Phonon origin of low energy and high energy kinks in high temperature cuprate superconductors

Eliashberg theory generalized for the account of the electron-hole nonequivalence and electron correlations in the vertex function is used. The phonon contribution to the nodal electron Green function in cuprates is viewed. At non- zero temperatures the singularities (kinks) in the frequency behavior of a real and imaginary part of an electron nodal Green function, and also in the nodal part of the density of the electron states modified by an electron-phonon interaction are studied. It is shown that near the optimal doping both the low-energy and high-energy nodal Green function kinks and also the abnormal broadening of a band in cuprates are reproduced with the electron-phonon interaction in the extended Eliashberg theory.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

NN Interaction JISP16: Current Status and Prospect

We discuss realistic nonlocal NN interactions of a new type - J-matrix Inverse Scattering Potential (JISP). In an ab exitu approach, these interactions are fitted to not only two-nucleon data (NN scattering data and deuteron properties) but also to the properties of light nuclei without referring to three-nucleon forces. We discuss recent progress with the ab initio No-core Shell Model (NCSM) approach and respective progress in developing ab exitu JISP-type NN-interactions together with plans of their forthcoming improvements.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Proceedings of Few-body 19 conferenc

Numerical Studies of Weakly Stochastic Magnetic Reconnection

We study the effects of turbulence on magnetic reconnection using three-dimensional numerical simulations. This is the first attempt to test a model of fast magnetic reconnection proposed by Lazarian & Vishniac (1999), which assumes the presence of weak, small-scale magnetic field structure near the current sheet. This affects the rate of reconnection by reducing the transverse scale for reconnection flows and by allowing many independent flux reconnection events to occur simultaneously. We performed a number of simulations to test the dependencies of the reconnection speed, defined as the ratio of the inflow velocity to the Alfven speed, on the turbulence power, the injection scale and resistivity. Our results show that turbulence significantly affects the topology of magnetic field near the diffusion region and increases the thickness of the outflow region. We confirm the predictions of the Lazarian & Vishniac model. In particular, we report the growth of the reconnection speed proportional to ~ V^2, where V is the amplitude of velocity at the injection scale. It depends on the injection scale l as ~ (l/L)^(2/3), where L is the size of the system, which is somewhat faster but still roughly consistent with the theoretical expectations. We also show that for 3D reconnection the Ohmic resistivity is important in the local reconnection events only, and the global reconnection rate in the presence of turbulence does not depend on it.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

The gravitational path integral and trace of the diffeomorphisms

I give a resolution of the conformal mode divergence in the Euclidean gravitational path-integral by isolating the trace of the diffeomorphisms and its contribution to the Faddeev-Popov measure.Comment: 20 pgs

Update on Radiation Dose From Galactic and Solar Protons at the Moon Using the LRO/CRaTER Microdosimeter

The NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been exploring the lunar surface and radiation environment since June 2009. In Mazur et al. [2011] we discussed the first 6 months of mission data from a microdosimeter that is housed within the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) instrument onboard LRO. The CRaTER microdosimeter is an early version of what is now a commercially available hybrid that accurately measures total ionizing radiation dose in a silicon target (http://www.teledynemicro.com/product/radiation-dosimeter). This brief report updates the transition from a deep solar minimum radiation environment to the current weak solar maximum as witnessed with the microdosimeter

Cosmological Dark Energy: Prospects for a Dynamical Theory

We present an approach to the problem of vacuum energy in cosmology, based on dynamical screening of Lambda on the horizon scale. We review first the physical basis of vacuum energy as a phenomenon connected with macroscopic boundary conditions, and the origin of the idea of its screening by particle creation and vacuum polarization effects. We discuss next the relevance of the quantum trace anomaly to this issue. The trace anomaly implies additional terms in the low energy effective theory of gravity, which amounts to a non-trivial modification of the classical Einstein theory, fully consistent with the Equivalence Principle. We show that the new dynamical degrees of freedom the anomaly contains provide a natural mechanism for relaxing Lambda to zero on cosmological scales. We consider possible signatures of the restoration of conformal invariance predicted by the fluctuations of these new scalar degrees of freedom on the spectrum and statistics of the CMB, in light of the latest bounds from WMAP. Finally we assess the prospects for a new cosmological model in which the dark energy adjusts itself dynamically to the cosmological horizon boundary, and therefore remains naturally of order H^2 at all times without fine tuning.Comment: 50 pages, Invited Contribution to New Journal of Physics Focus Issue on Dark Energ