Spectral Properties of the Attractive Hubbard Model

Deviations from Fermi liquid behavior are well documented in the normal state of the cuprate superconductors, and some of these differences are possibly related to pre-formed pairs appearing at temperatures above T_c. In order to test these ideas we have investigated the attractive Hubbard model within a self-consistent, conserving ladder approximation. In this version of the theory, no feature is present which can be related to the pseudo gap found in the high-T_c materials. Further, the interactions between two-particle bound states change the physics of the superconducting instability in a profound fashion, and lead to a completely different phenomenology that one predicts based on the non-self-consistent version of the same theory.Comment: 4 pages including 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the SNS'9

Feedback effects and the self-consistent Thouless criterion of the attractive Hubbard model

We propose a fully microscopic theory of the anomalous normal state of the attractive Hubbard model in the low-density limit that accounts for propagator renormalization. Our analytical conclusions, which focus on the thermodynamic instabilities contained in the self-consistent equations associated with our formulation, have been verified by our comprehensive numerical study of the same equations. The resulting theory is found to contain no transitions at non-zero temperatures for all finite lattices, and we have confirmed, using our numerical studies, that this behaviour persists in the thermodynamic limit for low-dimensional systems.Comment: 6 pages, 2 eps format figure

Polarized interacting exciton gas in quantum wells and bulk semiconductors

We develop a theory to calculate exciton binding energies of both two- and three-dimensional spin polarized exciton gases within a mean field approach. Our method allows the analysis of recent experiments showing the importance of the polarization and intensity of the excitation light on the exciton luminescence of GaAs quantum wells. We study the breaking of the spin degeneracy observed at high exciton density $(5 \ \ 10^{10} cm ^2)$. Energy level splitting betwen spin +1 and spin -1 is shown to be due to many-body inter-excitonic exchange while the spin relaxation time is controlled by intra-exciton exchange.Comment: Revtex, 4 figures sent by fax upon request by e-mai

Reflection and Ducting of Gravity Waves Inside the Sun

Internal gravity waves excited by overshoot at the bottom of the convection zone can be influenced by rotation and by the strong toroidal magnetic field that is likely to be present in the solar tachocline. Using a simple Cartesian model, we show how waves with a vertical component of propagation can be reflected when traveling through a layer containing a horizontal magnetic field with a strength that varies with depth. This interaction can prevent a portion of the downward-traveling wave energy flux from reaching the deep solar interior. If a highly reflecting magnetized layer is located some distance below the convection zone base, a duct or wave guide can be set up, wherein vertical propagation is restricted by successive reflections at the upper and lower boundaries. The presence of both upward- and downward-traveling disturbances inside the duct leads to the existence of a set of horizontally propagating modes that have significantly enhanced amplitudes. We point out that the helical structure of these waves makes them capable of generating an alpha-effect, and briefly consider the possibility that propagation in a shear of sufficient strength could lead to instability, the result of wave growth due to over-reflection.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Solar Physic

Photoemission spectra of Sr2CuO2Cl2{\rm Sr_2 Cu O_2 Cl_2}: a theoretical analysis

Recent angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) results for the insulating cuprate ${\rm Sr_2 Cu O_2 Cl_2}$ have provided the first experimental data which can be directly compared to the (theoretically) well--studied problem of a single hole propagating in an antiferromagnet. The ARPES results reported a small bandwidth, providing evidence for the existence of strong correlations in the cuprates. However, in the same experiment some discrepancies with the familiar 2D ${\rm t-J}$ model were also observed. Here we discuss a comparison between the ARPES results and the quasiparticle dispersion of both (i) the ${\rm t-t'-J}$ Hamiltonian and (ii) the three--band Hubbard model in the strong--coupling limit. Both model Hamiltonians show that the experimentally observed one--hole band structure can be approximately reproduced using reasonable values for ${\rm t'}$, or the direct oxygen hopping amplitude ${\rm t_{pp}}$.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex version 3.0, 3 postscript figures, LaTeX file and figures have been uuencoded

