Local structure of Fe-doped In 2 O 3 films investigated by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy

$(\mathrm{In}_{1-x}\mathrm{Fe}_{x})_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ $(x=0.07, 0.09, 0.16, 0.22, 0.31)$ films were deposited on Si (100) substrates by RF-magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of Fe doping on the local structure of films was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at Fe K-edge and L-edge. For the $(\mathrm{In}_{1-x}\mathrm{Fe}_{x})_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ films with $x=0.07, 0.09 \mbox{ and } 0.16$ , Fe ions dissolve into $\mathrm{In}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ and substitute for $\mathrm{In}^{3+}$ sites with a mixed-valence state ( $\mathrm{Fe}^{2+}/\mathrm{Fe}^{3+}$ ) of Fe ions. However, a secondary phase of Fe metal clusters is formed in the $(\mathrm{In}_{1-x}\mathrm{Fe}_{x})_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ films with $x=0.22 \mbox{ and } 0.31$ . The qualitative analyses of Fe-K edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) reveal that the Fe–O bond length shortens and the corresponding Debye–Waller factor ( $\sigma^{2}$ ) increases with the increase of Fe concentration, indicating the relaxation of oxygen environment of Fe ions upon substitution. The anomalously large structural disorder and very short Fe–O distance are also observed in the films with high Fe concentration. Linear combination fittings at Fe L-edge further confirm the coexistence of $\mathrm{Fe}^{2+}$ and $\mathrm{Fe}^{3+}$ with a ratio of ${\sim}3:2$ ( $\mathrm{Fe}^{2+}: \mathrm{Fe}^{3+}$ ) for the $(\mathrm{In}_{1-x}\mathrm{Fe}_{x})_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ film with $x=0.16$ . However, a significant fraction ( ${\sim}40~\mbox{at\%}$ ) of the Fe metal clusters is found in the $(\mathrm{In}_{1-x}\mathrm{Fe}_{x})_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ film with $x=0.31$ .     

Analysis of the \frac{1} {2}^ - and \frac{3} {2}^ - heavy and doubly heavy baryon states with QCD sum rules

In this article, we study the $\frac{1} {2}^ -$ and $\frac{3} {2}^ -$ heavy and doubly heavy baryon states $\Sigma _Q \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi '_Q \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Omega _Q \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi _{QQ} \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Omega _{QQ} \left( {\frac{1} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Sigma _Q^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi _Q^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Omega _Q^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ , $\Xi _{QQ}^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ and $\Omega _{QQ}^* \left( {\frac{3} {2}^ - } \right)$ by subtracting the contributions from the corresponding $\frac{1} {2}^ +$ and $\frac{3} {2}^ +$ heavy and doubly heavy baryon states with the QCD sum rules in a systematic way, and make reasonable predictions for their masses.     

Liouville-Type Theorems for the Forced Euler Equations and the Navier–Stokes Equations

In this paper we study the Liouville-type properties for solutions to the steady incompressible Euler equations with forces in ${\mathbb {R}^N}$ . If we assume “single signedness condition” on the force, then we can show that a ${C^1 (\mathbb {R}^N)}$ solution (v, p) with ${|v|^2+ |p| \in L^{\frac{q}{2}}(\mathbb {R}^N),\,q \in (\frac{3N}{N-1}, \infty)}$ is trivial, v = 0. For the solution of the steady Navier–Stokes equations, satisfying ${v(x) \to 0}$ as ${|x| \to \infty}$ , the condition ${\int_{\mathbb {R}^3} |\Delta v|^{\frac{6}{5}} dx < \infty}$ , which is stronger than the important D-condition, ${\int_{\mathbb {R}^3} |\nabla v|^2 dx < \infty}$ , but both having the same scaling property, implies that v = 0. In the appendix we reprove Theorem 1.1 (Chae, Commun Math Phys 273:203–215, 2007), using the self-similar Euler equations directly.     

