One-loop approximation for the Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We use the diagram technique for spin operators to calculate Green's functions and observables of the spin-1/2 quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice. The first corrections to the self-energy and interaction are taken into account in the chain diagrams. The approximation reproduces main results of Takahashi's modified spin-wave theory [Phys. Rev. B 40, 2494 (1989)] and is applicable in a wider temperature range. The energy per spin calculated in this approximation is in good agreement with the Monte Carlo and small-cluster exact-diagonalization calculations in the range 0 <= T < 1.2J where J is the exchange constant. For the static uniform susceptibility the agreement is good for T < 0.6J and becomes somewhat worse for higher temperatures. Nevertheless the approximation is able to reproduce the maximum in the temperature dependence of the susceptibility near T = 0.9J.Comment: 15 pages, 6 ps figure

Status of SHAFT 78 with respect to modeling radioactive waste burial in Eleana argillite, including calculations to date

The SHAFT 78 Code (multidimensional, two fluid phases, porous medium) has been used to begin assessment of the consequences of nuclear waste burial in a 1000-acre repository emplaced in argillite. The methodology used can well be applied to other argillaceous rocks as well as to hard rocks in general so long as their in-situ rock permeability can reasonably be assumed to be temperature- and stress-independent. The repository is assumed to contain spent fuel (SF) UO{sub 2} at an initial power loading of 150 kW/acre and located at a depth of 600 m. It was found that with perfect backfill (permeabilty = 1 x 10{sup 7} darcy), a maximum fluid pressure of 770 bars existed in the repository at a time of 55 y after burial. Holding all other input variables constant, the maximum fluid pressure in the repository never exceeded the local lithostatic pressure when the permeability of the backfill material was increased to 1 x 10{sup -1} darcy. The calculated temperature histories are essentially independent of backfill permeability and porosity, indicating that heat transfer is conduction-dominated

The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey IV: Data Reduction Procedures for Surface Brightness Fluctuation Measurements with the Advanced Camera for Surveys

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Virgo Cluster Survey is a large program to image 100 early-type Virgo galaxies using the F475W and F850LP bandpasses of the Wide Field Channel of the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The scientific goals of this survey include an exploration of the three-dimensional structure of the Virgo Cluster and a critical examination of the usefulness of the globular cluster luminosity function as a distance indicator. Both of these issues require accurate distances for the full sample of 100 program galaxies. In this paper, we describe our data reduction procedures and examine the feasibility of accurate distance measurements using the method of surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) applied to the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey F850LP imaging. The ACS exhibits significant geometrical distortions due to its off-axis location in the HST focal plane; correcting for these distortions by resampling the pixel values onto an undistorted frame results in pixel correlations that depend on the nature of the interpolation kernel used for the resampling. This poses a major challenge for the SBF technique, which normally assumes a flat power spectrum for the noise. We investigate a number of different interpolation kernels and show through an analysis of simulated galaxy images having realistic noise properties that it is possible, depending on the kernel, to measure SBF distances using distortion-corrected ACS images without introducing significant additional error from the resampling. We conclude by showing examples of real image power spectra from our survey.Comment: ApJS, in press, complete version of the paper at the link: http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~pcote/acs/publications.htm

Linearized model Fokker-Planck collision operators for gyrokinetic simulations. II. Numerical implementation and tests

A set of key properties for an ideal dissipation scheme in gyrokinetic simulations is proposed, and implementation of a model collision operator satisfying these properties is described. This operator is based on the exact linearized test-particle collision operator, with approximations to the field-particle terms that preserve conservation laws and an H-Theorem. It includes energy diffusion, pitch-angle scattering, and finite Larmor radius effects corresponding to classical (real-space) diffusion. The numerical implementation in the continuum gyrokinetic code GS2 is fully implicit and guarantees exact satisfaction of conservation properties. Numerical results are presented showing that the correct physics is captured over the entire range of collisionalities, from the collisionless to the strongly collisional regimes, without recourse to artificial dissipation.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Physics of Plasmas; typos fixe

‘O sibling, where art thou?’ – a review of avian sibling recognition with respect to the mammalian literature

Avian literature on sibling recognition is rare compared to that developed by mammalian researchers. We compare avian and mammalian research on sibling recognition to identify why avian work is rare, how approaches differ and what avian and mammalian researchers can learn from each other. Three factors: (1) biological differences between birds and mammals, (2) conceptual biases and (3) practical constraints, appear to influence our current understanding. Avian research focuses on colonial species because sibling recognition is considered adaptive where ‘mixing potential’ of dependent young is high; research on a wider range of species, breeding systems and ecological conditions is now needed. Studies of acoustic recognition cues dominate avian literature; other types of cues (e.g. visual, olfactory) deserve further attention. The effect of gender on avian sibling recognition has yet to be investigated; mammalian work shows that gender can have important influences. Most importantly, many researchers assume that birds recognise siblings through ‘direct familiarisation’ (commonly known as associative learning or familiarity); future experiments should also incorporate tests for ‘indirect familiarisation’ (commonly known as phenotype matching). If direct familiarisation proves crucial, avian research should investigate how periods of separation influence sibling discrimination. Mammalian researchers typically interpret sibling recognition in broad functional terms (nepotism, optimal outbreeding); some avian researchers more successfully identify specific and testable adaptive explanations, with greater relevance to natural contexts. We end by reporting exciting discoveries from recent studies of avian sibling recognition that inspire further interest in this topic

High pressure evolution of Fe2_{2}O3_{3} electronic structure revealed by X-ray absorption

We report the first high pressure measurement of the Fe K-edge in hematite (Fe$_2$O$_3$) by X-ray absorption spectroscopy in partial fluorescence yield geometry. The pressure-induced evolution of the electronic structure as Fe$_2$O$_3$ transforms from a high-spin insulator to a low-spin metal is reflected in the x-ray absorption pre-edge. The crystal field splitting energy was found to increase monotonically with pressure up to 48 GPa, above which a series of phase transitions occur. Atomic multiplet, cluster diagonalization, and density-functional calculations were performed to simulate the pre-edge absorption spectra, showing good qualitative agreement with the measurements. The mechanism for the pressure-induced phase transitions of Fe$_2$O$_3$ is discussed and it is shown that ligand hybridization significantly reduces the critical high-spin/low-spin pressure.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures and 1 tabl

Interaction of a Magnetic Impurity with Strongly Correlated Conduction Electrons

We consider a magnetic impurity which interacts by hybridization with a system of strongly correlated conduction electrons. The latter are described by a Hubbard Hamiltonian. By means of a canconical transformation the charge degrees of freedom of the magnetic impurity are eliminated. The resulting effective Hamiltonian $H_{\rm eff}$ is investigated and various limiting cases are considered. If the Hubbard interaction $U$ between the conduction electrons is neglected $H_{\rm eff}$ reduces to a form obtained by the Schrieffer-Wolff transformation, which is essentially the Kondo Hamiltonian. If $U$ is large and the correlations are strong $H_{\rm eff}$ is changed. One modification concerns the coefficient of the dominant exchange coupling of the magnetic impurity with the nearest lattice site. When the system is hole doped, there is also an antiferromagnetic coupling to the nearest neighbors of that site involving additionally a hole. Furthermore, it is found that the magnetic impurity attracts a hole. In the case of electron doping, double occupancies are repelled by the impurity. In contrast to the hole-doped case, we find no magnetic coupling which additionally involves a doubly occupied site.Comment: 16 pages, Revtex 3.

Stabilization of Deterministically Chaotic Systems by Interference and Quantum Measurements: The Ikeda Map Case

We propose a method which can effectively stabilize fixed points in the classical and quantum dynamics of a phase-sensitive chaotic system with feedback. It is based on feeding back a selected quantum sub-ensemble whose phase and amplitude stabilize the otherwise chaotic dynamics. Although the method is rather general, we apply it to realizations of the inherently chaotic Ikeda map. One suggested realization involves the Mach-Zender interferometer with Kerr nonlinearity. Another realization involves a trapped ion interacting with laser fields.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, two figure

Random division of an interval

The well-known relation between random division of an interval and the Poisson process is interpreted as a Laplace transformation. With the use of this interpretation a number of (in part known) results is derived very easily