179 research outputs found
Induced quantum numbers in the (2+1)-dimensional electron gas
A gas of electrons confined to a plane is examined in both the relativistic
and nonrelativistic case. Using a (0+1)-dimensional effective theory, a
remarkably simple method is proposed to calculate the spin density induced by
an uniform magnetic background field. The physical properties of possible
fluxon excitations are determined. It is found that while in the relativistic
case they can be considered as half-fermions (semions) in that they carry half
a fermion charge and half the spin of a fermion, in the nonrelativistic case
they should be thought of as fermions, having the charge and spin of a fermion.Comment: 19 pages, REVTE
Self-Duality in Superconductor-Insulator Quantum Phase Transitions
It is argued that close to a Coulomb interacting quantum critical point, the
interaction between two vortices in a disordered superconducting thin film
separated by a distance changes from logarithmic in the mean-field region
to in the region dominated by quantum critical fluctuations. This gives
support to the charge-vortex duality picture of the observed reflection
symmetry in the current-voltage characteristics on both sides of the
transition.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, 2nd version: title (slightly) changed and text
accordingl
Superconductor-insulator transition driven by local dephasing
We consider a system where localized bound electron pairs form an array of
"Andreev"-like scattering centers and are coupled to a fermionic subsystem of
uncorrelated electrons. By means of a path-integral approach, which describes
the bound electron pairs within a coherent pseudospin representation, we derive
and analyze the effective action for the collective phase modes which arise
from the coupling between the two subsystems once the fermionic degrees of
freedom are integrated out. This effective action has features of a quantum
phase model in the presence of a Berry phase term and exhibits a coupling to a
field which describes at the same time the fluctuations of density of the bound
pairs and those of the amplitude of the fermion pairs. Due to the competition
between the local and the hopping induced non-local phase dynamics it is
possible, by tuning the exchange coupling or the density of the bound pairs, to
trigger a transition from a phase ordered superconducting to a phase disordered
insulating state. We discuss the different mechanisms which control this
occurrence and the eventual destruction of phase coherence both in the weak and
strong coupling limit.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRB (05-Feb04
Fractal Structure of Spin Clusters and Domain Walls in 2D Ising Model
The fractal structure of spin clusters and their boundaries in the critical
two-dimensional (2D) Ising model is investigated numerically. The fractal
dimensions of these geometrical objects are estimated by means of Monte Carlo
simulations on relatively small lattices through standard finite-size scaling.
The obtained results are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions
and partly provide significant improvements in precision over existing
numerical estimates.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures; v2: minor changes in text, various plots are put
in one figur
Geometric invariant theory approach to the determination of ground states of D-wave condensates in isotropic space
A complete and rigorous determination of the possible ground states for
D-wave pairing Bose condensates is presented, using a geometrical invariant
theory approach to the problem. The order parameter is argued to be a vector,
transforming according to a ten dimensional real representation of the group
{\bf O}{\bf U}. We determine the equalities
and inequalities defining the orbit space of this linear group and its symmetry
strata, which are in a one-to-one correspondence with the possible distinct
phases of the system. We find 15 allowed phases (besides the unbroken one),
with different symmetries, that we thoroughly determine. The group-subgroup
relations between bordering phases are pointed out. The perturbative sixth
degree corrections to the minimum of a fourth degree polynomial -invariant
free energy, calculated by Mermin, are also determined.Comment: 27 revtex pages, 2 figures, use of texdraw; minor changes in the
bibliography and in Table II
On the Ground State of Electron Gases at Negative Compressibility
Two- and three-dimensional electron gases with a uniform neutralizing
background are studied at negative compressibility. Parametrized expressions
for the dielectric function are used to access this strong-coupling regime,
where the screened Coulomb potential becomes overall attractive for like
charges. Closely examining these expressions reveals that the ground state with
a periodic modulation of the charge density, albeit exponentially damped,
replaces the homogeneous one at positive compressibility. The wavevector
characterizing the new ground state depends on the density and is complex,
having a positive imaginary part, as does the homogeneous ground state, and
real part, as does the genuine charge density wave.Comment: 6 double-column pages, 2 figures. 2nd version is an extension of the
1st one, giving more detail
Multidimensional cut-off technique, odd-dimensional Epstein zeta functions and Casimir energy of massless scalar fields
Quantum fluctuations of massless scalar fields represented by quantum
fluctuations of the quasiparticle vacuum in a zero-temperature dilute
Bose-Einstein condensate may well provide the first experimental arena for
measuring the Casimir force of a field other than the electromagnetic field.
