Comment on "On the ionization equilibrium of hot hydrogen plasma and thermodynamic consistency of formulating finite partition functions"

Zaghloul [Phys. Plasmas 17, 062701 (2010); arXiv:1010.1161v1] reconsiders the occupation probability formalism in plasma thermodynamics and claims inconsistencies in previous models. I show that the origin of this incorrect claim is an omission of the configurational factor from the partition function. This arXiv version is supplemented with two appendices, where I add remarks and comments on two more recent publications of the same author on the same subject: on his response to this Comment [Phys. Plasmas 17, 124705 (2010)] and on his criticism towards the Hummer and Mihalas's (1988) formalism [Phys. Plasmas 17, 122903 (2010); arXiv:1010.1102v1].Comment: 4 pages: 2 pages of the journal publication + 2 pages of the electronic supplemen

Analysis of pion elliptic flows and HBT interferometry in a granular quark-gluon plasma droplet model

In many simulations of high-energy heavy-ion collisions on an event-by-event analysis, it is known that the initial energy density distribution in the transverse plane is highly fluctuating. Subsequent longitudinal expansion will lead to many longitudinal tubes of quark-gluon plasma which have tendencies to break up into many spherical droplets because of sausage instabilities. We are therefore motivated to use a model of quark-gluon plasma granular droplets that evolve hydrodynamically to investigate pion elliptic flows and Hanbury-Brown-Twiss interferometry. We find that the data of pion transverse momentum spectra, elliptic flows, and HBT radii in \sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV Au + Au collisions at RHIC can be described well by an expanding source of granular droplets with an anisotropic velocity distribution.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, in Late

Superfluid pairing in a mixture of a spin-polarized Fermi gas and a dipolar condensate

We consider a mixture of a spin-polarized Fermi gas and a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in which s-wave scattering between fermions and the quasiparticles of the dipolar condensate can result in an effective attractive Fermi-Fermi interaction anisotropic in nature and tunable by the dipolar interaction. We show that such an interaction can significantly increase the prospect of realizing a superfluid with a gap parameter characterized with a coherent superposition of all odd partial waves. We formulate, in the spirit of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mean-field approach, a theory which allows us to estimate the critical temperature when the anisotropic Fock potential is taken into consideration and to determine the system parameters that optimize the critical temperature at which such a superfluid emerges before the system begins to phase separate.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Singlet and Triplet Superfluid Competition in a Mixture of Two-Component Fermi and One-Component Dipolar Bose Gases

We consider a mixture of two-component Fermi and (one-component) dipolar Bose gases in which both dipolar interaction and s-wave scattering between fermions of opposite spins are tunable. We show that in the long wavelength limit, the anisotropy in the Fermi-Fermi interaction induced by phonons of the dipolar condensate can strongly enhance the scattering in the triplet channel. We investigate in detail the conditions for achieving optimal critical temperature at which the triplet superfluid begins to compete with the singlet superfluid.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Quarkonia and Quark Drip Lines in Quark-Gluon Plasma

We extract the $Q$-$\bar Q$ potential by using the thermodynamic quantities obtained in lattice gauge calculations. The potential is tested and found to give dissociation temperatures that agree well with those from lattice gauge spectral function analysis. Using such a $Q$-$\bar Q$ potential, we examine the quarkonium states in a quark-gluon plasma and determine the `quark drip lines' which separate the region of bound color-singlet $Q\bar Q$ states from the unbound region. The characteristics of the quark drip lines severely limit the region of possible bound $Q\bar Q$ states with light quarks to temperatures close to the phase transition temperature. Bound quarkonia with light quarks may exist very near the phase transition temperature if their effective quark mass is of the order of 300-400 MeV and higher.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, in LaTe

