Scaling law and critical exponent for alpha_0 at the 3D Anderson transition

We use high-precision, large system-size wave function data to analyse the scaling properties of the multifractal spectra around the disorder-induced three-dimensional Anderson transition in order to extract the critical exponents of the transition. Using a previously suggested scaling law, we find that the critical exponent is significantly larger than suggested by previous results. We speculate that this discrepancy is due to the use of an oversimplified scaling relation

Analysis of Vector-Inflation Models Using Dynamical Systems

We analyze two possible vector-field models using the techniques of dynamical systems. The first model involves a U(1)-vector field and the second a triad of SU(2)-vector fields. Both models include a gauge-fixing term and a power-law potential. A dynamical system is formulated and it is found that one of the critical points, for each model, corresponds to inflation, the origin of these critical points being the respective gauge-fixing terms. The conditions for the existence of an inflationary era which lasts for at least 60 efolds are studied.Comment: LaTeX file in elsarticle style, 4 pages, 1 figure. To be published in Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplement as the proceedings of the Tenth Latin American Symposium on High Energy Physics (Medellin - Colombia, 24th-28th November, 2014

Nature of Decoupling in the Mixed Phase of Extremely Type-II Layered Superconductors

The uniformly frustrated layered XY model is analyzed in its Villain form. A decouple pancake vortex liquid phase is identified. It is bounded by both first-order and second-order decoupling lines in the magnetic field versus temperature plane. These transitions, respectively, can account for the flux-lattice melting and for the flux-lattice depinning observed in the mixed phase of clean high-temperature superconductors.Comment: 11 pages of PLAIN TeX, 1 postscript figure, published version, many change

Defective Vortex Lattices in Layered Superconductors with Both Point and Correlated Pins

The mixed phase of layered superconductors with no magnetic screening is studied through a partial duality analysis of the corresponding XY model in the presence of random pinning centers. Sufficiently weak Josephson coupling between adjacent layers results in an entangled vortex solid that exhibits weak superconductivity across layers. The corresponding vortex liquid state shows an inverted specific heat anomaly that is a precursor to the weak superconductor.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the VORTEX III Conference, Crete, September 200

Physics of beer tapping

The popular bar prank known in colloquial English as beer tapping consists in hitting the top of a beer bottle with a solid object, usually another bottle, to trigger the foaming over of the former within a few seconds. Despite the trick being known for long time, to the best of our knowledge, the phenomenon still lacks scientific explanation. Although it seems natural to think that shock-induced cavitation enhances the diffusion of CO$_2$ from the supersaturated bulk liquid into the bubbles by breaking them up, the subtle mechanism by which this happens remains unknown. Here we show that the overall foaming-over process can be divided into three stages where different physical phenomena take place in different time-scales, namely: bubble-collapse (or cavitation) stage, diffusion-driven stage and buoyancy-driven stage. In the bubble-collapse stage, the impact generates a train of expansion-compression waves in the liquid that leads to the fragmentation of pre-existing gas cavities. Upon bubble fragmentation, the sudden increase of the interface-area-to-volume ratio enhances mass transfer significantly, which makes the bubble volume grow by a large factor until CO$_2$ is locally depleted. At that point buoyancy takes over, making the bubble clouds rise and eventually form buoyant vortex rings whose volume grows fast due to the feedback between the buoyancy-induced rising speed and the advection-enhanced CO$_2$ transport from the bulk liquid to the bubble. The physics behind this explosive process might also be connected to some geological phenomena.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 4 movies Accepted in Physical Review Letter