674 research outputs found
Flows, Fragmentation, and Star Formation. I. Low-mass Stars in Taurus
The remarkably filamentary spatial distribution of young stars in the Taurus
molecular cloud has significant implications for understanding low-mass star
formation in relatively quiescent conditions. The large scale and regular
spacing of the filaments suggests that small-scale turbulence is of limited
importance, which could be consistent with driving on large scales by flows
which produced the cloud. The small spatial dispersion of stars from gaseous
filaments indicates that the low-mass stars are generally born with small
velocity dispersions relative to their natal gas, of order the sound speed or
less. The spatial distribution of the stars exhibits a mean separation of about
0.25 pc, comparable to the estimated Jeans length in the densest gaseous
filaments, and is consistent with roughly uniform density along the filaments.
The efficiency of star formation in filaments is much higher than elsewhere,
with an associated higher frequency of protostars and accreting T Tauri stars.
The protostellar cores generally are aligned with the filaments, suggesting
that they are produced by gravitational fragmentation, resulting in initially
quasi-prolate cores. Given the absence of massive stars which could strongly
dominate cloud dynamics, Taurus provides important tests of theories of
dispersed low-mass star formation and numerical simulations of molecular cloud
structure and evolution.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures: to appear in Ap
Nernst effect, quasiparticles, and d-density waves in cuprates
We examine the possibility that the large Nernst signal observed in the
pseudogap regime of hole-doped cuprates originates from quasiparticle transport
in a state with d-density wave (DDW) order, proposed by S. Chakravarty et al.
[Phys. Rev. B 63, 094503 (2001)]. We find that the Nernst coefficient can be
moderately enhanced in magnitude by DDW order, and is generally of negative
sign. Thus, the quasiparticles of the DDW state cannot account for the large
and positive Nernst signal observed in the pseudogap phase of the cuprates.
However, the general considerations outlined in this paper may be of broader
relevance, in particular to the recent measurements of Bel et al. in NbSe_2 and
CeCoIn_5 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 066602 (2003); ibid. 92, 217002 (2004)].Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; published versio
On bipartite Rokhsar-Kivelson points and Cantor deconfinement
Quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices exhibit Rokhsar-Kivelson (RK)
points with exactly known critical ground states and deconfined spinons. We
examine generic, weak, perturbations around these points. In d=2+1 we find a
first order transition between a ``plaquette'' valence bond crystal and a
region with a devil's staircase of commensurate and incommensurate valence bond
crystals. In the part of the phase diagram where the staircase is incomplete,
the incommensurate states exhibit a gapless photon and deconfined spinons on a
set of finite measure, almost but not quite a deconfined phase in a compact
U(1) gauge theory in d=2+1! In d=3+1 we find a continuous transition between
the U(1) resonating valence bond (RVB) phase and a deconfined staggered valence
bond crystal. In an appendix we comment on analogous phenomena in quantum
vertex models, most notably the existence of a continuous transition on the
triangular lattice in d=2+1.Comment: 9 pages; expanded version to appear in Phys. Rev. B; presentation
improve
GRB 190114C: from prompt to afterglow?
GRB 190114C is the first gamma-ray burst detected at Very High Energies (VHE,
i.e. >300 GeV) by the MAGIC Cherenkov telescope. The analysis of the emission
detected by the Fermi satellite at lower energies, in the 10 keV -- 100 GeV
energy range, up to ~ 50 seconds (i.e. before the MAGIC detection) can hold
valuable information. We analyze the spectral evolution of the emission of GRB
190114C as detected by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) in the 10 keV --
40 MeV energy range up to ~60 sec. The first 4 s of the burst feature a typical
prompt emission spectrum, which can be fit by a smoothly broken power-law
function with typical parameters. Starting on ~4 s post-trigger, we find an
additional nonthermal component, which can be fit by a power law. This
component rises and decays quickly. The 10 keV -- 40 MeV flux of the power-law
component peaks at ~ 6 s; it reaches a value of 1.7e-5 erg cm-2 s-1. The time
of the peak coincides with the emission peak detected by the Large Area
Telescope (LAT) on board Fermi. The power-law spectral slope that we find in
the GBM data is remarkably similar to that of the LAT spectrum, and the GBM+LAT
spectral energy distribution seems to be consistent with a single component.