On Gravitational Effects in the Schrödinger Equation

The Schrödinger  equation for a particle of rest mass $m$ and electrical charge $ne$ interacting with a four-vector potential $A_i$ can be derived as the non-relativistic limit of the Klein–Gordon  equation $\left( \Box '+m^2\right) \varPsi =0$ for the wave function $\varPsi $ , where $\Box '=\eta ^{jk}\partial '_j\partial '_k$ and $\partial '_j=\partial _j -\mathrm {i}n e A_j$ , or equivalently from the one-dimensional  action $S_1=-\int m ds +\int neA_i dx^i$ for the corresponding point particle in the semi-classical approximation $\varPsi \sim \exp {(\mathrm {i}S_1)}$ , both methods yielding the equation $\mathrm {i}\partial _0\varPsi \approx \left( \frac{1}{2m}\eta ^{\alpha \beta }\partial '_{\alpha }\partial '_{\beta } + m + n e\phi \right) \varPsi $ in Minkowski  space–time  , where $\alpha ,\beta =1,2,3$ and $\phi =-A_0$ . We show that these two methods generally yield equations  that differ in a curved background  space–time   $g_{ij}$ , although they coincide when $g_{0\alpha }=0$ if $m$ is replaced by the effective mass $\mathcal{M}\equiv \sqrt{m^2-\xi R}$ in both the Klein–Gordon  action $S$ and $S_1$ , allowing for non-minimal coupling to the gravitational  field, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar and $\xi $ is a constant. In this case $\mathrm {i}\partial _0\varPsi \approx \left( \frac{1}{2\mathcal{M}'} g^{\alpha \beta }\partial '_{\alpha }\partial '_{\beta } + \mathcal{M}\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} + n e\phi \right) \varPsi $ , where $\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} =\sqrt{g_{00}}$ and $\mathcal{M}'=\mathcal{M}/\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} $ , the correctness of the gravitational  contribution to the potential having been verified to linear order $m\phi ^{(\mathrm g)} $ in the thermal-neutron beam interferometry experiment due to Colella et al. Setting $n=2$ and regarding $\varPsi $ as the quasi-particle wave function, or order parameter, we obtain the generalization of the fundamental macroscopic Ginzburg-Landau equation of superconductivity to curved space–time. Conservation of probability and electrical current requires both electromagnetic gauge and space–time  coordinate conditions to be imposed, which exemplifies the gravito-electromagnetic analogy, particularly in the stationary case, when div ${{\varvec{A}}}=\hbox {div}{{\varvec{A}}}^{(\mathrm g)}=0$ , where ${{\varvec{A}}}^{\alpha }=-A^{\alpha }$ and ${{\varvec{A}}}^{(\mathrm g)\alpha }=-\phi ^{(\mathrm g)}g^{0\alpha }$ . The quantum-cosmological Schrödinger  (Wheeler–DeWitt) equation is also discussed in the $\mathcal{D}$ -dimensional  mini-superspace idealization, with particular regard to the vacuum potential $\mathcal V$ and the characteristics of the ground state, assuming a gravitational  Lagrangian   $L_\mathcal{D}$ which contains higher-derivative  terms up to order $\mathcal{R}^4$ . For the heterotic superstring theory  , $L_\mathcal{D}$ consists of an infinite series in $\alpha '\mathcal{R}$ , where $\alpha '$ is the Regge slope parameter, and in the perturbative approximation $\alpha '|\mathcal{R}| \ll 1$ , $\mathcal V$ is positive semi-definite for $\mathcal{D} \ge 4$ . The maximally symmetric ground state satisfying the field equations is Minkowski  space for $3\le {\mathcal {D}}\le 7$ and anti-de Sitter  space for $8 \le \mathcal {D} \le 10$ .     

One-Dimensional Disordered Quantum Mechanics and Sinai Diffusion with Random Absorbers

