1,328 research outputs found
Superfluid 4He dynamics beyond quasiparticle excitations
The dynamics of superfluid 4He at and above the Landau quasiparticle regime
is investigated by high precision inelastic neutron scattering measurements of
the dynamic structure factor. A highly structured response is observed above
the familiar phonon-maxon-roton spectrum, characterized by sharp thresholds for
phonon-phonon, maxon-roton and roton-roton coupling processes. The experimental
dynamic structure factor is compared to the calculation of the same physical
quantity by a Dynamic Many-body theory including three-phonon processes
self-consistently. The theory is found to provide a quantitative description of
the dynamics of the correlated bosons for energies up to about three times that
of the Landau quasiparticles.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Observation of magnetic fragmentation in spin ice
Fractionalised excitations that emerge from a many body system have revealed
rich physics and concepts, from composite fermions in two-dimensional electron
systems, revealed through the fractional quantum Hall effect, to spinons in
antiferromagnetic chains and, more recently, fractionalisation of Dirac
electrons in graphene and magnetic monopoles in spin ice. Even more surprising
is the fragmentation of the degrees of freedom themselves, leading to
coexisting and a priori independent ground states. This puzzling phenomenon was
recently put forward in the context of spin ice, in which the magnetic moment
field can fragment, resulting in a dual ground state consisting of a
fluctuating spin liquid, a so-called Coulomb phase, on top of a magnetic
monopole crystal. Here we show, by means of neutron scattering measurements,
that such fragmentation occurs in the spin ice candidate NdZrO. We
observe the spectacular coexistence of an antiferromagnetic order induced by
the monopole crystallisation and a fluctuating state with ferromagnetic
correlations. Experimentally, this fragmentation manifests itself via the
superposition of magnetic Bragg peaks, characteristic of the ordered phase, and
a pinch point pattern, characteristic of the Coulomb phase. These results
highlight the relevance of the fragmentation concept to describe the physics of
systems that are simultaneously ordered and fluctuating.Comment: accepted in Nature Physic
Vesignieite: a kagome antiferromagnet with dominant third-neighbor exchange
The spin- kagome antiferromagnet is an archetypal frustrated
system predicted to host a variety of exotic magnetic states. We show using
neutron scattering measurements that deuterated vesignieite
BaCuVO(OD), a fully stoichiometric kagome
magnet with 1% lattice distortion, orders magnetically at
K into a multi-k coplanar variant of the predicted triple-k
octahedral structure. We find this structure is stabilized by a dominant
antiferromagnetic 3-neighbor exchange with minor
1- or 2--neighbour exchange. The spin-wave
spectrum is well described by a -only model including a tiny symmetric
exchange anisotropy
Absence of strong magnetic fluctuations in the iron phosphide superconductors LaFePO and Sr2ScO3FeP
We report neutron inelastic scattering measurements on polycrystalline LaFePO
and Sr2ScO3FeP, two members of the iron phosphide families of superconductors.
No evidence is found for any magnetic fluctuations in the spectrum of either
material in the energy and wavevector ranges probed. Special attention is paid
to the wavevector at which spin-density-wave-like fluctuations are seen in
other iron-based superconductors. We estimate that the magnetic signal, if
present, is at least a factor of four (Sr2ScO3FeP) or seven (LaFePO) smaller
than in the related iron arsenide and chalcogenide superconductors. These
results suggest that magnetic fluctuations are not as influential on the
electronic properties of the iron phosphide systems as they are in other
iron-based superconductors.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Magnetic relaxation studies on a single-molecule magnet by time-resolved inelastic neutron scattering
Time-resolved inelastic neutron scattering measurements on an array of
single-crystals of the single-molecule magnet Mn12ac are presented. The data
facilitate a spectroscopic investigation of the slow relaxation of the
magnetization in this compound in the time domain.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, REVTEX4, to appear in Appl. Phys. Lett., for an
animation see also
http://www.dcb.unibe.ch/groups/guedel/members/ow2/trins.ht
Photometric stability analysis of the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory
Photometric stability is a key requirement for time-resolved spectroscopic
observations of transiting extrasolar planets. In the context of the Exoplanet
Characterisation Observatory (EChO) mission design, we here present and
investigate means of translating spacecraft pointing instabilities as well as
temperature fluctuation of its optical chain into an overall error budget of
the exoplanetary spectrum to be retrieved. Given the instrument specifications
as of date, we investigate the magnitudes of these photometric instabilities in
the context of simulated observations of the exoplanet HD189733b secondary
eclipse.Comment: submitted to MNRA
Environment as a Witness: Selective Proliferation of Information and Emergence of Objectivity in a Quantum Universe
We study the role of the information deposited in the environment of an open
quantum system in course of the decoherence process. Redundant spreading of
information -- the fact that some observables of the system can be
independently ``read-off'' from many distinct fragments of the environment --
is investigated as the key to effective objectivity, the essential ingredient
of ``classical reality''. This focus on the environment as a communication
channel through which observers learn about physical systems underscores
importance of quantum Darwinism -- selective proliferation of information about
``the fittest states'' chosen by the dynamics of decoherence at the expense of
their superpositions -- as redundancy imposes the existence of preferred
observables. We demonstrate that the only observables that can leave multiple
imprints in the environment are the familiar pointer observables singled out by
environment-induced superselection (einselection) for their predictability.
Many independent observers monitoring the environment will therefore agree on
properties of the system as they can only learn about preferred observables. In
this operational sense, the selective spreading of information leads to
appearance of an objective ``classical reality'' from within quantum substrate.Comment: New figures, to appear in PR
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