Microwave Absorption of Surface-State Electrons on Liquid 3^3He

We have investigated the intersubband transitions of surface state electrons (SSE) on liquid $^3$He induced by microwave radiation at temperatures from 1.1 K down to 0.01 K. Above 0.4 K, the transition linewidth is proportional to the density of $^3$He vapor atoms. This proportionality is explained well by Ando's theory, in which the linewidth is determined by the electron - vapor atom scattering. However, the linewidth is larger than the calculation by a factor of 2.1. This discrepancy strongly suggests that the theory underestimates the electron - vapor atom scattering rate. At lower temperatures, the absorption spectrum splits into several peaks. The multiple peak structure is partly attributed to the spatial inhomogeneity of the static holding electric field perpendicular to the electron sheet.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Rotation-induced 3D vorticity in 4He superfluid films adsorbed on a porous glass

Detailed study of torsional oscillator experiments under steady rotation up to 6.28 rad/sec is reported for a 4He superfluid monolayer film formed in 1 micrometer-pore diameter porous glass. We found a new dissipation peak with the height being in proportion to the rotation speed, which is located to the lower temperature than the vortex pair unbinding peak observed in the static state. We propose that 3D coreless vortices ("pore vortices") appear under rotation to explain this new peak. That is, the new peak originates from dissipation close to the pore vortex lines, where large superfluid velocity shifts the vortex pair unbinding dissipation to lower temperature. This explanation is confirmed by observation of nonlinear effects at high oscillation amplitudes.Comment: 4pages, 5figure

Annealing Effect for Supersolid Fraction in 4^4He

We report on experimental confirmation of the non-classical rotational inertia (NCRI) in solid helium samples originally reported by Kim and Chan. The onset of NCRI was observed at temperatures below ~400 mK. The ac velocity for initiation of the NCRI suppression is estimated to be ~10 $\mu$m/sec. After an additional annealing of the sample at $T= 1.8$ K for 12 hours, ~ 10% relative increase of NCRI fraction was observed. Then after repeated annealing with the same conditions, the NCRI fraction was saturated. It differs from Reppy's observation on a low pressure solid sample.Comment: to be published in J. of Low Temp. Phys. (QFS2006 proceedings

Binding of molecules to DNA and other semiflexible polymers

A theory is presented for the binding of small molecules such as surfactants to semiflexible polymers. The persistence length is assumed to be large compared to the monomer size but much smaller than the total chain length. Such polymers (e.g. DNA) represent an intermediate case between flexible polymers and stiff, rod-like ones, whose association with small molecules was previously studied. The chains are not flexible enough to actively participate in the self-assembly, yet their fluctuations induce long-range attractive interactions between bound molecules. In cases where the binding significantly affects the local chain stiffness, those interactions lead to a very sharp, cooperative association. This scenario is of relevance to the association of DNA with surfactants and compact proteins such as RecA. External tension exerted on the chain is found to significantly modify the binding by suppressing the fluctuation-induced interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, RevTex, the published versio

Decay of Superflow Confined in Thin Torus: A Realization of Tunneling Quantum Fields

The quantum nucleation of phase slips in neutral superfluids confined in a thin torus is investigated by means of the collective coordinate method. We have devised, with numerical justification, a certain collective coordinate to describe the quantum nucleation process of a phase slip. Considering the quantum fluctuation around the local minimum of the action, we calculate the effective mass of the phase slip. Due to the coherence of the condensate throughout the torus, the effective mass is proportional to the circumference L of the torus, and the decay rate has a strong exponential L-dependence.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, REVTe

Study of Kosterlitz-Thouless transition of Bose systems governed by a random potential using quantum Monte Carlo simulations

We perform quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study the 2D hard-core Bose-Hubbard model in a random potential. Our motivation is to investigate the effects of randomness on the Kosterlitz--Thouless (KT) transition. The chemical potential is assumed to be random, by site, with a Gaussian distribution. The KT transition is confirmed by a finite-size analysis of the superfluid density and the power-law decay of the correlation function. By varying the variance of the Gaussian distribution, we find that the transition temperature decreases as the variance increases. We obtain the phase diagram showing the superfluid and disordered phases, and estimate the quantum critical point (QCP). Our results on the ground state reveal the existence of the Bose glass phase. Finally, we discuss what the value of the variance at the QCP indicates from the viewpoint of percolation.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in JPS

Time-dependent approach to three-body rearrangement collisions: Application to the capture of heavy negatively charged particles by hydrogen atoms

We present a theoretical method for Coulomb three-body rearrangement collisions solving a Chew-Goldberger-type integral equation directly. The scattering boundary condition is automatically satisfied by adiabatically switching on the interaction between the projectile and hydrogen atom. Hence the outgoing wave function is obtained without the tedious procedure of adjusting the total wave function in the asymptotic region. All the dynamical information can be derived from the outgoing wave function obtained on pseudospectral grids numerically. Taking µ−+H(1s) and [overline p]+H(1s) collisions as examples, we demonstrate the usefulness and powerfulness of the method and present the state-specified capture cross sections of heavy negatively charged particles by hydrogen atoms. The convergence and accuracy of the numerical procedure are examined with sufficient care