Chemical potential shift in La(1-x)Sr(x)MnO(3): Photoemission test of the phase separation scenario

We have studied the chemical potential shift in La(1-x)Sr(x)MnO(3) as a function of doped hole concentration by core-level x-ray photoemission. The shift is monotonous, which means that there is no electronic phase separation on a macroscopic scale, whereas it is consistent with the nano-meter scale cluster formation induced by chemical disorder. Comparison of the observed shift with the shift deduced from the electronic specific heat indicates that hole doping in La(1-x)Sr(x)MnO(3) is well described by the rigid-band picture. In particular no mass enhancement toward the metal-insulator boundary was implied by the chemical potential shift, consistent with the electronic specific heat data.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Europhysics Letter

Strong Resonance of Light in a Cantor Set

The propagation of an electromagnetic wave in a one-dimensional fractal object, the Cantor set, is studied. The transfer matrix of the wave amplitude is formulated and its renormalization transformation is analyzed. The focus is on resonant states in the Cantor set. In Cantor sets of higher generations, some of the resonant states closely approach the real axis of the wave number, leaving between them a wide region free of resonant states. As a result, wide regions of nearly total reflection appear with sharp peaks of the transmission coefficient beside them. It is also revealed that the electromagnetic wave is strongly enhanced and localized in the cavity of the Cantor set near the resonant frequency. The enhancement factor of the wave amplitude at the resonant frequency is approximately $6/|\eta_\mathrm{r}|$, where $\eta_\mathrm{r}$ is the imaginary part of the corresponding resonant eigenvalue. For example, a resonant state of the lifetime $\tau_\mathrm{r}=4.3$ms and of the enhancement factor $M=7.8\times10^7$ is found at the resonant frequency $\omega_\mathrm{r}=367$GHz for the Cantor set of the fourth generation of length L=10cm made of a medium of the dielectric constant $\epsilon=10$.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Journal of the Physical Society of Japa

Eccentricities of Planets in Binary Systems

The most puzzling property of the extrasolar planets discovered by recent radial velocity surveys is their high orbital eccentricities, which are very difficult to explain within our current theoretical paradigm for planet formation. Current data reveal that at least 25% of these planets, including some with particularly high eccentricities, are orbiting a component of a binary star system. The presence of a distant companion can cause significant secular perturbations in the orbit of a planet. At high relative inclinations, large-amplitude, periodic eccentricity perturbations can occur. These are known as "Kozai cycles" and their amplitude is purely dependent on the relative orbital inclination. Assuming that every planet host star also has a (possibly unseen, e.g., substellar) distant companion, with reasonable distributions of orbital parameters and masses, we determine the resulting eccentricity distribution of planets and compare it to observations? We find that perturbations from a binary companion always appear to produce an excess of planets with both very high (e>0.6) and very low (e<0.1) eccentricities. The paucity of near-circular orbits in the observed sample implies that at least one additional mechanism must be increasing eccentricities. On the other hand, the overproduction of very high eccentricities observed in our models could be combined with plausible circularization mechanisms (e.g., friction from residual gas) to create more planets with intermediate eccentricities (e=0.1-0.6).Comment: 8 pages, to appear in "Close Binaries in the 21st Century: New Opportunities and Challenges", ed. A. Gimenez et al. (Springer

Location of the Multicritical Point for the Ising Spin Glass on the Triangular and Hexagonal Lattices

A conjecture is given for the exact location of the multicritical point in the phase diagram of the +/- J Ising model on the triangular lattice. The result p_c=0.8358058 agrees well with a recent numerical estimate. From this value, it is possible to derive a comparable conjecture for the exact location of the multicritical point for the hexagonal lattice, p_c=0.9327041, again in excellent agreement with a numerical study. The method is a variant of duality transformation to relate the triangular lattice directly with its dual triangular lattice without recourse to the hexagonal lattice, in conjunction with the replica method.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure; Minor corrections in notatio

Statistical mechanical analysis of the linear vector channel in digital communication

A statistical mechanical framework to analyze linear vector channel models in digital wireless communication is proposed for a large system. The framework is a generalization of that proposed for code-division multiple-access systems in Europhys. Lett. 76 (2006) 1193 and enables the analysis of the system in which the elements of the channel transfer matrix are statistically correlated with each other. The significance of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by assessing the performance of an existing model of multi-input multi-output communication systems.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Could the Ultra Metal-poor Stars be Chemically Peculiar and Not Related to the First Stars?

Chemically peculiar stars define a class of stars that show unusual elemental abundances due to stellar photospheric effects and not due to natal variations. In this paper, we compare the elemental abundance patterns of the ultra metal-poor stars with metallicities [Fe/H] $\sim -5$ to those of a subclass of chemically peculiar stars. These include post-AGB stars, RV Tauri variable stars, and the Lambda Bootis stars, which range in mass, age, binarity, and evolutionary status, yet can have iron abundance determinations as low as [Fe/H] $\sim -5$. These chemical peculiarities are interpreted as due to the separation of gas and dust beyond the stellar surface, followed by the accretion of dust depleted-gas. Contrary to this, the elemental abundances in the ultra metal-poor stars are thought to represent yields of the most metal-poor supernova and, therefore, observationally constrain the earliest stages of chemical evolution in the Universe. The abundance of the elements in the photospheres of the ultra metal-poor stars appear to be related to the condensation temperature of that element; if so, then their CNO abundances suggest true metallicities of [X/H]~ -2 to -4, rather than their present metallicities of [Fe/H] < -5.Comment: Accepted for ApJ. 17 pages, 10 figure