Sustainable management of miombo woodlands in the Northern part of Mozambique (Niassa National Reserve - NNR).

Poster presented at Commiting Science to Global Development. Lisbon (Portugal). 29-30 Sep 2009

Ballistic heat transport of quantum spin excitations as seen in SrCuO2

Fundamental conservation laws predict ballistic, i.e., dissipationless transport behaviour in one-dimensional quantum magnets. Experimental evidence, however, for such anomalous transport has been lacking ever since. Here we provide experimental evidence for ballistic heat transport in a S=1/2 Heisenberg chain. In particular, we investigate high purity samples of the chain cuprate SrCuO2 and observe a huge magnetic heat conductivity $\kappa_{mag}$. An extremely large spinon mean free path of more than a micrometer demonstrates that $\kappa_{mag}$ is only limited by extrinsic scattering processes which is a clear signature of ballistic transport in the underlying spin model

Entropy and holography constraints for inhomogeneous universes

We calculated the entropy of a class of inhomogeneous dust universes. Allowing spherical symmetry, we proposed a holographic principle by reflecting all physical freedoms on the surface of the apparent horizon. In contrast to flat homogeneous counterparts, the principle may break down in some models, though these models are not quite realistic. We refined fractal parabolic solutions to have a reasonable entropy value for the present observable universe and found that the holographic principle always holds in the realistic cases.Comment: 4 pages, revtex style, 3 figures in 8 eps-file

The thermal conductivity of alternating spin chains

We study a class of integrable alternating (S1,S2) quantum spin chains with critical ground state properties. Our main result is the description of the thermal Drude weight of the one-dimensional alternating spin chain as a function of temperature. We have identified the thermal current of the model with alternating spins as one of the conserved currents underlying the integrability. This allows for the derivation of a finite set of non-linear integral equations for the thermal conductivity. Numerical solutions to the integral equations are presented for specific cases of the spins S1 and S2. In the low-temperature limit a universal picture evolves where the thermal Drude weight is proportional to temperature T and central charge c.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Supersymmetric and Shape-Invariant Generalization for Nonresonant and Intensity-Dependent Jaynes-Cummings Systems

A class of shape-invariant bound-state problems which represent transition in a two-level system introduced earlier are generalized to include arbitrary energy splittings between the two levels as well as intensity-dependent interactions. We show that the couple-channel Hamiltonians obtained correspond to the generalizations of the nonresonant and intensity-dependent nonresonant Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonians, widely used in quantized theories of laser. In this general context, we determine the eigenstates, eigenvalues, the time evolution matrix and the population inversion matrix factor.Comment: A combined version of quant-ph/0005045 and quant-ph/0005046. 24 pages, LATE

The Apparent Fractal Conjecture: Scaling Features in Standard Cosmologies

This paper presents an analysis of the smoothness problem in cosmology by focussing on the ambiguities originated in the simplifying hypotheses aimed at observationally verifying if the large-scale distribution of galaxies is homogeneous, and conjecturing that this distribution should follow a fractal pattern in perturbed standard cosmologies. This is due to a geometrical effect, appearing when certain types of average densities are calculated along the past light cone. The paper starts reviewing the argument concerning the possibility that the galaxy distribution follows such a scaling pattern, and the premises behind the assumption that the spatial homogeneity of standard cosmology can be observable. Next, it is argued that to discuss observable homogeneity one needs to make a clear distinction between local and average relativistic densities, and showing how the different distance definitions strongly affect them, leading the various average densities to display asymptotically opposite behaviours. Then the paper revisits Ribeiro's (1995: astro-ph/9910145) results, showing that in a fully relativistic treatment some observational average densities of the flat Friedmann model are not well defined at z ~ 0.1, implying that at this range average densities behave in a fundamentally different manner as compared to the linearity of the Hubble law, well valid for z < 1. This conclusion brings into question the widespread assumption that relativistic corrections can always be neglected at low z. It is also shown how some key features of fractal cosmologies can be found in the Friedmann models. In view of those findings, it is suggested that the so-called contradiction between the cosmological principle, and the galaxy distribution forming an unlimited fractal structure, may not exist.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. This paper is a follow-up to gr-qc/9909093. Accepted for publication in "General Relativity and Gravitation

High fidelity image counterfactuals with probabilistic causal models

We present a general causal generative modelling framework for accurate estimation of high fidelity image counterfactuals with deep structural causal models. Estimation of interventional and counterfactual queries for high-dimensional structured variables, such as images, remains a challenging task. We leverage ideas from causal mediation analysis and advances in generative modelling to design new deep causal mechanisms for structured variables in causal models. Our experiments demonstrate that our proposed mechanisms are capable of accurate abduction and estimation of direct, indirect and total effects as measured by axiomatic soundness of counterfactuals

A Generalized Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian and Supersymmetric Shape-Invariance

A class of shape-invariant bound-state problems which represent two-level systems are introduced. It is shown that the coupled-channel Hamiltonians obtained correspond to the generalization of the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian