Thermal Casimir drag in fluctuating classical fields

A uniformly moving inclusion which locally suppresses the fluctuations of a classical thermally excited field is shown to experience a drag force which depends on the dynamics of the field. It is shown that in a number of cases the linear friction coefficient is dominated by short distance fluctuations and takes a very simple form. Examples where this drag can occur are for stiff objects, such as proteins, nonspecifically bound to more flexible ones such as polymers and membranes.Comment: 4 pages RevTex, 2 figure

The Impacts of North American BSE Discoveries on U.S. and Canadian Cattle Prices

Demand and Price Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Spin-Dependent Hubbard Model and a Quantum Phase Transition in Cold Atoms

We describe an experimental protocol for introducing spin-dependent lattice structure in a cold atomic fermi gas using lasers. It can be used to realize Hubbard models whose hopping parameters depend on spin and whose interaction strength can be controlled with an external magnetic field. We suggest that exotic superfluidities will arise in this framework. An especially interesting possibility is a class of states that support coexisting superfluid and normal components, even at zero temperature. The quantity of normal component varies with external parameters. We discuss some aspects of the quantum phase transition that arises at the point where it vanishes.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; added/corrected references in [11] and [44

Analytic thermodynamics and thermometry of Gaudin-Yang Fermi gases

We study the thermodynamics of a one-dimensional attractive Fermi gas (the Gaudin-Yang model) with spin imbalance. The exact solution has been known from the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz for decades, but it involves an infinite number of coupled nonlinear integral equations whose physics is difficult to extract. Here the solution is analytically reduced to a simple, powerful set of four algebraic equations. The simplified equations become universal and exact in the experimental regime of strong interaction and relatively low temperature. Using the new formulation, we discuss the qualitative features of finite-temperature crossover and make quantitative predictions on the density profiles in traps. We propose a practical two-stage scheme to achieve accurate thermometry for a trapped spin-imbalanced Fermi gas.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; published version (v2

A comprehensive study of electric, thermoelectric and thermal conductivities of Graphene with short range unitary and charged impurities

Motivated by the experimental measurement of electrical and hall conductivity, thermopower and Nernst effect, we calculate the longitudinal and transverse electrical and heat transport in graphene in the presence of unitary scatterers as well as charged impurities. The temperature and carrier density dependence in this system display a number of anomalous features that arise due to the relativistic nature of the low energy fermionic degrees of freedom. We derive the properties in detail including the effect of unitary and charged impurities self-consistently, and present tables giving the analytic expressions for all the transport properties in the limit of small and large temperature compared to the chemical potential and the scattering rates. We compare our results with the available experimental data. While the qualitative variations with temperature and density of carriers or chemical potential of all transport properties can be reproduced, we find that a given set of parameters of the impurities fits the Hall conductivity, Thermopower and the Nernst effect quantitatively but cannot fit the conductivity quantitatively. On the other hand a single set of parameters for scattering from Coulomb impurities fits conductivity, hall resistance and thermopower but not Nernst

A magnetized torus for modeling Sgr A* millimeter images and spectra

Context. The supermassive black hole, Sagittarius (Sgr) A*, in the centre of our Galaxy has the largest angular size in the sky among all astrophysical black holes. Its shadow, assuming no rotation, spans ~ 50 microarcsec. Resolving such dimensions has long been out of reach for astronomical instruments until a new generation of interferometers being operational during this decade. Of particular interest is the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) with resolution ~ 20 microarcsec in the millimeter-wavelength range 0.87 mm - 1.3 mm. Aims. We investigate the ability of the fully general relativistic Komissarov (2006) analytical magnetized torus model to account for observable constraints at Sgr A* in the centimeter and millimeter domains. The impact of the magnetic field geometry on the observables is also studied. Methods. We calculate ray-traced centimeter- and millimeter-wavelength synchrotron spectra and images of a magnetized accretion torus surrounding the central black hole in Sgr A*. We assume stationarity, axial symmetry, constant specific angular momentum and polytropic equation of state. A hybrid population of thermal and non-thermal electrons is considered. Results. We show that the torus model is capable of reproducing spectral constraints in the millimeter domain, and in particular in the observable domain of the EHT. However, the torus model is not yet able to fit the centimeter spectrum. 1.3 mm images at high inclinations are in agreement with observable constraints. Conclusions. The ability of the torus model to account for observations of Sgr A* in the millimeter domain is interesting in the perspective of the future EHT. Such an analytical model allows very fast computations. It will thus be a suitable test bed for investigating large domains of physical parameters, as well as non-black-hole compact object candidates and alternative theories of gravity.Comment: Major changes wrt the June 2014 version. Accepted by A&