297 research outputs found
Pair Production Beyond the Schwinger Formula in Time-Dependent Electric Fields
We investigate electron-positron pair production in pulse-shaped electric
background fields using a non-Markovian quantum kinetic equation. We identify a
pulse-length range for subcritical fields still in the nonperturbative regime
where the number of produced pairs significantly exceeds that of a naive
expectation based on the Schwinger formula. From a conceptual viewpoint, we
find a remarkable quantitative agreement between the (real-time) quantum
kinetic approach and the (imaginary-time) effective action approach.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Typos corrected and references added, PRD Versio
Momentum signatures for Schwinger pair production in short laser pulses with a sub-cycle structure
We investigate electron-positron pair production from vacuum for short laser
pulses with sub-cycle structure, in the nonperturbative regime (Schwinger pair
production). We use the non-equilibrium quantum kinetic approach, and show that
the momentum spectrum of the created electron-positron pairs is extremely
sensitive to the sub-cycle dynamics -- depending on the laser frequency
, the pulse length , and the carrier phase -- and shows
several distinctive new signatures. This observation could help not only in the
design of laser pulses to optimize the experimental signature of Schwinger pair
production, but also ultimately lead to new probes of light pulses at extremely
short time scales.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Revised version: Minor changes and typos
corrected. PRL Versio
Dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism
We study electron-positron pair creation {from} the Dirac vacuum induced by a
strong and slowly varying electric field (Schwinger effect) which is
superimposed by a weak and rapidly changing electromagnetic field (dynamical
pair creation). In the sub-critical regime where both mechanisms separately are
strongly suppressed, their combined impact yields a pair creation rate which is
{dramatically} enhanced. Intuitively speaking, the strong electric field lowers
the threshold for dynamical particle creation -- or, alternatively, the fast
electromagnetic field generates additional seeds for the Schwinger mechanism.
These findings could be relevant for planned ultra-high intensity lasers.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Localized Excitons and Breaking of Chemical Bonds at III-V (110) Surfaces
Electron-hole excitations in the surface bands of GaAs(110) are analyzed
using constrained density-functional theory calculations. The results show that
Frenkel-type autolocalized excitons are formed. The excitons induce a local
surface unrelaxation which results in a strong exciton-exciton attraction and
makes complexes of two or three electron-hole pairs more favorable than
separate excitons. In such microscopic exciton "droplets" the
electron density is mainly concentrated in the dangling orbital of a surface Ga
atom whereas the holes are distributed over the bonds of this atom to its As
neighbors thus weakening the bonding to the substrate. This finding suggests
the microscopic mechanism of a laser-induced emission of neutral Ga atoms from
GaAs and GaP (110) surfaces.Comment: submitted to PRL, 10 pages, 4 figures available upon request from:
[email protected]
Electronic properties of metal induced gap states at insulator/metal interfaces -- dependence on the alkali halide and the possibility of excitonic mechanism of superconductivity
Motivated from the experimental observation of metal induced gap states
(MIGS) at insulator/metal interfaces by Kiguchi {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett.
{\bf 90}, 196803 (2003)], we have theoretically investigated the electronic
properties of MIGS at interfaces between various alkali halides and a metal
represented by a jellium with the first-principles density functional method.
We have found that, on top of the usual evanescent state, MIGS generally have a
long tail on halogen sites with a -like character, whose penetration depth
() is as large as half the lattice constant of bulk alkali halides.
This implies that , while little dependent on the carrier density in
the jellium, is dominated by the lattice constant (hence by energy gap) of the
alkali halide, where . We also propose a possibility of the MIGS working favorably for the
exciton-mediated superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
Effective Electromagnetic Lagrangian at Finite Temperature and Density in the Electroweak Model
Using the exact propagators in a constant magnetic field, the effective
electromagnetic Lagrangian at finite temperature and density is calculated to
all orders in the field strength B within the framework of the complete
electroweak model, in the weak coupling limit. The partition function and free
energy are obtained explicitly and the finite temperature effective coupling is
derived in closed form. Some implications of this result, potentially
interesting to astrophysics and cosmology, are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, Revtex
Simulations of “tunnelling of the 3rd kind”
We consider the phenomenon of ``tunnelling of the 3rd kind" \cite{third}, whereby a magnetic field may traverse a classically impenetrable barrier by pair creation of unimpeded quantum fermions. These propagate through the barrier and generate a magnetic field on the other side. We study this numerically using quantum fermions coupled to a classical Higgs-gauge system, where we set up a magnetic field outside a box shielded by two superconducting barriers. We examine the magnitude of the internal magnetic field, and find agreement with existing perturbative results within a factor of two
Pseudopotential study of binding properties of solids within generalized gradient approximations: The role of core-valence exchange-correlation
In ab initio pseudopotential calculations within density-functional theory
the nonlinear exchange-correlation interaction between valence and core
electrons is often treated linearly through the pseudopotential. We discuss the
accuracy and limitations of this approximation regarding a comparison of the
local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximations
(GGA), which we find to describe core-valence exchange-correlation markedly
different. (1) Evaluating the binding properties of a number of typical solids
we demonstrate that the pseudopotential approach and namely the linearization
of core-valence exchange-correlation are both accurate and limited in the same
way in GGA as in LDA. (2) Examining the practice to carry out GGA calculations
using pseudopotentials derived within LDA we show that the ensuing results
differ significantly from those obtained using pseudopotentials derived within
GGA. As principal source of these differences we identify the distinct behavior
of core-valence exchange-correlation in LDA and GGA which, accordingly,
contributes substantially to the GGA induced changes of calculated binding
properties.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B, other related
publications can be found at http://www.rz-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
Quantum Vacuum Experiments Using High Intensity Lasers
The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular
since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature
of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the
low-energy, high intensity regime of quantum electrodynamics (QED) where the
nonlinear aspects of the electromagnetic vacuum comes into play, and we will
here give a short description of some of these. Such studies can shed light,
not only on the validity of QED, but also on certain aspects of nonperturbative
effects, and thus also give insights for quantum field theories in general.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figur
The Choice of the Filtering Method in Microarrays Affects the Inference Regarding Dosage Compensation of the Active X-Chromosome
The hypothesis of dosage compensation of genes of the X chromosome, supported by previous microarray studies, was recently challenged by RNA-sequencing data. It was suggested that microarray studies were biased toward an over-estimation of X-linked expression levels as a consequence of the filtering of genes below the detection threshold of microarrays.To investigate this hypothesis, we used microarray expression data from circulating monocytes in 1,467 individuals. In total, 25,349 and 1,156 probes were unambiguously assigned to autosomes and the X chromosome, respectively. Globally, there was a clear shift of X-linked expressions toward lower levels than autosomes. We compared the ratio of expression levels of X-linked to autosomal transcripts (X∶AA) using two different filtering methods: 1. gene expressions were filtered out using a detection threshold irrespective of gene chromosomal location (the standard method in microarrays); 2. equal proportions of genes were filtered out separately on the X and on autosomes. For a wide range of filtering proportions, the X∶AA ratio estimated with the first method was not significantly different from 1, the value expected if dosage compensation was achieved, whereas it was significantly lower than 1 with the second method, leading to the rejection of the hypothesis of dosage compensation. We further showed in simulated data that the choice of the most appropriate method was dependent on biological assumptions regarding the proportion of actively expressed genes on the X chromosome comparative to the autosomes and the extent of dosage compensation.This study shows that the method used for filtering out lowly expressed genes in microarrays may have a major impact according to the hypothesis investigated. The hypothesis of dosage compensation of X-linked genes cannot be firmly accepted or rejected using microarray-based data
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