Pacifying the Fermi-liquid: battling the devious fermion signs

The fermion sign problem is studied in the path integral formalism. The standard picture of Fermi liquids is first critically analyzed, pointing out some of its rather peculiar properties. The insightful work of Ceperley in constructing fermionic path integrals in terms of constrained world-lines is then reviewed. In this representation, the minus signs associated with Fermi-Dirac statistics are self consistently translated into a geometrical constraint structure (the {\em nodal hypersurface}) acting on an effective bosonic dynamics. As an illustrative example we use this formalism to study 1+1-dimensional systems, where statistics are irrelevant, and hence the sign problem can be circumvented. In this low-dimensional example, the structure of the nodal constraints leads to a lucid picture of the entropic interaction essential to one-dimensional physics. Working with the path integral in momentum space, we then show that the Fermi gas can be understood by analogy to a Mott insulator in a harmonic trap. Going back to real space, we discuss the topological properties of the nodal cells, and suggest a new holographic conjecture relating Fermi liquids in higher dimensions to soft-core bosons in one dimension. We also discuss some possible connections between mixed Bose/Fermi systems and supersymmetry.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Galileo dust data from the jovian system: 2000 to 2003

The Galileo spacecraft was orbiting Jupiter between Dec 1995 and Sep 2003. The Galileo dust detector monitored the jovian dust environment between about 2 and 370 R_J (jovian radius R_J = 71492 km). We present data from the Galileo dust instrument for the period January 2000 to September 2003. We report on the data of 5389 particles measured between 2000 and the end of the mission in 2003. The majority of the 21250 particles for which the full set of measured impact parameters (impact time, impact direction, charge rise times, charge amplitudes, etc.) was transmitted to Earth were tiny grains (about 10 nm in radius), most of them originating from Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon Io. Their impact rates frequently exceeded 10 min^-1. Surprisingly large impact rates up to 100 min^-1 occurred in Aug/Sep 2000 when Galileo was at about 280 R_J from Jupiter. This peak in dust emission appears to coincide with strong changes in the release of neutral gas from the Io torus. Strong variability in the Io dust flux was measured on timescales of days to weeks, indicating large variations in the dust release from Io or the Io torus or both on such short timescales. Galileo has detected a large number of bigger micron-sized particles mostly in the region between the Galilean moons. A surprisingly large number of such bigger grains was measured in March 2003 within a 4-day interval when Galileo was outside Jupiter's magnetosphere at approximately 350 R_J jovicentric distance. Two passages of Jupiter's gossamer rings in 2002 and 2003 provided the first actual comparison of in-situ dust data from a planetary ring with the results inferred from inverting optical images.Comment: 59 pages, 13 figures, 6 tables, submitted to Planetary and Space Scienc

Construção de uma biblioteca metagenômica de expressão da microbiota de rúmen de caprinos.

A criação de bibliotecas metagenômicas oferece a oportunidade para a bioprospecção de genes de interesse biotecnológico de microrganismos não-cultiváveis. O rúmen de caprinos é um ambiente anaeróbico ou microaerófilo onde ocorre a degradação de material lignocelulósico pela ação de microrganismos. Assim, a microbiota do rúmen de caprinos foi identificada como potencial fonte de enzimas, genes e de novos produtos para aplicações no desenvolvimento industrial do setor sucroalcooleiro. Por meio da extração direta do DNA total dos microrganismos do rúmen de caprinos foi possível construir uma biblioteca metagenômica de expressão de pequenos insertos, na faixa de 3 a 8 kb, com aproximadamente 50.000 clones. Foi realizada a validação da biblioteca por meio de restrição enzimática de clones aleatórios e da clonagem e sequenciamento de clones do gene 16S rDNA para verificar a diversidade bacteriana representada na biblioteca. Esta biblioteca será utilizada para triagem de clones com diversas atividades enzimáticas tais como celulases, xilanases e amilases.bitstream/item/17904/1/cot_02-1.pd

An atom fiber for guiding cold neutral atoms

We present an omnidirectional matter wave guide on an atom chip. The rotational symmetry of the guide is maintained by a combination of two current carrying wires and a bias field pointing perpendicular to the chip surface. We demonstrate guiding of thermal atoms around more than two complete turns along a spiral shaped 25mm long curved path (curve radii down to 200$\mu$m) at various atom--surface distances (35-450$\mu$m). An extension of the scheme for the guiding of Bose-Einstein condensates is outlined

Maximally-localized Wannier Functions in Antiferromagnetic MnO within the FLAPW Formalism