Many-body effects on adiabatic passage through Feshbach resonances

We theoretically study the dynamics of an adiabatic sweep through a Feshbach resonance, thereby converting a degenerate quantum gas of fermionic atoms into a degenerate quantum gas of bosonic dimers. Our analysis relies on a zero temperature mean-field theory which accurately accounts for initial molecular quantum fluctuations, triggering the association process. The structure of the resulting semiclassical phase space is investigated, highlighting the dynamical instability of the system towards association, for sufficiently small detuning from resonance. It is shown that this instability significantly modifies the finite-rate efficiency of the sweep, transforming the single-pair exponential Landau-Zener behavior of the remnant fraction of atoms Gamma on sweep rate alpha, into a power-law dependence as the number of atoms increases. The obtained nonadiabaticity is determined from the interplay of characteristic time scales for the motion of adiabatic eigenstates and for fast periodic motion around them. Critical slowing-down of these precessions near the instability leads to the power-law dependence. A linear power law $Gamma\propto alpha$ is obtained when the initial molecular fraction is smaller than the 1/N quantum fluctuations, and a cubic-root power law $Gamma\propto alpha^{1/3}$ is attained when it is larger. Our mean-field analysis is confirmed by exact calculations, using Fock-space expansions. Finally, we fit experimental low temperature Feshbach sweep data with a power-law dependence. While the agreement with the experimental data is well within experimental error bars, similar accuracy can be obtained with an exponential fit, making additional data highly desirable.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Casimir-like force arising from quantum fluctuations in a slow-moving dilute Bose-Einstein condensate

We calculate a force due to zero-temperature quantum fluctuations on a stationary object in a moving superfluid flow. We model the object by a localized potential varying only in the flow direction and model the flow by a three-dimensional weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate at zero temperature. We show that this force exists for any arbitrarily small flow velocity and discuss the implications for the stability of superfluid flow.Comment: v3: revised discussion of toroidal geometry; replotted figure; minor editorial changes; quantitative and qualitative conclusions remain unchange

Electrically driven magnetism on a Pd thin film

Using first-principles density functional calculations we demonstrate that ferromagnetism can be induced and modulated on an otherwise paramagnetic Pd metal thin-film surface through application of an external electric field. As free charges are either accumulated or depleted at the Pd surface to screen the applied electric field there is a corresponding change in the surface density of states. This change can be made sufficient for the Fermi-level density of states to satisfy the Stoner criterion, driving a transition locally at the surface from a paramagnetic state to an itinerant ferromagnetic state above a critical applied electric field, Ec. Furthermore, due to the second-order nature of this transition, the surface magnetization of the ferromagnetic state just above the transition exhibits a substantial dependence on electric field, as the result of an enhanced magnetoelectric susceptibility. Using a linearized Stoner model we explain the occurrence of the itinerant ferromagnetism and demonstrate that the magnetic moment on the Pd surface follows a square-root variation with electric field consistent with our first-principles calculations.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Fluctuations in the presence of fields -Phenomenological Gaussian approximation and a new class of thermodynamic inequalities-

The work approaches the study of the fluctuations for the thermodynamic systems in the presence of the fields. The approach is of phenomenological nature and developed in a Gaussian approximation. The study is exemplified on the cases of a magnetizable continuum in a magnetoquasistatic field, as well as for the so called discrete systems. In the last case one finds that the fluctuations estimators depends both on the intrinsic properties of the system and on the characteristics of the environment. Following some earlier ideas of one of the authors we present a new class of thermodynamic inequalities for the systems investigated in this paper. In the case of two variables the mentioned inequalities are nothing but non-quantum analogues of the well known quantum Heisenberg (''uncertainty'') relations. Also the obtained fluctuations estimators support the idea that the Boltzmann's constant k has the signification of a generic indicator of stochasticity for thermodynamic systems. Pacs number(s): 05.20.-y, 05.40.-a, 05.70.-a, 41.20.GzComment: preprint, 24 page

Mapping between Hamiltonians with attractive and repulsive potentials on a lattice

Through a simple and exact analytical derivation, we show that for a particle on a lattice, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the spectra in the presence of an attractive potential $\hat{V}$ and its repulsive counterpart $-\hat{V}$. For a Hermitian potential, this result implies that the number of localized states is the same in both, attractive and repulsive, cases although these states occur above (below) the band-continnum for the repulsive (attractive) case. For a \mP\mT-symmetric potential that is odd under parity, our result implies that in the \mP\mT-unbroken phase, the energy eigenvalues are symmetric around zero, and that the corresponding eigenfunctions are closely related to each other.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur