46 research outputs found
Critical behaviour of the compactified theory
We investigate the critical behaviour of the -component Euclidean model at leading order in -expansion. We consider it in
three situations: confined between two parallel planes a distance apart
from one another, confined to an infinitely long cylinder having a square
cross-section of area and to a cubic box of volume . Taking the mass
term in the form , we retrieve Ginzburg-Landau
models which are supposed to describe samples of a material undergoing a phase
transition, respectively in the form of a film, a wire and of a grain, whose
bulk transition temperature () is known. We obtain equations for the
critical temperature as functions of (film), (wire), (grain) and of
, and determine the limiting sizes sustaining the transition.Comment: 12 pages, no figure
Multiplicative processes and power laws
[Takayasu et al., Phys. Rev.Lett. 79, 966 (1997)] revisited the question of
stochastic processes with multiplicative noise, which have been studied in
several different contexts over the past decades. We focus on the regime, found
for a generic set of control parameters, in which stochastic processes with
multiplicative noise produce intermittency of a special kind, characterized by
a power law probability density distribution. We briefly explain the physical
mechanism leading to a power law pdf and provide a list of references for these
results dating back from a quarter of century. We explain how the formulation
in terms of the characteristic function developed by Takayasu et al. can be
extended to exponents , which explains the ``reason of the lucky
coincidence''. The multidimensional generalization of (\ref{eq1}) and the
available results are briefly summarized. The discovery of stretched
exponential tails in the presence of the cut-off introduced in \cite{Taka} is
explained theoretically. We end by briefly listing applications.Comment: Extended version (7 pages). Phys. Rev. E (to appear April 1998
Large N study of extreme type II superconductors in a magnetic field
The large N analysis of an extreme type II superconductor is revisited. It is
found that the phase transition is of second-order in dimensions 4 < d < 6. For
the physical dimension d=3 no sign of phase transition is found, contrary to
early claims.Comment: Revtex, 7 pages, no figure
Large-N transition temperature for superconducting films in a magnetic field
We consider the -component Ginzburg-Landau model in the large limit,
the system being embedded in an external constant magnetic field and confined
between two parallel planes a distance apart from one another. On physical
grounds, this corresponds to a material in the form of a film in the presence
of an external magnetic field. Using techniques from dimensional and
-function regularization, modified by the external field and the
confinement conditions, we investigate the behavior of the system as a function
of the film thickness . This behavior suggests the existence of a minimal
critical thickness below which superconductivity is suppressed.Comment: Revtex, two column, 4 pages, 2 figure
Pheochromocytoma diagnosed during pregnancy: lessons learned from a series of ten patients
BACKGROUND: Pheochromocytoma (PHEO) in pregnancy is a life-threatening condition. Its management is challenging with regards to the timing and type of surgery.
METHODS: A retrospective review of the management of ten patients diagnosed with pheochromocytoma during pregnancy was performed. Data were collected on the initial diagnostic workup, symptoms, treatment, and follow-up.
RESULTS: PHEO was diagnosed in ten patients who were between the 10th and the 29th weeks of pregnancy. Six patients had none to mild symptoms, while four had complications of paroxysmal hypertension. Imaging investigations consisted of MRI, CT scan and ultrasounds. All had urinary metanephrines, measured as part of their workup. Three patients had MEN 2A, one VHL syndrome, one suspected SDH mutation. All patients were treated either with α/β blockers or calcium channel blockers to stabilize their clinical conditions. Seven patients underwent a laparoscopic adrenalectomy before delivery. Three out of these seven patients had a bilateral PHEO and underwent a unilateral adrenalectomy of the larger tumor during pregnancy, followed by a planned cesarean section and a subsequent contralateral adrenalectomy within a few months after delivery. Three patients had emergency surgery for maternal or fetal complications, with C-section followed by concomitant or delayed adrenalectomy. All newborns from the group of planned surgery were healthy, while two out three newborns within the emergency surgery group died shortly after delivery secondary to cardiac and pulmonary complications.
