Rejuvenation and Memory in model Spin Glasses in 3 and 4 dimensions

We numerically study aging for the Edwards-Anderson Model in 3 and 4 dimensions using different temperature-change protocols. In D=3, time scales a thousand times larger than in previous work are reached with the SUE machine. Deviations from cumulative aging are observed in the non monotonic time behavior of the coherence length. Memory and rejuvenation effects are found in a temperature-cycle protocol, revealed by vanishing effective waiting times. Similar effects are reported for the D=3$site-diluted ferromagnetic Ising model (without chaos). However, rejuvenation is reduced if off-equilibrium corrections to the fluctuation-dissipation theorem are considered. Memory and rejuvenation are quantitatively describable in terms of the growth regime of the spin-glass coherence length.Comment: Extended protocols. Accepted in Phys. Rev. B. 10 postscript figure

A CORAVEL radial-velocity monitoring of giant Ba and S stars: spectroscopic orbits and intrinsic variations

This paper provides orbital parameters for 38 barium stars and 10 extrinsic S stars derived from a decade-long CORAVEL monitoring. Lower bounds on the orbital period (generally exceeding 10 y) have been obtained for 10 more systems. Mira S, SC and (Tc-poor) C stars have also been monitored and show intrinsic radial-velocity variations due to atmospheric phenomena. Tentative orbital solutions are proposed for 3 stars (S UMa, X Cnc, BD-08:1900) where the velocity and photometric periods are different. Three stars (RZ Peg, SS Vir and R CMi) exhibit radial-velocity variations synchronous with the light variations. Pseudo-orbital solutions have been derived for those stars. In the case of RZ Peg, a line-doubling phenomenon is observed near maximum light, and probably reflects the shock wave propagating through the photosphere.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics Supplements, 20 pages, 8 figures, 8 tables (LaTeX). Also available at: http://obswww.unige.ch/~udry/cine/barium/barium.htm

The Boson peak and the phonons in glasses

Despite the presence of topological disorder, phonons seem to exist also in glasses at very high frequencies (THz) and they remarkably persist into the supercooled liquid. A universal feature of such a systems is the Boson peak, an excess of states over the standard Debye contribution at the vibrational density of states. Exploiting the euclidean random matrix theory of vibrations in amorphous systems we show that this peak is the signature of a phase transition in the space of the stationary points of the energy, from a minima-dominated phase (with phonons) at low energy to a saddle-point dominated phase (without phonons). The theoretical predictions are checked by means of numeric simulations.Comment: to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Slow dynamics in complex sistems", Sendai (Japan) 200

Conformal and gauge invariant spin-2 field equations

Using an approach based on the Casimir operators of the de Sitter group, the conformal invariant equations for a fundamental spin-2 field are obtained, and their consistency discussed. It is shown that, only when the spin-2 field is interpreted as a 1-form assuming values in the Lie algebra of the translation group, rather than a symmetric second-rank tensor, the field equation is both conformal and gauge invariant.Comment: 12 pages, no figures; accepted for publication in Gravitation & Cosmolog

Vibrations in glasses and Euclidean Random Matrix theory

We study numerically and analytically a simple off-lattice model of scalar harmonic vibrations by means of Euclidean random matrix theory. Since the spectrum of this model shares the most puzzling spectral features with the high-frequency domain of glasses (non-Rayleigh broadening of the Brillouin peak, boson peak and secondary peak), the Euclidean random matrix theory provide a single and fairly simple theoretical framework to their explanation.Comment: 11 pages, 7 postscript figures, Proceedings of Statphys 2

Vibrational spectra in glasses

The findings of X-ray and neutron scattering experiments on amorphous systems are interpreted within the framework of the theory of Euclidean random matrices. This allows to take into account the topological nature of the disorder, a key ingredient which strongly affects the vibrational spectra of those systems. We present a resummation scheme for a perturbative expansion in the inverse particle density, allowing an accurate analytical computation of the dynamical structure factor within the range of densities encountered in real systems.Comment: Talk given at the '8th International Workshop on Disordered Systems' Andalo, Trento, 12-15 March 200

On the functional form of the metallicity-giant planet correlation

It is generally accepted that the presence of a giant planet is strongly dependent on the stellar metallicity. A stellar mass dependence has also been investigated, but this dependence does not seem as strong as the metallicity dependence. Even for metallicity, however, the exact form of the correlation has not been established. In this paper, we test several scenarios for describing the frequency of giant planets as a function of its host parameters. We perform this test on two volume-limited samples (from CORALIE and HARPS). By using a Bayesian analysis, we quantitatively compared the different scenarios. We confirm that giant planet frequency is indeed a function of metallicity. However, there is no statistical difference between a constant or an exponential function for stars with subsolar metallicities contrary to what has been previously stated in the literature. The dependence on stellar mass could neither be confirmed nor be discarded.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted in A&