Charging Spectrum of a Small Wigner Crystal Island

Charging of a clean two-dimensional island is studied in the regime of small concentration of electrons when they form the Wigner crystal. The number of electrons in the island is assumed to be not too big (N < 100). It is shown that the total energy of the island as a function of N has a quasi-periodic component of a universal shape, that is independent of the form of electron-electron interactions. These oscillations are caused by the combination of the geometric effects associated with packing of the triangular lattice into the circular island. These effects are: the shell effect, associated with starting a new crystalline row, and the so-called confinement polaronic effect. In the presence of close metallic gates, which eliminate the long-range part of the electron-electron interactions, the oscillations of the energy bring about simultaneous entering of the dot by a few electrons.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 8 Postscript pages are include

Segmentation of the Izu-Bonin and Mariana slabs based on the analysis of the Benioff seismicity distribution and regional tomography results

We present a new model of P and S velocity anomalies in the mantle down to a depth of 1300 km beneath the Izu-Bonin and Mariana (IBM) arcs. This model is derived based on tomographic inversion of global travel time data from the revised ISC catalogue. The results of inversion are thoroughly verified using a series of different tests. The obtained model is generally consistent with previous studies by different authors. We also present the distribution of relocated deep events projected to the vertical surface along the IBM arc system. Unexpectedly, the seismicity forms elongated vertical clusters instead of horizontal zones indicating phase transitions in the slab. We propose that these vertical seismicity zones mark zones of intense deformation and boundaries between semi-autonomous segments of the subducting plate. The P and S seismic tomography models consistently display the slab as prominent high-velocity anomalies coinciding with the distribution of deep seismicity. We can distinguish at least four segments which subduct differently. The northernmost segment of the Izu-Bonin arc has the gentlest angle of dipping which is explained by backward displacement of the trench. In the second segment, the trench stayed at the same location, and we observe the accumulation of the slab material in the transition zone and its further descending to the lower mantle. In the third segment, the trench is moving forward causing the steepening of the slab. Finally, for the Mariana segment, despite the backward displacement of the arc, the subducting slab is nearly vertical. Between the Izu-Bonin and Mariana arcs we clearly observe a gap which can be traced down to about 400 km in depth. Based on joint consideration of the tomography results and the seismicity distribution, we propose two different scenarios of the subduction evolution in the IBM zone during the recent time, depending on the reference frame of plate displacements. In the first case, we consider the movements in respect to the Philippine Plate, and explain the different styles of the subduction by the relative backward and forward migrations of the trench. In the second case, all the elements of the subduction system move westward in respect to the stable Asia. Different subduction styles are explained by the "anchoring" of selected segments of the slab, different physical properties of the subducting plate and the existence of buoyant rigid blocks related to sea mount and igneous provinces

Statistics of the Charging Spectrum of a Two-Dimensional Coulomb Glass Island

The fluctuations of capacitance of a two-dimensional island are studied in the regime of low electron concentration and strong disorder, when electrons can be considered classical particles. The universal capacitance distribution is found, with the dispersion being of the order of the average. This distribution is shown to be closely related to the shape of the Coulomb gap in the one-electron density of states of the island. Behavior of the the capacitance fluctuations near the metal - insulator transition is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, LaTex, 4 Postscript figures are included Discussion of the situation with screening by metallic gate is adde

Quantum orientational melting of mesoscopic clusters

By path integral Monte Carlo simulations we study the phase diagram of two - dimensional mesoscopic clusters formed by electrons in a semiconductor quantum dot or by indirect magnetoexcitons in double quantum dots. At zero (or sufficiently small) temperature, as quantum fluctuations of particles increase, two types of quantum disordering phenomena take place: first, at small values of quantum de Boer parameter q < 0.01 one can observe a transition from a completely ordered state to that in which different shells of the cluster, being internally ordered, are orientationally disordered relative to each other. At much greater strengths of quantum fluctuations, at q=0.1, the transition to a disordered (superfluid for the boson system) state takes place.Comment: 4 pages, 6 Postscript figure

Interaction-induced oscillations of the tunneling density of states in a non-quantizing magnetic field

We study tunneling into interacting disordered two-dimensional electron gas in a non-quantizing magnetic field, which does not cause the standard de Haas-- van Alphen oscillations. Interaction induces a new type of oscillations in the tunneling density of states with the characteristic period of cyclotron quantum.Comment: 4 pages, 1 .eps figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Two-dimensional electron liquid with disorder in a weak magnetic field

We present the effective theory for low energy dynamics of a two-dimensional interacting electrons in the presence of a weak short-range disorder and a weak perpendicular magnetic field, the filling factor $\nu \gg 1$. We investigate the exchange enhancement of the $g$-factor, the effective mass and the decay rate of the simplest spin wave excitations at $\nu = 2 N + 1$. We obtain the enhancement of the field-induced gap in the tunneling density of states and dependence of the tunneling conductivity on the applied bias.Comment: 17 pages, no figure

Mean-field Phase Diagram of Two-Dimensional Electrons with Disorder in a Weak Magnetic Field

We study two-dimensional interacting electrons in a weak perpendicular magnetic field with the filling factor $\nu \gg 1$ and in the presence of a quenched disorder. In the framework of the Hartree-Fock approximation, we obtain the mean-field phase diagram for the partially filled highest Landau level. We find that the CDW state can exist if the Landau level broadening $1/2\tau$ does not exceed the critical value $1/2\tau_{c}=0.038\omega_{H}$. Our analysis of weak crystallization corrections to the mean-field results shows that these corrections are of the order of $(1/\nu)^{2/3}\ll 1$ and therefore can be neglected

Conductivity tensor of striped quantum Hall phases

We study the transport properties of pinned striped quantum Hall phases. We show that under quite general assumptions, the macroscopic conductivity tensor satisfies a semicircle law. In particular, this result is valid for both smectic and nematic stripe phases, independent of the presence of topological defects such as dislocations and grain boundaries. As a special case, our results explain the experimental validity of a product rule for the dissipative part of the resistivity tensor, which was previously derived by MacDonald and Fisher for a perfect stripe structure.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Joint Inversion of Active and Passive Seismic Data in Central Java

Seismic and volcanic activities in Central Java, Indonesia, the area of interest of this study, are directly or indirectly related to the subduction of the Indo-Australian plate. In the framework of the MERapi AMphibious EXperiments (MERAMEX), a network consisting of about 130 seismographic stations was installed onshore and offshore in Central Java and operated for more than 150 days. In addition, 3-D active seismic experiments were carried out offshore. In this paper, we present the results of processing combined active and passive seismic data, which contain traveltimes from 292 local earthquakes and additional airgun shots along three offshore profiles. The inversion was performed using the updated LOTOS-06 code that allows processing for active and passive source data. The joint inversion of the active and passive data set considerably improves the resolution of the upper crust, especially in the offshore area in comparison to only passive data. The inversion results are verified using a series of synthetic tests. The resulting images showan exceptionally strong low-velocity anomaly (−30 per cent) in the backarc crust northward of the active volcanoes. In the upper mantle beneath the volcanoes, we observe a low-velocity anomaly inclined towards the slab, which probably reflects the paths of fluids and partially melted materials in the mantle wedge. The crust in the forearc appears to be strongly heterogeneous. The onshore part consists of two high-velocity blocks separated by a narrow low-velocity anomaly, which can be interpreted as a weakened contact zone between two rigid crustal bodies. The recent Java Mw = 6.3 earthquake (2006/05/26-UTC) occurred at the lower edge of this zone. Its focal strike slip mechanism is consistent with the orientation of this contact