EMU, EU Enlargement, and the European Social Model: Trends, Challenges, and Questions

The paper discusses the possible implications of the challenges facing the “European Social Model” (ESM) caused by the European Monetary Union (EMU) and the enlargement of the EU to include central and eastern European countries. The strains produced by the two challenges on the European welfare states and industrial relation systems are regarded as considerable, adding to the wide variety of country-specific solutions and leading to increased inequality both across and within member countries. However, there are no signs indicating that the two challenges lead to the abolition of welfare standards, despite the need for “recalibration,” or that labor market institutions are being dismantled. On the contrary, the need to search for viable alternatives to the status quo appears to strengthen attempts to improve the long-term sustainability of welfare states and to improve the performance of established labor market institutions. Moreover, the challenges foster new European policy approaches like the “open coordination” mechanism.Der Aufsatz diskutiert mögliche Folgewirkungen der gleichzeitigen Herausforderung des „Europäischen Sozialmodells“ durch die Europäische Währungsunion und die Erweiterung der EU um mittel- und osteuropäische Länder. Die Belastungen, denen die europäischen Sozial- und Lohnverhandlungssysteme durch diese Herausforderungen ausgesetzt werden, sind beachtlich und verstärken sowohl die derzeitige große Varianz länderspezifischer Problemlösungen als auch die zwischen- und innerstaatliche Ungleichheit. Allerdings gibt es keine Anzeichen, daß die Herausforderungen zur Abschaffung wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Standards oder zur Demontage von Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen führen. Im Gegenteil scheint die Notwendigkeit der Suche nach tragfähigen Alternativen zum Status Quo Versuchen zur Verbesserung der langfristigen Nachhaltigkeit der Wohlfahrtsstaaten und der Leistungsfähigkeit etablierter Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen Nachdruck zu verleihen. Darüber hinaus fördern die Herausforderungen neue europäische Politikansätze wie den Mechanismus der „offenen Koordinierung“.1. Introduction 2. The European Social Model 3. EMU and the European Social Model 3.1 EMU and Social Security 3.2 EMU and Wage Coordination 3.3 EMU and Income Equality 4. Enlargement and the European Social Model 4.1 Economic Effects of Enlargement 4.2 Enlargement and Social Security 4.3 Enlargement and Wage Coordination 4.4 Enlargement and Income Equality 5. Conclusions 6. Reference

Quantum transport properties of two-dimensional systems in disordered magnetic fields with a fixed sign

Quantum transport in disordered magnetic fields is investigated numerically in two-dimensional systems. In particular, the case where the mean and the fluctuation of disordered magnetic fields are of the same order is considered. It is found that in the limit of weak disorder the conductivity exhibits a qualitatively different behavior from that in the conventional random magnetic fields with zero mean. The conductivity is estimated by the equation of motion method and by the two-terminal Landauer formula. It is demonstrated that the conductance stays on the order of $e^2/h$ even in the weak disorder limit. The present behavior can be interpreted in terms of the Drude formula. The Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation is also observed in the weak disorder regime.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Crystal growth and ambient and high pressure study of the reentrant superconductor Tm_2Fe_3Si_5

We report single crystal growth of the reentrant superconductor Tm_2Fe_3Si_5, and measurements of the anisotropic static magnetic susceptibility \chi(T) and isothermal magnetization M(H), ac susceptibility \chi_ac(T), electrical resistivity \rho(T) and heat capacity C(T) at ambient pressure and \chi_ac(T) at high pressure. The magnetic susceptibility along the c-axis \chi_c(T) shows a small maximum around 250 K and does not follow the Curie-Weiss behavior while the magnetic susceptibility along the a-axis \chi_a(T) follows a Curie-Weiss behavior between 130 K and 300 K with a Weiss temperature \theta and an effective magnetic moment \mu_eff which depend on the temperature range of the fit. The easy axis of magnetization is perpendicular to the c-axis and \chi_a/\chi_c = 3.2 at 1.8 K. The ambient pressure \chi_ac(T) and C(T) measurements confirm bulk antiferromagnetic ordering at T_N = 1.1 K. The sharp drop in \chi_ac below T_N is suggestive of the existence of a spin-gap. We observe superconductivity only under applied pressures P\geq 2 kbar. The temperature-pressure phase diagram showing the non-monotonic dependence of the superconducting transition temperature T_c on pressure P is presented.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Magnetism of two-dimensional defects in Pd: stacking faults, twin boundaries and surfaces

Careful first-principles density functional calculations reveal the importance of hexagonal versus cubic stacking of closed packed planes of Pd as far as local magnetic properties are concerned. We find that, contrary to the stable face centered cubic phase, which is paramagnetic, the hexagonal close-packed phase of Pd is ferromagnetic with a magnetic moment of 0.35 $\mu_{B}$/atom. Our results show that two-dimensional defects with local hcp stacking, like twin boundaries and stacking faults, in the otherwise fcc Pd structure, increase the magnetic susceptibility. The (111) surface also increases the magnetic susceptibility and it becomes ferromagnetic in combination with an individual stacking fault or twin boundary close to it. On the contrary, we find that the (100) surface decreases the tendency to ferromagnetism. The results are consistent with the magnetic moment recently observed in small Pd nanoparticles, with a large surface area and a high concentration of two-dimensional stacking defects.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Electron-phonon interaction in Graphite Intercalation Compounds

