Perspectives on Pfaffians of Heterotic World-sheet Instantons

To fix the bundle moduli of a heterotic compactification one has to understand the Pfaffian one-loop prefactor of the classical instanton contribution. For compactifications on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau spaces X this can be made explicit for spectral bundles and world-sheet instantons supported on rational base curves b: one can express the Pfaffian in a closed algebraic form as a polynomial, or it may be understood as a theta-function expression. We elucidate the connection between these two points of view via the respective perception of the relevant spectral curve, related to its extrinsic geometry in the ambient space (the elliptic surface in X over b) or to its intrinsic geometry as abstract Riemann surface. We identify, within a conceptual description, general vanishing loci of the Pfaffian, and derive bounds on the vanishing order, relevant to solutions of W=dW=0.Comment: 40 pages; minor changes, discussion section 1.1 adde

The effect of uniaxial pressure on the magnetic anisotropy of the Mn_{12}-Ac single-molecule magnet

We study the effect of uniaxial pressure on the magnetic hysteresis loops of the single-molecule magnet Mn_{12}-Ac. We find that the application of pressure along the easy axis increases the fields at which quantum tunneling of magnetization occurs. The observations are attributed to an increase in the molecule's magnetic anisotropy constant D of 0.142(1)%/kbar. The increase in D produces a small, but measurable increase in the effective energy barrier for magnetization reversal. Density-functional theory calculations also predict an increase in the barrier with applied pressure.Comment: version accepted by EPL; 6 pages, including 7 figures. Small changes and added reference

Radiation- and Phonon-Bottleneck-Induced Tunneling in the Fe8 Single-Molecule Magnet

We measure magnetization changes in a single crystal of the single-molecule magnet Fe8 when exposed to intense, short (<20 $\mu$s) pulses of microwave radiation resonant with the m = 10 to 9 transition. We find that radiation induces a phonon bottleneck in the system with a time scale of ~5 $\mu$s. The phonon bottleneck, in turn, drives the spin dynamics, allowing observation of thermally assisted resonant tunneling between spin states at the 100-ns time scale. Detailed numerical simulations quantitatively reproduce the data and yield a spin-phonon relaxation time of T1 ~ 40 ns.Comment: 6 RevTeX pages, including 4 EPS figures, version accepted for publicatio

Transistor Circuits

Contains reports on two research projects

Transistor Circuits

Contains reports on two research projects

Experimental Upper Bound on Superradiance Emission from Mn12 Acetate

We used a Josephson junction as a radiation detector to look for evidence of the emission of electromagnetic radiation during magnetization avalanches in a crystal assembly of Mn_12-Acetate. The crystal assembly exhibits avalanches at several magnetic fields in the temperature range from 1.8 to 2.6 K with durations of the order of 1 ms. Although a recent study shows evidence of electromagnetic radiation bursts during these avalanches [J. Tejada, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. {\bf 84}, 2373 (2004)], we were unable to detect any significant radiation at well-defined frequencies. A control experiment with external radiation pulses allows us to determine that the energy released as radiation during an avalanche is less than 1 part in 10^4 of the total energy released. In addition, our avalanche data indicates that the magnetization reversal process does not occur uniformly throughout the sample.Comment: 4 RevTeX pages, 3 eps figure

'Parasitic invasions' or sources of good governance: constraining foreign competition in Hong Kong banking, 1956-81

This paper investigates the operation and impact of the moratorium on new banking licences imposed in Hong Kong in 1965 and the claims that foreign banks destabilised the banking system and drained resources from the colony. First it examines foreign banks' attempts to circumvent the moratorium through claims of special circumstances and buying interests in local banks, and secondly it examines the efforts of incumbents to extend barriers to non-bank financial institutions and to branches of foreign banks. The general conclusions are that while the moratorium was aimed at increasing the stability of the banking system, it had the effect of decreasing the regulatory breadth of the government, and reducing incentives for mergers and acquisitions that might have improved governance