447 research outputs found
Quasiparticle excitations in frustrated antiferromagnets
We have computed the quasiparticle wave function corresponding to a hole
injected in a triangular antiferromagnet. We have taken into account
multi-magnon contributions within the self consistent Born approximation. We
have found qualitative differences, under sign reversal of the integral
transfer t, regarding the multi-magnon components and the own existence of the
quasiparticle excitations. Such differences are due to the subtle interplay
between magnon-assisted and free hopping mechanisms. We conclude that the
conventional quasiparticle picture can be broken by geometrical frustration
without invoking spin liquid phases.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, presented at " At the Frontiers of the condensed
Matter II, Buenos Aires. June, 2004 ". To be published in Physica
On the Presence of Thermal SZ Induced Signal in the First Year WMAP Temperature Maps
Using available optical and X-ray catalogues of clusters and superclusters of
galaxies, we build templates of tSZ emission as they should be detected by the
WMAP experiment. We compute the cross-correlation of our templates with WMAP
temperature maps, and interpret our results separately for clusters and for
superclusters of galaxies. For clusters of galaxies, we claim 2-5
detections in our templates built from BCS Ebeling et al. (1998), NORAS
(Boehringer et al. 2000) and de Grandi et al. (1999) catalogues. In these
templates, the typical cluster temperature decrements in WMAP maps are around
15-35 K in the RJ range (no beam deconvolution applied). Several tests
probing the possible influence of foregrounds in our analyses demonstrate that
our results are robust against galactic contamination. On supercluster scales,
we detect a diffuse component in the V & W WMAP bands which cannot be generated
by superclusters in our catalogues (Einasto et al. 1994, 1997), and which is
not present in the clean map of Tegmark, de Oliveira-Costa & Hamilton (2003).
Using this clean map, our analyses yield, for Einasto's supercluster
catalogues, the following upper limit for the comptonization parameter
associated to supercluster scales: y_{SC} < 2.18 \time s 10^{-8} at the 95%
confidence limit.Comment: MNRAS accepted. New section and minor changes include
Effects of semiclassical spiral fluctuations on hole dynamics
We investigate the dynamics of a single hole coupled to the spiral
fluctuations related to the magnetic ground states of the antiferromagnetic
J_1-J_2-J_3 Heisenberg model on a square lattice. Using exact diagonalization
on finite size clusters and the self consistent Born approximation in the
thermodynamic limit we find, as a general feature, a strong reduction of the
quasiparticle weight along the spiral phases of the magnetic phase diagram. For
an important region of the Brillouin Zone the hole spectral functions are
completely incoherent, whereas at low energies the spectral weight is
redistributed on several irregular peaks. We find a characteristic value of the
spiral pitch, Q=(0.7,0.7)\pi, for which the available phase space for hole
scattering is maximum. We argue that this behavior is due to the non trivial
interference of the magnon assisted and the free hopping mechanism for hole
motion, characteristic of a hole coupled to semiclassical spiral fluctuations.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Spectral formation in a radiative shock: application to anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma-ray repeaters
In the fallback disk model for the persistent emission of Anomalous X-ray
pulsars (AXPs) and soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs), the hard X-ray emission
arises from bulk- and thermal Comptonization of bremsstrahlung photons, which
are generated in the accretion column. The relatively low X-ray luminosity of
these sources implies a moderate transverse optical depth to electron
scattering, with photons executing a small number of shock crossings before
escaping sideways. We explore the range of spectral shapes that can be obtained
with this model and characterize the most important parameter dependencies. We
use a Monte Carlo code to study the crisscrossing of photons in a radiative
shock in an accretion column and compute the resulting spectrum. As expected,
high-energy power-law X-ray spectra are produced in radiative shocks with
photon-number spectral index larger than or about 0.5. We find that the
required transverse optical depth is between 1 and 7. Such spectra are observed
in low-luminosity X-ray pulsars. We demonstrate here with a simple model that
Compton upscattering in the radiative shock in the accretion column can produce
hard X-ray spectra similar to those seen in the persistent and transient
emission of AXPs and SGRs. In particular, one can obtain a high-energy
power-law spectrum, with photon-number spectral index ~ 1 and a cutoff at 100 -
200 keV, with a transverse Thomson optical depth of ~ 5, which is shown to be
typical in AXPs/SGRs.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Small-Angle Scattering of X-Rays from Extragalactic Sources by Dust in Intervening Galaxies
Gamma-ray bursts are now known to be a cosmological population of objects,
which are often accompanied by X-ray and optical afterglows. The total energy
emitted in the afterglow can be similar to the energy radiated in the gamma-ray
burst itself. If a galaxy containing a large column density of dust is near the
line of sight to a gamma-ray burst, small-angle scattering of the X-rays due to
diffraction by the dust grains will give rise to an X-ray echo of the
afterglow. A measurement of the angular size of the echo at a certain time
after the afterglow is observed yields a combination of the angular diameter
distances to the scattering galaxy and the gamma-ray burst that can be used to
constrain cosmological models in the same way as a time delay in a
gravitational lens. The scattering galaxy will generally cause gravitational
lensing as well, and this should modify the shape of the X-ray echo from a
circular ring.
