Comment on "A Tale of Two Theories: Quantum Griffiths Effects in Metallic Systems" by A. H. Castro-Neto and B. A. Jones

In a recent paper Castro-Neto and Jones argue that because the observability of quantum Griffiths-McCoy effects in metals is controlled by non-universal quantities, the quantum Griffiths-McCoy scenario may be a viable explanation for the non-fermi-liquid behavior observed in heavy fermion compounds. In this Comment we point out that the important non-universal quantity is the damping of the spin dynamics by the metallic electrons; quantum Griffiths-McCoy effects occur only if this is parametrically weak relative to other scales in the problem, i.e. if the spins are decoupled from the carriers. This suggests that in heavy fermion materials, where the Kondo effect leads to a strong carrier-spin coupling, quantum Griffiths-McCoy effects are unlikely to occur.Comment: 2 page

Ion optics for high power 50-cm-diam ion thrusters

The process used at the NASA-Lewis to fabricate 30 and 50-cm-diameter ion optics is described. The ion extraction capabilities of the 30 and 50-cm diameter ion optics were evaluated on divergent field and ring-cusp discharge chambers and compared. Perveance was found to be sensitive to the effects of the type and power of the discharge chamber and to the accelerator electrode hole diameter. Levels of up to 0.64 N and 20 kW for thrust and input power, respectively, were demonstrated with the divergent-field discharge chamber. Thruster efficiencies and specific impulse values up to 79 percent and 5000 sec., respectively, were achieved with the ring-cusp discharge chamber

Unconventional properties of superconducting cuprates

We present an explanation of the unusual peak/dip/hump features observed in photoemission experiments on Bi2212 at $T \ll T_c$. We argue that these features arise from the interaction of the fermionic quasi-particles with overdamped spin fluctuations. We show that the strong spin-fermion interaction combined with the feedback effect on the spin damping due to superconductivity yields a Fermi-liquid form of the fermionic spectral function for $\omega < 2 \Delta$ where $\Delta$ is the maximum value of the superconducting gap, and a non-Fermi-liquid form for $\omega > 2 {\Delta}$. In the Fermi-liquid regime, the spectral function $A({\bf k}_F,\omega)$ displays a quasiparticle peak at $\omega = {\Delta}$; in the non-Fermi-liquid regime it possesses a broad maximum (hump) at $\omega \gg {\Delta}$. In between the two regimes, the spectral function has a dip at $\omega \sim 2 {\Delta}$. We argue that our theory also explains the tunneling data for the superconducting density of states.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 4 eps figures embedded in the tex

The Gutzwiller wave function as a disentanglement prescription

The Gutzwiller variational wave function is shown to correspond to a particular disentanglement of the thermal evolution operator, and to be physically consistent only in the temperature range U<<kT<<E_F, the Fermi energy of the non-interacting system. The correspondence is established without using the Gutzwiller approximation. It provides a systematic procedure for extending the ansatz to the strong-coupling regime. This is carried out to infinite order in a dominant class of commutators. The calculation shows that the classical idea of suppressing double occupation is replaced at low temperatures by a quantum RVB-like condition, which involves phases at neighboring sites. Low-energy phenomenologies are discussed in the light of this result.Comment: Final version as accepted in EPJ B, 10 pages, no figure

Various series expansions for the bilayer S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Various series expansions have been developed for the two-layer, S=1/2, square lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet. High temperature expansions are used to calculate the temperature dependence of the susceptibility and specific heat. At T=0, Ising expansions are used to study the properties of the N\'{e}el-ordered phase, while dimer expansions are used to calculate the ground-state properties and excitation spectra of the magnetically disordered phase. The antiferromagnetic order-disorder transition point is determined to be $(J_2/J_1)_c=2.537(5)$. Quantities computed include the staggered magnetization, the susceptibility, the triplet spin-wave excitation spectra, the spin-wave velocity, and the spin-wave stiffness. We also estimates that the ratio of the intra- and inter-layer exchange constants to be $J_2/J_1\simeq 0.07$ for cuprate superconductor $YBa_2Cu_3O_{6.2}$.Comment: RevTeX, 9 figure

Cooperative Jahn-Teller Effect and Electron-Phonon Coupling in La1−xAxMnO3La_{1-x}A_xMnO_3

A classical model for the lattice distortions of \lax is derived and, in a mean field approximation, solved. The model is based on previous work by Kanamori and involves localized Mn d-electrons (which induce tetragonal distortions of the oxygen octahedra surrounding the Mn) and localized holes (which induce breathing distortions). Parameters are determined by fitting to the room temperature structure of $LaMnO_3$. The energy gained by formation of a local lattice distortion is found to be large, most likely $\approx 0.6$ eV per site, implying a strong electorn-phonon coupling and supporting polaronic models of transport in the doped materials. The structural transition is shown to be of the order-disorder type; the rapid x-dependence of the transition temperature is argued to occur because added holes produce a "random" field which misaligns the nearby sites.Comment: 24 pages. No figures. One Table. Late

Fictive Impurity Approach to Dynamical Mean Field Theory: a Strong-Coupling Investigation

Quantum Monte Carlo and semiclassical methods are used to solve two and four site cluster dynamical mean field approximations to the square lattice Hubbard model at half filling and strong coupling. The energy, spin correlation function, phase boundary and electron spectral function are computed and compared to available exact results. The comparision permits a quantitative assessment of the ability of the different methods to capture the effects of intersite spin correlations. Two real space methods and one momentum space representation are investigated. One of the two real space methods is found to be significantly worse: in it, convergence to the correct results is found to be slow and, for the spectral function, nonuniform in frequency, with unphysical midgap states appearing. Analytical arguments are presented showing that the discrepancy arises because the method does not respect the pole structure of the self energy of the insulator. Of the other two methods, the momentum space representation is found to provide the better approximation to the intersite terms in the energy but neither approximation is particularly acccurate and the convergence of the momentum space method is not uniform. A few remarks on numerical methods are made.Comment: Errors in previous versions corrected; CDMFT results adde

Optical spectral weights and the ferromagnetic transition temperature of CMR manganites: relevance of double-exchange to real materials

We present a thorough and quantitative comparison of double-exchange models to experimental data on the colossal magnetoresistance manganese perovskites. Our results settle a controversy by showing that physics beyond double-exchange is important even in La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$, which has been regarded as a conventional double-exchange system. We show that the crucial quantity for comparisons of different calculations to each other and to data is the conduction band kinetic energy $K$, which is insensitive to the details of the band structure and can be experimentally determined from optical conductivity measurements. The seemingly complicated dependence of $T_c$ on the Hund's coupling $J$ and carrier concentration $n$ is shown to reflect the variation of $K$ with $J$, $n$ and temperature. We present results for the optical conductivity which allow interpretation of experiments and show that a feature previously interpreted in terms of the Hund's coupling was misidentified. We also correct minor errors in the phase diagram presented in previous work.Comment: 13 pages, 7 eps figure

Monte Carlo Simulations for the Magnetic Phase Diagram of the Double Exchange Hamiltonian

We have used Monte Carlo simulation techniques to obtain the magnetic phase diagram of the double exchange Hamiltonian. We have found that the Berry's phase of the hopping amplitude has a negligible effect in the value of the magnetic critical temperature. To avoid finite size problems in our simulations we have also developed an approximated expression for the double exchange energy. This allows us to obtain the critical temperature for the ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition more accurately. In our calculations we do not observe any strange behavior in the kinetic energy, chemical potential or electron density of states near the magnetic critical temperature. Therefore, we conclude that other effects, not included in the double exchange Hamiltonian, are needed to understand the metal-insulator transition which occurs in the manganites.Comment: 6 pages Revtex, 8 PS figure