Magnetism and the Weiss Exchange Field - A Theoretical Analysis Inspired by Recent Experiments

The huge spin precession frequency observed in recent experiments with spin-polarized beams of hot electrons shot through magnetized films is interpreted as being caused by Zeeman coupling of the electron spins to the so-called Weiss exchange field in the film. A "Stern-Gerlach experiment" for electrons moving through an inhomogeneous exchange field is proposed. The microscopic origin of exchange interactions and of large mean exchange fields, leading to different types of magnetic order, is elucidated. A microscopic derivation of the equations of motion of the Weiss exchange field is presented. Novel proofs of the existence of phase transitions in quantum XY-models and antiferromagnets, based on an analysis of the statistical distribution of the exchange field, are outlined.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figure

Magnetism and the Weiss Exchange Field-A Theoretical Analysis Motivated by Recent Experiments

The huge spin precession frequency observed in recent experiments with spin-polarized beams of hot electrons shot through magnetized films is interpreted as being caused by Zeeman coupling of the electron spins to the so-called Weiss exchange field in the film. The microscopic origin of exchange interactions and of large mean exchange fields, leading to different types of magnetic order, is elucidated. A microscopic derivation of the equations of motion of the Weiss exchange field is presented. Novel proofs of the existence of phase transitions in quantum XY-models and antiferromagnets, based on an analysis of the statistical distribution of the exchange field, are presente

Spin - or, actually: Spin and Quantum Statistics

The history of the discovery of electron spin and the Pauli principle and the mathematics of spin and quantum statistics are reviewed. Pauli's theory of the spinning electron and some of its many applications in mathematics and physics are considered in more detail. The role of the fact that the tree-level gyromagnetic factor of the electron has the value g = 2 in an analysis of stability (and instability) of matter in arbitrary external magnetic fields is highlighted. Radiative corrections and precision measurements of g are reviewed. The general connection between spin and statistics, the CPT theorem and the theory of braid statistics are described.Comment: 50 pages, no figures, seminar on "spin

Comparing conductance quantization in quantum wires and Quantum Hall systems

We propose a new calculation of the DC conductance of a 1-dimensional electron system described by the Luttinger model. Our approach is based on the ideas of Landauer and B\"{u}ttiker and on the methods of current algebra. We analyse in detail the way in which the system can be coupled to external reservoirs. This determines whether the conductance is renormalized or not. We show that although a quantum wire and a Fractional Quantum Hall system are described by the same effective theory, their coupling to external reservoirs is different. As a consequence, the conductance in the wire is quantized in integer units of $e^2/h$ per spin orientation whereas the Hall conductance allows for fractional quantization.Comment: 3 pages, LaTe

A model with simultaneous first and second order phase transitions

We introduce a two dimensional nonlinear XY model with a second order phase transition driven by spin waves, together with a first order phase transition in the bond variables between two bond ordered phases, one with local ferromagnetic order and another with local antiferromagnetic order. We also prove that at the transition temperature the bond-ordered phases coexist with a disordered phase as predicted by Domany, Schick and Swendsen. This last result generalizes the result of Shlosman and van Enter (cond-mat/0205455). We argue that these phenomena are quite general and should occur for a large class of potentials.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures using pstricks and pst-coi

A lattice model for the line tension of a sessile drop

Within a semi--infinite thre--dimensional lattice gas model describing the coexistence of two phases on a substrate, we study, by cluster expansion techniques, the free energy (line tension) associated with the contact line between the two phases and the substrate. We show that this line tension, is given at low temperature by a convergent series whose leading term is negative, and equals 0 at zero temperature

Quantum Monte Carlo results for bipolaron stability in quantum dots

Bipolaron formation in a two-dimensional lattice with harmonic confinement, representing a simplified model for a quantum dot, is investigated by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. This method treats all interactions exactly and takes into account quantum lattice fluctuations. Calculations of the bipolaron binding energy reveal that confinement opposes bipolaron formation for weak electron-phonon coupling, but abets a bound state at intermediate to strong coupling. Tuning the system from weak to strong confinement gives rise to a small reduction of the minimum Frohlich coupling parameter for the existence of a bound state.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

On the Mean-Field Limit of Bosons with Coulomb Two-Body Interaction

In the mean-field limit the dynamics of a quantum Bose gas is described by a Hartree equation. We present a simple method for proving the convergence of the microscopic quantum dynamics to the Hartree dynamics when the number of particles becomes large and the strength of the two-body potential tends to 0 like the inverse of the particle number. Our method is applicable for a class of singular interaction potentials including the Coulomb potential. We prove and state our main result for the Heisenberg-picture dynamics of "observables", thus avoiding the use of coherent states. Our formulation shows that the mean-field limit is a "semi-classical" limit.Comment: Corrected typos and included an elementary proof of the Kato smoothing estimate (Lemma 6.1