CONCLUSIONS: PHEO in pregnancy is a rare condition. Maternal and fetal prognosis improved over the last decades, but still lethal consequences may be present if misdiagnosed or mistreated. A thorough multidisciplinary team approach should be tailored on an individual basis to better manage the pathology. Unilateral adrenalectomy in a pregnant patient with bilateral PHEO may be an option to avoid the risk of adrenal insufficiency after bilateral adrenalectomy
Scaling critical behavior of superconductors at zero magnetic field
We consider the scaling behavior in the critical domain of superconductors at
zero external magnetic field. The first part of the paper is concerned with the
Ginzburg-Landau model in the zero magnetic field Meissner phase. We discuss the
scaling behavior of the superfluid density and we give an alternative proof of
Josephson's relation for a charged superfluid. This proof is obtained as a
consequence of an exact renormalization group equation for the photon mass. We
obtain Josephson's relation directly in the form , that
is, we do not need to assume that the hyperscaling relation holds. Next, we
give an interpretation of a recent experiment performed in thin films of
. We argue that the measured mean field like
behavior of the penetration depth exponent is possibly associated with a
non-trivial critical behavior and we predict the exponents and
for the correlation lenght and specific heat, respectively. In the
second part of the paper we discuss the scaling behavior in the continuum dual
Ginzburg-Landau model. After reviewing lattice duality in the Ginzburg-Landau
model, we discuss the continuum dual version by considering a family of
scalings characterized by a parameter introduced such that
, where is the bare mass of the magnetic
induction field. We discuss the difficulties in identifying the renormalized
magnetic induction mass with the photon mass. We show that the only way to have
a critical regime with is having , that
is, with having the scaling behavior of the renormalized photon mass.Comment: RevTex, 15 pages, no figures; the subsection III-C has been removed
due to a mistak
Quenched Random Graphs
Spin models on quenched random graphs are related to many important
optimization problems. We give a new derivation of their mean-field equations
that elucidates the role of the natural order parameter in these models.Comment: 9 pages, report CPTH-A264.109
A record-driven growth process
We introduce a novel stochastic growth process, the record-driven growth
process, which originates from the analysis of a class of growing networks in a
universal limiting regime. Nodes are added one by one to a network, each node
possessing a quality. The new incoming node connects to the preexisting node
with best quality, that is, with record value for the quality. The emergent
structure is that of a growing network, where groups are formed around record
nodes (nodes endowed with the best intrinsic qualities). Special emphasis is
put on the statistics of leaders (nodes whose degrees are the largest). The
asymptotic probability for a node to be a leader is equal to the Golomb-Dickman
constant omega=0.624329... which arises in problems of combinatorical nature.
This outcome solves the problem of the determination of the record breaking
rate for the sequence of correlated inter-record intervals. The process
exhibits temporal self-similarity in the late-time regime. Connections with the
statistics of the cycles of random permutations, the statistical properties of
randomly broken intervals, and the Kesten variable are given.Comment: 30 pages,5 figures. Minor update
Even-visiting random walks: exact and asymptotic results in one dimension
We reconsider the problem of even-visiting random walks in one dimension.
This problem is mapped onto a non-Hermitian Anderson model with binary
disorder. We develop very efficient numerical tools to enumerate and
characterize even-visiting walks. The number of closed walks is obtained as an
exact integer up to 1828 steps, i.e., some walks. On the analytical
side, the concepts and techniques of one-dimensional disordered systems allow
to obtain explicit asymptotic estimates for the number of closed walks of
steps up to an absolute prefactor of order unity, which is determined
numerically. All the cumulants of the maximum height reached by such walks are
shown to grow as , with exactly known prefactors. These results
illustrate the tight relationship between even-visiting walks, trapping models,
and the Lifshitz tails of disordered electron or phonon spectra.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures. To appear in J. Phys.
Dressed States Approach to Quantum Systems
Using the non-perturbative method of {\it dressed} states previously
introduced in JPhysA, we study effects of the environment on a quantum
mechanical system, in the case the environment is modeled by an ensemble of non
interacting harmonic oscillators. This method allows to separate the whole
system into the {\it dressed} mechanical system and the {\it dressed}
environment, in terms of which an exact, non-perturbative approach is possible.
When applied to the Brownian motion, we give explicit non-perturbative formulas
for the classical path of the particle in the weak and strong coupling regimes.
When applied to study atomic behaviours in cavities, the method accounts very
precisely for experimentally observed inhibition of atomic decay in small
cavities PhysLA, physics0111042