Amplitude expansion of the binary phase field crystal model

Amplitude representations of a binary phase field crystal model are developed for a two dimensional triangular lattice and three dimensional BCC and FCC crystal structures. The relationship between these amplitude equations and the standard phase field models for binary alloy solidification with elasticity are derived, providing an explicit connection between phase field crystal and phase field models. Sample simulations of solute migration at grain boundaries, eutectic solidification and quantum dot formation on nano-membranes are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Chiral Perturbation Theory for phi -> rho gamma gamma and phi -> omega gamma gamma

We predict differential decay distributions for phi->rho gamma gamma and phi -> omega gamma gamma using chiral perturbation theory. We also consider the isospin violating decay phi -> omega pi^0. Experimental information on these decays can be used to determine couplings in the heavy vector meson chiral Lagrangian.Comment: It was shown by P. Ko et al., hep-ph/9510205 (Phys. Lett. B366 (1996) 287), that there is a etaprime pole contribution that dominates over what we calculate

MacDowell-Mansouri gravity and Cartan geometry

The geometric content of the MacDowell-Mansouri formulation of general relativity is best understood in terms of Cartan geometry. In particular, Cartan geometry gives clear geometric meaning to the MacDowell-Mansouri trick of combining the Levi-Civita connection and coframe field, or soldering form, into a single physical field. The Cartan perspective allows us to view physical spacetime as tangentially approximated by an arbitrary homogeneous "model spacetime", including not only the flat Minkowski model, as is implicitly used in standard general relativity, but also de Sitter, anti de Sitter, or other models. A "Cartan connection" gives a prescription for parallel transport from one "tangent model spacetime" to another, along any path, giving a natural interpretation of the MacDowell-Mansouri connection as "rolling" the model spacetime along physical spacetime. I explain Cartan geometry, and "Cartan gauge theory", in which the gauge field is replaced by a Cartan connection. In particular, I discuss MacDowell-Mansouri gravity, as well as its more recent reformulation in terms of BF theory, in the context of Cartan geometry.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures. v2: many clarifications, typos correcte

Gauge Invariant Factorisation and Canonical Quantisation of Topologically Massive Gauge Theories in Any Dimension

Abelian topologically massive gauge theories (TMGT) provide a topological mechanism to generate mass for a bosonic p-tensor field in any spacetime dimension. These theories include the 2+1 dimensional Maxwell-Chern-Simons and 3+1 dimensional Cremmer-Scherk actions as particular cases. Within the Hamiltonian formulation, the embedded topological field theory (TFT) sector related to the topological mass term is not manifest in the original phase space. However through an appropriate canonical transformation, a gauge invariant factorisation of phase space into two orthogonal sectors is feasible. The first of these sectors includes canonically conjugate gauge invariant variables with free massive excitations. The second sector, which decouples from the total Hamiltonian, is equivalent to the phase space description of the associated non dynamical pure TFT. Within canonical quantisation, a likewise factorisation of quantum states thus arises for the full spectrum of TMGT in any dimension. This new factorisation scheme also enables a definition of the usual projection from TMGT onto topological quantum field theories in a most natural and transparent way. None of these results rely on any gauge fixing procedure whatsoever.Comment: 1+25 pages, no figure

Biomolecule surface patterning may enhance membrane association

Under dehydration conditions, amphipathic Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins fold spontaneously from a random conformation into alpha-helical structures and this transition is promoted by the presence of membranes. To gain insight into the thermodynamics of membrane association we model the resulting alpha-helical structures as infinite rigid cylinders patterned with hydrophobic and hydrophilic stripes oriented parallel to their axis. Statistical thermodynamic calculations using Single Chain Mean Field (SCMF) theory show that the relative thickness of the stripes controls the free energy of interaction of the alpha-helices with a phospholipid bilayer, as does the bilayer structure and the depth of the equilibrium penetration of the cylinders into the bilayer. The results may suggest the optimal thickness of the stripes to mimic the association of such protein with membranes.Comment: Published in ACS Nano http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/nn204736

Chiral Estimates of Strong CP Violation Revisited

The effects of the CP violating $\theta$ term in the QCD Lagrangian upon low energy hadronic phenomenology are reconsidered. Strong CP violating interactions among Goldstone bosons and octet baryons are incorporated into an effective chiral Lagrangian framework. The $\theta$ term's impact upon the decays $\eta\to\pi\pi$ and $\pi^0\to\gamma\gamma$ is then investigated but found to be extremely small. A refined model independent estimate of nonanalytic contributions to the neutron electric dipole moment is also determined using velocity dependent Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory. We obtain the approximate upper bound $|\theta| < 4.5 \times 10^{-10}$.Comment: 11 pages with 3 figures not included but available upon request, CALT-68-184

Measurement of Partial-Wave Contributions in pp --> pp pi^0

We report a measurement of the spin-dependent total cross section ratios delta_sigma_T/sigma_tot and delta_sigma_L/sigma_tot of the pp --> pp pi^0 reaction between 325 MeV and 400 MeV. The experiment was carried out with a polarized internal target in a storage ring. Non-vertical beam polarization was obtained by the use of solenoidal spin rotators. Near threshold, the knowledge of both spin-dependent total cross sections is sufficient to deduce the strength of certain participating partial waves, free of any model.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Analyzing Powers and Spin Correlation Coefficients for p+d Elastic Scattering at 135 and 200 MeV

The proton and deuteron analyzing powers and 10 of the possible 12 spin correlation coefficients have been measured for p+d elastic scattering at proton bombarding energies of 135 and 200 MeV. The results are compared with Faddeev calculations using two different NN potentials. The qualitative features of the extensive data set on the spin dependence in p+d elastic scattering over a wide range of angles presented here are remarkably well explained by two-nucleon force predictions without inclusion of a three-nucleon force. The remaining discrepancies are, in general, not alleviated when theoretical three-nucleon forces are included in the calculations.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication by Phys. Rev.

Deformed General Relativity and Torsion

We argue that the natural framework for embedding the ideas of deformed, or doubly, special relativity (DSR) into a curved spacetime is a generalisation of Einstein-Cartan theory, considered by Stelle and West. Instead of interpreting the noncommuting "spacetime coordinates" of the Snyder algebra as endowing spacetime with a fundamentally noncommutative structure, we are led to consider a connection with torsion in this framework. This may lead to the usual ambiguities in minimal coupling. We note that observable violations of charge conservation induced by torsion should happen on a time scale of 10^3 s, which seems to rule out these modifications as a serious theory. Our considerations show, however, that the noncommutativity of translations in the Snyder algebra need not correspond to noncommutative spacetime in the usual sense.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, revtex; expanded sections 3 and 4 for clarity, moved material to appendix B, corrected a few minor error