4,025 research outputs found
Magnetic Bound States in Dimerized Quantum Spin Systems
Magnetic bound states are a general phenomenon in low dimensional
antiferromagnets with gapped singlet states. Using Raman scattering on three
compounds as dedicated examples we show how exchange topology, dimensionality,
defects and thermal fluctuations influence the properties and the spectral
weight of these states.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, proceedings of the SCES'98, Paris, to be published
in Physica
Opposing shear senses in a subdetachment mylonite zone: Implications for core complex mechanics
[1] Global studies of metamorphic core complexes and lowâangle detachment faults have highlighted a fundamental problem: Since detachments excise crustal section, the relationship between the mylonitic rocks in their footwalls and the brittle deformation in their hanging walls is commonly unclear. Mylonites could either reflect ductile deformation related to exhumation along the detachment fault, or they could be a more general feature of the extending middle crust that has been âcaptured â by the detachment. In the first case we would expect the kinematics of the mylonite zone to mirror the sense of movement on the detachment; in the second case both the direction and sense of shear in the mylonites could be different. The northern Snake Range dĂ©collement (NSRD) is a classic Basin and Range detachment fault with a wellâdocumented topâeast of displacement. We present structural, paleo-magnetic, geochronological, and geothermometric evidence to suggest that the mylonite zone below the NSRD locally experienced phases of both east â and westâdirected shear, inconsistent with movement along a single detachment fault. We therefore propose that the footwall mylonites represent a predetachment dis-continuity in the middle crust that separated localized deformation above from distributed crustal flow below (localizedâdistributed transition (LDT)). The mylonites were subsequently captured by a moderately dipping brittle detachment that soled down to the middle crust and exhumed them around a rolling hinge into a subhorizontal orientation at the surface, produc-ing the presentâday NSRD. In this interpretation the brittle hanging wall represents a series of rotated upper crustal normal faults, whereas the mylonitic footwall represents one or more exhumed middl
The effect of farming system on dairy cow cleanliness in the UK and implications to udder health
The cleanliness of dairy cows was assessed using a 20 point hygiene score system at different times in the year on 14 organic and 14 conventional farms in the UK. Overall, cows were dirtier during winter housing compared to summer grazing. Farming system had no effect on cow cleanliness when cows were at grass, but when housed in the winter, organic cows were more likely to be cleaner. There was a link between cow hygiene scores and milk hygiene, with herds having lower bulk tank somatic cell counts (BTSCC) tending to have cleaner cows. This relationship was strongest for the organic herds. There was no significant link between hygiene score and Bactoscan (BS) count or mastitis incidence
Quantum transport in carbon nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes are a versatile material in which many aspects of condensed
matter physics come together. Recent discoveries, enabled by sophisticated
fabrication, have uncovered new phenomena that completely change our
understanding of transport in these devices, especially the role of the spin
and valley degrees of freedom. This review describes the modern understanding
of transport through nanotube devices.
Unlike conventional semiconductors, electrons in nanotubes have two angular
momentum quantum numbers, arising from spin and from valley freedom. We focus
on the interplay between the two. In single quantum dots defined in short
lengths of nanotube, the energy levels associated with each degree of freedom,
and the spin-orbit coupling between them, are revealed by Coulomb blockade
spectroscopy. In double quantum dots, the combination of quantum numbers
modifies the selection rules of Pauli blockade. This can be exploited to read
out spin and valley qubits, and to measure the decay of these states through
coupling to nuclear spins and phonons. A second unique property of carbon
nanotubes is that the combination of valley freedom and electron-electron
interactions in one dimension strongly modifies their transport behaviour.
Interaction between electrons inside and outside a quantum dot is manifested in
SU(4) Kondo behavior and level renormalization. Interaction within a dot leads
to Wigner molecules and more complex correlated states.
This review takes an experimental perspective informed by recent advances in
theory. As well as the well-understood overall picture, we also state clearly
open questions for the field. These advances position nanotubes as a leading
system for the study of spin and valley physics in one dimension where
electronic disorder and hyperfine interaction can both be reduced to a very low
level.Comment: In press at Reviews of Modern Physics. 68 pages, 55 figure
Uniformly Accelerated Mirrors. Part 1: Mean Fluxes
The Davies-Fulling model describes the scattering of a massless field by a
moving mirror in 1+1 dimensions. When the mirror travels under uniform
acceleration, one encounters severe problems which are due to the infinite blue
shift effects associated with the horizons. On one hand, the Bogoliubov
coefficients are ill-defined and the total energy emitted diverges. On the
other hand, the instantaneous mean flux vanishes. To obtained well-defined
expressions we introduce an alternative model based on an action principle. The
usefulness of this model is to allow to switch on and off the interaction at
asymptotically large times. By an appropriate choice of the switching function,
we obtain analytical expressions for the scattering amplitudes and the fluxes
emitted by the mirror. When the coupling is constant, we recover the vanishing
flux. However it is now followed by transients which inevitably become singular
when the switching off is performed at late time. Our analysis reveals that the
scattering amplitudes (and the Bogoliubov coefficients) should be seen as
distributions and not as mere functions. Moreover, our regularized amplitudes
can be put in a one to one correspondence with the transition amplitudes of an
accelerated detector, thereby unifying the physics of uniformly accelerated
systems. In a forthcoming article, we shall use our scattering amplitudes to
analyze the quantum correlations amongst emitted particles which are also
ill-defined in the Davies-Fulling model in the presence of horizons.Comment: 23 pages, 7 postscript figure
From Vacuum Fluctuations to Radiation: Accelerated Detectors and Black Holes
The vacuum fluctuations that induce the transitions and the thermalisation of
a uniformly accelerated two level atom are studied in detail. Their energy
content is revealed through the weak measurement formalism of Aharonov et al.
It is shown that each time the detector makes a transition it radiates a
Minkowski photon. The same analysis is then applied to the conversion of vacuum
fluctuations into real quanta in the context of black hole radiation. Initially
these fluctuations are located around the light like geodesic that shall
generate the horizon and carry zero total energy. However upon exiting from the
star they break up into two pieces one of which gradually acquires positive
energy and becomes a Hawking quantum, the other, its ''partner", ends up in the
singularity. As time goes by the vacuum fluctuations generating Hawking quanta
have exponentially large energy densities. This implies that back reaction
effects are large.Comment: definitive version, 39 pages and 5 figures available upon request
from S.M., ULB-TH 94/0
`Operational' Energy Conditions
I show that a quantized Klein-Gordon field in Minkowski space obeys an
`operational' weak energy condition: the energy of an isolated device
constructed to measure or trap the energy in a region, plus the energy it
measures or traps, cannot be negative. There are good reasons for thinking that
similar results hold locally for linear quantum fields in curved space-times. A
thought experiment to measure energy density is analyzed in some detail, and
the operational positivity is clearly manifested.
If operational energy conditions do hold for quantum fields, then the
negative energy densities predicted by theory have a will-o'-the-wisp
character: any local attempt to verify a total negative energy density will be
self-defeating on account of quantum measurement difficulties. Similarly,
attempts to drive exotic effects (wormholes, violations of the second law,
etc.) by such densities may be defeated by quantum measurement problems. As an
example, I show that certain attempts to violate the Cosmic Censorship
principle by negative energy densities are defeated.
These quantum measurement limitations are investigated in some detail, and
are shown to indicate that space-time cannot be adequately modeled classically
in negative energy density regimes.Comment: 18 pages, plain Tex, IOP macros. Expanded treatment of measurement
problems for space-time, with implications for Cosmic Censorship as an
example. Accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravit
- âŠ