1,100 research outputs found
Tuning the effects of Landau-level mixing on anisotropic transport in quantum Hall systems
Electron-electron interactions in half-filled high Landau levels in
two-dimensional electron gases in a strong perpendicular magnetic field can
lead to states with anisotropic longitudinal resistance. This longitudinal
resitance is generally believed to arise from broken rotational invariance,
which is indicated by charge density wave (CDW) order in Hartree-Fock
calculations. We use the Hartree-Fock approximation to study the influence of
externally tuned Landau level mixing on the formation of interaction induced
states that break rotational invariance in two-dimensional electron and hole
systems. We focus on the situation when there are two non-interacting states in
the vicinity of the Fermi level and construct a Landau theory to study coupled
charge density wave order that can occur as interactions are tuned and the
filling or mixing are varied. We examine in detail a specific example where
mixing is tuned externally through Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We calculate the
phase diagram and find the possibility of ordering involving coupled striped or
triangular charge density waves in the two levels. Our results may be relevant
to recent transport experiments on quantum Hall nematics in which Landau-level
mixing plays an important role.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Discovery of circularly polarised radio emission from SS 433
We report the discovery of circularly polarised radio emission from the
radio-jet X-ray binary SS 433 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The
flux density spectrum of the circular polarization, clearly detected at four
frequencies between 1 - 9 GHz, has a spectral index of (-0.9 +/- 0.1). Multiple
components in the source and a lack of very high spatial resolution do not
allow a unique determination of the origin of the circular polarization, nor of
the spectrum of fractional polarization. However, we argue that the emission is
likely to arise in the inner regions of the binary, possibly via
propagation-induced conversion of linear to circular polarization, and the
fractional circular polarization of these regions may be as high as 10%.
Observations such as these have the potential to investigate the composition,
whether pairs or baryonic, of the ejecta from X-ray binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
History of oceanic front development in the New Zealand sector of the Southern Ocean during the Cenozoic--a synthesis
The New Zealand sector of the Southern Ocean (NZSSO) has opened about the Indian-Pacific spreading ridge throughout the Cenozoic. Today the NZSSO is characterised by broad zonal belts of antarctic (cold), subantarctic (cool), and subtropical (warm) surface-water masses separated by prominent oceanic fronts: the Subtropical Front (STF) c. 43deg.S, Subantarctic Front (SAF) c. 50deg.S, and Antarctic Polar Front (AAPF) c. 60deg.S. Despite a meagre database, the broad pattern of Cenozoic evolution of these fronts is reviewed from the results of Deep Sea Drilling Project-based studies of sediment facies, microfossil assemblages and diversity, and stable isotope records, as well as from evidence in onland New Zealand Cenozoic sequences. Results are depicted schematically on seven paleogeographic maps covering the NZSSO at 10 m.y. intervals through the Cenozoic.
During the Paleocene and most of the Eocene (65-35 Ma), the entire NZSSO was under the influence of warm to cool subtropical waters, with no detectable oceanic fronts. In the latest Eocene (c. 35 Ma), a proto-STF is shown separating subantarctic and subtropical waters offshore from Antarctica, near 65deg.S paleolatitude. During the earliest Oligocene, this front was displaced northwards by development of an AAPF following major global cooling and biotic turnover associated with ice sheet expansion to sea level on East Antarctica. Early Oligocene full opening (c. 31 Ma) of the Tasmanian gateway initiated vigorous proto-circum-Antarctic flow of cold/cool waters, possibly through a West Antarctic seaway linking the southern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, including detached northwards "jetting" onto the New Zealand plateau where condensation and unconformity development was widespread in cool-water carbonate facies. Since this time, a broad tripartite division of antarctic, subantarctic, and subtropical waters has existed in the NZSSO, including possible development of a proto-SAF within the subantarctic belt. In the Early-early Middle Miocene (25-15 Ma), warm subtropical waters expanded southwards into the northern NZSSO, possibly associated with reduced ice volume on East Antarctica but particularly with restriction of the Indonesian gateway and redirection of intensified warm surface flows southwards into the Tasman Sea, as well as complete opening of the Drake gateway by 23 Ma allowing more complete decoupling of cool circum-Antarctic flow from the subtropical waters. During the late Middle-Late Miocene (15-5 Ma), both the STF and SAF proper were established in their present relative positions across and about the Campbell Plateau, respectively, accompanying renewed ice buildup on East Antarctica and formation of a permanent ice sheet on West Antarctica, as well as generally more expansive and intensified circum-Antarctic flow.
The ultimate control on the history of oceanic front development in the NZSSO has been plate tectonics through its influence on the paleogeographic changes of the Australian-New Zealand-Antarctic continents and their intervening oceanic basins, the timing of opening and closing of critical seaways, the potential for submarine ridges and plateaus to exert some bathymetric control on the location of fronts, and the evolving ice budget on the Antarctic continent. The broad trends of the Cenozoic climate curve for New Zealand deduced from fossil evidence in the uplifted marine sedimentary record correspond well to the principal paleoceanographic events controlling the evolution and migration of the oceanic fronts in the NZSSO
Comparing P and S wave heterogeneity in the mantle
From the reprocessed data set of Engdahl and
co-workers we have carefully selected matching P and S data
for tomographic imaging. We assess data and model error
and conclude that our S model uncertainty is twice that of
the P model. We account for this in our comparison of the
perturbations in P and S-wavespeed. In accord with previous
studies we find that P and S perturbations are positively
correlated at all depths. However, in the deep mantle systematic
di fferences occur between regions that have undergone
subduction in the last 120 million years and those that
have not. In particular, below 1500 km depth ∂ ln Vs/∂ ln Vp
is signifi cantly larger in mantle regions away from subduction
than in mantle beneath convergent margins. This inference
is substantiated by wavespeed analyses with random realizations
of the slab/non-slab distribution. Through much
of the mantle there is no signi ficant correlation between bulk
sound and S-wave perturbations, but they appear to be negatively
correlated between 1700 and 2100 km depth, which
is also where the largest di erences in ∂ ln Vs/∂ ln Vp occur.
