The renormalization group and fractional Brownian motion

We find that in generic field theories the combined effect of fluctuations and interactions leads to a probability distribution function which describes fractional Brownian motion (fBM) and “complex behavior”. To show this we use the renormalization group as a tool to improve perturbative calculations, and check that beyond the classical regime of the field theory (i.e., when no fluctuations are present) the non-linearities drive the probability distribution function of the system away from classical Brownian motion and into a regime which to the lowest order is that of fBM. Our results can be applied to systems away from equilibrium and to dynamical critical phenomena. We illustrate our results with two selected examples: a particle in a heat bath, and the KPZ equation.     

Vortex condensation in the dual Chern–Simons–Higgs model

The contribution of nontrivial vacuum (topological) excitations, more specifically vortex configurations of the self-dual Chern–Simons–Higgs model, to the functional partition function is considered. By using a duality transformation, we arrive at a representation of the partition function in terms of which explicit vortex degrees of freedom are coupled to a dual gauge field. By matching the obtained action to a field theory for the vortices, the physical properties of the model in the presence of vortex excitations are then studied. In terms of this field theory for vortices in the self-dual Chern–Simons–Higgs model, we determine the location of the critical value for the Chern–Simons parameter below which vortex condensation can happen in the system. The effects of self-energy quantum corrections to the vortex field are also considered.     

Ginzberg-Landau理论对超导薄膜的适用性

本文指出虽然三十年来Ginzberg-Landau理论(以下简称G-理论)被人们广泛地用于描述超导薄膜的临界场,而且它还是描述强耦合超导薄膜临界场的唯一理论,但G-L关于薄膜临界场的理论不仅一直未得到实验证明,而且它既不能用于描述结晶态的弱耦合超导薄膜的临界场,也不适用于描述强耦合超导薄膜的临界场。本文还提出了一个在薄膜极限下定域的新判据:ξ<<λ,ξ<关键词：     

Statistical mechanics and stability of random lattice field theory

The averaging procedure in the random lattice field theory is studied by viewing it as a statistical mechanics of a system of classical particles. The corresponding thermodynamic phase is shown to determine the random lattice configuration which contributes dominantly to the generating function. The non-abelian gauge theory in four (space plus time) dimensions in the annealed and quenched averaging versions is shown to exist as an ideal classical gas, implying that macroscopically homogeneous configurations dominate the configurational averaging. For the free massless scalar field theory with O(n) global symmetry, in the annealed average, the pressure becomes negative for dimensions greater than two when n exceeds a critical number. This implies that macroscopically inhomogeneous collapsed configurations contribute dominantly. In the quenched averaging, the collapse of the massless scalar field theory is prevented and the system becomes an ideal gas which is at infinite temperature. Our results are obtained using exact scaling analysis. We also show approximately that SU(N) gauge theory collapses for dimensions greater than four in the annealed average. Within the same approximation, the collapse is prevented in the quenched average. We also obtain exact scaling differential equations satisfied by the generating function and physical quantities.     

Thermodynamic properties of the φ4 lattice field theory near the Ising limit

For a d-dimensional φ⁴ lattice field theory consisting of N spins with nearest-neighbor interactions, the partition function is transformed for large bare coupling constant λ into an Ising-like system with additional neighbor interactions. For d = 2 a mean field approximation is then used to estimate the difference in critical temperature between the lattice φ⁴ field theory and its Ising limit (λ = ∞). Expansions are obtained for the susceptibility and specific heat. The critical exponents are shown to be identical to the Ising exponents.     

Anisotropy of a vortex instability observed at high current densities in YBa2Cu3O7δ superconducting films

Experimental data are provided for YBaCuO films that an instability of the vortex system, which manifests itself by a voltage jump at a critical current I*, exhibits strong anisotropy if the magnetic field is tilted from parallel to perpendicular to the c-axis. The angular dependence of I* can be well described by a model emphasizing the component of the magnetic field parallel to the c-axis. If the current range is restricted to values close to I*, the current-voltage characteristics below the instability show a satisfactory agreement with the prediction of the theory of ‘Self-Organized Criticality’ (SOC). In terms of this theory it is possible to relate the critical vortex velocity v* to the temperature and field dependent characteristic size of the underlying vortex avalanches. If, however, standard Larkin-Ovchinnikov theory is applied to describe the instability, this critical velocity is related to the scattering rate of quasiparticles. Analyzed in this way and assuming an isotropic diffusion constant of the quasiparticles, an anisotropic scattering rate and its temperature dependence can be extracted.     

