Phase transition in four-dimensional compact QED

The energy and the specific heat of the four-dimensional U(1) lattice gauge model is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations on lattices of size L⁴, where L = 4, 5 and 6, evidence is presented for the occurence of a second-order phase transition. A finite size scaling analysis of our results gives the critical value of the coupling constant e²_c = 0.995 and a correlation length exponent $\text{v ≈}\text{1}\text{3}$.     

Photon delocalization transition in dimensional crossover in layered media

We report a crossover in optical propagation in random layered media from localization towards diffusion as the interaction of the wave with the sample is transformed from one to three dimensional due to nonuniformity in the layer thickness. The crossover occurs at the point that the lateral spread of the wave equals the transverse coherence length in the transmitted speckle pattern.     

Inconsistency of QED in the presence of Dirac monopoles

A precise formulation ofU (1) local gauge invariance in QED is presented, which clearly shows that the gauge coupling associated with the unphysical longitudinal photon field is non-observable and actually has an arbitrary value. We then re-examine the Dirac quantization condition and find that its derivation involves solely the unphysical longitudinal coupling. Hence an inconsistency inevitably arises in the presence of Dirac monopoles and this can be considered as a theoretical evidence against their existence. An alternative, independent proof of this conclusion is also presented.     

Is QED inconsistent in the presence of Dirac monopoles?

We examine a recently made claim that an unphysical coupling associated with the longitudinal component of the gauge field appears in the Dirac quantization condition thus rendering QED inconsistent in the presence of Dirac monopoles. We point out that a conventional quantization condition can still be obtained.     

Confinement and vacuum structure in compact QED on the lattice

Using an effective action and assuming that the physical ground state has no structure, we demonstrate that the spectrum of the compact U(1) gauge model has massless (vector and scalar) bosons.     

Quantum phase transitions in the anisotropic three dimensional XY model

In this paper we study the quantum phase transition in a three-dimensional XY model with single-ion anisotropy D and spin S=1. The low D phase is studied using the self consistent harmonic approximation, and the large D phase using the bond operator formalism. We calculate the critical value of the anisotropy parameter where a transition occurs from the large-D phase to the Néel phase. We present the behavior of the energy gap, in the large-D phase, as a function of the temperature. In the large D region, a longitudinal magnetic field induces a phase transition from the singlet to the antiferromagnetic state, and then from the AFM one to the paramagnetic state.     

Photon statistics in the stochastic limit of QED without dipole approximation

In this paper we investigate the distribution of the Heisenberg evolution of the number operator in the stochastic limit of the quantum electromagnetic field without dipole approximation. We prove that in this case the usual Poisson statistics of the free fields has to be replaced by a hypergeometric series whose coefficients we compute explicitly. The physical effects of the new statistics should manifest themselves in situation which are not yet in the relativistic regime, but in which the dipole approximation is no longer valid. The text was submitted by the authors in English.