Temperature Measurement and Phonon Number Statistics of a Nanoelectromechanical Resonator

Measuring thermodynamic quantities can be easy or not, depending on the system that is being studied. For a macroscopic object, measuring temperatures can be as simple as measuring how much a column of mercury rises when in contact with the object. At the small scale of quantum electromechanical systems, such simple methods are not available and invariably detection processes disturb the system state. Here we propose a method for measuring the temperature on a suspended semiconductor membrane clamped at both ends. In this method, the membrane is mediating a capacitive coupling between two transmission line resonators (TLR). The first TLR has a strong dispersion, that is, its decaying rate is larger than its drive, and its role is to pump in a pulsed way the interaction between the membrane and the second TLR. By averaging the pulsed measurements of the quadrature of the second TLR we show how the temperature of the membrane can be determined. Moreover the statistical description of the state of the membrane, which is directly accessed in this approach is significantly improved by the addition of a Josephson Junction coupled to the second TLR.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. To appear in New Journal of Physic

Interplay between disorder, quantum and thermal fluctuations in ferromagnetic alloys: The case of UCu2Si(2-x)Ge(x)

We consider, theoretically and experimentally, the effects of structural disorder, quantum and thermal fluctuations in the magnetic and transport properties of certain ferromagnetic alloys.We study the particular case of UCu2Si(2-x)Ge(x). The low temperature resistivity, rho(T,x), exhibits Fermi liquid (FL) behavior as a function of temperature T for all values of x, which can be interpreted as a result of the magnetic scattering of the conduction electrons from the localized U spins. The residual resistivity, rho(0,x), follows the behavior of a disordered binary alloy. The observed non-monotonic dependence of the Curie temperature, Tc(x), with x can be explained within a model of localized spins interacting with an electronic bath whose transport properties cross-over from ballistic to diffusive regimes. Our results clearly show that the Curie temperature of certain alloys can be enhanced due to the interplay between quantum and thermal fluctuations with disorder.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Effective Actions for 0+1 Dimensional Scalar QED and its SUSY Generalization at T≠0T\neq 0

We compute the effective actions for the 0+1 dimensional scalar field interacting with an Abelian gauge background, as well as for its supersymmetric generalization at finite temperature.Comment: 5 pages, Latex fil

Quantum radiation in a plane cavity with moving mirrors

We consider the electromagnetic vacuum field inside a perfect plane cavity with moving mirrors, in the nonrelativistic approximation. We show that low frequency photons are generated in pairs that satisfy simple properties associated to the plane geometry. We calculate the photon generation rates for each polarization as functions of the mechanical frequency by two independent methods: on one hand from the analysis of the boundary conditions for moving mirrors and with the aid of Green functions; and on the other hand by an effective Hamiltonian approach. The angular and frequency spectra are discrete, and emission rates for each allowed angular direction are obtained. We discuss the dependence of the generation rates on the cavity length and show that the effect is enhanced for short cavity lengths. We also compute the dissipative force on the moving mirrors and show that it is related to the total radiated energy as predicted by energy conservation.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, published in Physical Review

Capacitive Coupling of Two Transmission Line Resonators Mediated by the Phonon Number of a Nanoelectromechanical Oscillator

Detection of quantum features in mechanical systems at the nanoscale constitutes a challenging task, given the weak interaction with other elements and the available technics. Here we describe how the interaction between two monomodal transmission-line resonators (TLRs) mediated by vibrations of a nano-electromechanical oscillator can be described. This scheme is then employed for quantum non-demolition detection of the number of phonons in the nano-electromechanical oscillator through a direct current measurement in the output of one of the TLRs. For that to be possible an undepleted field inside one of the TLR works as a amplifier for the interaction between the mechanical resonator and the remaining TLR. We also show how how the non-classical nature of this system can be used for generation of tripartite entanglement and conditioned mechanical coherent superposition states, which may be further explored for detection processes.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Operatorial quantization of Born-Infeld Skyrmion model and hidden symmetries

The SU(2) collective coordinates expansion of the Born-Infeld\break Skyrmion Lagrangian is performed. The classical Hamiltonian is computed from this special Lagrangian in approximative way: it is derived from the expansion of this non-polynomial Lagrangian up to second-order variable in the collective coordinates. This second-class constrained model is quantized by Dirac Hamiltonian method and symplectic formalism. Although it is not expected to find symmetries on second-class systems, a hidden symmetry is disclosed by formulating the Born-Infeld Skyrmion %model as a gauge theory. To this end we developed a new constraint conversion technique based on the symplectic formalism. Finally, a discussion on the role played by the hidden symmetry on the computation of the energy spectrum is presented.Comment: A new version of hep-th/9901133. To appear in JP