We have calculated the maximally-localized Wannier functions of MnO in its antiferromagnetic (AFM) rhombohedral unit cell, which contains two formula units. Electron Bloch functions are obtained with the linearized augmented plane-wave method within both the LSD and the LSD+U schemes. The thirteen uppermost occupied spin-up bands correspond in a pure ionic scheme to the five Mn 3d orbitals at the Mn_1 (spin-up) site, and the four O 2s/2p orbitals at each of the O_1 and O_2 sites. Maximal localization identifies uniquely four Wannier functions for each O, which are trigonally-distorted sp^3-like orbitals. They display a weak covalent bonding between O 2s/2p states and minority-spin d states of Mn_2, which is absent in a fully ionic picture. This bonding is the fingerprint of the interaction responsible for the AFM ordering, and its strength depends on the one-electron scheme being used. The five Mn Wannier functions are centered on the Mn_1 site, and are atomic orbitals modified by the crystal field. They are not uniquely defined by the criterion of maximal localization and we choose them as the linear combinations which diagonalize the r^2 operator, so that they display the D_3d symmetry of the Mn_1 site.Comment: 11 pages, 6 PostScript figures. Uses Revtex4. Hi-res figures available from the author

Gaussian Entanglement of Formation

We introduce a Gaussian version of the entanglement of formation adapted to bipartite Gaussian states by considering decompositions into pure Gaussian states only. We show that this quantity is an entanglement monotone under Gaussian operations and provide a simplified computation for states of arbitrary many modes. For the case of one mode per site the remaining variational problem can be solved analytically. If the considered state is in addition symmetric with respect to interchanging the two modes, we prove additivity of the considered entanglement measure. Moreover, in this case and considering only a single copy, our entanglement measure coincides with the true entanglement of formation.Comment: 8 pages (references updated, typos corrected

Superfluid flow past an obstacle in annular Bose–Einstein condensates

We investigate the flow of a one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger model with periodic boundary conditions past an obstacle, motivated by recent experiments with Bose–Einstein condensates in ring traps. Above certain rotation velocities, localized solutions with a nontrivial phase profile appear. In striking difference from the infinite domain, in this case there are many critical velocities. At each critical velocity, the steady flow solutions disappear in a saddle-center bifurcation. These interconnected branches of the bifurcation diagram lead to additions of circulation quanta to the phase of the associated solution. This, in turn, relates to the manifestation of persistent current in numerous recent experimental and theoretical works, the connections to which we touch upon. The complex dynamics of the identified waveforms and the instability of unstable solution branches are demonstrated

Two Higgs Doublet Model and Lepton Polarization in the B -> K tau+ tau- Decay

The decay width, forward-backward asymmetry and tau lepton longitudinal and transversal polarization for the exclusive (B -> K tau^+ tau^-) decay in a two Higgs doublet model are computed. It is shown that the forward-backward asymmetry and longitudinal polarization of the tau lepton are very effective tools for establishing new physics.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures, LaTeX formatte

Long-Time Asymptotics of Perturbed Finite-Gap Korteweg-de Vries Solutions

We apply the method of nonlinear steepest descent to compute the long-time asymptotics of solutions of the Korteweg--de Vries equation which are decaying perturbations of a quasi-periodic finite-gap background solution. We compute a nonlinear dispersion relation and show that the $x/t$ plane splits into $g+1$ soliton regions which are interlaced by $g+1$ oscillatory regions, where $g+1$ is the number of spectral gaps. In the soliton regions the solution is asymptotically given by a number of solitons travelling on top of finite-gap solutions which are in the same isospectral class as the background solution. In the oscillatory region the solution can be described by a modulated finite-gap solution plus a decaying dispersive tail. The modulation is given by phase transition on the isospectral torus and is, together with the dispersive tail, explicitly characterized in terms of Abelian integrals on the underlying hyperelliptic curve.Comment: 45 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0705.034

The spin 1/2 Heisenberg star with frustration II: The influence of the embedding medium

We investigate the spin 1/2 Heisenberg star introduced in J. Richter and A. Voigt, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. {\bf 27}, 1139 (1994). The model is defined by $H=J_1 \sum_{i=1}^{N}{{\bf s}_0{\bf s}_i} + J_2 H_{R}\{{\bf s}_i\}$ ; $J_1,J_2 \ge 0$ , $i=1,...,N$. In extension to the Ref. we consider a more general $H_{R}\{{\bf s}_i\}$ describing the properties of the spins surrounding the central spin ${\bf s}_0$. The Heisenberg star may be considered as an essential structure element of a lattice with frustration (namely a spin embedded in a magnetic matrix $H_R$) or, alternatively, as a magnetic system $H_R$ with a perturbation by an extra spin. We present some general features of the eigenvalues, the eigenfunctions as well as the spin correlation $\langle {\bf s}_0{\bf s}_i \rangle$ of the model. For $H_R$ being a linear chain, a square lattice or a Lieb-Mattis type system we present the ground state properties of the model in dependence on the frustration parameter $\alpha=J_2/J_1$. Furthermore the thermodynamic properties are calculated for $H_R$ being a Lieb--Mattis antiferromagnet.Comment: 16 pages, uuencoded compressed postscript file, accepted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge