Study of gossamer superconductivity and antiferromagnetism in the t-J-U model

The d-wave superconductivity (dSC) and antiferromagnetism are analytically studied in a renormalized mean field theory for a two dimensional t-J model plus an on-site repulsive Hubbard interaction $U$. The purpose of introducing the $U$ term is to partially impose the no double occupancy constraint by employing the Gutzwiller approximation. The phase diagrams as functions of doping $\delta$ and $U$ are studied. Using the standard value of $t/J=3.0$ and in the large $U$ limit, we show that the antiferromagnetic (AF) order emerges and coexists with the dSC in the underdoped region below the doping $\delta\sim0.1$. The dSC order parameter increases from zero as the doping increases and reaches a maximum near the optimal doping $\delta\sim0.15$. In the small $U$ limit, only the dSC order survives while the AF order disappears. As $U$ increased to a critical value, the AF order shows up and coexists with the dSC in the underdoped regime. At half filing, the system is in the dSC state for small $U$ and becomes an AF insulator for large $U$. Within the present mean field approach, We show that the ground state energy of the coexistent state is always lower than that of the pure dSC state.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Constraining the bulk Lorentz factor from the photosphere emission

We propose a direct and model-independent method to constrain the Lorentz factor of a relativistically expanding object, like gamma-ray bursts. Only the measurements, such as thermal component of the emission, the distance and the variable time scale of the light curve, are used. If the uncertainties are considered, we will obtain lower limits of the Lorentz factor instead. We apply this method to GRB 090618 and get a lower limit of the Lorentz factor to be 22. The method can be used to any relativistically moving object, such as gamma-ray bursts, blazars, and soft gamma-ray repeaters, providing the thermal component of the emission being observed.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Coexistence of full which-path information and interference in Wheelers delayed choice experiment with photons

We present a computer simulation model that is a one-to-one copy of an experimental realization of Wheeler's delayed choice experiment that employs a single photon source and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer composed of a 50/50 input beam splitter and a variable output beam splitter with adjustable reflection coefficient $R$ (V. Jacques {\sl et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 220402 (2008)). For $0\le R\le 0.5$, experimentally measured values of the interference visibility $V$ and the path distinguishability $D$, a parameter quantifying the which-path information WPI, are found to fulfill the complementary relation $V^2+D^2\le 1$, thereby allowing to obtain partial WPI while keeping interference with limited visibility. The simulation model that is solely based on experimental facts, that satisfies Einstein's criterion of local causality and that does not rely on any concept of quantum theory or of probability theory, reproduces quantitatively the averages calculated from quantum theory. Our results prove that it is possible to give a particle-only description of the experiment, that one can have full WPI even if D=0, V=1 and therefore that the relation $V^2+D^2\le 1$ cannot be regarded as quantifying the notion of complementarity.Comment: Physica E, in press; see also http://www.compphys.ne

Fermi surface evolution in the antiferromagnetic state for the electron-doped t-t'-t''-J model

By use of the slave-boson mean-field approach, we have studied the electron-doped t-t'-t''-J model in the antiferromagnetic (AF) state. It is found that at low doping the Fermi surface (FS) pockets appear around $(\pm\pi,0)$ and $(0,\pm\pi)$, and upon increasing doping the other ones will form around $(\pm{\pi\over 2},\pm{\pi\over 2})$. The evolution of the FS with doping as well as the calculated spectral weight are consistent with the experimental results.Comment: Fig. 4 is updated, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Vapor-liquid phase separator studies

A study of porous plug use for vapor-liquid phase seperation in spaceborne cryogenic systems was conducted. The three main topics addressed were: (1) the usefulness of porous media in designs that call for variable areas and flow rates; (2) the possibility of prediction of main parameters of porous plugs for a given material; and (3) prediction of all parameters of the plug, including secondary parameters

Predicting floods in a large karst river basin by coupling PERSIANN-CCS QPEs with a physically based distributed hydrological model

