Hopping conductivity in heavily doped n-type GaAs layers in the quantum Hall effect regime

We investigate the magnetoresistance of epitaxially grown, heavily doped n-type GaAs layers with thickness (40-50 nm) larger than the electronic mean free path (23 nm). The temperature dependence of the dissipative resistance R_{xx} in the quantum Hall effect regime can be well described by a hopping law (R_{xx} \propto exp{-(T_0/T)^p}) with p=0.6. We discuss this result in terms of variable range hopping in a Coulomb gap together with a dependence of the electron localization length on the energy in the gap. The value of the exponent p>0.5 shows that electron-electron interactions have to be taken into account in order to explain the occurrence of the quantum Hall effect in these samples, which have a three-dimensional single electron density of states.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Scaling test of quenched Wilson twisted mass QCD at maximal twist

We present the results of an extended scaling test of quenched Wilson twisted mass QCD. We fix the twist angle by using two definitions of the critical mass, the first obtained by requiring the vanishing of the pseudoscalar meson mass m_PS for standard Wilson fermions and the second by requiring restoration of parity at non-zero value of the twisted mass mu and subsequently extrapolating to mu=0. Depending on the choice of the critical mass we simulate at values of beta in [5.7,6.45], for a range of pseudoscalar meson masses 250 MeV < m_PS < 1 GeV and we perform the continuum limit for the pseudoscalar meson decay constant f_PS and various hadron masses (vector meson m_V, baryon octet m_oct and baryon decuplet m_dec) at fixed value of r_0 m_PS. For both definitions of the critical mass, lattice artifacts are consistent with O(a) improvement. However, with the second definition, large O(a^2) discretization errors present at small quark mass with the first definition are strongly suppressed. The results in the continuum limit are in very good agreement with those from the Alpha and CP-PACS Collaborations.Comment: 6 pages, Talk presented at Lattice 2005, Dublin, 25-30 July 200

Non-perturbative renormalization of moments of parton distribution functions

We compute non-perturbatively the evolution of the twist-2 operators corresponding to the average momentum of non-singlet quark densities. The calculation is based on a finite-size technique, using the Schr\"odinger Functional, in quenched QCD. We find that a careful choice of the boundary conditions, is essential, for such operators, to render possible the computation. As a by-product we apply the non-perturbatively computed renormalization constants to available data of bare matrix elements between nucleon states.Comment: Lattice2003(Matrix); 3 pages, 3 figures. Talk by A.

Atomic quasi-Bragg diffraction in a magnetic field

We report on a new technique to split an atomic beam coherently with an easily adjustable splitting angle. In our experiment metastable helium atoms in the |{1s2s}^3S_1 M=1> state diffract from a polarization gradient light field formed by counterpropagating \sigma^+ and \sigma^- polarized laser beams in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. In the near-adiabatic regime, energy conservation allows the resonant exchange between magnetic energy and kinetic energy. As a consequence, symmetric diffraction of |M=0> or |M=-1> atoms in a single order is achieved, where the order can be chosen freely by tuning the magnetic field. We present experimental results up to 6th order diffraction (24 \hbar k momentum splitting, i.e., 2.21 m/s in transverse velocity) and present a simple theoretical model that stresses the similarity with conventional Bragg scattering. The resulting device constitutes a flexible, adjustable, large-angle, three-way coherent atomic beam splitter with many potential applications in atom optics and atom interferometry.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Complexity and Inapproximability Results for Parallel Task Scheduling and Strip Packing

We study the Parallel Task Scheduling problem $Pm|size_j|C_{\max}$ with a constant number of machines. This problem is known to be strongly NP-complete for each $m \geq 5$, while it is solvable in pseudo-polynomial time for each $m \leq 3$. We give a positive answer to the long-standing open question whether this problem is strongly $NP$-complete for $m=4$. As a second result, we improve the lower bound of $\frac{12}{11}$ for approximating pseudo-polynomial Strip Packing to $\frac{5}{4}$. Since the best known approximation algorithm for this problem has a ratio of $\frac{4}{3} + \varepsilon$, this result narrows the gap between approximation ratio and inapproximability result by a significant step. Both results are proven by a reduction from the strongly $NP$-complete problem 3-Partition

3-point functions from twisted mass lattice QCD at small quark masses

We show at the example of the matrix element between pion states of a twist-2, non-singlet operator that Wilson twisted mass fermions allow to compute this phenomenologically relevant quantitiy at small pseudo scalar masses of O(270 MeV). In the quenched approximation, we investigate the scaling behaviour of this observable that is derived from a 3-point function by applying two definitions of the critical mass and find a scaling compatible with the expected O(a^2) behaviour in both cases. A combined continuum extrapolations allows to obtain reliable results at small pion masses, which previously could not be explored by lattice QCD simulations.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, talk presented at Lattice 200

Magnetic structure of the edge-sharing copper oxide chain compound NaCu2O2

Single-crystal neutron diffraction has been used to determine the incommensurate magnetic structure of NaCu2O2, a compound built up of chains of edge-sharing CuO4 plaquettes. Magnetic structures compatible with the lattice symmetry were identified by a group-theoretical analysis, and their magnetic structure factors were compared to the experimentally observed Bragg intensities. In conjunction with other experimental data, this analysis yields an elliptical helix structure in which both the helicity and the polarization plane alternate among copper-oxide chains. This magnetic ground state is discussed in the context of the recently reported multiferroic properties of other copper-oxide chain compounds