Torsion Degrees of Freedom in the Regge Calculus as Dislocations on the Simplicial Lattice

Using the notion of a general conical defect, the Regge Calculus is generalized by allowing for dislocations on the simplicial lattice in addition to the usual disclinations. Since disclinations and dislocations correspond to curvature and torsion singularities, respectively, the method we propose provides a natural way of discretizing gravitational theories with torsion degrees of freedom like the Einstein-Cartan theory. A discrete version of the Einstein-Cartan action is given and field equations are derived, demanding stationarity of the action with respect to the discrete variables of the theory

Star formation environments and the distribution of binary separations

We have carried out K-band speckle observations of a sample of 114 X-ray selected weak-line T Tauri stars in the nearby Scorpius-Centaurus OB association. We find that for binary T Tauri stars closely associated to the early type stars in Upper Scorpius, the youngest subgroup of the OB association, the peak in the distribution of binary separations is at 90 A.U. For binary T Tauri stars located in the direction of an older subgroup, but not closely associated to early type stars, the peak in the distribution is at 215 A.U. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test indicates that the two binary populations do not result from the same distibution at a significance level of 98%. Apparently, the same physical conditions which facilitate the formation of massive stars also facilitate the formation of closer binaries among low-mass stars, whereas physical conditions unfavorable for the formation of massive stars lead to the formation of wider binaries among low-mass stars. The outcome of the binary formation process might be related to the internal turbulence and the angular momentum of molecular cloud cores, magnetic field, the initial temperature within a cloud, or - most likely - a combination of all of these. We conclude that the distribution of binary separations is not a universal quantity, and that the broad distribution of binary separations observed among main-sequence stars can be explained by a superposition of more peaked binary distributions resulting from various star forming environments. The overall binary frequency among pre-main-sequence stars in individual star forming regions is not necessarily higher than among main-sequence stars.Comment: 7 pages, Latex, 4 Postscript figures; also available at http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/brandner/pubs/pubs.html ; accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

QED vacuum fluctuations and induced electric dipole moment of the neutron

Quantum fluctuations in the QED vacuum generate non-linear effects, such as peculiar induced electromagnetic fields. In particular, we show here that an electrically neutral particle, possessing a magnetic dipole moment, develops an induced electric dipole-type moment with unusual angular dependence, when immersed in a quasistatic, constant external electric field. The calculation of this effect is done in the framework of the Euler-Heisenberg effective QED Lagrangian, corresponding to the weak field asymptotic expansion of the effective action to one-loop order. It is argued that the neutron might be a good candidate to probe this signal of non-linearity in QED.Comment: A misprint has been corrected, and three new references have been adde

Local and average fields inside surface-disordered waveguides: Resonances in the one-dimensional Anderson localization regime

We investigate the one-dimensional propagation of waves in the Anderson localization regime, for a single-mode, surface disordered waveguide. We make use of both an analytical formulation and rigorous numerical simulation calculations. The occurrence of anomalously large transmission coefficients for given realizations and/or frequencies is studied, revealing huge field intensity concentration inside the disordered waveguide. The analytically predicted s-like dependence of the average intensity, being in good agreement with the numerical results for moderately long systems, fails to explain the intensity distribution observed deep in the localized regime. The average contribution to the field intensity from the resonances that are above a threshold transmission coefficient $T_{c}$ is a broad distribution with a large maximum at/near mid-waveguide, depending universally (for given $T_{c}$) on the ratio of the length of the disorder segment to the localization length, $L/\xi$. The same universality is observed in the spatial distribution of the intensity inside typical (non-resonant with respect to the transmission coefficient) realizations, presenting a s-like shape similar to that of the total average intensity for $T_{c}$ close to 1, which decays faster the lower is $T_{c}$. Evidence is given of the self-averaging nature of the random quantity $\log[I(x)]/x\simeq -1/\xi$. Higher-order moments of the intensity are also shown.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a topological insulator: transport in the quantum limit

Pulsed magnetic fields of up to 55T are used to investigate the transport properties of the topological insulator Bi_2Se_3 in the extreme quantum limit. For samples with a bulk carrier density of n = 2.9\times10^16cm^-3, the lowest Landau level of the bulk 3D Fermi surface is reached by a field of 4T. For fields well beyond this limit, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations arising from quantization of the 2D surface state are observed, with the \nu =1 Landau level attained by a field of 35T. These measurements reveal the presence of additional oscillations which occur at fields corresponding to simple rational fractions of the integer Landau indices.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Adaption reveals a neural code for the visual location of orientation change

We apply an adaptation technique to explore the neural code for the visual location of textures defined by modulation of orientation over space. In showing that adaptation to textures modulated around one orientation shifts the perceived location of textures modulated around a different orientation, we demonstrate the existence of a neural code for the location of orientation change that generalises across orientation content. Using competitive adaptation, we characterise the neural processes underlying this code as single-opponent for orientation, that is with concentric excitatory/inhibitory receptive areas tuned to a single orientation.<br /

First principles calculation of structural and magnetic properties for Fe monolayers and bilayers on W(110)

Structure optimizations were performed for 1 and 2 monolayers (ML) of Fe on a 5 ML W(110) substrate employing the all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) method. The magnetic moments were also obtained for the converged and optimized structures. We find significant contractions ($\sim$ 10 %) for both the Fe-W and the neighboring Fe-Fe interlayer spacings compared to the corresponding bulk W-W and Fe-Fe interlayer spacings. Compared to the Fe bcc bulk moment of 2.2 $\mu_B$, the magnetic moment for the surface layer of Fe is enhanced (i) by 15% to 2.54 $\mu_B$ for 1 ML Fe/5 ML W(110), and (ii) by 29% to 2.84 $\mu_B$ for 2 ML Fe/5 ML W(110). The inner Fe layer for 2 ML Fe/5 ML W(110) has a bulk-like moment of 2.3 $\mu_B$. These results agree well with previous experimental data