21 research outputs found
Electrical resistivity at large temperatures: Saturation and lack thereof
Many transition metal compounds show saturation of the resistivity at high
temperatures, T, while the alkali-doped fullerenes and the high-Tc cuprates are
usually considered to show no saturation. We present a model of transition
metal compounds, showing saturation, and a model of alkali-doped fullerenes,
showing no saturation. To analyze the results we use the f-sum rule, which
leads to an approximate upper limit for the resistivity at large T. For some
systems and at low T, the resistivity increases so rapidly that this upper
limit is approached for experimental T. The resistivity then saturates. For a
model of transition metal compounds with weakly interacting electrons, the
upper limit corresponds to a mean free path consistent with the Ioffe-Regel
condition. For a model of the high Tc cuprates with strongly interacting
electrons, however, the upper limit is much larger than the Ioffe-Regel
condition suggests. Since this limit is not exceeded by experimental data, the
data are consistent with saturation also for the cuprates. After "saturation"
the resistivity usually grows slowly. For the alkali-doped fullerenes,
"saturation" can be considered to have happened already for T=0, due to
orientational disorder. For these systems, however, the resistivity grows so
rapidly after "saturation" that this concept is meaningless. This is due to the
small band width and to the coupling to the level energies of the important
phonons.Comment: 22 pages, RevTeX, 19 eps figures, additional material available at
http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/andersen/fullerene
Semiclassical approach to calculating the influence of local lattice fluctuations on electronic properties of metals
We propose a new semiclassical approach based on the dynamical mean field
theory to treat the interactions of electrons with local lattice fluctuations.
In this approach the classical (static) phonon modes are treated exactly
whereas the quantum (dynamical) modes are expanded to second order and give
rise to an effective semiclassical potential. We determine the limits of
validity of the approximation, and demonstrate its usefulness by calculating
the temperature dependent resistivity in the Fermi liquid to polaron crossover
regime (leading to `saturation behavior') and also isotope effects on
electronic properties including the spectral function, resistivity, and optical
conductivity, problems beyond the scope of conventional diagrammatic
perturbation theories.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
Heavy Carriers and Non-Drude Optical Conductivity in MnSi
Optical properties of the weakly helimagnetic metal MnSi have been determined
in the photon energy range from 2 meV to 4.5 eV using the combination of
grazing incidence reflectance at 80 degrees (2 meV to 0.8 eV) and ellipsometry
(0.8 to 4.5 eV). As the sample is cooled below 100 K the effective mass becomes
strongly frequency dependent at low frequencies, while the scattering rate
developes a linear frequency dependence. The complex optical conductivity can
be described by the phenomenological relation \sigma(\omega,T) \propto
(\Gamma(T)+i\omega)^{-1/2} used for cuprates and ruthenates.Comment: 5 pages, ReVTeX 4, 5 figures in eps forma
Partially filled stripes in the two dimensional Hubbard model: statics and dynamics
The internal structure of stripes in the two dimensional Hubbard model is
studied by going beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation. Partially filled
stripes, consistent with experimental observations, are stabilized by quantum
fluctuations, included through the Configuration Interaction method. Hopping of
short regions of the stripes in the transverse direction is comparable to the
bare hopping element. The integrated value of compares well
with experimental results.Comment: 4 page
The mechanism of disaster capitalism and the failure to build community resilience:learning from the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy
This paper reflects on what materialised during recovery operations following the earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy, on 6 April 2009. Previous critiques have focused on the actions of the Government of Italy and the Department of Civil Protection (Protezione Civile), with little attention paid to the role of local authorities. This analysis sheds light on how the latter used emergency powers, the command-and-control approach, and top-down planning to manage the disaster context, especially in terms of removal of rubble, implementing safety measures, and allocating temporary accommodation. It discusses how these arrangements constituted the mechanism via which âdisaster capitalismâ took hold at the local and national level, and how it violated human rights, produced environmental and social impacts, hindered local communities from learning, transforming, and building resilience, and facilitated disaster capitalism and corruption. To make the disaster risk reduction and resilience paradigm more effective, a shift from centralised civil protection to decentralised, inclusive community empowerment systems is needed
Topological doping and the stability of stripe phases
We analyze the properties of a general Ginzburg-Landau free energy with
competing order parameters, long-range interactions, and global constraints
(e.g., a fixed value of a total ``charge'') to address the physics of stripe
phases in underdoped high-Tc and related materials. For a local free energy
limited to quadratic terms of the gradient expansion, only uniform or
phase-separated configurations are thermodynamically stable. ``Stripe'' or
other non-uniform phases can be stabilized by long-range forces, but can only
have non-topological (in-phase) domain walls where the components of the
antiferromagnetic order parameter never change sign, and the periods of charge
and spin density waves coincide. The antiphase domain walls observed
experimentally require physics on an intermediate lengthscale, and they are
absent from a model that involves only long-distance physics. Dense stripe
phases can be stable even in the absence of long-range forces, but domain walls
always attract at large distances, i.e., there is a ubiquitous tendency to
phase separation at small doping. The implications for the phase diagram of
underdoped cuprates are discussed.Comment: 18 two-column pages, 2 figures, revtex+eps