17,612 research outputs found
Causal Structure and Birefringence in Nonlinear Electrodynamics
We investigate the causal structure of general nonlinear electrodynamics and
determine which Lagrangians generate an effective metric conformal to
Minkowski. We also proof that there is only one analytic nonlinear
electrodynamics presenting no birefringence.Comment: 11 pages, no figure
Superfluid and Mott Insulating shells of bosons in harmonically confined optical lattices
Weakly interacting atomic or molecular bosons in quantum degenerate regime
and trapped in harmonically confined optical lattices, exhibit a wedding cake
structure consisting of insulating (Mott) shells. It is shown that superfluid
regions emerge between Mott shells as a result of fluctuations due to finite
hopping. It is found that the order parameter equation in the superfluid
regions is not of the Gross-Pitaeviskii type except near the insulator to
superfluid boundaries. The excitation spectra in the Mott and superfluid
regions are obtained, and it is shown that the superfluid shells posses low
energy sound modes with spatially dependent sound velocity described by a local
index of refraction directly related to the local superfluid density. Lastly,
the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and vortex-antivortex pairs are
discussed in thin (wide) superfluid shells (rings) limited by three (two)
dimensional Mott regions.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures
Genetic gain in an improvement program of irrigated rice in Minas Gerais.
An evaluation of the genetic improvement programme of irrigated rice of Minas Gerais (Brazil) estimated the genetic gain obtained in the 90s. Grain yield data of the advanced comparative trials of cultivars and lines of continuously flooded rice, conducted from 1990-91 to 2000-01, were used. The estimate of the genetic gain was obtained by the methodology of the adjusted means proposed by Breseghello (1998). The mean annual genetic gain in the 90s was 42.45+or-17.89 kg ha-1 (0.7% per year). The improvement programme proved auspicious for the development of lines that outmatched the controls. The mean of the cultivars released in the 90s did however not outstrip the mean of the elite lines, which were the genotypes with the highest means in this study and will be further evaluated in the ongoing programme
Vortex-Antivortex Lattice in Ultra-Cold Fermi Gases
We discuss ultra-cold Fermi gases in two dimensions, which could be realized
in a strongly confining one-dimensional optical lattice. We obtain the
temperature versus effective interaction phase diagram for an s-wave superfluid
and show that, below a certain critical temperature T_c, spontaneous
vortex-antivortex pairs appear for all coupling strengths. In addition, we show
that the evolution from weak to strong coupling is smooth, and that the system
forms a square vortex-antivortex lattice at a lower critical temperature T_M.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter
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
Characterization of early genotypes of common bean.
The aim of this study was to was to characterize the agronomic performance of three elite genotypes of common bean with early cycle by growth analysis technique
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