2,758 research outputs found
Gauge/string duality and scalar glueball mass ratios
It has been shown by Polchinski and Strassler that the scaling of high energy
QCD scattering amplitudes can be obtained from string theory. They considered
an AdS slice as an approximation for the dual space of a confining gauge
theory. Here we use this approximation to estimate in a very simple way the
ratios of scalar glueball masses imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions on the
string dilaton field. These ratios are in good agreement with the results in
the literature. We also find that they do not depend on the size of the slice.Comment: 5 pages, no figures. References updated. Version published in JHE
The resolution of whole Earth seismic tomographic models
We evaluate the resolution of whole Earth structure achieved by compressional wave traveltime data from the International Seismological Centre (ISC); the measure of resolution we employ, provided by the direct calculation of the model resolution matrix, is more rigorous than the traditional (and computationally cheaper) one obtained through synthetic/checkerboard tests. Our work completes the introductive study of Boschi (2003), where only mantle models derived with a very simple regularization scheme were considered. Here, we expand Boschi's database with measurements of compressional waves reflected by, or refracted through, the Earth's core-mantle boundary (CMB) and core. In analogy with the work of Soldati et al. (2003), we treat CMB topography and heterogeneous outer core structure as free parameters of our inversions; analysing model resolution matrices, we attempt to explain the known discrepancy between deep Earth structure mapped by seismic waves reflected and refracted by the cor
Using the Post—Widder formula to compute the Earth's viscoelastic Love numbers
The post-glacial or post-seismic relaxation of a Maxwell viscoelastic earth, 1-D or slightly laterally heterogeneous, can be calculated in a normal-mode approach, based on an application of the propagator technique. This semi-analytical approach, widely documented in the literature, allows to compute the response of an earth model whose rheological parameters vary quite strongly with depth, at least as accurately and efficiently as by 1-D numerical integration (Runge-Kutta). Its main drawback resides in the need to identify the roots of a secular polynomial, introduced after reformulating the problem in the Laplace domain, and required to transform the solution back to the time domain. Root finding becomes increasingly difficult, and ultimately unaffordable, as the complexity of rheological profiles grows: the secular polynomial gradually gets more ill behaved, and a larger number of more and more closely spaced roots is to be found. Here, we apply the propagator method to solve the Earth's viscoelastic momentum equation, like in the above-mentioned normal-mode framework, but bypass root finding, using, instead, the Post-Widder formula to transform the solution, found again in the Laplace domain, back to the time domain. We test our method against earlier normal-mode results, and prove its effectiveness in modelling the relaxation of earth models with extremely complex rheological profile
Stable particles in anisotropic spin-1 chains
Motivated by field-theoretic predictions we investigate the stable
excitations that exist in two characteristic gapped phases of a spin-1 model
with Ising-like and single-ion anisotropies. The sine-Gordon theory indicates a
region close to the phase boundary where a stable breather exists besides the
stable particles, that form the Haldane triplet at the Heisenberg isotropic
point. The numerical data, obtained by means of the Density Matrix
Renormalization Group, confirm this picture in the so-called large-D phase for
which we give also a quantitative analysis of the bound states using standard
perturbation theory. However, the situation turns out to be considerably more
intricate in the Haldane phase where, to the best of our data, we do not
observe stable breathers contrarily to what could be expected from the
sine-Gordon model, but rather only the three modes predicted by a novel
anisotropic extension of the Non-Linear Sigma Model studied here by means of a
saddle-point approximation.Comment: 8 pages, 7 eps figures, svjour clas
Databases of surface wave dispersion
Observations of seismic surface waves provide the most important constraint on the elastic properties of the Earth’s
lithosphere and upper mantle. Two databases of fundamental mode surface wave dispersion were recently compiled
and published by groups at Harvard (Ekström et al., 1997) and Utrecht/Oxford (Trampert and Woodhouse, 1995,
2001), and later employed in 3-d global tomographic studies. Although based on similar sets of seismic records,
the two databases show some significant discrepancies. We derive phase velocity maps from both, and compare
them to quantify the discrepancies and assess the relative quality of the data; in this endeavour, we take careful account
of the effects of regularization and parametrization. At short periods, where Love waves are mostly sensitive
to crustal structure and thickness, we refer our comparison to a map of the Earth’s crust derived from independent
data. On the assumption that second-order effects like seismic anisotropy and scattering can be neglected, we find
the measurements of Ekström et al. (1997) of better quality; those of Trampert and Woodhouse (2001) result in
phase velocity maps of much higher spatial frequency and, accordingly, more difficult to explain and justify geophysically.
The discrepancy is partly explained by the more conservative a priori selection of data implemented by
Ekström et al. (1997). Nevertheless, it becomes more significant with decreasing period, which indicates that it
could also be traced to the different measurement techniques employed by the authors
Folds and Buckles at the Nanoscale: Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Bending Properties of Graphene Membranes
The elastic properties of graphene crystals have been extensively investigated, revealing unique properties in the linear and nonlinear regimes, when the membranes are under either stretching or bending loading conditions. Nevertheless less knowledge has been developed so far on folded graphene membranes and ribbons. It has been recently suggested that fold-induced curvatures, without in-plane strain, can affect the local chemical reactivity, the mechanical properties, and the electron transfer in graphene membranes. This intriguing perspective envisages a materials-by-design approach through the engineering of folding and bending to develop enhanced nano-resonators or nano-electro-mechanical devices. Here we present a novel methodology to investigate the mechanical properties of folded and wrinkled graphene crystals, combining transmission electron microscopy mapping of 3D curvatures and theoretical modeling based on continuum elasticity theory and tight-binding atomistic simulations
Phase separation and pairing regimes in the one-dimensional asymmetric Hubbard model
We address some open questions regarding the phase diagram of the
one-dimensional Hubbard model with asymmetric hopping coefficients and balanced
species. In the attractive regime we present a numerical study of the passage
from on-site pairing dominant correlations at small asymmetries to
charge-density waves in the region with markedly different hopping
coefficients. In the repulsive regime we exploit two analytical treatments in
the strong- and weak-coupling regimes in order to locate the onset of phase
separation at small and large asymmetries respectively.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX 4, 12 eps figures, some additional refs. with
respect to v1 and citation errors fixe
Qubit Teleportation and Transfer across Antiferromagnetic Spin Chains
We explore the capability of spin-1/2 chains to act as quantum channels for
both teleportation and transfer of qubits. Exploiting the emergence of
long-distance entanglement in low-dimensional systems [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96,
247206 (2006)], here we show how to obtain high communication fidelities
between distant parties. An investigation of protocols of teleportation and
state transfer is presented, in the realistic situation where temperature is
included. Basing our setup on antiferromagnetic rotationally invariant systems,
both protocols are represented by pure depolarizing channels. We propose a
scheme where channel fidelity close to one can be achieved on very long chains
at moderately small temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 4 .eps figure
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