Exactly solvable model of a quantum spin glass

A mean field spherical model with random couplings between pairs, quartets, and possibly higher multiplets of spins is considered. It has the same critical behavior as the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model. It thus exhibits replica symmetry breaking. The order parameter function is solved exactly in the whole low temperature phase. The zero field cooled susceptibility remains finite at low $T$. Next a quantum version of the system is considered. Whereas the magnetic properties are not altered qualitatively, the thermodynamics is now regular at small temperatures.Comment: 4 pages postscript. Revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Reanalysis of the FEROS observations of HIP 11952

Aims. We reanalyze FEROS observations of the star HIP 11952 to reassess the existence of the proposed planetary system. Methods. The radial velocity of the spectra were measured by cross-correlating the observed spectrum with a synthetic template. We also analyzed a large dataset of FEROS and HARPS archival data of the calibrator HD 10700 spanning over more than five years. We compared the barycentric velocities computed by the FEROS and HARPS pipelines. Results. The barycentric correction of the FEROS-DRS pipeline was found to be inaccurate and to introduce an artificial one-year period with a semi-amplitude of 62 m/s. Thus the reanalysis of the FEROS data does not support the existence of planets around HIP 11952.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Structural properties in Sr0.61a0.39Nb2O6 in the temperature range 10 K to 500 K investigated by high-resolution neutron powder diffraction and specific heat measurements

We report high-resolution neutron powder diffraction on Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6, SBN61, in the temperature range 15-500 K. The results indicate that the low-temperature anomalies (T<100K) observed in the dielectric dispersion are due to small changes in the incommensurate modulation of the NbO6-octahedra, as no structural phase transition of the average structure was observed. This interpretation is supported by specific heat measurements, which show no latent heat, but a glass-like behavior at low temperatures. Furthermore we find that the structural changes connected with the ferroelectric phase transition at Tc approx. 350K start already at 200K, explaining the anisotropic thermal expansion in the temperature range 200-300K observed in a recent x-ray diffraction study.Comment: Accepted by PRB (2006

Parisi Phase in a Neuron

Pattern storage by a single neuron is revisited. Generalizing Parisi's framework for spin glasses we obtain a variational free energy functional for the neuron. The solution is demonstrated at high temperature and large relative number of examples, where several phases are identified by thermodynamical stability analysis, two of them exhibiting spontaneous full replica symmetry breaking. We give analytically the curved segments of the order parameter function and in representative cases compute the free energy, the storage error, and the entropy.Comment: 4 pages in prl twocolumn format + 3 Postscript figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Fluorescence Blinking and Photobleaching of Single Terrylenediimide Molecules Studied with a Confocal Microscope

Single terrylenediimide molecules diluted in a 20-nm-thick polyvinylbutyral polymer film were localized and observed by scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy. A modular and compact confocal microscope and the high optical stability of the molecules allowed a repeated imaging and observation over >5 h at room temperature. Most of the molecules showed several “on-off-on” transitions (blinking) on a time scale from seconds to hours, before permanent bleaching occurred. We determined that >1.5 × 10^7 fluorescence photons are emitted from the most-stable molecules before the final bleaching step occurs. Despite the “on-off-on” transitions, however, the overall change in fluorescence intensity, either integrated over each image of a time series or summed for several individual molecules, resembled an exponential-like decay, familiar from measurements of many-molecule ensembles. We also observed the polarization of the fluorescence from single molecules during excitation with circular polarized light. From these measurements, possible rotations of the molecular dipoles were studied. Over a span of 5 h, the polarization angle in most cases did not change by >15-20°. This may explain the slow and small intensity changes but excludes molecular rotation as a reason for the blinking behavior

Evolution of dopant-induced helium nanoplasmas

Two-component nanoplasmas generated by strong-field ionization of doped helium nanodroplets are studied in a pump-probe experiment using few-cycle laser pulses in combination with molecular dynamics simulations. High yields of helium ions and a pronounced, droplet size-dependent resonance structure in the pump-probe transients reveal the evolution of the dopant-induced helium nanoplasma. The pump-probe dynamics is interpreted in terms of strong inner ionization by the pump pulse and resonant heating by the probe pulse which controls the final charge states detected via the frustration of electron-ion recombination

To maximize or not to maximize the free energy of glassy systems, !=?

The static free energy of glassy systems can be expressed in terms of the Parisi order parameter function. When this function has a discontinuity, the location of the step is determined by maximizing the free energy. In dynamics a transition is found at larger temperature, while the location of the step satisfies a marginality criterion. It is shown here that in a replica calculation this criterion minimizes the free energy. This leads to first order phase transitions at the dynamic transition point. Though the order parameter function is the same as in the long-time limit of a dynamical analysis, thermodynamics is different.Comment: 4 pages PostScript, one figur

Critical Dynamics of the Hybrid Monte Carlo Algorithm

We investigate the critical dynamics of the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm approaching the chiral limit of standard Wilson fermions. Our observations are based on time series of lengths O(5000) for a variety of observables. The lattice sizes are 16^3 x 32 and 24^3 x 40. We work at beta=5.6, and kappa=0.156, 0.157, 0.1575, 0.158, with 0.83 > m_pi/m_rho > 0.55. We find surprisingly small integrated autocorrelation times for local and extended observables. The dynamical critical exponent $z$ of the exponential autocorrelation time is compatible with 2. We estimate the total computational effort to scale between V^2 and V^2.25 towards the chiral limit.Comment: 3 pages, Latex with espcrc2.sty and postscript figures, Talk given at Lattice 9

One-Flavour Hybrid Monte Carlo with Wilson Fermions

The Wilson fermion determinant can be written as product of the determinants of two hermitian positive definite matrices. This formulation allows to simulate non-degenerate quark flavors by means of the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm. A major numerical difficulty is the occurrence of nested inversions. We construct a Uzawa iteration scheme which treats the nested system within one iterative process.Comment: 11 pages, to appear in proceedings of the workshop "Numerical Challenges in Lattice QCD", Springer Verla

New Limits to the Drift of Fundamental Constants from Laboratory Measurements

We have remeasured the absolute $1S$-$2S$ transition frequency $\nu_{\rm {H}}$ in atomic hydrogen. A comparison with the result of the previous measurement performed in 1999 sets a limit of $(-29\pm 57)$ Hz for the drift of $\nu_{\rm {H}}$ with respect to the ground state hyperfine splitting $\nu_{{\rm {Cs}}}$ in $^{133}$Cs. Combining this result with the recently published optical transition frequency in $^{199}$Hg$^+$ against $\nu_{\rm {Cs}}$ and a microwave $^{87}$Rb and $^{133}$Cs clock comparison, we deduce separate limits on $\dot{\alpha}/\alpha = (-0.9\pm 2.9)\times 10^{-15}$ yr$^{-1}$ and the fractional time variation of the ratio of Rb and Cs nuclear magnetic moments $\mu_{\rm {Rb}}/\mu_{\rm {Cs}}$ equal to $(-0.5 \pm 1.7)\times 10^{-15}$ yr$^{-1}$. The latter provides information on the temporal behavior of the constant of strong interaction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, LaTe