2,159 research outputs found
Heat capacity of the quantum magnet TiOCl
Measurements of the heat capacity C(T,H) of the one-dimensional quantum
magnet TiOCl are presented for temperatures 2K < T < 300K and magnetic fields
up to 5T. Distinct anomalies at 91K and 67K signal two subsequent phase
transitions. The lower of these transitions clearly is of first order and seems
to be related to the spin degrees of freedom. The transition at 92K probably
involves the lattice and/or orbital moments. A detailed analysis of the data
reveals that the entropy change through both transitions is surprisingly small
(~ 0.1R), pointing to the existence strong fluctuations well into the
non-ordered high-temperature phase. No significant magnetic field dependence
was detected.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Disclinations, dislocations and continuous defects: a reappraisal
Disclinations, first observed in mesomorphic phases, are relevant to a number
of ill-ordered condensed matter media, with continuous symmetries or frustrated
order. They also appear in polycrystals at the edges of grain boundaries. They
are of limited interest in solid single crystals, where, owing to their large
elastic stresses, they mostly appear in close pairs of opposite signs. The
relaxation mechanisms associated with a disclination in its creation, motion,
change of shape, involve an interplay with continuous or quantized dislocations
and/or continuous disclinations. These are attached to the disclinations or are
akin to Nye's dislocation densities, well suited here. The notion of 'extended
Volterra process' takes these relaxation processes into account and covers
different situations where this interplay takes place. These concepts are
illustrated by applications in amorphous solids, mesomorphic phases and
frustrated media in their curved habit space. The powerful topological theory
of line defects only considers defects stable against relaxation processes
compatible with the structure considered. It can be seen as a simplified case
of the approach considered here, well suited for media of high plasticity
or/and complex structures. Topological stability cannot guarantee energetic
stability and sometimes cannot distinguish finer details of structure of
defects.Comment: 72 pages, 36 figure
Nuclear Pairing: Surface or Bulk ?
We analyse how the spatial localisation properties of pairing correlations
are changing in a major neutron shell of heavy nuclei. It is shown that the
radial distribution of the pairing density depends strongly on whether the
chemical potential is close to a low or a high angular momentum level and has
very little sensitivity to whether the pairing force acts in the surface or in
the bulk. The averaged pairing density over one major shell is however rather
flat, practically independent of the pairing force. Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov
calculations for the isotopic chain Sn are presented for
demonstration purposes.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Quantum Gravity Vacuum and Invariants of Embedded Spin Networks
We show that the path integral for the three-dimensional SU(2) BF theory with
a Wilson loop or a spin network function inserted can be understood as the
Rovelli-Smolin loop transform of a wavefunction in the Ashtekar connection
representation, where the wavefunction satisfies the constraints of quantum
general relativity with zero cosmological constant. This wavefunction is given
as a product of the delta functions of the SU(2) field strength and therefore
it can be naturally associated to a flat connection spacetime. The loop
transform can be defined rigorously via the quantum SU(2) group, as a spin foam
state sum model, so that one obtains invariants of spin networks embedded in a
three-manifold. These invariants define a flat connection vacuum state in the
q-deformed spin network basis. We then propose a modification of this
construction in order to obtain a vacuum state corresponding to the flat metric
spacetime.Comment: 15 pages, revised version to appear in Class. Quant. Gra
Conformal smectics and their many metrics
We establish that equally spaced smectic configurations enjoy an infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry and show that there is a natural map between them and null hypersurfaces in maximally symmetric spacetimes. By choosing the appropriate conformal factor it is possible to restore additional symmetries of focal structures only found before for smectics on flat substrates
Theoretical analysis of the transmission phase shift of a quantum dot in the presence of Kondo correlations
We study the effects of Kondo correlations on the transmission phase shift of
a quantum dot coupled to two leads in comparison with the experimental
determinations made by Aharonov-Bohm (AB) quantum interferometry. We propose
here a theoretical interpretation of these results based on scattering theory
combined with Bethe ansatz calculations. We show that there is a factor of 2
difference between the phase of the S-matrix responsible for the shift in the
AB oscillations, and the one controlling the conductance. Quantitative
agreement is obtained with experimental results for two different values of the
coupling to the leads.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Backflow in a Fermi Liquid
We calculate the backflow current around a fixed impurity in a Fermi liquid.
The leading contribution at long distances is radial and proportional to 1/r^2.
It is caused by the current induced density modulation first discussed by
Landauer. The familiar 1/r^3 dipolar backflow obtained in linear response by
Pines and Nozieres is only the next to leading term, whose strength is
calculated here to all orders in the scattering. In the charged case the
condition of perfect screening gives rise to a novel sum rule for the phase
shifts. Similar to the behavior in a classical viscous liquid, the friction
force is due only to the leading contribution in the backflow while the dipolar
term does not contribute.Comment: 4 pages, 1 postscript figure, uses ReVTeX and epsfig macro, submitted
to Physical Review Letter
Friedel Oscillations and Charge-density Waves Pinning in Quasi-one-dimensional Conductors: An X-ray Access
We present an x-ray diffraction study of the Vanadium-doped blue bronze
K0.3(Mo0.972V0.028)O3. At low temperature, we have observed both an intensity
asymmetry of the +-2kF satellite reflections relative to the pure compound, and
a profile asymmetry of each satellite reflections. We show that the profile
asymmetry is due to Friedel oscillation around the V substituant and that the
intensity asymmetry is related to the charge density wave (CDW) pinning. These
two effects, intensity and profile asymmetries, gives for the first time access
to the local properties of CDW in disordered systems, including the pinning and
even the phase shift of FOs.Comment: 4 pages REVTEX, 5 figure
Spatial Correlation of Conduction Electrons in Metal with Complicated Geometry Of The Fermi Surface
The "density-density" correlation function of conduction electrons in metal
is investigated. It is shown, that the asymptotic behaviour of the CF depends
on the shape and the local geometry of the Fermi surface. In particular, the
exponent of power law which describes the damping of Friedel oscillations at
large r (-4 for an isotropic Fermi gas) is determined by local geometry of the
FS. The applications of the obtained results to calculations of the CF in a
metal near the electron topological transition and of the RKKY exchange
integral are considered as well.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures upon request (to appear in J.Phys.:CM,
1993
Simultaneous Observations of Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association and Owens Valley Radio Observatory Interferometers: HCN and CH_3OH
We present observations of HCN J = 1-0 and CH_3OH J(K_a, K_c) = 3(1, 3)-4(0, 4) A+ emission from comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) obtained simultaneously with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) and Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) millimeter interferometers. We combined the data from both arrays to increase the (u, v) sampling and signal to noise of the detected line emission. We also report the detection of CH_3OH J(K_a, K_c) = 8(0, 8)-7(1, 7) A^+ with OVRO data alone. Using a molecular excitation code that includes the effects of collisions with water and electrons, as well as pumping by the Solar infrared photons (for HCN alone), we find a production rate of HCN of 2.9 × 10^(26) s^(–1) and for CH_3OH of 2.2 × 10^(27) s^(–1). Compared to the adopted water production rate of 3 × 10^(29) s^(–1), this corresponds to an HCN/H_2O ratio of 0.1% and a CH_3OH/H_2O ratio of 0.7%. We critically assess the uncertainty of these values due to the noise (~10%), the uncertainties in the adopted comet model (~50%), and the uncertainties in the adopted collisional excitation rates (up to a factor of 2). Pumping by Solar infrared photons is found to be a minor effect for HCN, because our 15" synthesized beam is dominated by the region in the coma where collisions dominate. Since the uncertainties in the derived production rates are at least as large as one-third of the differences found between comets, we conclude that reliable collision rates and an accurate comet model are essential. Because the collisionally dominated region critically depends on the water production rate, using the same approximate method for different comets may introduce biases in the derived production rates. Multiline observations that directly constrain the molecular excitation provide much more reliable production rates
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