Zero dimensional area law in a gapless fermion system

The entanglement entropy of a gapless fermion subsystem coupled to a gapless bulk by a "weak link" is considered. It is demonstrated numerically that each independent weak link contributes an entropy proportional to lnL, where L is linear dimension of the subsystem.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures; added 3d computatio

Identifying and Indexing Icosahedral Quasicrystals from Powder Diffraction Patterns

We present a scheme to identify quasicrystals based on powder diffraction data and to provide a standardized indexing. We apply our scheme to a large catalog of powder diffraction patterns, including natural minerals, to look for new quasicrystals. Based on our tests, we have found promising candidates worthy of further exploration.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Structural Properties and Relative Stability of (Meta)Stable Ordered, Partially-ordered and Disordered Al-Li Alloy Phases

We resolve issues that have plagued reliable prediction of relative phase stability for solid-solutions and compounds. Due to its commercially important phase diagram, we showcase Al-Li system because historically density-functional theory (DFT) results show large scatter and limited success in predicting the structural properties and stability of solid-solutions relative to ordered compounds. Using recent advances in an optimal basis-set representation of the topology of electronic charge density (and, hence, atomic size), we present DFT results that agree reasonably well with all known experimental data for the structural properties and formation energies of ordered, off-stoichiometric partially-ordered and disordered alloys, opening the way for reliable study in complex alloys.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 2 Table

What is a crystal?

Almost 25 years have passed since Shechtman discovered quasicrystals, and 15 years since the Commission on Aperiodic Crystals of the International Union of Crystallography put forth a provisional definition of the term crystal to mean ``any solid having an essentially discrete diffraction diagram.'' Have we learned enough about crystallinity in the last 25 years, or do we need more time to explore additional physical systems? There is much confusion and contradiction in the literature in using the term crystal. Are we ready now to propose a permanent definition for crystal to be used by all? I argue that time has come to put a sense of order in all the confusion.Comment: Submitted to Zeitschrift fuer Kristallographi

Ab initio density functional investigation of B_24 cluster: Rings, Tubes, Planes, and Cages

We investigate the equilibrium geometries and the systematics of bonding in various isomers of a 24-atom boron cluster using Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics within the framework of density functional theory. The isomers studied are the rings, the convex and the quasiplanar structures, the tubes and, the closed structures. A staggered double-ring is found to be the most stable structure amongst the isomers studied. Our calculations reveal that a 24-atom boron cluster does form closed 3-d structures. All isomers show staggered arrangement of nearest neighbor atoms. Such a staggering facilitates $sp^2$ hybridization in boron cluster. A polarization of bonds between the peripheral atoms in the ring and the planar isomers is also seen. Finally, we discuss the fusion of two boron icosahedra. We find that the fusion occurs when the distance between the two icosahedra is less than a critical distance of about 6.5a.u.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures in jpeg format Editorially approved for publication in Phys. Rev.

Who gets credit for AI-generated art?

The recent sale of an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated portrait for $432,000 at Christie's art auction has raised questions about how credit and responsibility should be allocated to individuals involved and how the anthropomorphic perception of the AI system contributed to the artwork's success. Here, we identify natural heterogeneity in the extent to which different people perceive AI as anthropomorphic. We find that differences in the perception of AI anthropomorphicity are associated with different allocations of responsibility to the AI system and credit to different stakeholders involved in art production. We then show that perceptions of AI anthropomorphicity can be manipulated by changing the language used to talk about AI—as a tool versus agent—with consequences for artists and AI practitioners. Our findings shed light on what is at stake when we anthropomorphize AI systems and offer an empirical lens to reason about how to allocate credit and responsibility to human stakeholders

Wave Mechanics of a Two Wire Atomic Beamsplitter

We consider the problem of an atomic beam propagating quantum mechanically through an atom beam splitter. Casting the problem in an adiabatic representation (in the spirit of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation in molecular physics) sheds light on explicit effects due to non-adiabatic passage of the atoms through the splitter region. We are thus able to probe the fully three dimensional structure of the beam splitter, gathering quantitative information about mode-mixing, splitting ratios,and reflection and transmission probabilities

Cold collisions of OH and Rb. I: the free collision

We have calculated elastic and state-resolved inelastic cross sections for cold and ultracold collisions in the Rb($^1 S$) + OH($^2 \Pi_{3/2}$) system, including fine-structure and hyperfine effects. We have developed a new set of five potential energy surfaces for Rb-OH($^2 \Pi$) from high-level {\em ab initio} electronic structure calculations, which exhibit conical intersections between covalent and ion-pair states. The surfaces are transformed to a quasidiabatic representation. The collision problem is expanded in a set of channels suitable for handling the system in the presence of electric and/or magnetic fields, although we consider the zero-field limit in this work. Because of the large number of scattering channels involved, we propose and make use of suitable approximations. To account for the hyperfine structure of both collision partners in the short-range region we develop a frame-transformation procedure which includes most of the hyperfine Hamiltonian. Scattering cross sections on the order of $10^{-13}$ cm$^2$ are predicted for temperatures typical of Stark decelerators. We also conclude that spin orientation of the partners is completely disrupted during the collision. Implications for both sympathetic cooling of OH molecules in an environment of ultracold Rb atoms and experimental observability of the collisions are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figure

Weak Charge Quantization as an Instanton of Interacting sigma-model

Coulomb blockade in a quantum dot attached to a diffusive conductor is considered in the framework of the non-linear sigma-model. It is shown that the weak charge quantization on the dot is associated with instanton configurations of the Q-field in the conductor. The instantons have a finite action and are replica non--symmetric. It is argued that such instantons may play a role in the transition regime to the interacting insulator.Comment: 4 pages. The 2D case substantially modifie

Equivariant pretheories and invariants of torsors

In the present paper we introduce and study the notion of an equivariant pretheory: basic examples include equivariant Chow groups, equivariant K-theory and equivariant algebraic cobordism. To extend this set of examples we define an equivariant (co)homology theory with coefficients in a Rost cycle module and provide a version of Merkurjev's (equivariant K-theory) spectral sequence for such a theory. As an application we generalize the theorem of Karpenko-Merkurjev on G-torsors and rational cycles; to every G-torsor E and a G-equivariant pretheory we associate a graded ring which serves as an invariant of E. In the case of Chow groups this ring encodes the information concerning the motivic J-invariant of E and in the case of Grothendieck's K_0 -- indexes of the respective Tits algebras.Comment: 23 pages; this is an essentially extended version of the previous preprint: the construction of an equivariant cycle (co)homology and the spectral sequence (generalizing the long exact localization sequence) are adde