This would constitute a real Casimir force measurement - due to quantum
fluctuations - in contrast to thermal fluctuation effects. We develop a
multidimensional cut-off technique for calculating the Casimir energy of
massless scalar fields in -dimensional rectangular spaces with large
dimensions and dimensions of length and generalize the technique to
arbitrary lengths. We explicitly evaluate the multidimensional remainder and
express it in a form that converges exponentially fast. Together with the
compact analytical formulas we derive, the numerical results are exact and easy
to obtain. Most importantly, we show that the division between analytical and
remainder is not arbitrary but has a natural physical interpretation. The
analytical part can be viewed as the sum of individual parallel plate energies
and the remainder as an interaction energy. In a separate procedure, via
results from number theory, we express some odd-dimensional homogeneous Epstein
zeta functions as products of one-dimensional sums plus a tiny remainder and
calculate from them the Casimir energy via zeta function regularization.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figures. v.2: typos corrected to match published versio
Acoustic Energy and Momentum in a Moving Medium
By exploiting the mathematical analogy between the propagation of sound in a
non-homogeneous potential flow and the propagation of a scalar field in a
background gravitational field, various wave ``energy'' and wave ``momentum''
conservation laws are established in a systematic manner. In particular the
acoustic energy conservation law due to Blokhintsev appears as the result of
the conservation of a mixed co- and contravariant energy-momentum tensor, while
the exchange of relative energy between the wave and the mean flow mediated by
the radiation stress tensor, first noted by Longuet-Higgins and Stewart in the
context of ocean waves, appears as the covariant conservation of the doubly
contravariant form of the same energy-momentum tensor.Comment: 25 Pages, Late
Nonperturbative XY-model approach to strong coupling superconductivity in two and three dimensions
For an electron gas with delta-function attraction we investigate the
crossover from weak- to strong-coupling supercoductivity in two and three
dimensions. We derive analytic expressions for the stiffness of phase
fluctuations and set up effective XY-models which serve to determine
nonperturbatively the temperature of phase decoherence where superconductivity
breaks down. We find the transition temperature T_c as a monotonous function of
the coupling strength and carrier density both in two and three dimensions, and
give analytic formulas for the merging of the temperature of phase decoherence
with the temperature of pair formation in the weak-coupling limit.Comment: Few typos corrected. Emails that were sent to the address
[email protected] in June and July 1999 were lost in a computer crash, so if
your comments were not answered please send them once mor
Pseudogap phase formation in the crossover from Bose-Einstein condensation to BCS superconductivity
A phase diagram for a 2D metal with variable carrier density has been
derived. It consists of a normal phase, where the order parameter is absent; a
so-called ``abnormal normal'' phase where this parameter is also absent but the
mean number of composite bosons (bound pairs) exceeds the mean number of free
fermions; a pseudogap phase where the absolute value of the order parameter
gradually increases but its phase is a random value, and finally a
superconducting (here Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless) phase. The
characteristic transition temperatures between these phases are found. The
chemical potential and paramagnetic susceptibility behavior as functions of the
fermion density and the temperature are also studied. An attempt is made to
qualitatively compare the resulting phase diagram with the features of
underdoped high- superconducting compounds above their critical
temperature.Comment: 26 pages, revtex, 5 EMTeX figures; more discussion and references
added; to be published in JET
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