Entanglement entropy of 2D conformal quantum critical points: hearing the shape of a quantum drum

The entanglement entropy of a pure quantum state of a bipartite system A union or logical sumB is defined as the von Neumann entropy of the reduced density matrix obtained by tracing over one of the two parts. In one dimension, the entanglement of critical ground states diverges logarithmically in the subsystem size, with a universal coefficient that for conformally invariant critical points is related to the central charge of the conformal field theory. We find that the entanglement entropy of a standard class of z=2 conformal quantum critical points in two spatial dimensions, in addition to a nonuniversal "area law" contribution linear in the size of the AB boundary, generically has a universal logarithmically divergent correction, which is completely determined by the geometry of the partition and by the central charge of the field theory that describes the critical wave function.     

Bifurcation of Dicke Model Driven by Laser Field and Scaling Theory of Critical Exponents Far from Equilibrium

ＢｉｆｕｒｃａｔｉｏｎｏｆＤｉｃｋｅＭｏｄｅｌＤｒｉｖｅｎｂｙＬａｓｅｒＦｉｅｌｄａｎｄＳｃａｌｉｎｇＴｈｅｏｒｙｏｆＣｒｉｔｉｃａｌＥｘｐｏｎｅｎｔｓＦａｒｆｒｏｍＥｑｕｉｌｉｂｒｉｕｍＯＵＦａ（ＣＣＡＳＴ（ＷｏｒｌｄＬａｂｏｒａｔｏｒｙ）Ｐ．Ｏ．...     

Lifshitz时空s波超导模型的关联长度和穿透深度

在D=d+2维各向异性的Lifshitz黑洞时空背景中, 在探子极限下, 用解析方法研究了临界温度附近引力系统的微扰, 计算出超导的关联长度ξα(1/T_c)(1-(T/T_c)^-1/2, 这与平均场论的结果一致. 进一步, 考虑在该系统中加一个均匀外磁场, 计算出穿透深度λα(T_c-T)^-1/2, 该结果与Ginzburg-Landau理论相符.     

Phase transitions in a cluster molecular field approximation

Cluster molecular field approximations represent a substantial progress over the simple Weiss theory where only one spin is considered in the molecular field resulting from all the other spins. In this work we discuss a systematic way of improving the molecular field approximation by inserting spin clusters of variable sizes into a homogeneously magnetised background. The density of states of these spin clusters is then computed exactly. We show that the true non-classical critical exponents can be extracted from spin clusters treated in such a manner. For this purpose a molecular field finite size scaling theory is discussed and effective critical exponents are analysed. Reliable values of critical quantities of various Ising and Potts models are extracted from very small system sizes. Received 30 September 2002 / Received in final form 25 November 2002 Published online 27 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: pleim@theorie1.physik.uni-erlangen.de     

Shock wave detection in two-dimensional flow based on the theory of characteristics from CFD data

A method to detect the discontinuity of a shock wave from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data was developed based on the theory of characteristics and was adopted to replace the inaccurate method that involves observation of the location of steep spatial gradient with respect to the primitive variables, such as pressure. A shock wave is mathematically defined as a convergence of characteristics, in which each type of Riemann invariant is conserved within each characteristic. In the vector field of the characteristics, such convergences are interpreted as critical lines of the streamlines, which are easily identified by calculating the eigenvectors of the vector field of propagation velocity of the Riemann invariant. The use of a triangular cell system enables unique determination of the linearized vector field in each cell and enables analytical identification of the critical line within this field. Shock waves can be successfully extracted using this method. The method can be extended to the detection of moving shock waves by considering the coordinate moving with the shock.     

Topology Change in (2+1)-Dimensional Gravity with Non-Abelian Higgs Field

We study topology change in (2+1)D gravity coupling with non-Abelian SO(2, 1) Higgs field from the point of view of Morse theory. It is shown that the Higgs potential can be identified as a Morse function. The critical points of the latter (i.e. loci of change of the spacetime topology) coincide with zeros of the Higgs field. In these critical points the two-dimensional metric becomes degenerate, but the curvature remains bounded.     

The role of elastic strains at non-ferroelastic displacive phase transitions

The role of elastic strains at structural phase transitions is illustrated within the Landau theory and its first-order corrections due to critical fluctuations and defects are described. The Landau theory is sufficient to demonstrate the impossibility of bulk nucleation in a supercooled symmetrical phase and the absence of heterophase fluctuations in solids. The critical fluctuations are known to convert a second-order transition in an Ising-like system in a solid to a first-order one. Close to the mean-field tricritical point the effect can be described, for displacive systems, within a first-order perturbation theory and takes place for the Heisenberg systems as well. The influence of defects on these transitions is mediated essentially by the elastic strains. Defects smear the transition. For the “random local field” defects and an incommensurate (Heisenberg-like) transition this effect is so strong that first-order perturbation theory leads to a divergence.     