We study the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a disordered potential of the form $$\begin{aligned} V (x) = \phi (x)^2+\phi '(x) + \kappa (x) \end{aligned}$$ where $\phi (x)$ is a Gaussian white noise with mean $\mu g$ and variance $g$ , and $\kappa (x)$ is a random superposition of delta functions distributed uniformly on the real line with mean density $\rho $ and mean strength $v$ . Our study is motivated by the close connection between this problem and classical diffusion in a random environment (the Sinai problem) in the presence of random absorbers: $\phi (x)$ models the force field acting on the diffusing particle and $\kappa (x)$ models the absorption properties of the medium in which the diffusion takes place. The focus is on the calculation of the complex Lyapunov exponent $ \varOmega (E) = \gamma (E) - \mathrm{i}\pi N(E) $ , where $N$ is the integrated density of states per unit length and $\gamma $ the reciprocal of the localisation length. By using the continuous version of the Dyson–Schmidt method, we find an exact formula, in terms of a Hankel function, in the particular case where the strength of the delta functions is exponentially-distributed with mean $v=2g$ . Building on this result, we then solve the general case— in the low-energy limit— in terms of an infinite sum of Hankel functions. Our main result, valid without restrictions on the parameters of the model, is that the integrated density of states exhibits the power law behaviour $$\begin{aligned} N(E) \underset{E\rightarrow 0+}{\sim } E^\nu \quad \hbox {where } \quad \nu =\sqrt{\mu ^2+2\rho /g}. \end{aligned}$$ This confirms and extends several results obtained previously by approximate methods.     

Self-Avoiding Walk is Sub-Ballistic

We prove that self-avoiding walk on ${\mathbb{Z}^d}$ is sub-ballistic in any dimension d ≥ 2. That is, writing ${\| u \|}$ for the Euclidean norm of ${u \in \mathbb{Z}^d}$ , and ${\mathsf{P_{SAW}}_n}$ for the uniform measure on self-avoiding walks ${\gamma : \{0, \ldots, n\} \to \mathbb{Z}^d}$ for which γ ₀ = 0, we show that, for each v > 0, there exists ${\varepsilon > 0}$ such that, for each ${n \in \mathbb{N}, \mathsf{P_{SAW}}_n \big( {\rm max}\big\{\| \gamma_k \| : 0 \leq k \leq n\big\} \geq vn \big) \leq e^{-\varepsilon n}}$ .     

Level-Rank Duality via Tensor Categories

We give a new way to derive branching rules for the conformal embedding $$(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_n)_m\oplus(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_m)_n\subset(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_{nm})_1. $$ In addition, we show that the category ${\mathcal{C}(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_n)_m^0}$ of degree zero integrable highest weight ${(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_n)_m}$ -representations is braided equivalent to ${\mathcal{C}(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_m)_n^0}$ with the reversed braiding.     

Finite W-Superalgebras and Truncated Super Yangians

Let ${Y_{m|n}^{\ell}}$ be the super Yangian of general linear Lie superalgebra for ${\mathfrak{gl}_{m|n}}$ . Let ${e \in \mathfrak{gl}_{m\ell|n\ell}}$ be a “rectangular” nilpotent element and ${\mathcal{W}_e}$ be the finite W-superalgebra associated to e. We show that ${Y_{m|n}^{\ell}}$ is isomorphic to ${\mathcal{W}_e}$ .     

Fomenko–Mischenko Theory, Hessenberg Varieties, and Polarizations

The symmetric algebra ${S(\mathfrak{g})}$ over a Lie algebra ${\mathfrak{g}}$ has the structure of a Poisson algebra. Assume ${\mathfrak{g}}$ is complex semisimple. Then results of Fomenko–Mischenko (translation of invariants) and Tarasov construct a polynomial subalgebra ${{\mathcal {H}} = {\mathbb C}[q_1,\ldots,q_b]}$ of ${S(\mathfrak{g})}$ which is maximally Poisson commutative. Here b is the dimension of a Borel subalgebra of ${\mathfrak{g}}$ . Let G be the adjoint group of ${\mathfrak{g}}$ and let ? = rank ${\mathfrak{g}}$ . Using the Killing form, identify ${\mathfrak{g}}$ with its dual so that any G-orbit O in ${\mathfrak{g}}$ has the structure (KKS) of a symplectic manifold and ${S(\mathfrak{g})}$ can be identified with the affine algebra of ${\mathfrak{g}}$ . An element ${x\in \mathfrak{g}}$ will be called strongly regular if ${\{({\rm d}q_i)_x\},\,i=1,\ldots,b}$ , are linearly independent. Then the set ${\mathfrak{g}^{\rm{sreg}}}$ of all strongly regular elements is Zariski open and dense in ${\mathfrak{g}}$ and also ${\mathfrak{g}^{\rm{sreg}}\subset \mathfrak{g}^{\rm{ reg}}}$ where ${\mathfrak{g}^{\rm{reg}}}$ is the set of all regular elements in ${\mathfrak{g}}$ . A Hessenberg variety is the b-dimensional affine plane in ${\mathfrak{g}}$ , obtained by translating a Borel subalgebra by a suitable principal nilpotent element. Such a variety was introduced in Kostant (Am J Math 85:327–404, 1963). Defining Hess to be a particular Hessenberg variety, Tarasov has shown that ${{\rm{Hess}}\subset \mathfrak{g}^{\rm{sreg}}}$ . Let R be the set of all regular G-orbits in ${\mathfrak{g}}$ . Thus if ${O\in R}$ , then O is a symplectic manifold of dimension 2n where n = b ? ?. For any ${O\in R}$ let ${O^{\rm{sreg}} = \mathfrak{g}^{\rm{sreg}} \cap O}$ . One shows that O ^sreg is Zariski open and dense in O so that O ^sreg is again a symplectic manifold of dimension 2n. For any ${O\in R}$ let ${{\rm{Hess}}(O) = {\rm{Hess}}\cap O}$ . One proves that Hess(O) is a Lagrangian submanifold of O ^sreg and that $${\rm{Hess}} = \sqcup_{O\in R}{\rm{Hess}}(O).$$ The main result of this paper is to show that there exists simultaneously over all ${O\in R}$ , an explicit polarization (i.e., a “fibration” by Lagrangian submanifolds) of O ^sreg which makes O ^sreg simulate, in some sense, the cotangent bundle of Hess(O).     