Atmospheric Channel Characteristics for Quantum Communication with Continuous Polarization Variables

We investigate the properties of an atmospheric channel for free space quantum communication with continuous polarization variables. In our prepare-and-measure setup, coherent polarization states are transmitted through an atmospheric quantum channel of 100m length on the roof of our institute's building. The signal states are measured by homodyne detection with the help of a local oscillator (LO) which propagates in the same spatial mode as the signal, orthogonally polarized to it. Thus the interference of signal and LO is excellent and atmospheric fluctuations are autocompensated. The LO also acts as spatial and spectral filter, which allows for unrestrained daylight operation. Important characteristics for our system are atmospheric channel influences that could cause polarization, intensity and position excess noise. Therefore we study these influences in detail. Our results indicate that the channel is suitable for our quantum communication system in most weather conditions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Applied Physics B following an invitation for the special issue "Selected Papers Presented at the 2009 Spring Meeting of the Quantum Optics and Photonics Section of the German Physical Society

Ultrasound attenuation in gap-anisotropic systems

Transverse ultrasound attenuation provides a weakly-coupled probe of momentum current correlations in electronic systems. We develop a simple theory for the interpretation of transverse ultrasound attenuation coefficients in systems with nodal gap anisotropy. Applying this theory we show how ultrasound can delineate between extended-s and d-wave scenarios for the cuprate superconductors.Comment: Uuencode file: 4 pages (Revtex), 3 figures. Some references adde

On the 3-particle scattering continuum in quasi one dimensional integer spin Heisenberg magnets

We analyse the three-particle scattering continuum in quasi one dimensional integer spin Heisenberg antiferromagnets within a low-energy effective field theory framework. We exactly determine the zero temperature dynamical structure factor in the O(3) nonlinear sigma model and in Tsvelik's Majorana fermion theory. We study the effects of interchain coupling in a Random Phase Approximation. We discuss the application of our results to recent neutron-scattering experiments on the Haldane-gap material ${\rm CsNiCl_3}$.Comment: 8 pages of revtex, 5 figures, small changes, to appear in PR

Magnetic polarons in weakly doped high-Tc superconductors

We consider a spin Hamiltonian describing $d$-$d$ exchange interactions between localized spins $d$ of a finite antiferromagnet as well as $p$-$d$ interactions between a conducting hole ($p$) and localized spins. The spin Hamiltonian is solved numerically with use of Lanczos method of diagonalization. We conclude that $p$-$d$ exchange interaction leads to localization of magnetic polarons. Quantum fluctuations of the antiferromagnet strengthen this effect and make the formation of polarons localized in one site possible even for weak $p$-$d$ coupling. Total energy calculations, including the kinetic energy, do not change essentially the phase diagram of magnetic polarons formation. For parameters reasonable for high-$T_c$ superconductors either a polaron localized on one lattice cell or a small ferron can form. For reasonable values of the dielectric function and $p$-$d$ coupling, the contributions of magnetic and phonon terms in the formation of a polaron in weakly doped high-$T_c$ materials are comparable.Comment: revised, revtex-4, 12 pages 8 eps figure

Distinguishing d-wave from highly anisotropic s-wave superconductors

Systematic impurity doping in the Cu-O plane of the hole-doped cuprate superconductors may allow one to decide between unconvention al ("d-wave") and anisotropic conventional ("s-wave") states as possible candidates for the order parameter in these materials. We show that potential scattering of any strength always increases the gap minima of such s-wave states, leading to activated behavior in temperature with characteristic impurity concentration dependence in observable quantities such as the penetration depth. A magnetic component to the scattering may destroy the energy gap and give rise to conventional gapless behavior, or lead to a nonmonotonic dependence of the gap on impurity concentration. We discuss how experiments constrain this analysis.Comment: 5 page