8,442 research outputs found
Development of the Universe and New Cosmology
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new,
accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments.
Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate
of cosmological expansion are being precisely measured for the first time, and
a consistent standard picture of the Universe is beginning to emerge. Recent
developments in cosmology give rise the intriguing possibility that all
structures in the Universe, from superclusters to planets, had a
quantum-mechanical origin in its earliest moments. Furthermore, these ideas are
not idle theorizing, but predictive, and subject to meaningful experimental
test. We review the concordance model of the development of the Universe, as
well as evidence for the observational revolution that this field is going
through. This already provides us with important information on particle
physics, which is inaccessible to accelerators.Comment: 9 pages; The German translation of this mini review can be uploaded
from http://www.cc.ethz.ch/bulletin/ New references are added with respective
minor changes of tex
Monoclinic and triclinic phases in higher-order Devonshire theory
Devonshire theory provides a successful phenomenological description of many
cubic perovskite ferroelectrics such as BaTiO3 via a sixth-order expansion of
the free energy in the polar order parameter. However, the recent discovery of
a novel monoclinic ferroelectric phase in the PZT system by Noheda et al.
(Appl. Phys. Lett. 74, 2059 (1999)) poses a challenge to this theory. Here, we
confirm that the sixth-order Devonshire theory cannot support a monoclinic
phase, and consider extensions of the theory to higher orders. We show that an
eighth-order theory allows for three kinds of equilibrium phases in which the
polarization is confined not to a symmetry axis but to a symmetry plane. One of
these phases provides a natural description of the newly observed monoclinic
phase. Moreover, the theory makes testable predictions about the nature of the
phase boundaries between monoclinic, tetragonal, and rhombohedral phases. A
ferroelectric phase of the lowest (triclinic) symmetry type, in which the
polarization is not constrained by symmetry, does not emerge until the
Devonshire theory is carried to twelfth order. A topological analysis of the
critical points of the free-energy surface facilitates the discussion of the
phase transition sequences.Comment: 10 pages, with 5 postscript figures embedded. Uses REVTEX and epsf
macros. Also available at
http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~dhv/preprints/dv_pzt/index.htm
Reconciliation of experimental and theoretical electric tensor polarizabilities of the cesium ground state
We present a new theoretical analysis of the strongly suppressed F- and
M-dependent Stark shifts of the Cs ground state hyperfine structure. Our
treatment uses third order perturbation theory including off-diagonal hyperfine
interactions not considered in earlier treatments. A numerical evaluation of
the perturbation sum using bound states up to n=200 yields ground state tensor
polarizabilities which are in good agreement with experimental values, thereby
bridging the 40-year-old gap between experiments and theory. We have further
found that the tensor polarizabilities of the two ground state hyperfine
manifolds have opposite signs, in disagreement with an earlier derivation. This
sign error has a direct implication for the precise evaluation of the blackbody
radiation shift in primary frequency standards.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
Rb*He_n exciplexes in solid 4_He
We report the observation of emission spectra from Rb*He_n exciplexes in
solid 4He. Two different excitation channels were experimentally identified,
viz., exciplex formation via laser excitation to the atomic 5P3/2 and to the
5P1/2 levels. While the former channel was observed before in liquid helium, on
helium nanodroplets and in helium gas by different groups, the latter creation
mechanism occurs only in solid helium or in gaseous helium above 10 Kelvin. The
experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions based on the
extension of a model, used earlier by us for the description of Cs*He_n
exciplexes. We also report the first observation of fluorescence from atomic
rubidium in solid helium, and discuss striking differences between the
spectroscopic feature of Rb-He and Cs-He systems.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Spectroscopy of Rb dimers in solid He
We present experimental and theoretical studies of the absorption, emission
and photodissociation spectra of Rb molecules in solid helium. We have
identified 11 absorption bands of Rb. All laser-excited molecular states
are quenched by the interaction with the He matrix. The quenching results in
efficient population of a metastable (1) state, which emits
fluorescence at 1042 nm. In order to explain the fluorescence at the forbidden
transition and its time dependence we propose a new molecular exciplex
RbHe. We have also found evidence for the formation of
diatomic bubble states following photodissociation of Rb
Electron transport in Coulomb- and tunnel-coupled one-dimensional systems
We develop a linear theory of electron transport for a system of two
identical quantum wires in a wide range of the wire length L, unifying both the
ballistic and diffusive transport regimes. The microscopic model, involving the
interaction of electrons with each other and with bulk acoustical phonons
allows a reduction of the quantum kinetic equation to a set of coupled
equations for the local chemical potentials for forward- and backward-moving
electrons in the wires. As an application of the general solution of these
equations, we consider different kinds of electrical contacts to the
double-wire system and calculate the direct resistance, the transresistance, in
the presence of tunneling and Coulomb drag, and the tunneling resistance. If L
is smaller than the backscattering length l_P, both the tunneling and the drag
lead to a negative transresistance, while in the diffusive regime (L >>l_P) the
tunneling opposes the drag and leads to a positive transresistance. If L is
smaller than the phase-breaking length, the tunneling leads to interference
oscillations of the resistances that are damped exponentially with L.Comment: Text 14 pages in Latex/Revtex format, 4 Postscript figure
Noncommutative Common Cause Principles in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory
States in algebraic quantum field theory "typically" establish correlation
between spacelike separated events. Reichenbach's Common Cause Principle,
generalized to the quantum field theoretical setting, offers an apt tool to
causally account for these superluminal correlations. In the paper we motivate
first why commutativity between the common cause and the correlating events
should be abandoned in the definition of the common cause. Then we show that
the Noncommutative Weak Common Cause Principle holds in algebraic quantum field
theory with locally finite degrees of freedom. Namely, for any pair of
projections A, B supported in spacelike separated regions V_A and V_B,
respectively, there is a local projection C not necessarily commuting with A
and B such that C is supported within the union of the backward light cones of
V_A and V_B and the set {C, non-C} screens off the correlation between A and B
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