A heuristic approach to the weakly interacting Bose gas

Some thermodynamic properties of weakly interacting Bose systems are derived from dimensional and heuristic arguments and thermodynamic relations, without resorting to statistical mechanics

Temperature-dependent resistivity of suspended graphene

In this paper we investigate the electron-phonon contribution to the resistivity of suspended single layer graphene. In-plane as well as flexural phonons are addressed in different temperature regimes. We focus on the intrinsic electron-phonon coupling due to the interaction of electrons with elastic deformations in the graphene membrane. The competition between screened deformation potential vs fictitious gauge field coupling is discussed, together with the role of tension in the suspended flake. In the absence of tension, flexural phonons dominate the phonon contribution to the resistivity at any temperature $T$ with a $T^{5/2}_{}$ and $T^{2}_{}$ dependence at low and high temperatures, respectively. Sample-specific tension suppresses the contribution due to flexural phonons, yielding a linear temperature dependence due to in-plane modes. We compare our results with recent experiments.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

The bound on viscosity and the generalized second law of thermodynamics

We describe a new paradox for ideal fluids. It arises in the accretion of an \textit{ideal} fluid onto a black hole, where, under suitable boundary conditions, the flow can violate the generalized second law of thermodynamics. The paradox indicates that there is in fact a lower bound to the correlation length of any \textit{real} fluid, the value of which is determined by the thermodynamic properties of that fluid. We observe that the universal bound on entropy, itself suggested by the generalized second law, puts a lower bound on the correlation length of any fluid in terms of its specific entropy. With the help of a new, efficient estimate for the viscosity of liquids, we argue that this also means that viscosity is bounded from below in a way reminiscent of the conjectured Kovtun-Son-Starinets lower bound on the ratio of viscosity to entropy density. We conclude that much light may be shed on the Kovtun-Son-Starinets bound by suitable arguments based on the generalized second law.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, published versio

Causality-based criteria for a negative refractive index must be used with care

Using the principle of causality as expressed in the Kramers-Kronig relations, we derive a generalized criterion for a negative refractive index that admits imperfect transparency at an observation frequency $\omega$. It also allows us to relate the global properties of the loss (i.e. its frequency response) to its local behaviour at $\omega$. However, causality-based criteria rely the on the group velocity, not the Poynting vector. Since the two are not equivalent, we provide some simple examples to compare the two criteria.Comment: slightly longer version of published PR

Fermi-liquid effects in the gapless state of marginally thin superconducting films

We present low temperature tunneling density-of-states measurements in Al films in high parallel magnetic fields. The thickness range of the films, t=6-9 nm, was chosen so that the orbital and Zeeman contributions to their parallel critical fields were comparable. In this quasi-spin paramagnetically limited configuration, the field produces a significant suppression of the gap, and at high fields the gapless state is reached. By comparing measured and calculated tunneling spectra we are able to extract the value of the antisymmetric Fermi-liquid parameter G^0 and thereby deduce the quasiparticle density dependence of the effective parameter G^0_{eff} across the gapless state.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Simulation of Cosmic Ray neutrinos Interactions in Water

The program CORSIKA, usually used to simulate extensive cosmic ray air showers, has been adapted to a water medium in order to study the acoustic detection of ultra high energy neutrinos. Showers in water from incident protons and from neutrinos have been generated and their properties are described. The results obtained from CORSIKA are compared to those from other available simulation programs such as Geant4.Comment: Talk presented on behalf of the ACoRNE Collaboration at the ARENA Workshop 200

A note on the analogy between superfluids and cosmology

A new analogy between superfluid systems and cosmology is here presented, which relies strongly on the following ingredient: the back-reaction of the vacuum to the quanta of sound waves. We show how the presence of thermal phonons, the excitations above the quantum vacuum for $T> 0$, enable us to deduce an hydrodynamical equation formally similar to the one obtained for a perfect fluid in a Universe obeying the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric.Comment: Accepted for publication in Modern Physics Letters

The effect of a velocity barrier on the ballistic transport of Dirac fermions

We propose a novel way to manipulate the transport properties of massless Dirac fermions by using velocity barriers, defining the region in which the Fermi velocity, $v_{F}$, has a value that differs from the one in the surrounding background. The idea is based on the fact that when waves travel accross different media, there are boundary conditions that must be satisfied, giving rise to Snell's-like laws. We find that the transmission through a velocity barrier is highly anisotropic, and that perfect transmission always occurs at normal incidence. When $v_{F}$ in the barrier is larger that the velocity outside the barrier, we find that a critical transmission angle exists, a Brewster-like angle for massless Dirac electrons.Comment: 4.3 pages, 5 figure

Consistency of a Causal Theory of Radiative Reaction with the Optical Theorem

The Abraham-Lorentz-Dirac equation for a point electron, while suffering from runaway solutions and an acausal response to external forces, is compatible with the optical theorem. We show that a theory of radiative reaction that allows for a finite charge distribution is not only causal and free of runaway solutions, but is also consistent with the optical theorem and the standard formula for the Rayleigh scattering cross section.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure