36,466 research outputs found
Gravitational Effects in Quantum Mechanics
To date, both quantum theory, and Einstein's theory of general relativity
have passed every experimental test in their respective regimes. Nevertheless,
almost since their inception, there has been debate surrounding whether they
should be unified and by now there exists strong theoretical arguments pointing
to the necessity of quantising the gravitational field. In recent years, a
number of experiments have been proposed which, if successful, should give
insight into features at the Planck scale. Here we review some of the
motivations, from the perspective of semi-classical arguments, to expect new
physical effects at the overlap of quantum theory and general relativity. We
conclude with a short introduction to some of the proposals being made to
facilitate empirical verification.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, review article. Submitted to Contemporary
Physic
Spin-polarized tunneling spectroscopic studies of the intrinsic heterogeneity and pseudogap phenomena in colossal magnetoresistive manganite La_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3}
Spatially resolved tunneling spectroscopic studies of colossal
magnetoresistive (CMR) manganite (LCMO) epitaxial
films on substrate are investigated as
functions of temperature, magnetic field and spin polarization by means of
scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Systematic surveys of the tunneling spectra
taken with Pt/Ir tips reveal spatial variations on the length scale of a few
hundred nanometers in the ferromagnetic state, which may be attributed to the
intrinsic heterogeneity of the manganites due to their tendency towards phase
separation. The electronic heterogeneity is found to decrease either with
increasing field at low temperatures or at temperatures above all magnetic
ordering temperatures. On the other hand, spectra taken with Cr-coated tips are
consistent with convoluted electronic properties of both LCMO and Cr. In
particular, for temperatures below the magnetic ordering temperatures of both
Cr and LCMO, the magnetic-field dependent tunneling spectra may be
quantitatively explained by the scenario of spin-polarized tunneling in a
spin-valve configuration. Moreover, a low-energy insulating energy gap eV commonly found in the tunneling conductance spectra of bulk metallic
LCMO at may be attributed to a surface ferromagnetic insulating (FI)
phase, as evidenced by its spin filtering effect at low temperatures and
vanishing gap value above the Curie temperature. Additionally, temperature
independent pseudogap (PG) phenomena existing primarily along the boundaries of
magnetic domains are observed in the zero-field tunneling spectra. The PG
becomes strongly suppressed by applied magnetic fields at low temperatures when
the tunneling spectra of LCMO become highly homogeneous. These findings suggest
that the occurrence PG is associated with the electronic heterogeneity of the
manganites.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures. Published in Physical Review B. Corresponding
author: Nai-Chang Yeh (E-mail: [email protected]
Midlatitude Pi2 pulsations: AFGL and ISEE magnetometer observations correlated
The ISEE observations of the pi2 magnetic pulsations occuring substorm onset in the inner magnetosphere are discussed. One of these events which was also detected as a pi2 event by the AFGL midlatitude magnetometers is considered. The event occurred when the foot of the ISEE field line was over North America. The ground and satellite signals are remarkably similar: they start and stop at the same time, have the same period and can be correlated cycle by cycle. The waves are detected in the electric field data from ISEE 1 and in the magnetic field data from both ISEE 1 and ISEE 2. Calculation of the Poynting vector at ISEE 1 shows that the energy flowed mainly westward, but that there was also a component towards the nearer (southern) ionospheric foot of the field line. The phases between the various field components measured by ISEE 1 and 2 indicate that this is a standing hydromagnetic oscillation
Mock-Gaussian Behaviour for Linear Statistics of Classical Compact Groups
We consider the scaling limit of linear statistics for eigenphases of a
matrix taken from one of the classical compact groups. We compute their moments
and find that the first few moments are Gaussian, whereas the limiting
distribution is not. The precise number of Gaussian moments depends upon the
particular statistic considered
Evidence for Strain-Induced Local Conductance Modulations in Single-Layer Graphene on SiO_2
Graphene has emerged as an electronic material that is promising for device applications and for studying two-dimensional electron gases with relativistic dispersion near two Dirac points. Nonetheless, deviations from Dirac-like spectroscopy have been widely reported with varying interpretations. Here we show evidence for strain-induced spatial modulations in the local conductance of single-layer graphene on SiO_2 substrates from scanning tunneling microscopic (STM) studies. We find that strained graphene exhibits parabolic, U-shaped conductance vs bias voltage spectra rather than the V-shaped spectra expected for Dirac fermions, whereas V-shaped spectra are recovered in regions of relaxed graphene. Strain maps derived from the STM studies further reveal direct correlation with the local tunneling conductance. These results are attributed to a strain-induced frequency increase in the out-of-plane phonon mode that mediates the low-energy inelastic charge tunneling into graphene
Experimental investigation of the asymmetric spectroscopic characteristics of electron- and hole-doped cuprates
Quasiparticle tunneling spectroscopic studies of electron- (n-type) and hole-doped (p-type) cuprates reveal that the pairing symmetry, pseudogap phenomenon and spatial homogeneity of the superconducting order parameter are all non-universal. We compare our studies of p-type YBa2Cu3O7-delta and n-type infinite-layer Sr(0.9)Ln(0.1)CuO(2) (Ln = La, Gd) systems with results from p-type Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox and n-type one-layer Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 cuprates, and attribute various non-universal behavior to different competing orders in p-type and n-type cuprates
Exact moments in a continuous time random walk with complete memory of its history
We present a continuous time generalization of a random walk with complete
memory of its history [Phys. Rev. E 70, 045101(R) (2004)] and derive exact
expressions for the first four moments of the distribution of displacement when
the number of steps is Poisson distributed. We analyze the asymptotic behavior
of the normalized third and fourth cumulants and identify new transitions in a
parameter regime where the random walk exhibits superdiffusion. These
transitions, which are also present in the discrete time case, arise from the
memory of the process and are not reproduced by Fokker-Planck approximations to
the evolution equation of this random walk.Comment: Revtex4, 10 pages, 2 figures. v2: applications discussed, clarity
improved, corrected scaling of third momen
The radial evolution of solar wind speeds
The WSA-ENLIL model predicts significant evolution of the solar wind speed. Along a flux tube the solar wind speed at 1.0 AU and beyond is found to be significantly altered from the solar wind speed in the outer corona at 0.1 AU, with most of the change occurring within a few tenths of an AU from the Sun. The evolution of the solar wind speed is most pronounced during solar minimum for solar wind with observed speeds at 1.0 AU between 400 and 500 km/s, while the fastest and slowest solar wind experiences little acceleration or deceleration. Solar wind ionic charge state observations made near 1.0 AU during solar minimum are found to be consistent with a large fraction of the intermediate-speed solar wind having been accelerated or decelerated from slower or faster speeds. This paper sets the groundwork for understanding the evolution of wind speed with distance, which is critical for interpreting the solar wind composition observations near Earth and throughout the inner heliosphere. We show from composition observations that the intermediate-speed solar wind (400-500 km/s) represents a mix of what was originally fast and slow solar wind, which implies a more bimodal solar wind in the corona than observed at 1.0 AU
- …