This suggests that the LAT emission and the power-law component that we find in
the GBM data belong to the same emission component, which we interpret as due
to the afterglow of the burst. The onset time allows us to estimate the initial
jet bulk Lorentz factor Gamma_0 is about 500, depending on the assumed
circum-burst density.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, in press, accepted for publication in A&
Bi-stable tunneling current through a molecular quantum dot
An exact solution is presented for tunneling through a negative-U d-fold
degenerate molecular quantum dot weakly coupled to electrical leads. The tunnel
current exhibits hysteresis if the level degeneracy of the negative-U dot is
larger than two (d>2). Switching occurs in the voltage range V1 < V < V2 as a
result of attractive electron correlations in the molecule, which open up a new
conducting channel when the voltage is above the threshold bias voltage V2.
Once this current has been established, the extra channel remains open as the
voltage is reduced down to the lower threshold voltage V1. Possible
realizations of the bi-stable molecular quantum dots are fullerenes, especially
C60, and mixed-valence compounds.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. (v2) Figure updated to compare the current
hysteresis for degeneracies d=4 and d>>1 of the level in the dot, minor
corrections in the text. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Sound Propagation in Nematic Fermi Liquid
We study the longitudinal sound propagation in the electronic nematic Fermi
liquid where the Fermi surface is distorted due to the spontaneously broken
rotational symmetry. The behavior of the sound wave in the nematic ordered
state is dramatically different from that in the isotropic Fermi liquid. The
collective modes associated with the fluctuations of the Fermi surface
distortion in the nematic Fermi liquid leads to the strong and anisotropic
damping of the sound wave. The relevance of the nematic Fermi liquid in doped
Mott insulator is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, no figur
EPR detection and characterisation of a paramagnetic Mo(III) dihydride intermediate involved in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution
EPR spectroscopy and theoretical data show that the slow heterogeneous electron-transfer kinetics associated with the reduction of an 18-electron Mo(IV) acetato dihydride are a consequence of an η2−η1 rearrangement of the carboxylate ligand which gives a unique paramagnetic 17-electron Mo(III) dihydride
Strongly nonlinear magnetization above in
Using high-resolution magnetometry we have investigated in detail the
magnetization above the critical temperature in . In a broad range of temperature above ,
we find that is strongly non-linear in the field . We show that as
, the susceptibility diverges to very large values ( -1) if measured in weak . In addition, displays an anomalous
non-analytic form in weak fields with a strongly
-dependent exponent . These features strongly support the
proposal that, above , the pair condensate survives to support significant
London rigidity.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
A Farewell to Liouvillians
We examine the Liouvillian approach to the quantum Hall plateau transition,
as introduced recently by Sinova, Meden, and Girvin [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 62},
2008 (2000)] and developed by Moore, Sinova and Zee [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 87},
046801 (2001)]. We show that, despite appearances to the contrary, the
Liouvillian approach is not specific to the quantum mechanics of particles
moving in a single Landau level: we formulate it for a general disordered
single-particle Hamiltonian. We next examine the relationship between
Liouvillian perturbation theory and conventional calculations of
disorder-averaged products of Green functions and show that each term in
Liouvillian perturbation theory corresponds to a specific contribution to the
two-particle Green function. As a consequence, any Liouvillian approximation
scheme may be re-expressed in the language of Green functions. We illustrate
these ideas by applying Liouvillian methods, including their extension to Liouvillian flavors, to random matrix ensembles, using numerical
calculations for small integer and an analytic analysis for large .
We find that behavior at is different in qualitative ways from that
at . In particular, the limit expressed using Green
functions generates a pathological approximation, in which two-particle
correlation functions fail to factorize correctly at large separations of their
energy, and exhibit spurious singularities inside the band of random matrix
energy levels. We also consider the large treatment of the quantum Hall
plateau transition, showing that the same undesirable features are present
there, too
Quantum melting of incommensurate domain walls in two dimensions
Quantum fluctuations of periodic domain-wall arrays in two-dimensional
incommensurate states at zero temperature are investigated using the elastic
theory in the vicinity of the commensurate-incommensurate transition point.
Both stripe and honeycomb structures of domain walls with short-range
interactions are considered. It is revealed that the stripes melt and become a
stripe liquid in a large-wall-spacing (low-density) region due to dislocations
created by quantum fluctuations. This quantum melting transition is of second
order and characterized by the three-dimensional XY universality class.
Zero-point energies of the stripe and honeycomb structures are calculated. As a
consequence of these results, phase diagrams of the domain-wall solid and
liquid phases in adsorbed atoms on graphite are discussed for various
domain-wall masses. Quantum melting of stripes in the presence of long-range
interactions that fall off as power laws is also studied. These results are
applied to incommensurate domain walls in two-dimensional adsorbed atoms on
substrates and in doped antiferromagnets, e.g. cuprates and nickelates.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
- …