A quantum Mermin--Wagner theorem for quantum rotators on two--dimensional graphs

This is the first of a series of papers considering symmetry properties of quantum systems over 2D graphs or manifolds, with continuous spins, in the spirit of the Mermin--Wagner theorem. In the model considered here (quantum rotators) the phase space of a single spin is a $d-$dimensional torus, and spins (or particles) are attached to sites of a graph satisfying a special bi-dimensionality property. The kinetic energy part of the Hamiltonian is minus a half of the Laplace operator. We assume that the interaction potential is C$^2$-smooth and invariant under the action of a connected Lie group {\ttG}. A part of our approach is to give a definition (and a construction) of a class of infinite-volume Gibbs states for the systems under consideration (the class \fG). This class contains the so-called limit Gibbs states, with or without boundary conditions. We use ideas and techniques originated from various past papers, in combination with the Feynman--Kac representation, to prove that any state lying in the class \fG (defined in the text) is {\ttG}-invariant. An example is given where the interaction potential is singular and there exists a Gibbs state which is not {\ttG}-invariant. In the next paper under the same title we establish a similar result for a bosonic model where particles can jump from a vertex of the graph to one of its neighbors (a generalized Hubbard model).Comment: 27 page

Energy-efficient coding with discrete stochastic events

We investigate the energy efficiency of signaling mechanisms that transfer information by means of discrete stochastic events, such as the opening or closing of an ion channel. Using a simple model for the generation of graded electrical signals by sodium and potassium channels, we find optimum numbers of channels that maximize energy efficiency. The optima depend on several factors: the relative magnitudes of the signaling cost (current flow through channels), the fixed cost of maintaining the system, the reliability of the input, additional sources of noise, and the relative costs of upstream and downstream mechanisms. We also analyze how the statistics of input signals influence energy efficiency. We find that energy-efficient signal ensembles favor a bimodal distribution of channel activations and contain only a very small fraction of large inputs when energy is scarce. We conclude that when energy use is a significant constraint, trade-offs between information transfer and energy can strongly influence the number of signaling molecules and synapses used by neurons and the manner in which these mechanisms represent information

Metal-insulator transition in an aperiodic ladder network: an exact result

We show, in a completely analytical way, that a tight binding ladder network composed of atomic sites with on-site potentials distributed according to the quasiperiodic Aubry model can exhibit a metal-insulator transition at multiple values of the Fermi energy. For specific values of the first and second neighbor electron hopping, the result is obtained exactly. With a more general model, we calculate the two-terminal conductance numerically. The numerical results corroborate the analytical findings and yield a richer variety of spectrum showing multiple mobility edges.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Spin-correlations and magnetic structure in an Fe monolayer on 5d transition metal surfaces

We present a detailed first principles study on the magnetic structure of an Fe monolayer on different surfaces of 5d transition metals. We use the spin-cluster expansion technique to obtain parameters of a spin model, and predict the possible magnetic ground state of the studied systems by employing the mean field approach and in certain cases by spin dynamics calculations. We point out that the number of shells considered for the isotropic exchange interactions plays a crucial role in the determination of the magnetic ground state. In the case of Ta substrate we demonstrate that the out-of-plane relaxation of the Fe monolayer causes a transition from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic ground state. We examine the relative magnitude of nearest neighbour Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (D) and isotropic (J) exchange interactions in order to get insight into the nature of magnetic pattern formations. For the Fe/Os(0001) system we calculate a very large D/J ratio, correspondingly, a spin spiral ground state. We find that, mainly through the leading isotropic exchange and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, the inward layer relaxation substantially influences the magnetic ordering of the Fe monolayer. For the Fe/Re(0001) system characterized by large antiferromagnetic interactions we also determine the chirality of the $120^{\circ}$ N\'eel-type ground state.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Explicit Representations for the T-Matrix on Unphysical Energy Sheets and Resonances in Two- and Three-Body Systems

We discuss the structure of the two- and three-body T-matrices, scattering matrices, and resolvents continued to the unphysical energy sheets. Our conclusions arise due to the representations that have been found for analytically continued momentum-space kernels of the T-operators. These representations are explicitly written only in terms of the physical-sheet kernels of the T-matrix itself. One of advantages of the representations in the three-body case is that they show which portions of the physical-sheet three-body scattering matrix are ``responsible'' for the resonances associated with a particular unphysical sheet. A resonance appears to be the energy where the correspondingly truncated scattering matrix (taken on the physical sheet) has eigenvalue zero. We also mention applications of this approach to some specific three-body systems, based on the Faddeev differential equations.Comment: Based on a lecture given at the International Workshop ``Critical Stability of Few-Body Quantum Systems'' (Dresden, October 17--22, 2005