Symplectic manifolds,coadjoint orbits,and mean field theory

Mean field theory is given a geometrical interpretation as a Hamiltonian dynamical system. The Hartree-Fock phase space is the Grassmann manifold, a symplectic submanifold of the projective space of the full many-fermion Hilbert space. The integral curves of the Hartree-Fock vector field are the time-dependent Hartree-Fock solutions, while the critical points of the energy function are the time-independent states. The mean field theory is generalized beyond determinants to coadjoint orbit spaces of the unitary group; the Grassmann variety is the minimal coadjoint orbit.     

Geometrical approach to the thermodynamical theory of phase transitions of the second kind

A geometrical approach to the phenomenological theory of phase transitions of the second kind at constant pressure P and variable temperature T is proposed. Equilibrium states of a system at zero external field and fixed P and T are described by points in three-dimensional space with coordinates η, the order parameter, T, the temperature and /gf, the thermodynamic potential. These points form the so-called zero field curve in the (η, T, /gf) space. Its branch point coincides with the critical point of the system. The small parameter of the theory (the distance from the critical point along the zero-field curve) is shown to be more convenient than the small parameter of the Landau theory. It is emphasized that no explicit functional dependency of /gf on η and T is imposed.

It is shown that using (η, T, /gf) space one cannot overcome well-known difficulties of the Landau theory of phase transitions and describe non-analytical behavior of real systems in the vicinity of the critical point. This becomes possible only if one increases the dimensionality of the space, taking into account the dependency of the thermodynamic potential not only on η and T, but also on near (local) order parameters λ_i. In this case under certain conditions it is possible to describe anomalous increase of the specific heat when the temperature of the system approaches the critical point from above as well as from below the critical temperature T_c.     

Relaxation at critical points: Deterministic and stochastic theory

A generalized critical point can be characterized by non-linear dynamics. We formulate the deterministic and stochastic theory of relaxation at such a point. Canonical problems are used to motivate the general solutions. In the deterministic theory, we show that at the critical point certain modes have polynomial (rather than exponential) growth or decay. The stochastic relaxation rates can be calculated in terms of various incomplete special functions. Three examples are considered. First, a substrate inhibited reaction (marginal type dynamical system) is treated. Second, the relaxation of a mean field ferromagnet is considered. We obtain a result that generalizes the work of Griffiths et al. Third, we study the relaxation of a critical harmonic oscillator.     

Entanglement in (1/2,1) Mixed-Spin XY Model with Long-Range Interaction

In this study, we investigate entanglement in a two mixed-spin (1/2,1) XY Heisenberg spin system under an applied magnetic field by considering the long-range interaction with an inverse-square function. The spin-spin coupling constant is considered as a function of the distance between spins. We also discuss the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the thermal entanglement in this system for this interaction. The numerical results show that, in the presence of the long-range interaction, thermal entanglement between spins has a rich behavior dependent upon the interaction strength, temperature and magnetic field. We find that for less than a critical distance there are entanglement plateaus dependent upon the distance between spins, whereas above the critical distance the entanglement can exhibit sudden death.     

Wilson ratio of a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid in a spin-1/2 Heisenberg ladder

Using micromechanical force magnetometry, we have measured the magnetization of the strong-leg spin-1/2 ladder compound (C(7)H(10)N)(2)CuBr(2) at temperatures down to 45 mK. Low-temperature magnetic susceptibility as a function of field exhibits a maximum near the critical field H(c) at which the magnon gap vanishes, as expected for a gapped one-dimensional antiferromagnet. Above H(c) a clear minimum appears in the magnetization as a function of temperature, as predicted by theory. In this field region, the susceptibility in conjunction with our specific-heat data yields the Wilson ratio R(W). The result supports the relation R(W)=4K, where K is the Tomonaga-Luttinger-liquid parameter.     

Phase diagram and critical properties of the asymmetric Mattis model

We extend the well-known Mattis model to the case of asymmetric bond distributions. Although the partition function is identical with that of the pure ferromagnetic Ising model (FIM) when the external field is absent, the response to the external field is nontrivial even at zero field. There are some exact relations between the present model and the FIM in the correlation functions, from which the phase diagram and critical exponents can be determined. Multicritical behavior and some other interesting phenomena typical for a random system are demonstrated by this model.     

Strings in horizons, dissipation and a possible interpretation of the Hagedorn temperature

We consider the entanglement of closed bosonic strings intersecting the event horizon of a Rindler spacetime, and, by using some simplified (rather semiclassical) arguments and some elements of the string field theory, we show the existence of a critical temperature beyond which closed strings cannot be in thermal equilibrium. The order of magnitude of this critical value coincides with the Hagedorn temperature, which suggests an interpretation consistent with the fact of having a partition function that is ill defined for temperatures higher than it. Possible implications of the present approach for the microscopical structure of stretched horizons are also pointed out.