Towards Asymptotic Completeness of Two-Particle Scattering in Local Relativistic QFT

We consider the problem of existence of asymptotic observables in local relativistic theories of massive particles. Let ${\tilde{p}_1}$ and ${\tilde{p}_2}$ be two energy-momentum vectors of a massive particle and let ${\Delta}$ be a small neighbourhood of ${\tilde{p}_1 + \tilde{p}_2}$ . We construct asymptotic observables (two-particle Araki–Haag detectors), sensitive to neutral particles of energy-momenta in small neighbourhoods of ${\tilde{p}_1}$ and ${\tilde{p}_2}$ . We show that these asymptotic observables exist, as strong limits of their approximating sequences, on all physical states from the spectral subspace of ${\Delta}$ . Moreover, the linear span of the ranges of all such asymptotic observables coincides with the subspace of two-particle Haag–Ruelle scattering states with total energy-momenta in ${\Delta}$ . The result holds under very general conditions which are satisfied, for example, in ${\lambda{\phi}_{2}^{4}}$ . The proof of convergence relies on a variant of the phase-space propagation estimate of Graf.     

Quantum Sphere {\mathbb{S}^4} as a Non-Levi Conjugacy Class

We construct a ${U_\hbar(\mathfrak{sp}(4))}$ -equivariant quantization of the four-dimensional complex sphere ${\mathbb{S}^4}$ regarded as a conjugacy class, Sp(4)/Sp(2) ×?Sp(2), of a simple complex group with non-Levi isotropy subgroup, through an operator realization of the quantum polynomial algebra ${\mathbb{C}_\hbar[\mathbb{S}^4]}$ on a highest weight module of ${U_\hbar(\mathfrak{sp}(4))}$ .     

On q-Deformed {\mathfrak{gl}_{\ell+1}}-Whittaker Function II

A representation of a specialization of a q-deformed class one lattice ${\mathfrak{gl}_{\ell+1}}$ -Whittaker function in terms of cohomology groups of line bundles on the space ${\mathcal{QM}_d(\mathbb{P}^{\ell})}$ of quasi-maps ${\mathbb{P}^1 \to \mathbb{P}^{\ell}}$ of degree d is proposed. For ? = 1, this provides an interpretation of the non-specialized q-deformed ${\mathfrak{gl}_{2}}$ -Whittaker function in terms of ${\mathcal{QM}_d(\mathbb{P}^1)}$ . In particular the (q-version of the) Mellin-Barnes representation of the ${\mathfrak{gl}_2}$ -Whittaker function is realized as a semi-infinite period map. The explicit form of the period map manifests an important role of q-version of Γ-function as a topological genus in semi-infinite geometry. A relation with the Givental-Lee universal solution (J-function) of q-deformed ${\mathfrak{gl}_2}$ -Toda chain is also discussed.     

