher designed instrument tagged “Student Internet Use Scale” (SIUS). The population comprised of all NCE pre-service teachers in Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri Nigeria. Findings show that mobile phones remains the most widely used mode of internet access with social networking, searching for information on school assignments, chatting forming the major reasons why they surf the net. Social networking is the major purpose for Internet use by female pre-service teachers while school related activities are of priority to males. The difference in purpose of internet use according to gender is however not statistically significant; similarly, there is no statically significant difference between male and female pre-service teachers in the frequency of Internet USAge. The result has far reaching implication for provision and use of Internet facilities to enhance teaching and learning in the College and colleges of education in Nigeria

Doping induced metal-insulator transition in two-dimensional Hubbard, t−Ut-U, and extended Hubbard, t−U−Wt-U-W, models

We show numerically that the nature of the doping induced metal-insulator transition in the two-dimensional Hubbard model is radically altered by the inclusion of a term, $W$, which depends upon a square of a single-particle nearest-neighbor hopping. This result is reached by computing the localization length, $\xi_l$, in the insulating state. At finite values of $W$ we find results consistent with $\xi_l \sim | \mu - \mu_c|^{- 1/2}$ where $\mu_c$ is the critical chemical potential. In contrast, $\xi_l \sim | \mu - \mu_c|^{-1/4}$ for the Hubbard model. At finite values of $W$, the presented numerical results imply that doping the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator leads to a $d_{x^2 - y ^2}$ superconductor.Comment: 19 pages (latex) including 7 figures in encapsulated postscript format. Submitted for publication in Phys. Rev.

What the resonance peak cannot do

In certain cuprates, a spin 1 resonance mode is prominent in the magnetic structure measured by neutron scattering. It has been proposed that this mode is responsible for significant features seen in other spectroscopies, such as photoemission and optical absorption, which are sensitive to the charge dynamics, and even that this mode is the boson responsibile for ``mediating'' the superconducting pairing. We show that its small (measured) intensity and weak coupling to electron-hole pairs (as deduced from the measured lifetime) disqualifies the resonant mode from either proposed role.Comment: 4 pages, no figur