Casimir forces between defects in one-dimensional quantum liquids

We discuss the effective interactions between two localized perturbations in one-dimensional (1D) quantum liquids. For non-interacting fermions, the interactions exhibit Friedel oscillations, giving rise to a RKKY-type interaction familiar from impurity spins in metals. In the interacting case, at low energies, a Luttinger liquid description applies. In the case of repulsive fermions, the Friedel oscillations of the interacting system are replaced, at long distances, by a universal Casimir-type interaction which depends only on the sound velocity and decays inversely with the separation. The Casimir-type interaction between localized perturbations embedded in a fermionic environment gives rise to a long range coupling between quantum dots in ultracold Fermi gases, opening a novel alternative to couple qubits with neutral atoms. We also briefly discuss the case of bosonic quantum liquids in which the interaction between weak impurities turns out to be short ranged, decaying exponentially on the scale of the healing length.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Evaluation of spatial and temporal variability of pasture based on topography and the quality of the rainy season

Yield and botanical composition of a given dry-land pasture are heavily influenced by rainfall distribution, and vary according to topography. Through analyzing these parameters, it is possible to identify patterns of spatial distribution, related to topographic characteristics, which can be used to improve spatial management of pasture. The main objective of this project was to assess the role of rainfall, temperature and topography in the spatial and temporal variability of pasture and establish models for predicting the spatial distribution and yield of certain plant species, based on its topographic characteristics. This study was carried out over three years, 2004 to 2006, in a dryland pasture located in Southern Portugal. The data obtained were analyzed as a function of distance to flow lines and the results demonstrate that certain topographical characteristics, associated with agronomic information, can be very useful in explaining the spatial and temporal variability of yield and the botanical composition of the pasture. The slope of the linear regression of the variables mentioned can be used to estimate the spatial variation of yield and the botanical composition as a function of distance to flow lines. The regression coefficient can be estimated from the annual rainfall, given the strong correlation between the two

Thermodynamics of toroidal black holes

The thermodynamical properties of toroidal black holes in the grand canonical ensemble are investigated using York's formalism. The black hole is enclosed in a cavity with finite radius where the temperature and electrostatic potential are fixed. The boundary conditions allow one to compute the relevant thermodynamical quantities, e.g. thermal energy, entropy and specific heat. This black hole is thermodynamically stable and dominates the grand partition function. This means that there is no phase transition, as the one encountered for spherical black holes.Comment: 11 pages, 2 eps figures, revte

Thermodynamics of Reissner-Nordstrom-anti-de Sitter black holes in the grand canonical ensemble

The thermodynamical properties of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om-anti-de Sitter black hole in the grand canonical ensemble are investigated using York's formalism. The black hole is enclosed in a cavity with finite radius where the temperature and electrostatic potential are fixed. The boundary conditions allow us to compute the relevant thermodynamical quantities, e.g. thermal energy, entropy and charge. The stability conditions imply that there are thermodynamically stable black hole solutions, under certain conditions. Instantons with negative heat capacity are also found.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Revtex. Published version. Changes: figures added to tex

Thermodynamics of charged and rotating black strings

We study thermodynamics of cylindrically symmetric black holes. Uncharged as well as charged and rotating objects have been discussed. We derive surface gravity and hence the Hawking temperature and entropy for all these cases. We correct some results in the literature and present new ones. It is seen that thermodynamically these black configurations behave differently from spherically symmetric objects

Charged and rotating AdS black holes and their CFT duals

Black hole solutions that are asymptotic to $AdS_5 \times S^5$ or $AdS_4 \times S^7$ can rotate in two different ways. If the internal sphere rotates then one can obtain a Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black hole. If the asymptotically AdS space rotates then one can obtain a Kerr-AdS hole. One might expect superradiant scattering to be possible in either of these cases. Superradiant modes reflected off the potential barrier outside the hole would be re-amplified at the horizon, and a classical instability would result. We point out that the existence of a Killing vector field timelike everywhere outside the horizon prevents this from occurring for black holes with negative action. Such black holes are also thermodynamically stable in the grand canonical ensemble. The CFT duals of these black holes correspond to a theory in an Einstein universe with a chemical potential and a theory in a rotating Einstein universe. We study these CFTs in the zero coupling limit. In the first case, Bose-Einstein condensation occurs on the boundary at a critical value of the chemical potential. However the supergravity calculation demonstrates that this is not to be expected at strong coupling. In the second case, we investigate the limit in which the angular velocity of the Einstein universe approaches the speed of light at finite temperature. This is a new limit in which to compare the CFT at strong and weak coupling. We find that the free CFT partition function and supergravity action have the same type of divergence but the usual factor of 4/3 is modified at finite temperature.Comment: 18 pages, RevTex, 2 figures; v2: references adde

