Gauge Theory Description of Spin Ladders

A s=1/2 antiferromagnetic spin chain is equivalent to the two-flavor massless Schwinger model in an uniform background charge density in the strong coupling. The gapless mode of the spin chain is represented by a massless boson of the Schwinger model. In a two-leg spin ladder system the massless boson aquires a finite mass due to inter-chain interactions. The gap energy is found to be about .25 k |J'| when the inter-chain Heisenberg coupling J' is small compared with the intra-chain Heisenberg coupling. k is a constant of O(1). It is also shown that a cyclically symmetric N-leg ladder system is gapless or gapful for an odd or even N, respectively.Comment: 8 pages. CORRIGENDUM has been incorporated. (A factor 2 error has been corrected.

Plasma membrane H⁺ -ATPase regulation is required for auxin gradient formation preceding phototropic growth.

Phototropism is a growth response allowing plants to align their photosynthetic organs toward incoming light and thereby to optimize photosynthetic activity. Formation of a lateral gradient of the phytohormone auxin is a key step to trigger asymmetric growth of the shoot leading to phototropic reorientation. To identify important regulators of auxin gradient formation, we developed an auxin flux model that enabled us to test in silico the impact of different morphological and biophysical parameters on gradient formation, including the contribution of the extracellular space (cell wall) or apoplast. Our model indicates that cell size, cell distributions, and apoplast thickness are all important factors affecting gradient formation. Among all tested variables, regulation of apoplastic pH was the most important to enable the formation of a lateral auxin gradient. To test this prediction, we interfered with the activity of plasma membrane H⁺ -ATPases that are required to control apoplastic pH. Our results show that H⁺ -ATPases are indeed important for the establishment of a lateral auxin gradient and phototropism. Moreover, we show that during phototropism, H⁺ -ATPase activity is regulated by the phototropin photoreceptors, providing a mechanism by which light influences apoplastic pH

Scaling Properties of Antiferromagnetic Transition in Coupled Spin Ladder Systems Doped with Nonmagnetic Impurities

We study effects of interladder coupling on critical magnetic properties of spin ladder systems doped with small concentrations of nonmagnetic impurities, using the scaling theory together with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations. Scaling properties in a wide region in the parameter space of the impurity concentration x and the interladder coupling are governed by the quantum critical point (QCP) of the undoped system for the transition between antiferromagnetically ordered and spin-gapped phases. This multi-dimensional and strong-coupling region has characteristic power-law dependences on x for magnetic properties such as the N\'eel temperature. The relevance of this criticality for understanding experimental results of ladder compounds is stressed.Comment: 4 pages LaTeX including 3 PS figure

The free surface of superfluid 4He at zero temperature

The structure and energetics of the free surface of superfluid $^4$He are studied using the diffusion Monte Carlo method. Extending a previous calculation by Vall\'es and Schmidt, which used the Green's function Monte Carlo method, we study the surface of liquid $^4$He within a slab geometry using a larger number of particles in the slab and an updated interatomic potential. The surface tension is accurately estimated from the energy of slabs of increasing surface density and its value is close to one of the two existing experimental values. Results for the density profiles allow for the calculation of the surface width which shows an overall agreement with recent experimental data. The dependence on the transverse direction to the surface of other properties such as the two-body radial distribution function, structure factor, and one-body density matrix is also studied. The condensate fraction, extracted from the asymptotic behavior of the one-body density matrix, shows an unambiguous enhancement when approaching the surface.Comment: RevTex, 11 pages, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Mixed-Spin Ladders and Plaquette Spin Chains

We investigate low-energy properties of a generalized spin ladder model with both of the spin alternation and the bond alternation, which allows us to systematically study not only ladder systems but also alternating spin chains. By exploiting non-linear $\sigma$ model techniques we study the model with particular emphasis on the competition between gapful and gapless states. Our approach turns out to provide a more consistent semi-classical description of alternating spin chains than that in the previous work. We also study a closely related model, i.e., a spin chain with plaquette structure, and show that frustration causes little effect on its low-energy properties so far as the strength of frustration is weaker than a certain critical value.Comment: 7 pages, REVTeX, 3 figures, submitted to JPS

Charged Particle Activation Analysis of Some Contaminants in Rare Earth Oxides

開始ページ、終了ページ: 冊子体のページ付

Cavitation of Electrons Bubbles in Liquid Helium Below saturation Pressure

We have used a Hartree-type electron-helium potential together with a density functional description of liquid $^4$He and $^3$He to study the explosion of electron bubbles submitted to a negative pressure. The critical pressure at which bubbles explode has been determined as a function of temperature. It has been found that this critical pressure is very close to the pressure at which liquid helium becomes globally unstable in the presence of electrons. It is shown that at high temperatures the capillary model overestimates the critical pressures. We have checked that a commonly used and rather simple electron-helium interaction yields results very similar to those obtained using the more accurate Hartree-type interaction. We have estimated that the crossover temperature for thermal to quantum nucleation of electron bubbles is very low, of the order of 6 mK for $^4$He.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure