Spatio-temporal vortex beams and angular momentum

We present a space-time generalization of the known spatial (monochromatic) wave vortex beams carrying intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM) along the propagation direction. Generic spatio-temporal vortex beams are polychromatic and can carry intrinsic OAM at an arbitrary angle to the mean momentum. Applying either (i) a transverse wave-vector shift or (ii) a Lorentz boost to a monochromatic Bessel beam, we construct a family of either (i) time-diffracting or (ii) non-diffracting spatio-temporal Bessel beams, which are exact solutions of the Klein-Gordon wave equations. The proposed spatio-temporal OAM states are able to describe either photon or electron vortex states (both relativistic and nonrelativistic), and can find applications in particle collisions, optics of moving media, quantum communications, and astrophysics.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Reissner-Nordstrom black hole lensing

In this paper we study the strong gravitational lensing scenario where the lens is a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole. We obtain the basic equations and show that, as in the case of Schwarzschild black hole, besides the primary and secondary images, two infinite sets of relativistic images are formed. We find analytical expressions for the positions and amplifications of the relativistic images. The formalism is applied to the case of a low-mass black hole placed at the galactic halo.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Spin-Torque-Induced Rotational Dynamics of a Magnetic Vortex Dipole

We study, both experimentally and by numerical modeling, the magnetic dynamics that can be excited in a magnetic thin-film nanopillar device using the spin torque from a spatially localized current injected via a 10s-of-nm-diameter aperture. The current-driven magnetic dynamics can produce large amplitude microwave emission at zero magnetic field, with a frequency well below that of the uniform ferromagnetic resonance mode. Micromagnetic simulations indicate that the physical origin of this efficient microwave nano-oscillator is the nucleation and subsequent steady-state rotational dynamics of a magnetic vortex dipole driven by the localized spin torque. These results show this novel implementation of a spintronic nano-oscillator is a promising candidate for microwave technology applications.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures

Tensor mass and particle number peak at the same location in the scalar-tensor gravity boson star models - an analytical proof

Recently in boson star models in framework of Brans-Dicke theory, three possible definitions of mass have been identified, all identical in general relativity, but different in scalar-tensor theories of gravity.It has been conjectured that it's the tensor mass which peaks, as a function of the central density, at the same location where the particle number takes its maximum.This is a very important property which is crucial for stability analysis via catastrophe theory. This conjecture has received some numerical support. Here we give an analytical proof of the conjecture in framework of the generalized scalar-tensor theory of gravity, confirming in this way the numerical calculations.Comment: 9 pages, latex, no figers, some typos corrected, reference adde

Extended Weyl Calculus and Application to the Phase-Space Schr\"{o}dinger Equation

We show that the Schr\"{o}dinger equation in phase space proposed by Torres-Vega and Frederick is canonical in the sense that it is a natural consequence of the extended Weyl calculus obtained by letting the Heisenberg group act on functions (or half-densities) defined on phase space. This allows us, in passing, to solve rigorously the TF equation for all quadratic Hamiltonians.Comment: To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. and genera

Temperature-driven single-valley Dirac fermions in HgTe quantum wells

We report on temperature-dependent magnetospectroscopy of two HgTe/CdHgTe quantum wells below and above the critical well thickness $d_c$. Our results, obtained in magnetic fields up to 16 T and temperature range from 2 K to 150 K, clearly indicate a change of the band-gap energy with temperature. The quantum well wider than $d_c$ evidences a temperature-driven transition from topological insulator to semiconductor phases. At the critical temperature of 90 K, the merging of inter- and intra-band transitions in weak magnetic fields clearly specifies the formation of gapless state, revealing the appearance of single-valley massless Dirac fermions with velocity of $5.6\times10^5$ m$\times$s$^{-1}$. For both quantum wells, the energies extracted from experimental data are in good agreement with calculations on the basis of the 8-band Kane Hamiltonian with temperature-dependent parameters.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and Supplemental Materials (4 pages

Magnetars in the Metagalaxy: An Origin for Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays in the Nearby Universe

I show that the relativistic winds of newly born magnetars with khz initial spin rates, occurring in all normal galaxies, can accelerate ultrarelativistic light ions with an E^{-1} injection spectrum, steepening to E^{-2} at higher energies, with an upper cutoff above 10^{21} eV. Interactions with the CMB yield a spectrum in good accord with the observed spectrum of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR), if ~ 5-10% of the magnetars are born with voltages sufficiently high to accelerate the UHECR. The form the spectrum spectrum takes depends on the gravitational wave losses during the magnetars' early spindown - pure electromagnetic spindown yields a flattening of the E^3 J(E) spectrum below 10^{20} eV, while a moderate GZK ``cutoff'' appears if gravitational wave losses are strong enough. I outline the physics such that the high energy particles escape with small energy losses from a magnetar's natal supernova, including Rayleigh-Taylor ``shredding'' of the supernova envelope, expansion of a relativistic blast wave into the interstellar medium, acceleration of the UHE ions through surf-riding in the electromgnetic fields of the wind, and escape of the UHE ions in the rotational equator with negligible radiation loss. The abundance of interstellar supershells and unusually large supernova remnants suggests that most of the initial spindown energy is radiated in khz gravitational waves for several hours after each supernova, with effective strains from sources at typical distances ~ 3 x 10^{-21}. Such bursts of gravitational radiation should correlate with bursts of ultra-high energy particles. The Auger experiment should see such bursts every few years.Comment: 49 pages, 2 Figures, LaTeX (aastex, epsfig, graphicx, float), to be published June 1, 2003 in the ApJ. Corrected discussion of electromagnetic surf-riding as the acceleration mechanism and more typos, and reference