Topological Excitations near the Local Critical Point in the Dissipative 2D XY model

The dissipative XY model in two spatial dimensions belongs to a new universality class of quantum critical phenomena with the remarkable property of the decoupling of the critical fluctuations in space and time. We have shown earlier that the quantum critical point is driven by proliferation in time of topological configurations that we termed warps. We show here that a warp may be regarded as a configuration of a monopoles surrounded symmetrically by anti-monopoles so that the total charge of the configuration is zero. Therefore the interaction with other warps is local in space. They however interact with other warps at the same spatial point logarithmically in time. As a function of dissipation warps unbind leading to a quantum phase transition. The critical fluctuations are momentum independent but have power law correlations in time

Narasimham Committee Report - Some Further Ramifications and Suggestions

This paper while agreeing with the general thrust of the Narasimham Committee Report. Calls attention to some logical corollaries of the Report and analyses some possible fallout from implementing the Report. We agree with the view that control of banking system should be under an autonomous body supervised by the RBI. However at the level of individual banks, closer scrutiny of lending procedures may be called for than is envisaged in the Report. In a freely functioning capital market the potential of government bonds is enormous, but this necessitates restructuring of the government bond market. The government bonds may then also be used as suitable hedging mechanisms by introducing options and futures trading. We recommend freeing up the operation of pension and provident fund to enable at least partial investment of such funds in risky securities. In the corporate sector, we believe that the current 2:1 debt equity norm is too high and not sustainable in the long term. We envisage that high debt levels and higher interest rates, combined with higher business risk may result in greater incidence of corporate sickness. This may call for various schemes for retrenched workers and amendment to land laws for easy exit of companies. On account of interdependencies across different policies, any sequencing of their implementation may be highly problematic. We therefore suggest a near simultaneity in the implementation of various reforms in order to build up a momentum which would be irreversible if people are to have confidence that the reforms will endure, and if we are to retain our credibility with international financial institutions.

Heavy-Fermions in a Transition-Metal Compound: LiV2O4LiV_2O_4

The recent discovery of heavy-Fermion properties in Lithium Vanadate and the enormous difference in its properties from the properties of Lithium Titanate as well as of the manganite compounds raise some puzzling questions about strongly correlated Fermions. These are disscussed as well as a solution to the puzzles provided.Comment: late

Anomalous Resonance of the Symmetric Single-Impurity Anderson Model in the Presence of Pairing Fluctuations

We consider the symmetric single-impurity Anderson model in the presence of pairing fluctuations. In the isotropic limit, the degrees of freedom of the local impurity are separated into hybridizing and non-hybridizing modes. The self-energy for the hybridizing modes can be obtained exactly, leading to two subbands centered at $\pm U/2$. For the non-hybridizing modes, the second order perturbation yields a singular resonance of the marginal Fermi liquid form. By multiplicative renomalization, the self-energy is derived exactly, showing the resonance is pinned at the Fermi level, while its strength is weakened by renormalization.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, no figures. To be published in Physical Review Letter

Non - Fermi Liquid Behavior in Fluctuating Gap Model: From Pole to Zero of the Green's function

We analyze non - Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior of fluctuating gap model (FGM) of pseudogap behavior in both 1D and 2D. We discuss in detail quasiparticle renormalization (Z - factor), demonstrating a kind of "marginal" Fermi liquid or Luttinger liquid behavior and topological stability of the "bare" Fermi surface (Luttinger theorem). In 2D case we discuss effective picture of Fermi surface "destruction" both in "hot spots" model of dielectric (AFM, CDW) pseudogap fluctuations, as well as for qualitatively different case of superconducting d - wave fluctuations, reflecting NFL spectral density behavior and similar to that observed in ARPES experiments on copper oxides.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconducting surfaces under electric fields

A boundary condition for the Ginzburg-Landau wave function at surfaces biased by a strong electric field is derived within the de Gennes approach. This condition provides a simple theory of the field effect on the critical temperature of superconducting layers.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Swimming statistics of cargo-loaded single bacteria

Burgeoning interest in the area of bacteria-powered micro robotic systems prompted us to study the dynamics of cargo transport by single bacteria. In this paper, we have studied the swimming behaviour of oil-droplets attached as a cargo to the cell bodies of single bacteria. The oil-droplet loaded bacteria exhibit super-diffusive motion which is characterized by high degree of directional persistence. Interestingly, bacteria could navigate even when loaded with oil-droplets as large as 8 microns with an effective increase in rotational drag by more than 2 orders when compared to free bacteria. Further, the directional persistence of oil-droplet loaded bacteria was independent of the cargo size

Hints of spin-orbit resonances in the binary black hole population

Binary black hole spin measurements from gravitational wave observations can reveal the binary's evolutionary history. In particular, the spin orientations of the component black holes within the orbital plane, $\phi_1$ and $\phi_2$, can be used to identify binaries caught in the so-called spin-orbit resonances. In a companion paper, we demonstrate that $\phi_1$ and $\phi_2$ are best measured near the merger of the two black holes. In this work, we use these spin measurements to provide the first constraints on the full six-dimensional spin distribution of merging binary black holes. In particular, we find that there is a preference for $\Delta \phi = \phi_1 - \phi_2 \sim \pm \pi$ in the population, which can be a signature of spin-orbit resonances. We also find a preference for $\phi_1 \sim -\pi/4$ with respect to the line of separation near merger, which has not been predicted for any astrophysical formation channel. However, the strength of these preferences depends on our prior choices, and we are unable to constrain the widths of the $\phi_1$ and $\Delta \phi$ distributions. Therefore, more observations are necessary to confirm the features we find. Finally, we derive constraints on the distribution of recoil kicks in the population, and use this to estimate the fraction of merger remnants retained by globular and nuclear star clusters. We make our spin and kick population constraints publicly available

Measuring binary black hole orbital-plane spin orientations

Binary black hole spins are among the key observables for gravitational wave astronomy. Among the spin parameters, their orientations within the orbital plane, $\phi_1$, $\phi_2$ and $\Delta \phi=\phi_1-\phi_2$, are critical for understanding the prevalence of the spin-orbit resonances and merger recoils in binary black holes. Unfortunately, these angles are particularly hard to measure using current detectors, LIGO and Virgo. Because the spin directions are not constant for precessing binaries, the traditional approach is to measure the spin components at some reference stage in the waveform evolution, typically the point at which the frequency of the detected signal reaches 20 Hz. However, we find that this is a poor choice for the orbital-plane spin angle measurements. Instead, we propose measuring the spins at a fixed dimensionless time or frequency near the merger. This leads to significantly improved measurements for $\phi_1$ and $\phi_2$ for several gravitational wave events. Furthermore, using numerical relativity injections, we demonstrate that $\Delta \phi$ will also be better measured near the merger for louder signals expected in the future. Finally, we show that numerical relativity surrogate models are key for reliably measuring the orbital-plane spin orientations, even at moderate signal-to-noise ratios like $\sim 30-45$

Up-down instability of binary black holes in numerical relativity

Binary black holes with spins that are aligned with the orbital angular momentum do not precess. However, post-Newtonian calculations predict that "up-down" binaries, in which the spin of the heavier (lighter) black hole is aligned (antialigned) with the orbital angular momentum, are unstable when the spins are slightly perturbed from perfect alignment. This instability provides a possible mechanism for the formation of precessing binaries in environments where sources are preferentially formed with (anti) aligned spins. In this paper, we present the first full numerical relativity simulations capturing this instability. These simulations span $\sim 100$ orbits and $\sim 3$-$5$ precession cycles before merger, making them some of the longest numerical relativity simulations to date. Initialized with a small perturbation of $1^{\circ}$-$10^{\circ}$, the instability causes a dramatic growth of the spin misalignments, which can reach $\sim 90^{\circ}$ near merger. We show that this leaves a strong imprint on the subdominant modes of the gravitational wave signal, which can potentially be used to distinguish up-down binaries from other sources. Finally, we show that post-Newtonian and effective-one-body approximants are able to reproduce the unstable dynamics of up-down binaries extracted from numerical relativity