Photoemission kinks and phonons in cuprates

One of the possible mechanisms of high Tc superconductivity is Cooper pairing with the help of bosons, which change the slope of the electronic dispersion as observed by photoemission. Giustino et al. calculated that in the high temperature superconductor La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 crystal lattice vibrations (phonons) should have a negligible effect on photoemission spectra and concluded that phonons do not play an important role. We show that the calculations employed by Giustino et al. fail to reproduce huge influence of electron-phonon coupling on important phonons observed in experiments. Thus one would expect these calculations to similarly fail in explaining the role of electron-phonon coupling for the electronic dispersion.Comment: To appear in Nature as a Brief Communiction Arisin

Oxygen phonon branches in overdoped La1.7_{1.7}Sr0.3_{0.3}CuO4_4

The dispersion of the Cu-O bond-stretching vibrations in overdoped La$_{1.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$CuO$_4$ (not superconducting) has been studied by high resolution inelastic neutron scattering. It was found that the doping-induced renormalization of the so-called breathing and the half-breathing modes is larger than in optimally doped La$_{1.85}$Sr$_{0.15}$CuO$_4$. On the other hand, the phonon linewidths are generally smaller in the overdoped sample. Features observed in optimally doped La$_{1.85}$Sr$_{0.15}$CuO$_4$ which suggest a tendency towards charge stripe formation are absent in overdoped La$_{1.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$CuO$_4$.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Dynamics of Vortex Pair in Radial Flow

The problem of vortex pair motion in two-dimensional plane radial flow is solved. Under certain conditions for flow parameters, the vortex pair can reverse its motion within a bounded region. The vortex-pair translational velocity decreases or increases after passing through the source/sink region, depending on whether the flow is diverging or converging, respectively. The rotational motion of two corotating vortexes in a quiescent environment transforms into motion along a logarithmic spiral in the presence of radial flow. The problem may have applications in astrophysics and geophysics.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Continuous input nonlocal games

We present a family of nonlocal games in which the inputs the players receive are continuous. We study three representative members of the family. For the first two a team sharing quantum correlations (entanglement) has an advantage over any team restricted to classical correlations. We conjecture that this is true for the third member of the family as well.Comment: Journal version, slight modification

Raman scattering in a two-dimensional electron gas: Boltzmann equation approach

The inelastic light scattering in a 2-d electron gas is studied theoretically using the Boltzmann equation techniques. Electron-hole excitations produce the Raman spectrum essentially different from the one predicted for the 3-d case. In the clean limit it has the form of a strong non-symmetric resonance due to the square root singularity at the electron-hole frequency $\omega = vk$ while in the opposite dirty limit the usual Lorentzian shape of the cross section is reestablished. The effects of electromagnetic field are considered self-consistently and the contribution from collective plasmon modes is found. It is shown that unlike 3-d metals where plasmon excitations are unobservable (because of very large required transfered frequencies), the two-dimensional electron system gives rise to a low-frequency ($\omega \propto k^{1/2}$) plasmon peak. A measurement of the width of this peak can provide data on the magnitude of the electron scattering rate.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev. B 59 (1999

Electron-phonon anomaly related to charge stripes: static stripe phase versus optimally-doped superconducting La1.85Sr0.15CuO4

Inelastic neutron scattering was used to study the Cu-O bond-stretching vibrations in optimally doped La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 (Tc = 35 K) and in two other cuprates showing static stripe order at low temperatures, i.e. La1.48Nd0.4Sr0.12CuO4 and La1.875Ba0.125CuO4. All three compounds exhibit a very similar phonon anomaly, which is not predicted by conventional band theory. It is argued that the phonon anomaly reflects a coupling to charge inhomogeneities in the form of stripes, which remain dynamic in superconducting La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 down to the lowest temperatures. These results show that the phonon effect indicating stripe formation is not restricted to a narrow region of the phase diagram around the so-called 1/8 anomaly but occurs in optimally doped samples as well.Comment: to appear in J. Low Temp. Phy

Competition between commensurate and incommensurate magnetic ordering in Fe(1+y)Te

The Fe1+y Te1-x Sex compounds belong to the family of iron-based high temperature superconductors, in which superconductivity often appears upon doping antiferromagnetic parent compounds. Unlike other Fe-based superconductors (in which the antiferromagnetic order is at the Fermi surface nesting wavevector [1/2,1/2,1]), the Fe1+y Te1-x Sex parent compound Fe1+y Te orders at a different wavevector, [1/2, 0, 1/2]. Furthermore, the ordering wavevector depends on y, the occupation of interstitial sites with excess iron; the origin of this behavior is controversial. Using inelastic neutron scattering on Fe1.08 Te, we find incommensurate magnetic fluctuations above the Neel temperature, even though the ordered state is bicollinear and commensurate with gapped spin waves. This behavior can be understood in terms of a competition between commensurate and incommensurate order, which we explain as a lock-in transition caused by the magnetic anisotropy

Magnetic Blue Phase in the Chiral Itinerant Magnet MnSi

Chiral nematic liquid crystals sometimes form blue phases characterized by spirals twisting in different directions. By combining model calculations with neutron-scattering experiments, we show that the magnetic analogue of blue phases does form in the chiral itinerant magnet MnSi in a large part of the phase diagram. The properties of this blue phase explain a number of previously reported puzzling features of MnSi such as partial magnetic order and a two-component specific-heat and thermal-expansion anomaly at the magnetic transition