Thermodynamics of Kerr-Newman-AdS Black Holes and Conformal Field Theories

We study the thermodynamics of four-dimensional Kerr-Newman-AdS black holes both in the canonical and the grand-canonical ensemble. The stability conditions are investigated, and the complete phase diagrams are obtained, which include the Hawking-Page phase transition in the grand-canonical ensemble. In the canonical case, one has a first order transition between small and large black holes, which disappears for sufficiently large electric charge or angular momentum. This disappearance corresponds to a critical point in the phase diagram. Via the AdS/CFT conjecture, the obtained phase structure is also relevant for the corresponding conformal field theory living in a rotating Einstein universe, in the presence of a global background U(1) current. An interesting limit arises when the black holes preserve some supersymmetry. These BPS black holes correspond to highly degenerate zero temperature states in the dual CFT, which lives in an Einstein universe rotating with the speed of light.Comment: 27 pages, RevTeX, 12 ps figures. Minor changes, references added. Final version to appear in Class. Quantum Gra

Fabry-Perot interference and spin filtering in carbon nanotubes

We study the two-terminal transport properties of a metallic single-walled carbon nanotube with good contacts to electrodes, which have recently been shown [W. Liang et al, Nature 441, 665-669 (2001)] to conduct ballistically with weak backscattering occurring mainly at the two contacts. The measured conductance, as a function of bias and gate voltages, shows an oscillating pattern of quantum interference. We show how such patterns can be understood and calculated, taking into account Luttinger liquid effects resulting from strong Coulomb interactions in the nanotube. We treat back-scattering in the contacts perturbatively and use the Keldysh formalism to treat non-equilibrium effects due to the non-zero bias voltage. Going beyond current experiments, we include the effects of possible ferromagnetic polarization of the leads to describe spin transport in carbon nanotubes. We thereby describe both incoherent spin injection and coherent resonant spin transport between the two leads. Spin currents can be produced in both ways, but only the latter allow this spin current to be controlled using an external gate. In all cases, the spin currents, charge currents, and magnetization of the nanotube exhibit components varying quasiperiodically with bias voltage, approximately as a superposition of periodic interference oscillations of spin- and charge-carrying ``quasiparticles'' in the nanotube, each with its own period. The amplitude of the higher-period signal is largest in single-mode quantum wires, and is somewhat suppressed in metallic nanotubes due to their sub-band degeneracy.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Avaliação da variabilidade das características do solo numa pastagem permanente integrada num projecto de Agricultura de Precisão

O levantamento da variabilidade do solo e da vegetação numa pastagem permanente é a base para a gestão diferenciada da fertilização, a qual é o principal instrumento utilizado pelos agricultores na melhoria das pastagens permanentes no Alentejo. O processo tradicional de amostragem e avaliação das características do solo é muito exigente em termos de tempo, de reagentes necessários nas análises e de trabalho manual, o que pode comprometer um projecto de agricultura de precisão. Este artigo descreve as principais etapas seguidas pelos autores para simplificar a metodologia de avaliação do solo em pastagens permanentes, baseada na utilização de uma sonda de condutividade eléctrica num projecto de agricultura de precisão. Os ensaios decorreram numa parcela de cerca de 6 hectares, a qual foi subdividida em quadrículas de 28m por 28m. As amostras de solo e a avaliação da condutividade eléctrica foram georeferenciadas com o Sistema de Posicionamento Global (GPS). Os dados geoespaciais foram tratados pelo software ArcGis 9.3 e foi utilizada a análise de regressão ponderada geograficamente (Geographically Weighted Regression) obtendo-se valores de coeficientes de determinação interessantes entre o pH e a condutividade eléctrica e ainda entre esta última e a produtividade da pastagem, em termos de matéria seca