Heterotic strings on homogeneous spaces

We construct heterotic string backgrounds corresponding to families of homogeneous spaces as exact conformal field theories. They contain left cosets of compact groups by their maximal tori supported by NS‐NS 2‐forms and gauge field fluxes. We give the general formalism and modular‐invariant partition functions, then we consider some examples such as SU (2)/U (1) ~ S² (already described in a previous paper) and the SU (3)/U(1)² flag space. As an application we construct new supersymmetric string vacua with magnetic fluxes and a linear dilaton.     

Non-linear response and electron-electron interactions in mesoscopic metal rings

A time-dependent electric field gives rise to a stationary non-equilibrium current I ⁽²⁾ around a mesoscopic metal ring threaded by a magnetic flux. We show that this current, which is proportional to the intensity of the field, is closely related to the exchange part of the interaction contribution to the equilibrium persistent current, and that the corresponding non-linear conductivity directly measures the weak localization correction to the polarization. We explicitly calculate the disorder average of I ⁽²⁾ in the diffusive regime as function of the frequency of the electric field and the static flux piercing the ring, and suggest an experiment to test our theory. Received: 5 September 1997 / Accepted: 4 November 1997     

Confinement of tensor gluons — a classical approach

We look at the confinement of tensor gluons (f _μν ^(c) field) in a strong gravity background and find that the strong gravity provides a trap for the confinement of colour waves of selected frequencies. We assume that the tensorf _μν ^(c) field (mediating quanta: tensor 2⁺ f-meson) satisfies Einstein-like equations with a cosmological constant. The colour field satisfy equations resembling Maxwell form of the linear theory of gravitation and see the effect off _μν ^(c) field as playing the role of a medium having space dependent dielectric permeabilities. The solution of colour field equations resemble harmonic oscillator type wave functions with equispaced energy levels (no continuum) leading to confinement.     

Hidden reentrant superconducting phase in a magnetic field in (TMTSF)<Subscript>2</Subscript>ClO<Subscript>4</Subscript>

We suggest explanation of the high upper critical magnetic field, perpendicular to conducting chains and parallel to conducting layers H _c2 ^b′ ≃ 6 T, experimentally observed in the organic superconductor (TMTSF)₂ClO₄. In particular, we show that H _c2 ^b′ can be higher than both the quasiclassical upper critical field and Clogston-Chandrasekhar paramagnetic limit in a singlet quasi-one-dimensional superconductor. We predict the coexistence of the hidden Reentrant and Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell phases in a magnetic field. Our results are compared to the recent experimental data and shown to be in a good agreement with the experiments.     

Removable singularities in Yang-Mills fields

We show that a field satisfying the Yang-Mills equations in dimension 4 with a point singularity is gauge equivalent to a smooth field if the functional is finite. We obtain the result that every Yang-Mills field overR ⁴ with bounded functional (L ² norm) may be obtained from a field onS ⁴=R ⁴{}. Hodge (or Coulomb) gauges are constructed for general small fields in arbitrary dimensions including 4.     

Out-of-equilibrium quantum field dynamics in external fields

The quantum dynamics of the symmetry-broken λ(Φ ²)² scalar-field theory in the presence of an homogeneous external field is investigated in the large-N limit. We consider an initial thermal state of temperature T for a constant external field J. A subsequent sign flip of the external field, J→ - J, gives rise to an out-of-equilibrium nonperturbative quantum field dynamics. We review here the dynamics for the symmetry-broken λ(Φ ²)² scalar N component field theory in the large-N limit, with particular stress in the comparison between the results when the initial temperature is zero and when it is finite. The presence of a finite temperature modifies the dynamical effective potential for the expectation value, and also makes that the transition between the two regimes of the early dynamics occurs for lower values of the external field. The two regimes are characterized by the presence or absence of a temporal trapping close to the metastable equilibrium position of the potential. In the cases when the trapping occurs it is shorter for larger initial temperatures.     

Rigidity and Defect Actions in Landau-Ginzburg Models

Studying two-dimensional field theories in the presence of defect lines naturally gives rise to monoidal categories: their objects are the different (topological) defect conditions, their morphisms are junction fields, and their tensor product describes the fusion of defects. These categories should be equipped with a duality operation corresponding to reversing the orientation of the defect line, providing a rigid and pivotal structure. We make this structure explicit in topological Landau-Ginzburg models with potential x ^d , where defects are described by matrix factorisations of x ^d − y ^d . The duality allows to compute an action of defects on bulk fields, which we compare to the corresponding N = 2{\mathcal N = 2} conformal field theories. We find that the two actions differ by phases.     

Exponential Localization of Hydrogen-like Atoms in Relativistic Quantum Electrodynamics

We consider two different models of a hydrogenic atom in a quantized electromagnetic field that treat the electron relativistically. The first one is a no-pair model in the free picture, the second one is given by the semi-relativistic Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian. We prove that the no-pair operator is semi-bounded below and that its spectral subspaces corresponding to energies below the ionization threshold are exponentially localized. Both results hold true, for arbitrary values of the fine-structure constant, e ², and the ultra-violet cut-off, Λ, and for all nuclear charges less than the critical charge without radiation field, Z _c  = e ⁻²2/(2/π + π/2). We obtain similar results for the semi-relativistic Pauli-Fierz operator, again for all values of e ² and Λ and for nuclear charges less than e ⁻²2/π.     

Exact scalar field cosmologies in a higher derivative theory

We obtain exact cosmological solutions of a higher derivative theory described by the Lagrangian L=R+2αR ² in the presence of interacting scalar field. The interacting scalar field potential required for a known evolution of the FRW universe in the framework of the theory is obtained using a technique different from the usual approach to solve the Einstein field equations. We follow here a technique to determine potential similar to that used by Ellis and Madsen in Einstein gravity. Some new and interesting potentials are noted in the presence of R ² term in the Einstein action for the known behaviours of the universe. These potentials in general do not obey the slow rollover approximation.     

On the Prasad-Sommerfield dyon (monopole) solution

We prove that the Prasad-Sommerfield dyon (monopole) solution for an SU(2) Yang-Mills field coupled with an SU(2) Higgs multiplet can be associated to a certain minimal immersion in S ³ (SU(2)) i.e. it has a differential-geometric content similar to that of self-dual solutions for the pure SU(2) Yang-Mills field. Implications of this result as well as possibilities to extend it to higher gauge groups are discussed.     

Connections withL P bounds on curvature

We show by means of the implicit function theorem that Coulomb gauges exist for fields over a ball inR ⁿ when the integralL ^n/2 field norm is sufficiently small. We then are able to prove a weak compactness theorem for fields on compact manifolds withL ^p integral norms bounded,p>n/2.     

Homogeneous Isotropic Turbulence: Geometric and Isometry Properties of the 2-point Velocity Correlation Tensor

The emphasis of this review is both the geometric realization of the 2-point velocity correlation tensor field B_ij (x,x′,t) and isometries of the correlation space K³ equipped with a (pseudo-) Riemannian metrics ds²(t) generated by the tensor field. The special form of this tensor field for homogeneous isotropic turbulence specifies ds²(t) as the semi-reducible pseudo-Riemannian metric. This construction presents the template for the application of methods of Riemannian geometry in turbulence to observe, in particular, the deformation of length scales of turbulent motion localized within a singled out fluid volume of the flow in time. This also allows to use common concepts and technics of Lagrangian mechanics for a Lagrangian system (M^t, ds²(t)), M^t ? K³. Here the metric ds²(t), whose components are the correlation functions, evolves due to the von Kármán-Howarth equation. We review the explicit geometric realization of ds²(t) in K³ and present symmetries (or isometric motions in K³) of the metric ds²(t) which coincide with the sliding deformation of a surface arising under the geometric realization of ds²(t). We expose the fine structure of a Lie algebra associated with this symmetry transformation and construct the basis of differential invariants. Minimal generating set of differential invariants is derived. We demonstrate that the well-known Taylor microscale λ_g is a second-order differential invariant and show how λ_g can be obtained by the minimal generating set of differential invariants and the operators of invariant differentiation. Finally, we establish that there exists a nontrivial central extension of the infinite-dimensional Lie algebra constructed wherein the central charge is defined by the same bilinear skew-symmetric form c as for the Witt algebra which measures the number of internal degrees of freedom of the system. For turbulence, we give the asymptotic expansion of the transversal correlation function for the geometry generated by a quadratic form.     

An open-access, very-low-field MRI system for posture-dependent 3He human lung imaging

We describe the design and operation of an open-access, very-low-field, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system for in vivo hyperpolarized ³He imaging of the human lungs. This system permits the study of lung function in both horizontal and upright postures, a capability with important implications in pulmonary physiology and clinical medicine, including asthma and obesity. The imager uses a bi-planar B₀ coil design that produces an optimized 65 G (6.5 mT) magnetic field for ³He MRI at 210 kHz. Three sets of bi-planar coils produce the x, y, and z magnetic field gradients while providing a 79-cm inter-coil gap for the imaging subject. We use solenoidal Q-spoiled RF coils for operation at low frequencies, and are able to exploit insignificant sample loading to allow for pre-tuning/matching schemes and for accurate pre-calibration of flip angles. We obtain sufficient SNR to acquire 2D ³He images with up to 2.8 mm resolution, and present initial 2D and 3D ³He images of human lungs in both supine and upright orientations. ¹H MRI can also be performed for diagnostic and calibration reasons.     

