15,946 research outputs found
Analytical and numerical studies of disordered spin-1 Heisenberg chains with aperiodic couplings
We investigate the low-temperature properties of the one-dimensional spin-1
Heisenberg model with geometric fluctuations induced by aperiodic but
deterministic coupling distributions, involving two parameters. We focus on two
aperiodic sequences, the Fibonacci sequence and the 6-3 sequence. Our goal is
to understand how these geometric fluctuations modify the physics of the
(gapped) Haldane phase, which corresponds to the ground state of the uniform
spin-1 chain. We make use of different adaptations of the strong-disorder
renormalization-group (SDRG) scheme of Ma, Dasgupta and Hu, widely employed in
the study of random spin chains, supplemented by quantum Monte Carlo and
density-matrix renormalization-group numerical calculations, to study the
nature of the ground state as the coupling modulation is increased. We find no
phase transition for the Fibonacci chain, while we show that the 6-3 chain
exhibits a phase transition to a gapless, aperiodicity-dominated phase similar
to the one found for the aperiodic spin-1/2 XXZ chain. Contrary to what is
verified for random spin-1 chains, we show that different adaptations of the
SDRG scheme may lead to different qualitative conclusions about the nature of
the ground state in the presence of aperiodic coupling modulations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Effect of Static Disorder in an Electron Fabry-Perot Interferometer with Two Quantum Scattering Centers
In a recent paper -- F. Ciccarello \emph{et al.}, New J. Phys. \textbf{8},
214 (2006) -- we have demonstrated that the electron transmission properties of
a one-dimensional (1D) wire with two identical embedded spin-1/2 impurities can
be significantly affected by entanglement between the spins of the scattering
centers. Such effect is of particular interest in the control of transmission
of quantum information in nanostructures and can be used as a detection scheme
of maximally entangled states of two localized spins. In this letter, we relax
the constraint that the two magnetic impurities are equal and investigate how
the main results presented in the above paper are affected by a static disorder
in the exchange coupling constants of the impurities. Good robustness against
deviation from impurity symmetry is found for both the entanglement dependent
transmission and the maximally entangled states generation scheme.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
The Anomalous Hall effect in re-entrant AuFe alloys and the real space Berry phase
The Hall effect has been studied in a series of AuFe samples in the
re-entrant concentration range, as well as in the spin glass range. The data
demonstrate that the degree of canting of the local spins strongly modifies the
anomalous Hall effect, in agreement with theoretical predictions associating
canting, chirality and a real space Berry phase. The canonical parametrization
of the Hall signal for magnetic conductors becomes inappropriate when local
spins are canted.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figur
Duration of Low Wage Employment: A Study Based on a Survival Model
This paper includes a survival analysis which attempts to explain the duration, as in the number of years a worker remains in a low wage situation. Explanatory variables take into account the characteristics of the employee, such as education, age, tenure with the company, gender and nationality, and the characteristics of the job and the company such as industry affiliation, number of employees, age of the company and location.low wage, survival, Portugal
All-optical trapping and acceleration of heavy particles
A scheme for fast, compact, and controllable acceleration of heavy particles
in vacuum is proposed, in which two counterpropagating lasers with variable
frequencies drive a beat-wave structure with variable phase velocity, thus
allowing for trapping and acceleration of heavy particles, such as ions or
muons. Fine control over the energy distribution and the total charge of the
beam is obtained via tuning of the frequency variation. The acceleration scheme
is described with a one-dimensional theory, providing the general conditions
for trapping and scaling laws for the relevant features of the particle beam.
Two-dimensional, electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations confirm the
validity and the robustness of the physical mechanism.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to appear in New Journal of Physic
Microbial activity in soil cultivated with sugarcane: effect of the amount of straw retained in the soil.
Sugarcane cultivation has gone through intense changes in the management practices due to the introduction of mechanical harvesting and the possibility of using nitrogen fixing bacteria (NFB). The use of this inoculant can reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizers without compromising culture productivity. However, mechanical harvesting generates significant amounts of straw, which are returned to the soil. The sugar-alcohol sector has questioned the amount of straw that should stay on the soil, considering its demand for energy purposes and the production of second generation ethanol. In order to develop and adopt sustainable management practices, one must quantify the possible impacts on the environment. Microbiological parameters have been widely used for this end, since they are more sensitive to changes in cultivation. The objective was to study the effect of maintaining differentiated amounts of straw on the soil, after harvesting the sugarcane, on some chemical and microbiological soil parameters. In all the treatments the sugarcane was inoculated with NFB
Chemical composition and activity of a biofilm during the start-up of an airlift reactor
For the successful operation of a biofilm reactor, it is important to characterise the fixed biomass,
its activity and composition. The purpose of this research was to monitor the biofilm characteristics of an
airlift reactor, namely its composition in terms of exopolymers (polysaccharides and proteins), attached
biomass, thickness, total proteins, as well as its activity in terms of substrate consumption rates. During the
early phases of biofilm development, a high exopolymer production was observed, which helped in
promoting the initial cell adhesion. The high turbulence with strong abrasive conditions might also trigger the
excretion of those polymers. Low levels of extracellular proteins were detected, showing that the proteins in
the biofilm were mainly intracellular. The biofilm accumulation on the carrier was accompanied by an
increased biological activity; however, at the end of the experiment, the specific substrate consumption rate
decreased, probably because of a reduction of the cell density within the biofilm.Fundação para a CiĂȘncia e a Tecnologia (FCT) â PRAXIS XXI/BM/6699/95
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