Fabrication of nanometer-spaced electrodes using gold nanoparticles

A simple and highly reproducible technique is demonstrated for the fabrication of metallic electrodes with nanometer separation. Commercially available bare gold colloidal nanoparticles are first trapped between prefabricated large-separation electrodes to form a low-resistance bridge by an ac electric field. A large dc voltage is then applied to break the bridge via electromigration at room temperature, which consistently produces gaps in the sub-10 nm range. The technique is readily applied to prefabricated electrodes with separation up to 1 micron, which can be defined using optical lithography. The simple fabrication scheme will facilitate electronic transport studies of individual nanostructures made by chemical synthesis. As an example, measurement of a thiol-coated gold nanoparticle showing a clear Coulomb staircase is presented.Comment: To appear in Appl. Phys. Lett. in Dec. 200

Q-operator and T-Q relation from the fusion hierarchy

We propose that the Baxter $Q$-operator for the spin-1/2 XXZ quantum spin chain is given by the $j\to \infty$ limit of the transfer matrix with spin-$j$ (i.e., $(2j+1)$-dimensional) auxiliary space. Applying this observation to the open chain with general (nondiagonal) integrable boundary terms, we obtain from the fusion hierarchy the $T$-$Q$ relation for {\it generic} values (i.e. not roots of unity) of the bulk anisotropy parameter. We use this relation to determine the Bethe Ansatz solution of the eigenvalues of the fundamental transfer matrix. This approach is complementary to the one used recently to solve the same model for the roots of unity case.Comment: Latex file, 12 pages; V2, misprints corrected and references adde

Theoretical overview on tau physics

Precise measurements of the tau lepton properties provide stringent tests of the Standard Model structure and accurate determinations of its parameters. We overview the present status of a few selected topics: lepton universality, QCD tests and the determination of alpha_s, m_s and V_us from hadronic tau decays, and lepton flavor violation phenomena.Comment: Invited talk at the International Workshop on Tau-Charm Physics (Charm2006), Beijing, China, June 5-7, 2006. 8 pages, 2 figure

Synchonisation of Resonances with Thresholds

The mechanism by which a resonance may be attracted to a sharp threshold is described with several examples. It involves a threshold cusp interfering constructively with either or both (i) a resonance produced via confinement, (ii) attractive t- and u-channel exchanges. More generally, it is suggested that resonances are eigenstates generated by mixing between confined states and long-range meson and baryon exchanges.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. For Meson08 Proceedings. One important typo correcte

Extended staggered-flux phases in two-dimensional lattices

Based on the so called $t$-$\phi$ model in two-dimensional (2D) lattices, we investigate the stabilities of a class of extended staggered-flux (SF) phases (which are the extensions of the $\sqrt{2}\times\sqrt{2}$ SF phase to generalized spatial periods) against the Fermi-liquid phase. Surprisingly, when away from the nesting electron filling, some extended-SF phases take over the dominant SF phase (the $\sqrt{2}\times\sqrt{2}$ SF phase for the square lattice, a $1\times\sqrt{3}$ SF phase for the triangular one), compete with the Fermi-liquid phase in nontrivial patterns, and still occupy significant space in the phase diagram through the advantage in the total electronic kinetic energies. The results can be termed as the generalized Perierls orbital-antiferromagnetic instabilities of the Fermi-liquid phase in 2D lattice-electron models.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Nature of the Quantum Phase Transition in Quantum Compass Model

In this work, we show that the quantum compass model on an square lattice can be mapped to a fermionic model with local density interaction. We introduce a mean-field approximation where the most important fluctuations, those perpendicular to the ordering direction, are taken into account exactly. It is found that the quantum phase transition point at $J_x=J_z$ marks a first order phase transition. We also show that the mean field result is robust against the remaining fluctuation corrections up to the second order.Comment: 7 pages, 10 fig