Critical Exponents of the Metal-Insulator Transition in the Two-Dimensional Hubbard Model

We study the filling-controlled metal-insulator transition in the two-dimensional Hubbard model near half-filling with the use of zero temperature quantum Monte Carlo methods. In the metallic phase, the compressibility behaves as $\kappa \propto |\mu - \mu_c|^{-0.58\pm0.08}$ where $\mu_c$ is the critical chemical potential. In the insulating phase, the localization length follows $\xi_l \propto |\mu - \mu_c|^{-\nu_l}$ with $\nu_l = 0.26 \pm 0.05$. Under the assumption of hyperscaling, the compressibility data leads to a correlation length exponent $\nu_\kappa = 0.21 \pm 0.04$. Our results show that the exponents $\nu_\kappa$ and $\nu_l$ agree within statistical uncertainty. This confirms the assumption of hyperscaling with correlation length exponent $\nu = 1/4$ and dynamical exponent $z = 4$. In contrast the metal-insulator transition in the generic band insulators in all dimensions as well as in the one-dimensional Hubbard model satisfy the hyperscaling assumption with exponents $\nu = 1/2$ and $z = 2$.Comment: Two references added. The DVI file and PS figure files are also available at http://www.issp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/labs/riron/imada/furukawa/; to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 65 (1996) No.

On the work distribution for the adiabatic compression of a dilute classical gas

We consider the adiabatic and quasi-static compression of a dilute classical gas, confined in a piston and initially equilibrated with a heat bath. We find that the work performed during this process is described statistically by a gamma distribution. We use this result to show that the model satisfies the non-equilibrium work and fluctuation theorems, but not the flucutation-dissipation relation. We discuss the rare but dominant realizations that contribute most to the exponential average of the work, and relate our results to potentially universal work distributions.Comment: 4 page

Orientation and Alignment Echoes

We present what is probably the simplest classical system featuring the echo phenomenon - a collection of randomly oriented free rotors with dispersed rotational velocities. Following excitation by a pair of time-delayed impulsive kicks, the mean orientation/alignment of the ensemble exhibits multiple echoes and fractional echoes. We elucidate the mechanism of the echo formation by kick-induced filamentation of phase space, and provide the first experimental demonstration of classical alignment echoes in a thermal gas of CO_2 molecules excited by a pair of femtosecond laser pulses

Non-analytic microscopic phase transitions and temperature oscillations in the microcanonical ensemble: An exactly solvable 1d-model for evaporation

We calculate exactly both the microcanonical and canonical thermodynamic functions (TDFs) for a one-dimensional model system with piecewise constant Lennard-Jones type pair interactions. In the case of an isolated $N$-particle system, the microcanonical TDFs exhibit (N-1) singular (non-analytic) microscopic phase transitions of the formal order N/2, separating N energetically different evaporation (dissociation) states. In a suitably designed evaporation experiment, these types of phase transitions should manifest themselves in the form of pressure and temperature oscillations, indicating cooling by evaporation. In the presence of a heat bath (thermostat), such oscillations are absent, but the canonical heat capacity shows a characteristic peak, indicating the temperature-induced dissociation of the one-dimensional chain. The distribution of complex zeros (DOZ) of the canonical partition may be used to identify different degrees of dissociation in the canonical ensemble.Comment: version accepted for publication in PRE, minor additions in the text, references adde