Dynamics of soliton-like solutions for slowly varying, generalized gKdV equations: refraction vs. reflection

In this work we continue the description of soliton-like solutions of some slowly varying, subcritical gKdV equations. In this opportunity we describe, almost completely, the allowed behaviors: either the soliton is refracted, or it is reflected by the potential, depending on its initial energy. This last result describes a new type of soliton-like solution for gKdV equations, also present in the NLS case. Moreover, we prove that the solution is not pure at infinity, unlike the standard gKdV soliton.Comment: 51 pages, submitte

The peculiar Na-O anticorrelation of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6440

Context. Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs) are essential tools to understand the earliest epoch of the Milky Way, since they are among the oldest objects in the Universe and can be used to trace its formation and evolution. Current studies using high resolution spectroscopy for many stars in each of a large sample of GCs allow us to develop a detailed observational picture about their formation and their relation with the Galaxy. However, it is necessary to complete this picture by including GCs that belong to all major Galactic components, including the Bulge. Aims. Our aim is to perform a detailed chemical analyses of the bulge GC NGC 6440 in order to determine if this object has Multiple Populations (MPs) and investigate its relation with the Bulge of the Milky Way and with the other Galactic GCs, especially those associated with the Bulge, which are largely poorly studied. Methods. We determined the stellar parameters and the chemical abundances of light elements (Na, Al), iron-peak elements (Fe, Sc, Mn, Co, Ni), $\alpha$-elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti) and heavy elements (Ba, Eu) in seven red giant members of NGC 6440 using high resolution spectroscopy from FLAMES@UVES. Results. We found a mean iron content of [Fe/H]=-0.50$\pm$0.03 dex in agreement with other studies. We found no internal iron spread. On the other hand, Na and Al show a significant intrinsic spread, but the cluster has no significant O-Na anticorrelation nor exhibits a Mg-Al anticorrelation. The $\alpha$-elements show good agreement with the Bulge field star trend, although they are at the high alpha end and are also higher than those of other GCs of comparable metallicity. The heavy elements are dominated by the r-process, indicating a strong contribution by SNeII. The chemical analysis suggests an origin similar to that of the Bulge field stars.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in A&

Critical wetting of a class of nonequilibrium interfaces: A mean-field picture

A self-consistent mean-field method is used to study critical wetting transitions under nonequilibrium conditions by analyzing Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) interfaces in the presence of a bounding substrate. In the case of positive KPZ nonlinearity a single (Gaussian) regime is found. On the contrary, interfaces corresponding to negative nonlinearities lead to three different regimes of critical behavior for the surface order-parameter: (i) a trivial Gaussian regime, (ii) a weak-fluctuation regime with a trivially located critical point and nontrivial exponents, and (iii) a highly non-trivial strong-fluctuation regime, for which we provide a full solution by finding the zeros of parabolic-cylinder functions. These analytical results are also verified by solving numerically the self-consistent equation in each case. Analogies with and differences from equilibrium critical wetting as well as nonequilibrium complete wetting are also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Nonequilibrium wetting of finite samples

As a canonical model for wetting far from thermal equilibrium we study a Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface growing on top of a hard-core substrate. Depending on the average growth velocity the model exhibits a non-equilibrium wetting transition which is characterized by an additional surface critical exponent theta. Simulating the single-step model in one spatial dimension we provide accurate numerical estimates for theta and investigate the distribution of contact points between the substrate and the interface as a function of time. Moreover, we study the influence of finite-size effects, in particular the time needed until a finite substrate is completely covered by the wetting layer for the first time.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, revisio

Estimation of pure qubits on circles

Gisin and Popescu [PRL, 83, 432 (1999)] have shown that more information about their direction can be obtained from a pair of anti-parallel spins compared to a pair of parallel spins, where the first member of the pair (which we call the pointer member) can point equally along any direction in the Bloch sphere. They argued that this was due to the difference in dimensionality spanned by these two alphabets of states. Here we consider similar alphabets, but with the first spin restricted to a fixed small circle of the Bloch sphere. In this case, the dimensionality spanned by the anti-parallel versus parallel alphabet is now equal. However, the anti-parallel alphabet is found to still contain more information in general. We generalize this to having N parallel spins and M anti-parallel spins. When the pointer member is restricted to a small circle these alphabets again span spaces of equal dimension, yet in general, more directional information can be found for sets with smaller |N-M| for any fixed total number of spins. We find that the optimal POVMs for extracting directional information in these cases can always be expressed in terms of the Fourier basis. Our results show that dimensionality alone cannot explain the greater information content in anti-parallel combinations of spins compared to parallel combinations. In addition, we describe an LOCC protocol which extract optimal directional information when the pointer member is restricted to a small circle and a pair of parallel spins are supplied.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure

Optimal strategies for sending information through a quantum channel

Quantum states can be used to encode the information contained in a direction, i.e., in a unit vector. We present the best encoding procedure when the quantum state is made up of $N$ spins (qubits). We find that the quality of this optimal procedure, which we quantify in terms of the fidelity, depends solely on the dimension of the encoding space. We also investigate the use of spatial rotations on a quantum state, which provide a natural and less demanding encoding. In this case we prove that the fidelity is directly related to the largest zeros of the Legendre and Jacobi polynomials. We also discuss our results in terms of the information gain.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, final version to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Effects of photon reabsorption phenomena in confocal micro-photoluminescence measurements in crystalline silicon

Confocal micro-photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy has become a powerful characterization technique for studying novel photovoltaic (PV) materials and structures at the micrometer level. In this work, we present a comprehensive study about the effects and implications of photon reabsorption phenomena on confocal micro-PL measurements in crystalline silicon (c-Si), the workhorse material of the PV industry. First, supported by theoretical calculations, we show that the level of reabsorption is intrinsically linked to the selected experimental parameters, i.e., focusing lens, pinhole aperture, and excitation wavelength, as they define the spatial extension of the confocal detection volume, and therefore, the effective photon traveling distance before collection. Second, we also show that certain sample properties such as the reflectance and/or the surface recombination velocity can also have a relevant impact on reabsorption. Due to the direct relationship between the reabsorption level and the spectral line shape of the resulting PL emission signal, reabsorption phenomena play a paramount role in certain types of micro-PL measurements. This is demonstrated by means of two practical and current examples studied using confocal PL, namely, the estimation of doping densities in c-Si and the study of back-surface and/or back-contacted Si devices such as interdigitated back contact solar cells, where reabsorption processes should be taken into account for the proper interpretation and quantification of the obtained PL data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Magnetism and half-metallicity at the O surfaces of ceramic oxides

The occurence of spin-polarization at ZrO$_{2}$, Al$_{2}$O$_{3}$ and MgO surfaces is proved by means of \textit{ab-initio} calculations within the density functional theory. Large spin moments, as high as 1.56 $\mu_B$, develop at O-ended polar terminations, transforming the non-magnetic insulator into a half-metal. The magnetic moments mainly reside in the surface oxygen atoms and their origin is related to the existence of $2p$ holes of well-defined spin polarization at the valence band of the ionic oxide. The direct relation between magnetization and local loss of donor charge makes possible to extend the magnetization mechanism beyond surface properties