This finding supports convection models with compositional
heterogeneity in the lowermost mantle
Exchange anisotropy, disorder and frustration in diluted, predominantly ferromagnetic, Heisenberg spin systems
Motivated by the recent suggestion of anisotropic effective exchange
interactions between Mn spins in GaMnAs (arising as a result of
spin-orbit coupling), we study their effects in diluted Heisenberg spin
systems. We perform Monte Carlo simulations on several phenomenological model
spin Hamiltonians, and investigate the extent to which frustration induced by
anisotropic exchanges can reduce the low temperature magnetization in these
models and the interplay of this effect with disorder in the exchange. In a
model with low coordination number and purely ferromagnetic (FM) exchanges, we
find that the low temperature magnetization is gradually reduced as exchange
anisotropy is turned on. However, as the connectivity of the model is
increased, the effect of small-to-moderate anisotropy is suppressed, and the
magnetization regains its maximum saturation value at low temperatures unless
the distribution of exchanges is very wide. To obtain significant suppression
of the low temperature magnetization in a model with high connectivity, as is
found for long-range interactions, we find it necessary to have both
ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic (AFM) exchanges (e.g. as in the RKKY
interaction). This implies that disorder in the sign of the exchange
interaction is much more effective in suppressing magnetization at low
temperatures than exchange anisotropy.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Evidence of volcanic ash at a K-T boundary section: Ocean drilling program hole 690 C, Maud Rise, Weddell Sea off East Antarctica
Rare vitric volcanogenic ash but more abundant clay minerals considered volcanogenic in origin are associated with an expanded and essentially complete K-T boundary sequence from Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) Hole 690 C on Maud Rise in the Weddell Sea off East Antarctica. Results at this writing are preliminary and are still based to some extent on shipboard descriptions. Further shore-based studies are in progress. It would appear, however, that the presence of volcanic ash and altered ash in the Danian section beginning at the biostratigraphically and paleomagnetically determined K-T boundary on Maud Rise can be cited as evidence of significant volcanic activity within the South Atlantic-Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean coincident with the time of biotic crises at the end of the Maestrichtian. This is a postulated time of tectonic and volcanic activity within this Southern Hemisphere region, including possible initiation of the Reunion hot spot and a peak in explosive volcanism on Walvis Ridge (1) among other events. A causal relationship with the biotic crisis is possible and volcanism should be given serious consideration as a testable working hypothesis to explain these extinctions
Spin Waves in Disordered III-V Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors
We propose a new scheme for numerically computing collective-mode spectra for
large-size systems, using a reformulation of the Random Phase Approximation. In
this study, we apply this method to investigate the spectrum and nature of the
spin-waves of a (III,Mn)V Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor. We use an impurity
band picture to describe the interaction of the charge carriers with the local
Mn spins. The spin-wave spectrum is shown to depend sensitively on the
positional disorder of the Mn atoms inside the host semiconductor. Both
localized and extended spin-wave modes are found. Unusual spin and charge
transport is implied.Comment: 14 pages, including 11 figure
Two-component approach for thermodynamic properties in diluted magnetic semiconductors
We examine the feasibility of a simple description of Mn ions in III-V
diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) in terms of two species (components),
motivated by the expectation that the Mn-hole exchange couplings are widely
distributed, expecially for low Mn concentrations. We find, using distributions
indicated by recent numerical mean field studies, that the thermodynamic
properties (magnetization, susceptibility, and specific heat) cannot be fit by
a single coupling as in a homogeneous model, but can be fit well by a
two-component model with a temperature dependent number of ``strongly'' and
``weakly'' coupled spins. This suggests that a two-component description may be
a minimal model for the interpretation of experimental measurements of
thermodynamic quantities in III-V DMS systems.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 1 new figure, substantial revision
Ferromagnetism in a dilute magnetic semiconductor -- Generalized RKKY interaction and spin-wave excitations
Carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in a dilute magnetic semiconductor has been
studied using i) a single-impurity based generalized RKKY approach which goes
beyond linear response theory, and ii) a mean-field-plus-spin-fluctuation
(MF+SF) approach within a (purely fermionic) Hubbard-model representation of
the magnetic impurities, which incorporates dynamical effects associated with
finite frequency spin correlations in the ordered state. Due to a competition
between the magnitude of the carrier spin polarization and its oscillation
length scale, the ferromagnetic spin coupling is found to be optimized with
respect to both hole doping concentration and impurity-carrier spin coupling
energy (or equivalently ). The ferromagnetic transition temperature
, deteremined within the spin-fluctuation theory, corresponds closely with
the observed values. Positional disorder of magnetic impurities causes
significant stiffening of the high-energy magnon modes. We also explicitly
study the stability/instability of the mean-field ferromagnetic state, which
highlights the role of competing AF interactions causing spin twisting and
noncollinear ferromagnetic ordering.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
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