On Dirichlet-to-Neumann Maps, Nonlocal Interactions, and Some Applications to Fredholm Determinants

We consider Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps associated with (not necessarily self-adjoint) Schrödinger operators describing nonlocal interactions in ${L^2(\Omega; d^n x)}$ , where ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n}$ , ${n\in\mathbb{N}}$ , ${n\geq 2}$ , are open sets with a compact, nonempty boundary ${\partial\Omega}$ satisfying certain regularity conditions. As an application we describe a reduction of a certain ratio of Fredholm perturbation determinants associated with operators in ${L^2(\Omega; d^{n} x)}$ to Fredholm perturbation determinants associated with operators in ${L^2(\partial\Omega; d^{n-1} \sigma)}$ , ${n\in\mathbb{N}}$ , ${n\geq 2}$ . This leads to an extension of a variant of a celebrated formula due to Jost and Pais, which reduces the Fredholm perturbation determinant associated with a Schrödinger operator on the half-line ${(0,\infty)}$ , in the case of local interactions, to a simple Wronski determinant of appropriate distributional solutions of the underlying Schrödinger equation.     

Identification of \mathrm{\ensuremath J^{\pi} = 19/2^+} and \mathrm{\ensuremath 23/2^+} isomeric states in 127Sb

The nucleus $\ensuremath {\rm ^{127}Sb}$ , which is on the neutron-rich periphery of the $\ensuremath \beta$ -stability region, has been populated in complex nuclear reactions involving deep-inelastic and fusion-fission processes with $\ensuremath {\rm {}^{136}Xe}$ beams incident on thick targets. The previously known isomer at 2325 keV in $\ensuremath {\rm {}^{127}Sb}$ has been assigned spin and parity $\ensuremath 23/2^+$ , based on the measured $\ensuremath \gamma$ - $\ensuremath \gamma$ angular correlations and total internal conversion coefficients. The half-life has been determined to be 234(12) ns, somewhat longer than the value reported previously. The 2194 keV state has been assigned $\ensuremath J^{\pi} = 19/2^+$ and identified as an isomer with $\ensuremath T_{1/2} = 14(1) {\rm ns}$ , decaying by two $\ensuremath E2$ branches. The observed level energies and transition strengths are compared with the predictions of a shell model calculation. Two $\ensuremath 15/2^+$ states have been identified close in energy, and their properties are discussed in terms of mixing between vibrational and three-quasiparticle configurations.     

Fast proton conduction path in {\text{Ni}} - {\text{BaCe}}_{{0.8}} {\text{Y}}_{{0.2}} {\text{O}}_{{2.9 - \delta }} membrane

The effect of metal-to-oxide grain boundary layer in $ {\text{Ni}} - {\text{BaCe}}_{{0.8}} {\text{Y}}_{{0.2}} {\text{O}}_{{3 - \delta }} $ (BCY) cermet membrane on hydrogen permeation was studied by applying the different size of oxide grain on Ni-BCY membranes. Two types of cermet membranes having different grain size of oxide were prepared by using different starting particle size of oxide powder. The hydrogen flux of coarse-oxide-grain membrane showed higher flux than that of small-oxide-grain membrane. It was understood that the negative potential at metal-to-oxide grain boundary, reference to the bulk oxide ( $ \phi _{0} < \phi _{\infty } = 0 $ ), was developed, and the accumulation of the effectively positively charged protons may occur at the grain boundary layer (space charge layer), which may result in providing highly conductive proton path by shifting the charge neutrality condition from $ {\left[ {OH^{ \bullet }_{O} } \right]} = {\left[ {Y^{/}_{{Ce}} } \right]} $ to $ {\left[ {OH^{ \bullet }_{O} } \right]} = n $ .     

Joint System Quantum Descriptions Arising from Local Quantumness

We study the entropy flux in the stationary state of a finite one-dimensional sample ${\mathcal{S}}$ connected at its left and right ends to two infinitely extended reservoirs ${\mathcal{R}_{l/r}}$ at distinct (inverse) temperatures ${\beta_{l/r}}$ and chemical potentials ${\mu_{l/r}}$ . The sample is a free lattice Fermi gas confined to a box [0, L] with energy operator ${h_{\mathcal{S}, L}= - \Delta + v}$ . The Landauer-Büttiker formula expresses the steady state entropy flux in the coupled system ${\mathcal{R}_l + \mathcal{S} + \mathcal{R}_r}$ in terms of scattering data. We study the behaviour of this steady state entropy flux in the limit ${L \to \infty}$ and relate persistence of transport to norm bounds on the transfer matrices of the limiting half-line Schrödinger operator ${h_\mathcal{S}}$ .     