The main difficulty in detecting this phenomenon is the very low flux
expected for the echo. The flux can be increased when the gamma-ray burst is
highly magnified by gravitational lensing, or when the deflecting galaxy is at
low redshift. X-ray echos of continuous (but variable) sources, such as
quasars, may also be detectable with high-resolution instruments and would
allow similar measurements.Comment: To be published in Ap
Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Radio-Selected Galaxy Overdensity at z=1.11
We report the discovery of a galaxy overdensity at z=1.11 associated with the
z=1.110 high-redshift radio galaxy MG0442+0202. The group, CL0442+0202, was
found in a near-infrared survey of z>1 radio galaxies undertaken to identify
spatially-coincident regions with a high density of objects red in I-K' color,
typical of z>1 elliptical galaxies. Spectroscopic observations from the Keck
telescope reveal five galaxies within 35" of MG0442+0202 at 1.10<z<1.11. These
member galaxies have broad-band colors and optical spectra consistent with
passively-evolving elliptical galaxies formed at high redshift. A 45ks Chandra
X-Ray Observatory observation detects the radio galaxy and four point sources
within 15" of the radio galaxy, corresponding to a surface density two orders
of magnitude higher than average for X-ray sources at these flux levels,
S(0.5-2keV) > 5e-16 erg/cm2/s. One of these point sources is identified with a
radio-quiet, typeII quasar at z=1.863, akin to sources recently reported in
deep Chandra surveys. The limit on an extended hot intracluster medium in the
Chandra data is S(1-6keV) < 1.9e-15 erg/cm2/s (3-sigma, 30" radius aperture).
Though the X-ray observations do not confirm the existence of a massive, bound
cluster at z>1, the success of the optical/near-infrared targeting of
early-type systems near the radio galaxy validates searches using radio
galaxies as beacons for high-redshift large-scale structure. We interpret
CL0442+0202 to be a massive cluster in the process of formation.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure
Classical Antiferromagnetism in Kinetically Frustrated Electronic Models
We study the infinite U Hubbard model with one hole doped away half-filling,
in triangular and square lattices with frustrated hoppings that invalidate
Nagaoka's theorem, by means of the density matrix renormalization group. We
find that these kinetically frustrated models have antiferromagnetic ground
states with classical local magnetization in the thermodynamic limit. We
identify the mechanism of this kinetic antiferromagnetism with the release of
the kinetic energy frustration as the hole moves in the established
antiferromagnetic background. This release can occurs in two different ways: by
a non-trivial spin-Berry phase acquired by the hole or by the effective
vanishing of the hopping amplitude along the frustrating loops.Comment: 12 pages and 4 figures, with Supplementary Material. To be published
in Phys. Rev. Let
A test of the bosonic spinon theory for the triangular antiferromagnet spectrum
We compute the dynamical structure factor of the spin-1/2 triangular
Heisenberg model using the mean field Schwinger boson theory. We find that a
reconstructed dispersion, resulting from a non trivial redistribution of the
spectral weight, agrees quite well with the spin excitation spectrum recently
found with series expansions. In particular, we recover the strong
renormalization with respect to linear spin wave theory along with the
appearance of roton-like minima. Furthermore, near the roton-like minima the
contribution of the two spinon continuum to the static structure factor is
about 40 % of the total weight. By computing the density-density dynamical
structure factor, we identify an unphysical weak signal of the spin excitation
spectrum with the relaxation of the local constraint of the Schwinger bosons at
the mean field level. Based on the accurate description obtained for the static
and dynamic ground state properties, we argue that the bosonic spinon theory
should be considered seriously as a valid alternative to interpret the physics
of the triangular Heisenberg model.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, extended version including: a table with ground
state energy and magnetization; and the density-density dynamical structure
factor. Accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
- …