Peeping into the SU(2) Gauge Vacuum

We study thermalised configurations of SU(2) gauge fields by cooling. An analysis of the effect of cooling is presented and global and statistical information is extracted.Comment: 3 pages, uuencoded compressed postscript file, contribution to LAT 9

From thermal to excited-state quantum phase transitions ---the Dicke model

We study the thermodynamics of the full version of the Dicke model, including all the possible values of the total angular momentum $j$, with both microcanonical and canonical ensembles. We focus on how the excited-state quantum phase transition, which only appears in the microcanonical description of the maximum angular momentum sector, $j=N/2$, change to a standard thermal phase transition when all the sectors are taken into account. We show that both the thermal and the excited-state quantum phase transitions have the same origin; in other words, that both are two faces of the same phenomenon. Despite all the logarithmic singularities which characterize the excited-state quantum phase transition are ruled out when all the $j$-sectors are considered, the critical energy (or temperature) still divides the spectrum in two regions: one in which the parity symmetry can be broken, and another in which this symmetry is always well defined.Comment: Submitted to PRE. Comments are welcome. V2: Updated to match published versio

Global microscopic calculations of ground-state spin and parity for odd-mass nuclei

Systematic calculations of ground-state spin and parity of odd-mass nuclei have been performed within the Hartree--Fock--BCS (HFBCS) approach and the Finite-Range Droplet Model for nuclei for which experimental data are available. The unpaired nucleon has been treated perturbatively, and axial and left-right reflection symmetries have been assumed. As for the HFBCS approach, three different Skyrme forces have been used in the particle-hole channel, whereas the particle-particle matrix elements have been approximated by a seniority force. The calculations have been done for the 621 nuclei for which the Nubase 2003 data set give assignments of spin and parity with strong arguments. The agreement of both spin and parity in the self-consistent model reaches about 80% for spherical nuclei, and about 40% for well-deformed nuclei regardless of the Skyrme force used. As for the macroscopic-microscopic approach, the agreement for spherical nuclei is about 90% and about 40% for well-deformed nuclei, with different sets of spherical and deformed nuclei found in each model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (three in color), 1 table, to be submitted to Physical Review

High-order integral equation methods for problems of scattering by bumps and cavities on half-planes

This paper presents high-order integral equation methods for evaluation of electromagnetic wave scattering by dielectric bumps and dielectric cavities on perfectly conducting or dielectric half-planes. In detail, the algorithms introduced in this paper apply to eight classical scattering problems, namely: scattering by a dielectric bump on a perfectly conducting or a dielectric half-plane, and scattering by a filled, overfilled or void dielectric cavity on a perfectly conducting or a dielectric half-plane. In all cases field representations based on single-layer potentials for appropriately chosen Green functions are used. The numerical far fields and near fields exhibit excellent convergence as discretizations are refined--even at and around points where singular fields and infinite currents exist.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

From Perturbation Theory to Confinement: How the String Tension is built up

We study the spatial volume dependence of electric flux energies for SU(2) Yang-Mills fields on the torus with twisted boundary conditions. The results approach smoothly the rotational invariant Confinement regime. The would-be string tension is very close to the infinite volume result already for volumes of $(1.2 \ {\rm fm.})^3$. We speculate on the consequences of our result for the Confinement mechanism.Comment: 6p, ps-file (uuencoded). Contribution to Lattice'93 Conference (Dallas, 1993). Preprint INLO-PUB 18/93, FTUAM-93/4