Electrostatic potential in a gravitational field

The electrostatic potential in a gravitational field is estimated up to the order ofe ² G ² in the framework of the conventional quantum field theory. It is shown that the electrostatic potential is different from the classical one. We find that this discrepancy is attributable to the process in which a particle emits three massless ones which are absorbed by three other particles.     

Higgs as gauge fields on discrete groups and Standard Models for electroweak and electroweak-strong interactions

We complete the construction of the gauge theory on discrete groups coupled to fermions in the spirit of non-commutative geometry. We show that a simple Higgs field is such a gauge field with respect toZ ₂-gauge symmetry overM ⁴ and the Yukawa coupling between Higgs and fermions is automatically introduced via minimum coupling principle. TheZ ₂-symmetry is taken to be ={e, r=(CPT) ²}, a sub-symmetry of the CPT transformations. The Weinberg-Salam model for the electroweak interaction as well as the Standard Model for the electroweak-strong interaction are reformulated in detail.Work supported in part by The National Natural Science Foundation Of China     

Passage of relativistic magnetic dipole moments through magnetic fields

We have solved the Dirac equation with an anomalous moment Pauli-coupling exactly for a constant magnetic field and derived the general relativistic formulas for phase changes due to translational motion and spin rotations. We also give transmission and reflection coefficients, spin rotation for tunnelling and barrier penetration. For ultrarelativistic particles the spin rotation angle on the path of lengthL is equal to (2μB L/ħc)[1 +m ² c ⁴/(E²-μ ² B ²)].

     

Non-analytical angular dependence of the upper critical magnetic field in a quasi-one-dimensional superconductor

We have derived the so-called gap equation, which determines the upper critical magnetic field, perpendicular to conducting chains of a quasi-one-dimensional superconductor. By analyzing this equation at low temperatures, we have found that the calculated angular dependence of the upper critical magnetic field is qualitatively different than that in the so-called effective mass model. In particular, our theory predicts a non-analytical angular dependence of the upper critical magnetic field, H _c2(0) − H _c2(α) ∼ α^3/2, when magnetic field is close to some special crystallographic axis and makes an angle α with it. We discuss possible experiments on the superconductor (DMET)₂I₃ to discover this non-analytical dependence.     

Hopf Solitons and Area-Preserving Diffeomorphisms of the Sphere

We consider a (3+1)-dimensional local field theory defined on the sphere S ². The model possesses exact soliton solutions with nontrivial Hopf topological charges and an infinite number of local conserved currents. We show that the Poisson bracket algebra of the corresponding charges is isomorphic to that of the area-preserving diffeomorphisms of the sphere S ². We also show that the conserved currents under consideration are the Noether currents associated to the invariance of the Lagrangian under that infinite group of diffeomorphisms. We indicate possible generalizations of the model.     

Hearing the zero locus of a magnetic field

We investigate the ground state of a two-dimensional quantum particle in a magnetic field where the field vanishes nondegenerately along a closed curve. We show that the ground state concentrates on this curve ase/h tends to infinity, wheree is the charge, and that the ground state energy grows like (e/h)^2/3. These statements are true for any energy level, the level being fixed as the charge tends to infinity. If the magnitude of the gradient of the magnetic field is a constantb ₀ along its zero locus, then we get the precise asymptotics(e/h) ^2/3 (b ₀) ^2/3 E _* +O(1) for every energy level. The constantE _* .5698 is the infimum of the ground state energiesE() of the anharmonic oscillator family .     

Energy landscapes, lowest gaps, and susceptibility of elastic manifolds at zero temperature

We study the effect of an external field on (1 + 1) and (2 + 1) dimensional elastic manifolds, at zero temperature and with random bond disorder. Due to the glassy energy landscape the configuration of a manifold changes often in abrupt, “first order”-type of large jumps when the field is applied. First the scaling behavior of the energy gap between the global energy minimum and the next lowest minimum of the manifold is considered, by employing exact ground state calculations and an extreme statistics argument. The scaling has a logarithmic prefactor originating from the number of the minima in the landscape, and reads ΔE ₁∼L ^θ[ln(L _z L ^{- ζ})]^-1/2, where ζ is the roughness exponent and θ is the energy fluctuation exponent of the manifold, L is the linear size of the manifold, and L_z is the system height. The gap scaling is extended to the case of a finite external field and yields for the susceptibility of the manifolds ∼L ^{2D + 1 - θ}[(1 - ζ)ln(L)]^1/2. We also present a mean field argument for the finite size scaling of the first jump field, h ₁∼L ^{d - θ}. The implications to wetting in random systems, to finite-temperature behavior and the relation to Kardar-Parisi-Zhang non-equilibrium surface growth are discussed. Received December 2000 and Received in final form April 2001