LOFF and breached pairing with cold atoms

We investigate here the Cooper pairing of fermionic atoms with mismatched fermi surfaces using a variational construct for the ground state. We determine the state for different values of the mismatch of chemical potential for weak as well as strong coupling regimes including the BCS BEC cross over region. We consider Cooper pairing with both zero and finite net momentum. Within the variational approximation for the ground state and comparing the thermodynamic potentials, we show that (i) the LOFF phase is stable in the weak coupling regime, (ii) the LOFF window is maximum on the BEC side near the Feshbach resonance and (iii) the existence of stable gapless states with a single fermi surface for negative average chemical potential on the BEC side of the Feshbach resonance.Comment: 14 pages including 10 figures, Some figures redrawn with more data points, more references added, few sentences added in discussions, version to appear in Eur. Phys. Journal

A Variational Approach to Bound States in Quantum Field Theory

We consider here in a toy model an approach to bound state problem in a nonperturbative manner using equal time algebra for the interacting field operators. Potential is replaced by offshell bosonic quanta inside the bound state of nonrelativistic particles. The bosonic dressing is determined through energy minimisation, and mass renormalisation is carried out in a nonperturbative manner. Since the interaction is through a scalar field, it does not include spin effects. The model however nicely incorporates an intuitive picture of hadronic bound states in which the gluon fields dress the quarks providing the binding between them and also simulate the gluonic content of hadrons in deep inelastic collisions.Comment: latex, revtex, 22 page

A VAR Model of Monetary Policy and Hypothetical Case of Inflation Targeting in India

The empirical VAR literature on identification and measurement of the impact of monetary policy shocks on the real side of the economy is fairly comprehensive for developed economies but very limited for emerging and transition economies. In this study, we propose an identification scheme, for a developing economy taking India as a case study, which is able to capture the monetary transmission mechanism without giving rise to any empirical anomalies. We use a VAR approach with recursive contemporaneous restrictions and identify monetary policy shocks by modelling the reaction function of the central bank and structure of the economy. The effect of monetary policy shocks on the exchange rate and other macroeconomic variables is consistent with the predictions of a broad set of theoretical models. This set-up is used to build a hypothetical case of inflation targeting where the monetary policy instrument is set after looking at the current values of inflation only. This is in contrast with the „multiple indicator approach‟ currently followed by Reserve Bank of India. This hypothetical scenario of inflation targeting suggests a sharper response of the interest rate (monetary policy instrument) to shocks and strengthening of the exchange rate channel in transmission of interest rate impulses. This study also provides some useful implications on the type of theoretical framework which can be used to model the evolution of monetary policy for a developing economy like India.India, Inflation Targeting, Monetary policy, VAR

Charles Harpur's reputation 1853 - 1858: The years of controversy

Between 1853 and 1858 there was a dramatic change in the literary reputation of Charles Harpur. Prior to 1853 Harpur had produced a volume of verse, Thoughts> A Series of Sonnets, and had been a regular contributor to various newspapers since 1833. There were, no doubt, minor disagreements as in the Ewing-Parkes-Milton controversy which occurred soon after Parkes' very warm appraisal of Harpur's slim volume, 1 but these were not major criticisms of the poet. 1853, however, began with the publication of Harpur's second volume and by 1858 Harpur had become the centre of one of the major literary controversies of the period. Moreover, much more fundamental questions relating not only to the intrinsic worth of Harpur as a poet but also to the overall direction of Australian literature began to be raised and discussed in earnest. This change in literary responses as it relates to Charles Harpur is one of the more interesting episodes of mid-nineteenth century Australian literary history and deserves a closer look