12,084 research outputs found
Field-theory results for three-dimensional transitions with complex symmetries
We discuss several examples of three-dimensional critical phenomena that can
be described by Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theories. We present an
overview of field-theoretical results obtained from the analysis of high-order
perturbative series in the frameworks of the and of the
fixed-dimension d=3 expansions. In particular, we discuss the stability of the
O(N)-symmetric fixed point in a generic N-component theory, the critical
behaviors of randomly dilute Ising-like systems and frustrated spin systems
with noncollinear order, the multicritical behavior arising from the
competition of two distinct types of ordering with symmetry O() and
O() respectively.Comment: 9 pages, Talk at the Conference TH2002, Paris, July 200
Dynamic crossover in the global persistence at criticality
We investigate the global persistence properties of critical systems relaxing
from an initial state with non-vanishing value of the order parameter (e.g.,
the magnetization in the Ising model). The persistence probability of the
global order parameter displays two consecutive regimes in which it decays
algebraically in time with two distinct universal exponents. The associated
crossover is controlled by the initial value m_0 of the order parameter and the
typical time at which it occurs diverges as m_0 vanishes. Monte-Carlo
simulations of the two-dimensional Ising model with Glauber dynamics display
clearly this crossover. The measured exponent of the ultimate algebraic decay
is in rather good agreement with our theoretical predictions for the Ising
universality class.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Geometrical optics analysis of the short-time stability properties of the Einstein evolution equations
Many alternative formulations of Einstein's evolution have lately been
examined, in an effort to discover one which yields slow growth of
constraint-violating errors. In this paper, rather than directly search for
well-behaved formulations, we instead develop analytic tools to discover which
formulations are particularly ill-behaved. Specifically, we examine the growth
of approximate (geometric-optics) solutions, studied only in the future domain
of dependence of the initial data slice (e.g. we study transients). By
evaluating the amplification of transients a given formulation will produce, we
may therefore eliminate from consideration the most pathological formulations
(e.g. those with numerically-unacceptable amplification). This technique has
the potential to provide surprisingly tight constraints on the set of
formulations one can safely apply. To illustrate the application of these
techniques to practical examples, we apply our technique to the 2-parameter
family of evolution equations proposed by Kidder, Scheel, and Teukolsky,
focusing in particular on flat space (in Rindler coordinates) and Schwarzchild
(in Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates).Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Experimental study of vapor-cell magneto-optical traps for efficient trapping of radioactive atoms
We have studied magneto-optical traps (MOTs) for efficient on-line trapping
of radioactive atoms. After discussing a model of the trapping process in a
vapor cell and its efficiency, we present the results of detailed experimental
studies on Rb MOTs. Three spherical cells of different sizes were used. These
cells can be easily replaced, while keeping the rest of the apparatus
unchanged: atomic sources, vacuum conditions, magnetic field gradients, sizes
and power of the laser beams, detection system. By direct comparison, we find
that the trapping efficiency only weakly depends on the MOT cell size. It is
also found that the trapping efficiency of the MOT with the smallest cell,
whose diameter is equal to the diameter of the trapping beams, is about 40%
smaller than the efficiency of larger cells. Furthermore, we also demonstrate
the importance of two factors: a long coated tube at the entrance of the MOT
cell, used instead of a diaphragm; and the passivation with an alkali vapor of
the coating on the cell walls, in order to minimize the losses of trappable
atoms. These results guided us in the construction of an efficient
large-diameter cell, which has been successfully employed for on-line trapping
of Fr isotopes at INFN's national laboratories in Legnaro, Italy.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.
Simulation of time evolution with the MERA
We describe an algorithm to simulate time evolution using the Multi-scale
Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (MERA) and test it by studying a critical
Ising chain with periodic boundary conditions and with up to L ~ 10^6 quantum
spins. The cost of a simulation, which scales as L log(L), is reduced to log(L)
when the system is invariant under translations. By simulating an evolution in
imaginary time, we compute the ground state of the system. The errors in the
ground state energy display no evident dependence on the system size. The
algorithm can be extended to lattice systems in higher spatial dimensions.Comment: final version with data improvement (precision and size), 4.1 pages,
4 figures + extra on X
Exact boundary conditions in numerical relativity using multiple grids: scalar field tests
Cauchy-Characteristic Matching (CCM), the combination of a central 3+1 Cauchy
code with an exterior characteristic code connected across a time-like
interface, is a promising technique for the generation and extraction of
gravitational waves. While it provides a tool for the exact specification of
boundary conditions for the Cauchy evolution, it also allows to follow
gravitational radiation all the way to infinity, where it is unambiguously
defined.
