Physical Origin of the Boson Peak Deduced from a Two-Order-Parameter Model of Liquid

We propose that the boson peak originates from the (quasi-) localized vibrational modes associated with long-lived locally favored structures, which are intrinsic to a liquid state and are randomly distributed in a sea of normal-liquid structures. This tells us that the number density of locally favored structures is an important physical factor determining the intensity of the boson peak. In our two-order-parameter model of the liquid-glass transition, the locally favored structures act as impurities disturbing crystallization and thus lead to vitrification. This naturally explains the dependence of the intensity of the boson peak on temperature, pressure, and fragility, and also the close correlation between the boson peak and the first sharp diffraction peak (or prepeak).Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, An error in the reference (Ref. 7) was correcte

An XMM-Newton Observation of the Local Bubble Using a Shadowing Filament in the Southern Galactic Hemisphere

We present an analysis of the X-ray spectrum of the Local Bubble, obtained by simultaneously analyzing spectra from two XMM-Newton pointings on and off an absorbing filament in the Southern galactic hemisphere (b ~ -45 deg). We use the difference in the Galactic column density in these two directions to deduce the contributions of the unabsorbed foreground emission due to the Local Bubble, and the absorbed emission from the Galactic halo and the extragalactic background. We find the Local Bubble emission is consistent with emission from a plasma in collisional ionization equilibrium with a temperature $\log T_{LB} = 6.06^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$ and an emission measure of 0.018 cm^{-6} pc. Our measured temperature is in good agreement with values obtained from ROSAT All-Sky Survey data, but is lower than that measured by other recent XMM-Newton observations of the Local Bubble, which find $\log T_{LB} \approx 6.2$ (although for some of these observations it is possible that the foreground emission is contaminated by non-Local Bubble emission from Loop I). The higher temperature observed towards other directions is inconsistent with our data, when combined with a FUSE measurement of the Galactic halo O VI intensity. This therefore suggests that the Local Bubble is thermally anisotropic. Our data are unable to rule out a non-equilibrium model in which the plasma is underionized. However, an overionized recombining plasma model, while observationally acceptable for certain densities and temperatures, generally gives an implausibly young age for the Local Bubble (\la 6 \times 10^5 yr).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 16 pages, 9 figure

Primordial gravitational waves in inflationary braneworld

We study primordial gravitational waves from inflation in Randall-Sundrum braneworld model. The effect of small change of the Hubble parameter during inflation is investigated using a toy model given by connecting two de Sitter branes. We analyze the power spectrum of final zero-mode gravitons, which is generated from the vacuum fluctuations of both initial Kaluza-Klein modes and zero-mode. The amplitude of fluctuations is confirmed to agree with the four-dimensional one at low energies, whereas it is enhanced due to the normalization factor of zero-mode at high energies. We show that the five-dimensional spectrum can be well approximated by applying a simple mapping to the four-dimensional fluctuation amplitude.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, typos correcte

Hamiltonian Determination with Restricted Access in Transverse Field Ising Chain

We propose a method to evaluate parameters in the Hamiltonian of the Ising chain under site-dependent transverse fields, with a proviso that we can control and measure one of the edge spins only. We evaluate the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian and the time-evoultion operator exactly for a 3-spin chain, from which we obtain the expectation values of $\sigma_x$ of the first spin. The parameters are found from the peak positions of the Fourier transform of the expectation value. There are four assumptions in our method, which are mild enough to be satisfied in many physical systems.Comment: 15pages, 4 figure

Bayes-optimal inverse halftoning and statistical mechanics of the Q-Ising model

On the basis of statistical mechanics of the Q-Ising model, we formulate the Bayesian inference to the problem of inverse halftoning, which is the inverse process of representing gray-scales in images by means of black and white dots. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate statistical properties of the inverse process, especially, we reveal the condition of the Bayes-optimal solution for which the mean-square error takes its minimum. The numerical result is qualitatively confirmed by analysis of the infinite-range model. As demonstrations of our approach, we apply the method to retrieve a grayscale image, such as standard image `Lenna', from the halftoned version. We find that the Bayes-optimal solution gives a fine restored grayscale image which is very close to the original.Comment: 13pages, 12figures, using elsart.cl

Statistical mechanics of image restoration and error-correcting codes

We develop a statistical-mechanical formulation for image restoration and error-correcting codes. These problems are shown to be equivalent to the Ising spin glass with ferromagnetic bias under random external fields. We prove that the quality of restoration/decoding is maximized at a specific set of parameter values determined by the source and channel properties. For image restoration in mean-field system a line of optimal performance is shown to exist in the parameter space. These results are illustrated by solving exactly the infinite-range model. The solutions enable us to determine how precisely one should estimate unknown parameters. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to see how far the conclusions from the infinite-range model are applicable to the more realistic two-dimensional case in image restoration.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, ReVTe

Particle Spectrum Created Through Bubble Nucleation

Using the multi-dimensional wave function formalism, we investigate the quantum state of a scalar field inside a true vacuum bubble nucleated through false vacuum decay in flat spacetime. We developed a formalism which allows us a mode-by-mode analysis. To demonstrate its advantage, we describe in detail the evolution of the quantum state during the tunneling process in terms of individual mode functions and interpret the result in the language of particle creation. The spectrum of the created particles is examined based on quantum field theory in the Milne universe.Comment: 14 pages, revtex file, 4 uuencoded compressed postscript figures appended at the en

Braneworld reheating in the bulk inflaton model

In the context of the braneworld inflation driven by a bulk scalar field, we study the energy dissipation from the bulk scalar field into the matter on the brane in order to understand the reheating after inflation. Deriving the late-time behavior of the bulk field with dissipation by using the Green's function method, we give a rigorous justification of the statement that the standard reheating process is reproduced in this bulk inflaton model as long as the Hubble parameter on the brane and the mass of the bulk scalar field are much smaller than the 5-dimensional inverse curvature scale. Our result supports the idea that the brane inflation model caused by a bulk scalar field is expected to be a viable alternative scenario of the early universe.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, final version to be published in PR

Massive scalar states localized on a de Sitter brane

We consider a brane scenario with a massive scalar field in the five-dimensional bulk. We study the scalar states that are localized on the brane, which is assumed to be de Sitter. These localized scalar modes are massive in general, their effective four-dimensional mass depending on the mass of the five-dimensional scalar field, on the Hubble parameter in the brane and on the coupling between the brane tension and the bulk scalar field. We then introduce a purely four-dimensional approach based on an effective potential for the projection of the scalar field in the brane, and discuss its regime of validity. Finally, we explore the quasi-localized scalar states, which have a non-zero width that quantifies their probability of tunneling from the brane into the bulk.Comment: 14 pages; 5 figure