59,084 research outputs found
Geometry-induced localization of thermal fluctuations in ultrathin superconducting structures
Thermal fluctuations of the order parameter in an ultrathin triangular shaped
superconducting structure are studied near , in zero applied field. We
find that the order parameter is prone to much larger fluctuations in the
corners of the structure as compared to its interior. This geometry-induced
localization of thermal fluctuations is attributed to the fact that condensate
confinement in the corners is characterised by a lower effective
dimensionality, which favors stronger fluctuations.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Superconductivity in Weyl semimetal NbP: Bulk vs. surface
Transition metal monopnictides belong to the new class of semimetals where the bulk properties are determined by the presence of pairs of nodes with different chirality formed by linear dispersive states in the k-space. Beside the anomaly in the bulk magnetotransport superconductivity is frequently found in some Weyl semimetals. We found signatures of superconductivity in ac and dc magnetization measurements of highly pure and stoichiometric NbP powder. We determined the lower and upper critical field and the Ginzburg-Landau parameter. The relative small superconducting volume fraction is related to either effect of finite grain size and/or surface superconductivity. The last mentioned may originate from either off stoichiometric (Nb-rich) surface layers or a strained surface with different electronic properties. Furthermore the intrinsic normal state susceptibility is determined taking into account a paramagnetic contribution of a few ppm of magnetic impurities
Topological Phases of Sound and Light
Topological states of matter are particularly robust, since they exploit
global features insensitive to local perturbations. In this work, we describe
how to create a Chern insulator of phonons in the solid state. The proposed
implementation is based on a simple setting, a dielectric slab with a suitable
pattern of holes. Its topological properties can be wholly tuned in-situ by
adjusting the amplitude and frequency of a driving laser that controls the
optomechanical interaction between light and sound. The resulting chiral,
topologically protected phonon transport along the edges can be probed
completely optically. Moreover, we identify a regime of strong mixing between
photon and phonon excitations, which gives rise to a large set of different
topological phases. This would be an example of a Chern insulator produced from
the interaction between two physically very different particle species, photons
and phonons
Renormalization group flows in one-dimensional lattice models: impurity scaling, umklapp scattering and the orthogonality catastrophe
We show that to understand the orthogonality catastrophe in the half-filled
lattice model of spinless fermions with repulsive nearest neighbor interaction
and a local impurity in its Luttinger liquid phase one has to take into account
(i) the impurity scaling, (ii) unusual finite size corrections of the form
, as well as (iii) the renormalization group flow of the umklapp
scattering. The latter defines a length scale which becomes exceedingly
large the closer the system is to its transition into the charge-density wave
phase. Beyond this transition umklapp scattering is relevant in the
renormalization group sense. Field theory can only be employed for length
scales larger than . For small to intermediate two-particle interactions,
for which the regime can be accessed, and taking into account the
finite size corrections resulting from (i) and (ii) we provide strong evidence
that the impurity backscattering contribution to the orthogonality exponent is
asymptotically given by . While further increasing the two-particle
interaction leads to a faster renormalization group flow of the impurity
towards the cut chain fixed point, the increased bare amplitude of the umklapp
scattering renders it virtually impossible to confirm the expected asymptotic
value of given the accessible system sizes. We employ the density matrix
renormalization group.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
Pair creation and plasma oscillations
We describe aspects of particle creation in strong fields using a quantum
kinetic equation with a relaxation-time approximation to the collision term.
The strong electric background field is determined by solving Maxwell's
equation in tandem with the Vlasov equation. Plasma oscillations appear as a
result of feedback between the background field and the field generated by the
particles produced. The plasma frequency depends on the strength of the initial
background field and the collision frequency, and is sensitive to the necessary
momentum-dependence of dressed-parton masses.Comment: 11 pages, revteX, epsfig.sty, 5 figures; Proceedings of 'Quark Matter
in Astro- and Particlephysics', a workshop at the University of Rostock,
Germany, November 27 - 29, 2000. Eds. D. Blaschke, G. Burau, S.M. Schmid
A two-dimensional representation of four-dimensional gravitational waves
The Einstein equation in D dimensions, if restricted to the class of
space-times possessing n = D - 2 commuting hypersurface-orthogonal Killing
vectors, can be equivalently written as metric-dilaton gravity in 2 dimensions
with n scalar fields. For n = 2, this results reduces to the known reduction of
certain 4-dimensional metrics which include gravitational waves. Here, we give
such a representation which leads to a new proof of the Birkhoff theorem for
plane-symmetric space--times, and which leads to an explanation, in which sense
two (spin zero-) scalar fields in 2 dimensions may incorporate the (spin two-)
gravitational waves in 4 dimensions. (This result should not be mixed up with
well--known analogous statements where, however, the 4-dimensional space-time
is supposed to be spherically symmetric, and then, of course, the equivalent
2-dimensional picture cannot mimic any gravitational waves.) Finally, remarks
on hidden symmetries in 2 dimensions are made.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, no figures, Int. J. Mod. Phys. D in prin
Coupled fermion and boson production in a strong background mean-field
We derive quantum kinetic equations for fermion and boson production starting
from a phi^4 Lagrangian with minimal coupling to fermions. Decomposing the
scalar field into a mean-field part and fluctuations we obtain spontaneous pair
creation driven by a self-interacting strong background field. The produced
fermion and boson pairs are self-consistently coupled. Consequently back
reactions arise from fermion and boson currents determining the time dependent
self-interacting background mean-field. We explore the numerical solution in
flux tube geometry for the time evolution of the mean-field as well as for the
number- and energy densities for fermions and bosons. We find that after a
characteristic time all energy is converted from the background mean-field to
particle creation. Applying this general approach to the production of
``quarks'' and ``gluons'' a typical time scale for the collapse of the flux
tube is 1.5 fm/c.Comment: 9 pages, latex, epsfig, 7 figure
Reaction mechanisms involved in the production of neutron-rich isotopes
The reaction mechanisms best suited for the production of neutron-rich
nuclei, fragmentation and fission, are discussed. Measurements of the
production cross sections of reaction residues together with model calculations
allow to conclude about the expected production rates of neutron-rich isotopes
in future facilities.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures Proceedings of the Third International Conference
on Fission and Properties of Neutron-Rich Nuclei November 3-9, 2002, Sanibel
Island, Florida, US
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