We present a new fourth order accurate finite difference CCM scheme for a
first order reduction of the wave equation around a Schwarzschild black hole in
axisymmetry. The matching at the interface between the Cauchy and the
characteristic regions is done by transfering appropriate characteristic/null
variables. Numerical experiments indicate that the algorithm is fourth order
convergent. As an application we reproduce the expected late-time tail decay
for the scalar field.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. Included changes suggested by referee
Differential specificity of acoustic measures to listener perception of voice quality
The purpose of this project was to differentially examine the specificity of two acoustic measures, relative fundamental frequency (RFF) and the cepstral/spectral index of dysphonia (CSID), to listener perceptions of voice quality across four dimensions: breathiness, roughness, strain/vocal effort, and overall severity. An auditory perceptual experiment was conducted to estimate listener perception of said dimensions. The Pearson's correlation coefficient between RFF, CSID, and the perceptual ratings of voice quality was calculated in order to comment on the relationship between calculations of RFF and CSID and the current "gold standard" of listener perception. The hypothesis for this project was that measures of RFF would have a strong negative correlation with listener perception of strain/vocal effort, and that measures of CSID would have a strong positive correlation with listener perception of overall severity and breathiness. An unexpected result with a significant impact was found to be that listeners' ratings of the four voice qualities were highly correlated with one another. Unfortunately, the poorly differentiated perceptual ratings significantly impact the validity of this project in addition to hindering any reliability of its results. Thus overall, the correlations between measures of RFF, CSID, and distinct qualities of listener perception are rendered uninterpretable. Methodological considerations and future directions are henceforth reported
Quantum Quench from a Thermal Initial State
We consider a quantum quench in a system of free bosons, starting from a
thermal initial state. As in the case where the system is initially in the
ground state, any finite subsystem eventually reaches a stationary thermal
state with a momentum-dependent effective temperature. We find that this can,
in some cases, even be lower than the initial temperature. We also study
lattice effects and discuss more general types of quenches.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; short published version, added references, minor
change
Entanglement entropy of two disjoint intervals in c=1 theories
We study the scaling of the Renyi entanglement entropy of two disjoint blocks
of critical lattice models described by conformal field theories with central
charge c=1. We provide the analytic conformal field theory result for the
second order Renyi entropy for a free boson compactified on an orbifold
describing the scaling limit of the Ashkin-Teller (AT) model on the self-dual
line. We have checked this prediction in cluster Monte Carlo simulations of the
classical two dimensional AT model. We have also performed extensive numerical
simulations of the anisotropic Heisenberg quantum spin-chain with tree-tensor
network techniques that allowed to obtain the reduced density matrices of
disjoint blocks of the spin-chain and to check the correctness of the
predictions for Renyi and entanglement entropies from conformal field theory.
In order to match these predictions, we have extrapolated the numerical results
by properly taking into account the corrections induced by the finite length of
the blocks to the leading scaling behavior.Comment: 37 pages, 23 figure
General entanglement scaling laws from time evolution
We establish a general scaling law for the entanglement of a large class of
ground states and dynamically evolving states of quantum spin chains: we show
that the geometric entropy of a distinguished block saturates, and hence
follows an entanglement-boundary law. These results apply to any ground state
of a gapped model resulting from dynamics generated by a local hamiltonian, as
well as, dually, to states that are generated via a sudden quench of an
interaction as recently studied in the case of dynamics of quantum phase
transitions. We achieve these results by exploiting ideas from quantum
information theory and making use of the powerful tools provided by
Lieb-Robinson bounds. We also show that there exist noncritical fermionic
systems and equivalent spin chains with rapidly decaying interactions whose
geometric entropy scales logarithmically with block length. Implications for
the classical simulatability are outlined.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure (see also related work by S. Bravyi, M. Hastings,
and F. Verstraete, quant-ph/0603121); replaced with final versio
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