In general, there are no long-term meteorological or hydrological data available for karst river basins. The lack of rainfall data is a great challenge that hinders the development of hydrological models. Quantitative precipitation estimates (QPEs) based on weather satellites offer a potential method by which rainfall data in karst areas could be obtained. Furthermore, coupling QPEs with a distributed hydrological model has the potential to improve the precision of flood predictions in large karst watersheds. Estimating precipitation from remotely sensed information using an artificial neural network-cloud classification system (PERSIANN-CCS) is a type of QPE technology based on satellites that has achieved broad research results worldwide. However, only a few studies on PERSIANN-CCS QPEs have occurred in large karst basins, and the accuracy is generally poor in terms of practical applications. This paper studied the feasibility of coupling a fully physically based distributed hydrological model, i.e., the Liuxihe model, with PERSIANN-CCS QPEs for predicting floods in a large river basin, i.e., the Liujiang karst river basin, which has a watershed area of 58 270 km-2, in southern China. The model structure and function require further refinement to suit the karst basins. For instance, the sub-basins in this paper are divided into many karst hydrology response units (KHRUs) to ensure that the model structure is adequately refined for karst areas. In addition, the convergence of the underground runoff calculation method within the original Liuxihe model is changed to suit the karst water-bearing media, and the Muskingum routing method is used in the model to calculate the underground runoff in this study. Additionally, the epikarst zone, as a distinctive structure of the KHRU, is carefully considered in the model. The result of the QPEs shows that compared with the observed precipitation measured by a rain gauge, the distribution of precipitation predicted by the PERSIANN-CCS QPEs was very similar. However, the quantity of precipitation predicted by the PERSIANN-CCS QPEs was smaller. A post-processing method is proposed to revise the products of the PERSIANN-CCS QPEs. The karst flood simulation results show that coupling the post-processed PERSIANN-CCS QPEs with the Liuxihe model has a better performance relative to the result based on the initial PERSIANN-CCS QPEs. Moreover, the performance of the coupled model largely improves with parameter re-optimization via the post-processed PERSIANN-CCS QPEs. The average values of the six evaluation indices change as follows: the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient increases by 14 %, the correlation coefficient increases by 15 %, the process relative error decreases by 8 %, the peak flow relative error decreases by 18 %, the water balance coefficient increases by 8 %, and the peak flow time error displays a 5 h decrease. Among these parameters, the peak flow relative error shows the greatest improvement; thus, these parameters are of page1506 the greatest concern for flood prediction. The rational flood simulation results from the coupled model provide a great practical application prospect for flood prediction in large karst river basins

An MHD Model For Magnetar Giant Flares

Giant flares on soft gamma-ray repeaters that are thought to take place on magnetars release enormous energy in a short time interval. Their power can be explained by catastrophic instabilities occurring in the magnetic field configuration and the subsequent magnetic reconnection. By analogy with the coronal mass ejection (CME) events on the Sun, we develop a theoretical model via an analytic approach for magnetar giant flares. In this model, the rotation and/or displacement of the crust causes the field to twist and deform, leading to flux rope formation in the magnetosphere and energy accumulation in the related configuration. When the energy and helicity stored in the configuration reach a threshold, the system loses its equilibrium, the flux rope is ejected outward in a catastrophic way, and magnetic reconnection helps the catastrophe develop to a plausible eruption. By taking SGR 1806 - 20 as an example, we calculate the free magnetic energy released in such an eruptive process and find that it is more than $10^{47}$ ergs, which is enough to power a giant flare. The released free magnetic energy is converted into radiative energy, kinetic energy and gravitational energy of the flux rope. We calculated the light curves of the eruptive processes for the giant flares of SGR 1806 - 20, SGR 0526-66 and SGR 1900+14, and compared them with the observational data. The calculated light curves are in good agreement with the observed light curves of giant flares.Comment: Accepted to Ap

The exact dynamical solution for two dust shells collapsing towards a black hole

The gravitational collapse of a star is an important issue both for general relativity and astrophysics, which is related to the well known "frozen star" paradox. Following the seminal work of Oppenheimer and Schneider (1939), we present the exact solution for two dust shells collapsing towards a pre-existing black hole. We find that the inner region of the shell is influenced by the property of the shell, which is contrary to the result in Newtonian theory and and the clock inside the shell becomes slower as the shell collapses towards the pre-existing black hole. This result in principle may be tested experimentally if a beam of light travels across the shell. We conclude that the concept of the "frozen star" should be abandoned, since matter can indeed cross a black hole's horizon according to the clock of an external observer. Since matter will not accumulate around the event horizon of a black hole, we predict that only gravitational wave radiation can be produced in the final stage of the merging process of two coalescing black holes. Our results also indicate that for the clock of an external observer, matter, after crossing the event horizon, will never arrive at the "singularity" (i.e. the exact center of the black hole.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, contributed talk to the Second Kolkata Conference on Observational Evidence for Black Holes in the Universe, Feb. 2008, Editor Sandip Chakrabart

Quantum Decoherence at Finite Temperatures

We study measures of decoherence and thermalization of a quantum system $S$ in the presence of a quantum environment (bath) $E$. The whole system is prepared in a canonical thermal state at a finite temperature. Applying perturbation theory with respect to the system-environment coupling strength, we find that under common Hamiltonian symmetries, up to first order in the coupling strength it is sufficient to consider the uncoupled system to predict decoherence and thermalization measures of $S$. This decoupling allows closed form expressions for perturbative expansions for the measures of decoherence and thermalization in terms of the free energies of $S$ and of $E$. Numerical results for both coupled and decoupled systems with up to 40 quantum spins validate these findings.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure