A phenomenological model for magnetoresistance in granular polycrystalline colossal magnetoresistive materials: the role of spin polarised tunnelling at the grain boundaries

It has been observed that in bulk and polycrystalline thin films of collossal magnetoresistive (CMR) materials the magnetoresistance follows a different behaviour compared to single crystals or single crystalline films below the ferromagnetic transition temperature Tc. In this paper we develop a phenomenological model to explain the magnetic field dependence of resistance in granular CMR materials taking into account the spin polarised tunnelling at the grain boundaries. The model has been fitted to two systems, namely, La0.55Ho0.15Sr0.3MnO3 and La1.8Y0.5Ca0.7Mn2O7. From the fitted result we have separated out, in La0.55Ho0.15Sr0.3MnO3, the intrinsic contribution from the intergranular contribution to the magnetoresistance coming from spin polarised tunnelling at the grain boundaries. It is observed that the temperature dependence of the intrinsic contribution to the magnetoresistance in La0.55Ho0.15Sr0.3MnO3 follows the prediction of double exchange model for all values of field.Comment: 14 pages + 5 figures, postscript (to appear in Journal of Applied Physics

The Role of Δ(1232)\Delta(1232) in Two-pion Exchange Three-nucleon Potential

In this paper we have studied the two-pion exchange three-nucleon potential $(2\pi E-3NP)$ using an approximate $SU(2) \times SU(2)$ chiral symmetry of the strong interaction. The off-shell pion-nucleon scattering amplitudes obtained from the Weinberg Lagangian are supplemented with contributions from the well-known $\sigma$-term and the $\Delta(1232)$ exchange. It is the role of the $\Delta$-resonance in $2\pi E-3NP$, which we have investigated in detail in the framework of the Lagrangian field theory. The $\Delta$-contribution is quite appreciable and, more significantly, it is dependent on a parameter Z which is arbitrary but has the empirical bounds $|Z| \leq 1/2$. We find that the $\Delta$-contribution to the important parameters of the $2\pi E-3NP$ depends on the choice of a value for Z, although the correction to the binding energy of triton is not expected to be very sensitive to the variation of Z within its bounds.Comment: 14 pages, LaTe

CP Violation and Dark Matter

A brief review is given of the effects of CP violation on the direct detection of neutralinos in dark matter detectors. We first summarize the current developments using the cancellation mechanism which allows for the existence of large CP violating phases consistent with experimental limits on the electron and on the neutron electric dipole moments in a broad class of SUSY, string and D brane models. We then discuss their effects on the scattering of neutralinos from quarks and on the event rates. It is found that while CP effects on the event rates can be enormous such effects are reduced significantly with the imposition of the EDM constraints. However, even with the inclusion of the EDM constraints the effects are still very significant and should be included in a precision prediction of event rates in any SUSY, string or D brane model.Comment: Based on an invited talk at the conference "Sources and Detection of Dark Matter in the Universe", at Marina del Rey, CA, Feb. 23-25, 2000; 12 pages, Latex including 2 figure

Enhanced grain surface effect on magnetic properties of nanometric La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 manganite : Evidence of surface spin freezing of manganite nanoparticles

We have investigated the effect of nanometric grain size on magnetic properties of single phase, nanocrystalline, granular La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO) sample. We have considered core-shell structure of our LCMO nanoparticles, which can explain its magnetic properties. From the temperature dependence of field cooled (FC) and zero-field cooled (ZFC) dc magnetization (DCM), the magnetic properties could be distinguished into two regimes: a relatively high temperature regime T > 40 K where the broad maximum of ZFC curve (at T = Tmax) is associated with the blocking of core particle moments, whereas the sharp maximum (at T = TS) is related to the freezing of surface (shell) spins. The unusual shape of M (H) loop at T = 1.5 K, temperature dependent feature of coercive field and remanent magnetization give a strong support of surface spin freezing that are occurring at lower temperature regime (T < 40 K) in this LCMO nanoparticles. Additionally, waiting time (tw) dependence of ZFC relaxation measurements at T = 50 K show weak dependence of relaxation rate [S(t)] on tw and dM/dln(t) following a logarithmic variation on time. Both of these features strongly support the high temperature regime to be associated with the blocking of core moments. At T = 20 K, ZFC relaxation measurements indicates the existence of two different types of relaxation processes in the sample with S(t) attaining a maximum at the elapsed time very close to the wait time tw = 1000 sec, which is an unequivocal sign of glassy behavior. This age-dependent effect convincingly establish the surface spin freezing of our LCMO nanoparticles associated with a background of superparamagnetic (SPM) phase of core moments.Comment: 41 pages, 10 figure

An Automated Home Made Low Cost Vibrating Sample Magnetometer

The design and operation of a homemade low cost vibrating sample magnetometer is described here. The sensitivity of this instrument is better than 10-2 emu and found to be very efficient for the measurement of magnetization of most of the ferromagnetic and other magnetic materials as a function of temperature down to 77 K and magnetic field upto 800 Oe. Both M(H) and M(T) data acquisition are fully automated employing computer and Labview softwar

On the Thermodynamic Geometry of Hot QCD

We study the nature of the covariant thermodynamic geometry arising from the free energy of hot QCD. We systematically analyze the underlying equilibrium thermodynamic configurations of the free energy of 2- and 3-flavor hot QCD with or without including thermal fluctuations in the neighborhood of the QCD transition temperature. We show that there exists a well-defined thermodynamic geometric notion for QCD thermodynamics. The geometry thus obtained has no singularity as an intrinsic Riemannian manifold. We further show that there is a close connection of this geometric approach with the existing studies of correlations and quark number susceptibilities in hot QCD.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, Keywords: Thermodynamic Geometry, Hot QCD, Quasi-particles, PACS: 12.38.-t; 05.70.Fh; 02.40.Ky; 12.40.E