Motivated by the recent discovery of superconductivity in Ca- and Yb-intercalated graphite (CaC$_{6}$ and YbC$_{6}$) and from the ongoing debate on the nature and role of the interlayer state in this class of compounds, in this work we critically study the electron-phonon properties of a simple model based on primitive graphite. We show that this model captures an essential feature of the electron-phonon properties of the Graphite Intercalation Compounds (GICs), namely, the existence of a strong dormant electron-phonon interaction between interlayer and $\pi ^{\ast}$ electrons, for which we provide a simple geometrical explanation in terms of NMTO Wannier-like functions. Our findings correct the oversimplified view that nearly-free-electron states cannot interact with the surrounding lattice, and explain the empirical correlation between the filling of the interlayer band and the occurrence of superconductivity in Graphite-Intercalation Compounds.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Trapped ion emulation of electric dipole moment of neutral relativistic particles

The electric dipole moments of various neutral elementary particles, such as neutron, neutrinos, certain hypothetical dark matter particles and others, are predicted to exist by the standard model of high energy physics and various extensions of it. However, the predicted values are beyond the present experimental capabilities. We propose to simulate and emulate the electric dipole moment of neutral relativistic particles and the ensuing effects in the presence of electrostatic field by emulation of an extended Dirac equation in ion traps

Tuning of magnetic and electronic states by control of oxygen content in lanthanum strontium cobaltites

We report on the magnetic, resistive, and structural studies of perovskite La$_{1/3}$Sr$_{2/3}$CoO$_{3-\delta}$. By using the relation of synthesis temperature and oxygen partial pressure to oxygen stoichiometry obtained from thermogravimetric analysis, we have synthesized a series of samples with precisely controlled $\delta=0.00-0.49$. These samples show three structural phases at $\delta=0.00-0.15$, $\approx0.25$, $\approx0.5$, and two-phase behavior for other oxygen contents. The stoichiometric material with $\delta=0.00$ is a cubic ferromagnetic metal with the Curie temperature $T_{\rm C}=274$ K. The increase of $\delta$ to 0.15 is followed by a linear decrease of $T_{\rm C}$ to $\approx$ 160 K and a metal-insulator transition near the boundary of the cubic structure range. Further increase of $\delta$ results in formation of a tetragonal $2a_p\times 2a_p \times 4a_p$ phase for $\delta\approx 0.25$ and a brownmillerite phase for $\delta\approx0.5$. At low temperatures, these are weak ferromagnetic insulators (canted antiferromagnets) with magnetic transitions at $T_{\rm m}\approx230$ and 120 K, respectively. At higher temperatures, the $2a_p\times 2a_p \times 4a_p$ phase is $G$-type antiferromagnetic between 230 K and $\approx$360 K. Low temperature magnetic properties of this system for $\delta<1/3$ can be described in terms of a mixture of Co$^{3+}$ ions in the low-spin state and Co$^{4+}$ ions in the intermediate-spin state and a possible spin transition of Co$^{3+}$ to the intermediate-spin state above $T_{\rm C}$. For $\delta>1/3$, there appears to be a combination of Co$^{2+}$ and Co$^{3+}$ ions, both in the high-spin state with dominating antiferromagnetic interactions.Comment: RevTeX, 9 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Physical Review

Rigorous derivation of coherent resonant tunneling time and velocity in finite periodic systems

The velocity $v_{res}$ of resonant tunneling electrons in finite periodic structures is analytically calculated in two ways. The first method is based on the fact that a transmission of unity leads to a coincidence of all still competing tunneling time definitions. Thus, having an indisputable resonant tunneling time $\tau_{res},$ we apply the natural definition $v_{res}=L/\tau_{res}$ to calculate the velocity. For the second method we combine Bloch's theorem with the transfer matrix approach to decompose the wave function into two Bloch waves. Then the expectation value of the velocity is calculated. Both different approaches lead to the same result, showing their physical equivalence. The obtained resonant tunneling velocity $v_{res}$ is smaller or equal to the group velocity times the magnitude of the complex transmission amplitude of the unit cell. Only at energies where the unit cell of the periodic structure has a transmission of unity $v_{res}$ equals the group velocity. Numerical calculations for a GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice are performed. For typical parameters the resonant velocity is below one third of the group velocity.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

Quantum Density Fluctuations in Classical Liquids

We discuss the density fluctuations of a fluid due to zero point motion. These can be regarded as density fluctuations in the phonon vacuum state. We assume a linear dispersion relation with a fixed speed of sound and calculate the density correlation function. We note that this function has the same form as the correlation function for the time derivative of a relativistic massless scalar field, but with the speed of light replaced by the speed of sound. As a result, the study of density fluctuations in a fluid can be a useful analog model for better understanding fluctuations in relativistic quantum field theory. We next calculate the differential cross section for light scattering by the zero point density fluctuations, and find a result proportional to the fifth power of the light frequency. This can be understood as the product of fourth power dependence of the usual Rayleigh cross section with the linear frequency dependence of the spectrum of zero point density fluctuations. We give some estimates of the relative magnitude of this effect compared to the scattering by thermal density fluctuations, and find that it can be of order 0.5% for water at room temperature and optical frequencies. This relative magnitude is proportional to frequency and inversely proportional to temperature. Although the scattering by zero point density fluctuation is small, it may be observable.Comment: 7 page

Quantized spin excitations in a ferromagnetic microstrip from microwave photovoltage measurements

Quantized spin excitations in a single ferromagnetic microstrip have been measured using the microwave photovoltage technique. Several kinds of spin wave modes due to different contributions of the dipole-dipole and the exchange interactions are observed. Among them are a series of distinct dipole-exchange spin wave modes, which allow us to determine precisely the subtle spin boundary condition. A comprehensive picture for quantized spin excitations in a ferromagnet with finite size is thereby established. The dispersions of the quantized spin wave modes have two different branches separated by the saturation magnetization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure