127,017 research outputs found
Thermal stability of metastable magnetic skyrmions: Entropic narrowing and significance of internal eigenmodes
We compute annihilation rates of metastable magnetic skyrmions using a form
of Langer's theory in the intermediate-to-high damping (IHD) regime. For a
N\'eel skyrmion, a Bloch skyrmion, and an antiskyrmion, we look at two possible
paths to annihilation: collapse and escape through a boundary. We also study
the effects of a curved vs. a flat boundary, a second skyrmion and a
non-magnetic defect. We find that the skyrmion's internal modes play a dominant
role in the thermally activated transitions compared to the spin-wave
excitations and that the relative contribution of internal modes depends on the
nature of the transition process. Our calculations for a small skyrmion
stabilized at zero-field show that collapse on a defect is the most probable
path. In the absence of a defect, the annihilation is largely dominated by
escape mechanisms, even though in this case the activation energy is higher
than that of collapse processes. Escape through a flat boundary is found more
probable than through a curved boundary. The potential source of stability of
metastable skyrmions is therefore found not to lie in high activation energies,
nor in the dynamics at the transition state, but comes from entropic narrowing
in the saddle point region which leads to lowered attempt frequencies. This
narrowing effect is found to be primarily associated with the skyrmion's
internal modes.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
Correlation between superfluid density and Tc of underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x near the superconductor-insulator transition
We report measurements of the ab-plane superfluid density Ns (magnetic
penetration depth, \lambda) of severely underdoped films of YBa2Cu3O6+x, with
Tc's from 6 to 50 K. Tc is not proportional to Ns(0); instead, we find Tc ~
Ns^{1/2.3 +/- 0.4}. At the lowest dopings, Tc is as much as 5 times larger than
the upper limit set by the KTB transition temperature of individual CuO2
bilayers.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Coupled oscillators and Feynman's three papers
According to Richard Feynman, the adventure of our science of physics is a
perpetual attempt to recognize that the different aspects of nature are really
different aspects of the same thing. It is therefore interesting to combine
some, if not all, of Feynman's papers into one. The first of his three papers
is on the ``rest of the universe'' contained in his 1972 book on statistical
mechanics. The second idea is Feynman's parton picture which he presented in
1969 at the Stony Brook conference on high-energy physics. The third idea is
contained in the 1971 paper he published with his students, where they show
that the hadronic spectra on Regge trajectories are manifestations of
harmonic-oscillator degeneracies. In this report, we formulate these three
ideas using the mathematics of two coupled oscillators. It is shown that the
idea of entanglement is contained in his rest of the universe, and can be
extended to a space-time entanglement. It is shown also that his parton model
and the static quark model can be combined into one Lorentz-covariant entity.
Furthermore, Einstein's special relativity, based on the Lorentz group, can
also be formulated within the mathematical framework of two coupled
oscillators.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures, based on the concluding talk at the 3rd Feynman
Festival (Collage Park, Maryland, U.S.A., August 2006), minor correction
Constraining population synthesis models via the binary neutron star population
The observed sample of double neutron-star (NS-NS) binaries presents a
challenge to population-synthesis models of compact object formation: the
parameters entering into these models must be carefully chosen so as to match
(i) the observed star formation rate and (ii) the formation rate of NS-NS
binaries, which can be estimated from the observed sample and the selection
effects related to the discoveries with radio-pulsar surveys. In this paper, we
select from an extremely broad family of possible population synthesis models
those few (2%) which are consistent with the observed sample of NS-NS binaries.
To further sharpen the constraints the observed NS-NS population places upon
our understanding of compact-object formation processes, we separate the
observed NS-NS population into two channels: (i) merging NS-NS binaries, which
will inspiral and merge through the action of gravitational waves within
Gyr, and (ii) wide NS-NS binaries, consisting of all the rest. With the subset
of astrophysically consistent models, we explore the implications for the rates
at which double black hole (BH-BH), black hole-neutron star (BH-NS), and NS-NS
binaries will merge through the emission of gravitational waves.Comment: (v1) Submitted to ApJ. Uses emulateapj.cls. 8 pages, 7 figures. (v2)
Minor textual changes in response to referee queries. Substantial additions
in appendicies, including a detailed discussion of sample multidimensional
population synthesis fit
Path sampling for lifetimes of metastable magnetic skyrmions and direct comparison with Kramers' method
We perform a direct comparison between Kramers' method in many dimensions --
i.e., Langer's theory -- adapted to magnetic spin systems, and a path sampling
method in the form of forward flux sampling, as a means to compute collapse
rates of metastable magnetic skyrmions. We show that a good agreement is
obtained between the two methods. We report variations of the attempt frequency
associated with skyrmion collapse by three to four orders of magnitude when
varying the applied magnetic field by 5 of the exchange strength, which
confirms the existence of a strong entropic contribution to the lifetime of
skyrmions. This demonstrates that in complex systems, the knowledge of the rate
prefactor, in addition to the internal energy barrier, is essential in order to
properly estimate a lifetime.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures (main text), 8 pages including supplemental
materia
Superconductivity and Physical Properties of CaPd2Ge2 Single Crystals
We present the superconducting and normal state properties of CaPd2Ge2 single
crystal investigated by magnetic susceptibility \chi, isothermal magnetization
M, heat capacity C_p, in-plane electrical resistivity \rho and London
penetration depth \lambda versus temperature T and magnetic field H
measurements. Bulk superconductivity is inferred from the \rho(T) and C_p(T)
data. The \rho(T) data exhibit metallic behavior and undergoes a
superconducting transition with T_c onset = 1.98 K and zero resistivity state
at T_c 0 = 1.67 K. The \chi(T) reveal the onset of superconductivity at 2.0 K.
For T>2.0 K, the \chi(T) and M(H) are weakly anisotropic paramagnetic with
\chi_ab > \chi_c. The C_p(T) confirm the bulk superconductivity below T_c =
1.69(3) K. The superconducting state electronic heat capacity is analyzed
within the framework of a single-band \alpha-model of BCS superconductivity and
various normal and superconducting state parameters are estimated. Within the
\alpha-model, the C_p(T) data and the ab plane \lambda(T) data consistently
indicate a moderately anisotropic s-wave gap with \Delta(0)/k_B T_c ~ 1.6,
somewhat smaller than the BCS value of 1.764. The relationship of the heat
capacity jump at T_c and the penetration depth measurement to the anisotropy in
the s-wave gap is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 2 Tables; Submitted to PR
Valence Bond Solids and Their Quantum Melting in Hard-Core Bosons on the Kagome Lattice
Using large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations and dual vortex theory we
analyze the ground state phase diagram of hard-core bosons on the kagome
lattice with nearest neighbor repulsion. In contrast to the case of a
triangular lattice, no supersolid emerges for strong interactions. While a
uniform superfluid prevails at half-filling, two novel solid phases emerge at
densities and . These solids exhibit an only partial
ordering of the bosonic density, allowing for local resonances on a subset of
hexagons of the kagome lattice. We provide evidence for a weakly first-order
phase transition at the quantum melting point between these solid phases and
the superfluid.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure
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