Magnetic soft modes in the locally distorted triangular antiferromagnet alpha-CaCr2O4

In this paper we explore the phase diagram and excitations of a distorted triangular lattice antiferromagnet. The unique two-dimensional distortion considered here is very different from the 'isosceles'-type distortion that has been extensively investigated. We show that it is able to stabilize a 120{\deg} spin structure for a large range of exchange interaction values, while new structures are found for extreme distortions. A physical realization of this model is \alpha-CaCr2O4 which has 120{\deg} structure but lies very close to the phase boundary. This is verified by inelastic neutron scattering which reveals unusual roton-like minima at reciprocal space points different from those corresponding to the magnetic order.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and lots of spin-wave

Reply to Comment "Invalidity of classes of approximate Hall effect calculations."

We reply to the criticism raised by Ao in his Comment (cond-mat/9801180). Being unable to properly treat the Hall conductivity in a mixed state of superconductors, Ao is looking for possible mistakes in microscopic and phenomenological calculations, as well as in the corresponding experiments. The errors in his treatment of the problem (cond-mat/9704247) are analized. We indicate where the approach advocated by him fails to properly account for the interaction with impurities and other sources of relaxation.Comment: reply to Comment by Ao (cond-mat/9801180) on our paper in PRL, 79, 1377 (1997), revtex file, 1 page, no figure

Magnetism, X-rays, and Accretion Rates in WD 1145+017 and other Polluted White Dwarf Systems

This paper reports circular spectropolarimetry and X-ray observations of several polluted white dwarfs including WD 1145+017, with the aim to constrain the behavior of disk material and instantaneous accretion rates in these evolved planetary systems. Two stars with previously observed Zeeman splitting, WD 0322-019 and WD 2105-820, are detected above 5 sigma and > 1 kG, while WD 1145+017, WD 1929+011, and WD 2326+049 yield (null) detections below this minimum level of confidence. For these latter three stars, high-resolution spectra and atmospheric modeling are used to obtain limits on magnetic field strengths via the absence of Zeeman splitting, finding B* < 20 kG based on data with resolving power R near 40 000. An analytical framework is presented for bulk Earth composition material falling onto the magnetic polar regions of white dwarfs, where X-rays and cyclotron radiation may contribute to accretion luminosity. This analysis is applied to X-ray data for WD 1145+017, WD 1729+371, and WD 2326+049, and the upper bound count rates are modeled with spectra for a range of plasma kT = 1 - 10 keV in both the magnetic and non-magnetic accretion regimes. The results for all three stars are consistent with a typical dusty white dwarf in a steady-state at 1e8 - 1e9 g/s. In particular, the non-magnetic limits for WD 1145+017 are found to be well below previous estimates of up to 1e12 g/s, and likely below 1e10 g/s, thus suggesting the star-disk system may be average in its evolutionary state, and only special in viewing geometry.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables; accepted to MNRA

Rotating vortex core: An instrument for detecting the core excitations

Effects of fermionic zero modes (bound states in a vortex core) on the rotational dynamics of vortices with sponaneously broken axisymmetry are considered. The results are compared with the Helsinki experiments where the vortex cores were driven to a fast rotation and torsional oscillations by an NMR r.f. field (Kondo et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 81 (1991)). We predict a resonance NMR absorption on localized states at the external frequency comparable with the interelevel distance, which is similar to the cyclotron Landau damping. The resonances can experimentally resolve the localized levels in vortex cores. For a pure rotation of the core, the effect depends on the relative signs of the vortex winding number and of the core rotation; thus it is sensitive to the direction of rotation of the container. The similarity with the fermionic zero modes on the fundamental strings, which simulate the thermodynamics of black holes, is discussed.Comment: RevTex file, 7 pages, 1 Figure, extended and clarified after referee Reports, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Fusion products, Kostka polynomials, and fermionic characters of su(r+1)_k

Using a form factor approach, we define and compute the character of the fusion product of rectangular representations of \hat{su}(r+1). This character decomposes into a sum of characters of irreducible representations, but with q-dependent coefficients. We identify these coefficients as (generalized) Kostka polynomials. Using this result, we obtain a formula for the characters of arbitrary integrable highest-weight representations of \hat{su}(r+1) in terms of the fermionic characters of the rectangular highest weight representations.Comment: 21 pages; minor changes, typos correcte

An Algebraic Approach to Linear-Optical Schemes for Deterministic Quantum Computing

Linear-Optical Passive (LOP) devices and photon counters are sufficient to implement universal quantum computation with single photons, and particular schemes have already been proposed. In this paper we discuss the link between the algebraic structure of LOP transformations and quantum computing. We first show how to decompose the Fock space of N optical modes in finite-dimensional subspaces that are suitable for encoding strings of qubits and invariant under LOP transformations (these subspaces are related to the spaces of irreducible unitary representations of U(N)). Next we show how to design in algorithmic fashion LOP circuits which implement any quantum circuit deterministically. We also present some simple examples, such as the circuits implementing a CNOT gate and a Bell-State Generator/Analyzer.Comment: new version with minor modification