Courant–Dorfman Algebras and their Cohomology

We introduce a new type of algebra, the Courant–Dorfman algebra. These are to Courant algebroids what Lie–Rinehart algebras are to Lie algebroids, or Poisson algebras to Poisson manifolds. We work with arbitrary rings and modules, without any regularity, finiteness or non-degeneracy assumptions. To each Courant–Dorfman algebra ${(\mathcal{R}, \mathcal{E})}$ we associate a differential graded algebra ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ in a functorial way by means of explicit formulas. We describe two canonical filtrations on ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ , and derive an analogue of the Cartan relations for derivations of ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ ; we classify central extensions of ${\mathcal{E}}$ in terms of ${H^2(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ and study the canonical cocycle ${\Theta \in \mathcal{C}^3(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ whose class ${[\Theta]}$ obstructs re-scalings of the Courant–Dorfman structure. In the nondegenerate case, we also explicitly describe the Poisson bracket on ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ ; for Courant–Dorfman algebras associated to Courant algebroids over finite-dimensional smooth manifolds, we prove that the Poisson dg algebra ${\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{E}, \mathcal{R})}$ is isomorphic to the one constructed in Roytenberg (On the structure of graded symplectic supermanifolds and Courant algebroids. American Mathematical Society, Providence, 2002) using graded manifolds.     

Haag Duality and the Distal Split Property for Cones in the Toric Code

We prove that Haag duality holds for cones in the toric code model. That is, for a cone ??, the algebra ${\mathcal{R}_{\Lambda}}$ of observables localized in ?? and the algebra ${\mathcal{R}_{\Lambda^c}}$ of observables localized in the complement ?? ^c generate each other??s commutant as von Neumann algebras. Moreover, we show that the distal split property holds: if ${\Lambda_1 \subset \Lambda_2}$ are two cones whose boundaries are well separated, there is a Type I factor ${\mathcal{N}}$ such that ${\mathcal{R}_{\Lambda_1} \subset \mathcal{N} \subset \mathcal{R}_{\Lambda_2}}$ . We demonstrate this by explicitly constructing ${\mathcal{N}}$ .     

On the Quasi-linear Elliptic PDE {-\nabla \cdot ( \nabla{u}/ \sqrt{1-| \nabla{u} |^2}) = 4 \pi \sum_k a_k \delta_{s_k}} in Physics and Geometry

It is shown that for each finite number N of Dirac measures ${\delta_{s_n}}$ supported at points ${s_n \in {\mathbb R}^3}$ with given amplitudes ${a_n \in {\mathbb R} \backslash\{0\}}$ there exists a unique real-valued function ${u \in C^{0, 1}({\mathbb R}^3)}$ , vanishing at infinity, which distributionally solves the quasi-linear elliptic partial differential equation of divergence form ${-\nabla \cdot ( \nabla{u}/ \sqrt{1-| \nabla{u} |^2}) = 4 \pi \sum_{n=1}^N a_n \delta_{s_n}}$ . Moreover, ${u \in C^{\omega}({\mathbb R}^3\backslash \{s_n\}_{n=1}^N)}$ . The result can be interpreted in at least two ways: (a) for any number N of point charges of arbitrary magnitude and sign at prescribed locations s _n in three-dimensional Euclidean space there exists a unique electrostatic field which satisfies the Maxwell-Born-Infeld field equations smoothly away from the point charges and vanishes as |s| ?? ??; (b) for any number N of integral mean curvatures assigned to locations ${s_n \in {\mathbb R}^3 \subset{\mathbb R}^{1, 3}}$ there exists a unique asymptotically flat, almost everywhere space-like maximal slice with point defects of Minkowski spacetime ${{\mathbb R}^{1, 3}}$ , having lightcone singularities over the s _n but being smooth otherwise, and whose height function vanishes as |s| ?? ??. No struts between the point singularities ever occur.