Symmetry-preserving Loop Regularization and Renormalization of QFTs

A new symmetry-preserving loop regularization method proposed in \cite{ylw} is further investigated. It is found that its prescription can be understood by introducing a regulating distribution function to the proper-time formalism of irreducible loop integrals. The method simulates in many interesting features to the momentum cutoff, Pauli-Villars and dimensional regularization. The loop regularization method is also simple and general for the practical calculations to higher loop graphs and can be applied to both underlying and effective quantum field theories including gauge, chiral, supersymmetric and gravitational ones as the new method does not modify either the lagrangian formalism or the space-time dimension of original theory. The appearance of characteristic energy scale $M_c$ and sliding energy scale $\mu_s$ offers a systematic way for studying the renormalization-group evolution of gauge theories in the spirit of Wilson-Kadanoff and for exploring important effects of higher dimensional interaction terms in the infrared regime.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex, extended modified version, more references adde

Defect chemistry and transport properties of BaxCe0.85M0.15O3-d

The site-incorporation mechanism of M3+ dopants into A2+B4+O3 perovskites controls the overall defect chemistry and thus their transport properties. For charge-balance reasons, incorporation onto the A2+-site would require the creation of negatively charged point defects (such as cation vacancies), whereas incorporation onto the B4+-site is accompanied by the generation of positively charged defects, typically oxygen vacancies. Oxygen-vacancy content, in turn, is relevant to proton-conducting oxides in which protons are introduced via the dissolution of hydroxyl ions at vacant oxygen sites. We propose here, on the basis of x-ray powder diffraction studies, electron microscopy, chemical analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis, and alternating current impedance spectroscopy, that nominally B-site doped barium cerate can exhibit dopant partitioning as a consequence of barium evaporation at elevated temperatures. Such partitioning and the presence of significant dopant concentrations on the A-site negatively impact proton conductivity. Specific materials examined are BaxCe0.85M0.15O3-d (x = 0.85 - 1.20; M = Nd, Gd, Yb). The compositional limits for the maximum A-site incorporation are experimentally determined to be: (Ba0.919Nd0.081)(Ce0.919Nd0.081)O3, (Ba0.974Gd0.026)(Ce0.872Gd0.128)O2.875, and Ba(Ce0.85Yb0.15)O2.925. As a consequence of the greater ability of larger cations to exist on the Ba site, the H2O adsorption and proton conductivities of large-cation doped barium cerates are lower than those of small-cation doped analogs

k-dependent SU(4) model of high-temperature superconductivity and its coherent-state solutions

We extend the SU(4) model [1-5] for high-Tc superconductivity to an SU(4)k model that permits explicit momentum (k) dependence in predicted observables. We derive and solve gap equations that depend on k, temperature, and doping from the SU(4)k coherent states, and show that the new SU(4)k model reduces to the original SU(4) model for observables that do not depend explicitly on momentum. The results of the SU(4)k model are relevant for experiments such as ARPES that detect explicitly k-dependent properties. The present SU(4)k model describes quantitatively the pseudogap temperature scale and may explain why the ARPES-measured T* along the anti-nodal direction is larger than other measurements that do not resolve momentum. It also provides an immediate microscopic explanation for Fermi arcs observed in the pseudogap region. In addition, the model leads to a prediction that even in the underdoped regime, there exist doping-dependent windows around nodal points in the k-space, where antiferromagnetism may be completely suppressed for all doping fractions, permitting pure superconducting states to exist.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Slow Atomic Motion in Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be Metallic Glasses Studied by NMR

Nuclear magnetic resonance is used for the first time to detect slow atomic motion in metallic glasses, specifically, Be motion in Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be bulk metallic glasses. The observations are not consistent with the vacancy-assisted and interstitial diffusion mechanisms and favor the spread-out free volume fluctuation mechanism for Be diffusion. Comparison with the results of Be diffusion measured by elastic backscattering the NMR results also indicates that the energy barriers for short- and long-range Be motion are the same

Two-dimensional Poisson Trees converge to the Brownian web

The Brownian web can be roughly described as a family of coalescing one-dimensional Brownian motions starting at all times in $\R$ and at all points of $\R$. It was introduced by Arratia; a variant was then studied by Toth and Werner; another variant was analyzed recently by Fontes, Isopi, Newman and Ravishankar. The two-dimensional \emph{Poisson tree} is a family of continuous time one-dimensional random walks with uniform jumps in a bounded interval. The walks start at the space-time points of a homogeneous Poisson process in $\R^2$ and are in fact constructed as a function of the point process. This tree was introduced by Ferrari, Landim and Thorisson. By verifying criteria derived by Fontes, Isopi, Newman and Ravishankar, we show that, when properly rescaled, and under the topology introduced by those authors, Poisson trees converge weakly to the Brownian web.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure. This version corrects an error in the previous proof. The results are the sam