15,574 research outputs found
Magnetic monopole and string excitations in a two-dimensional spin ice
We study the magnetic excitations of a square lattice spin-ice recently
produced in an artificial form, as an array of nanoscale magnets. Our analysis,
based upon the dipolar interaction between the nanomagnetic islands, correctly
reproduces the ground-state observed experimentally. In addition, we find
magnetic monopole-like excitations effectively interacting by means of the
usual Coulombic plus a linear confining potential, the latter being related to
a string-like excitation binding the monopoles pairs, what indicates that the
fractionalization of magnetic dipoles may not be so easy in two dimensions.
These findings contrast this material with the three-dimensional analogue,
where such monopoles experience only the Coulombic interaction. We discuss,
however, two entropic effects that affect the monopole interactions: firstly,
the string configurational entropy may loose the string tension and then, free
magnetic monopoles should also be found in lower dimensional spin ices;
secondly, in contrast to the string configurational entropy, an entropically
driven Coulomb force, which increases with temperature, has the opposite effect
of confining the magnetic defects.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted by Journal of Applied Physics (2009
Bopp-Podolsky black holes and the no-hair theorem
Bopp-Podolsky electrodynamics is generalized to curved space-times. The
equations of motion are written for the case of static spherically symmetric
black holes and their exterior solutions are analyzed using Bekenstein's
method. It is shown the solutions split-up into two parts, namely a
non-homogeneous (asymptotically massless) regime and a homogeneous
(asymptotically massive) sector which is null outside the event horizon. In
addition, in the simplest approach to Bopp-Podolsky black holes, the
non-homogeneous solutions are found to be Maxwell's solutions leading to a
Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. It is also demonstrated that the only exterior
solution consistent with the weak and null energy conditions is the Maxwell's
one. Thus, in light of energy conditions, it is concluded that only Maxwell
modes propagate outside the horizon and, therefore, the no-hair theorem is
satisfied in the case of Bopp-Podolsky fields in spherically symmetric
space-times.Comment: 9 pages, updated to match published versio
Phase Fluctuations and Vortex Lattice Melting in Triplet Quasi-One-Dimensional Superconductors at High Magnetic Fields
Assuming that the order parameter corresponds to an equal spin triplet
pairing symmetry state, we calculate the effect of phase fluctuations in
quasi-one-dimensional superconductors at high magnetic fields applied along the
y (b') axis. We show that phase fluctuations can destroy the theoretically
predicted triplet reentrant superconducting state, and that they are
responsible for melting the magnetic field induced Josephson vortex lattice
above a magnetic field dependent melting temperature Tm.Comment: 4 pages (double column), 1 eps figur
The mechanism of action of antimicrobial peptides : lipid vesicles vs. bacteria
Copyright © 2012 Melo and Castanho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution
and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc.The authors acknowledge the European FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF-254559 grant to Manuel N. Melo and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) project PTDC/QUI-BIQ/112929/2009
Nonzero orbital angular momentum superfluidity in ultracold Fermi gases
We analyze the evolution of superfluidity for nonzero orbital angular
momentum channels from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to the Bose-Einstein
condensation (BEC) limit in three dimensions. First, we analyze the low energy
scattering properties of finite range interactions for all possible angular
momentum channels. Second, we discuss ground state () superfluid
properties including the order parameter, chemical potential, quasiparticle
excitation spectrum, momentum distribution, atomic compressibility, ground
state energy and low energy collective excitations. We show that a quantum
phase transition occurs for nonzero angular momentum pairing, unlike the s-wave
case where the BCS to BEC evolution is just a crossover. Third, we present a
gaussian fluctuation theory near the critical temperature (),
and we analyze the number of bound, scattering and unbound fermions as well as
the chemical potential. Finally, we derive the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau
functional near , and compare the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length
with the zero temperature average Cooper pair size.Comment: 28 pages and 24 figure
How can one probe Podolsky Electrodynamics?
We investigate the possibility of detecting the Podolsky generalized
electrodynamics constant . First we analyze an ion interferometry apparatus
proposed by B. Neyenhuis, et al (Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, (2007) 200401) who looked
for deviations from Coulomb's inverse-square law in the context of Proca model.
Our results show that this experiment has not enough precision for measurements
of . In order to set up bounds for we investigate the influence of
Podolsky's electrostatic potential on the ground state of the Hydrogen atom.
The value of the ground state energy of the Hydrogen atom requires Podolsky's
constant to be smaller than 5.6 fm, or in energy scales larger than 35.51 MeV.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
- …