No-Signaling in Quantum Mechanics

We review some concepts and reasonings regarding the notion of no-signaling and its relation to quantum mechanics in bipartite Bell-type scenarios. We recapitulate the no-signaling property of joint conditional probability distributions in geometrical and information theoretic terms. We summarize the reasons why quantum mechanics does not enable instantaneous communication. We make some comments on quantum field theoretic aspects.     

Josephson pancakes in layered superconductors

We consider a pancake vortex in a layered superconductor with linear defects in the superconducting planes. We treat these defects as Josephson junctions. We show that the tunneling Josephson current through these junctions results in a pancake with a superconducting core. We find the mobility of a Josephson pancake.     

Delocalization in two-dimensional disordered Bose systems and depinning transition in the vortex state in superconductors

We investigate a two-dimensional (2D) Bose system with the long range interactions in the presence of disorder. Formation of the bound states at strong impurity sites gives rise to a depletion of the superfluid density. We predict the intermediate superfluid state where the condensate and localized bosons are present simultaneously. We find that interactions suppress localization and that with the increase of the boson density the system experiences a sharp delocalization crossover into a state where all bosons are delocalized. We map our results onto a 3D system of vortices in type II superconductors in the presence of columnar defects; the intermediate superfluid state maps to an intermediate vortex liquid where vortex liquid neighbors pinned vortices. We predict the depinning crossover within the vortex liquid and depinning induced vortex lattice-Bose glass melting.     

Lattice solitons in quasicondensates

We analyze finite temperature effects in the generation of bright solitons in condensates in optical lattices. We show that even in the presence of strong phase fluctuations solitonic structures with a well defined phase profile can be created. We propose a novel family of variational functions which describe well the properties of these solitons and account for the nonlinear effects in the band structure. We discuss also the mobility and collisions of these localized wave packets.     

Adatoms in graphene

We review the problem of adatoms in graphene under two complementary points of view, scattering theory and strong correlations. We show that in both cases impurity atoms on the graphene surface present effects that are absent in the physics of impurities in ordinary metals. We discuss how to observe these unusual effects with standard experimental probes such as scanning tunneling microscopes, and spin susceptibility.     

Nonlinear diffraction and total internal reflection in optical-beam interaction in defocusing media

We elaborate the theory of reflection of an optical signal beam from an inhomogeneous channel created by a high-power laser beam of different frequency in a nonlinear defocusing medium. We study the effects of total internal reflection and nonlinear diffraction in the interaction of these beams. We derive and analyze the equation for the trajectory of the reflected signal beam and obtain the expression for the critical value of beam-intersection angle below which the total internal reflection occurs. We discuss the results of numerical modeling of nonlinear Schr¨odinger equations for envelopes of the beams in media with quadratic, photorefractive, and thermal nonlinearities. We present experimental data on the interaction of beams of argon and helium–neon lasers in a cuvette with tinted alcohol.     

Probing states in the Mott insulator regime in the case of coherent bosons trapped in an optical lattice

We propose a method to probe states in the Mott insulator regime produced from a condensate in an optical lattice. We consider a system in which we create time-dependent number fluctuations in a given site by turning off the atomic interactions and lowering the potential barriers on a nearly pure Mott state to allow the atoms to tunnel between sites. We calculate the expected interference pattern and number fluctuations from such a system and show that one can potentially observe a deviation from a pure Mott state. We also discuss a method in which to detect these number fluctuations using time-of-flight imaging.     

\mu-e conversion in nuclei in the left-right supersymmetric model

We investigate the contributions to conversion in nuclei in a supersymmetric model with left-right symmetry, motivated by the new data on neutrino oscillations. We study the dependence of the conversion rate on the various parameters of the model, and show that light-mass or large scenarios are severely restricted. We analyse the effect of several popular mecahnisms of neutrino mixing on the conversion rate as well as the influence of the right-handed scale on the conversion rate. We compare the conversion rate to the branching ratio for and discuss their relative accessibility at future experiments, their sensitivity to various parameters of the model, as well as their relative importance in providing signals for new Physics. Received: 31 May 2000 / Published online: 31 August 2000     

Changes in quantum states of atoms in a markovian thermostat

We solve the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, taking into account self-interaction through the surrounding medium. We have found that such atoms have a countable set of stable equilibrium states, coinciding with the wave eigenfunctions of an individual atom. We show that transitions of an atom from equilibrium quantum states corresponding to less excited levels to more excited levels occur in jumps, while transitions from equilibrium states corresponding to upper levels to lower levels may occur either as radiationless transitions or be accompanied by spontaneous emission at the eigenfrequency of the quantum transition. We have found the conditions for which a change in the topological structure of the atomic wavefunction is possible.     

Discrete breathers in nonlinear lattices: experimental detection in a josephson array

We present the experimental detection of discrete breathers in an underdamped Josephson-junction array. Breathers exist under a range of dc current biases and temperatures, and are detected by measuring dc voltages. We find that the maximum allowable bias current for the breather is proportional to the array depinning current, while the minimum current seems to be related to a junction retrapping mechanism. We have observed that this latter instability leads to the formation of multisite breather states in the array. We have also studied the domain of existence of the breather at different values of the array parameters by varying the temperature.     

Polarization-selective etching in femtosecond laser-assisted microfluidic channel fabrication in fused silica

We fabricate microchannels in fused silica by femtosecond laser irradiation followed by etching in diluted hydrofluoric acid. We show a dramatic dependence of the etch rate on the laser polarization, spanning 2 orders of magnitude. We establish the existence of an energy-per-pulse threshold at which etching of the laser-modified zones becomes highly polarization selective. The enhanced selective etching is due to long-range, periodic, polarization-dependent nanostructures formed in the laser-modified material.     

Elementary excitations in vibrational nuclei

We propose to describe the entire collective spectrum of vibrational nuclei in terms of few enteracting elementary excitation modes. We discuss in detail the case in which only two elementary modes are important (the quadrupole d and the octupole f-bosons). We give explicit expressions for the energy levels and transition matrix elements.     

A study of collective octupole states in barium in the interacting boson model

We analyze low-lying collective negative parity states in ^140–148Ba in terms of the interacting spdf boson model. We point out the crucial role played by p bosons in describing E1 transitions. We discuss the rather unusual properties of the nucleus ¹⁴⁶Ba.     

Reactive particles in random flows

We study the dynamics of chemically or biologically active particles advected by open flows of chaotic time dependence, which can be modeled by a random time dependence of the parameters on a stroboscopic map. We develop a general theory for reactions in such random flows, and derive the reaction equation for this case. We show that there is a singular enhancement of the reaction in random flows, and this enhancement is increased as compared to the nonrandom case. We verify our theory in a model flow generated by four point vortices moving chaotically.     

Lamellar-like structures in ferrofluids placed in strong magnetic fields

We consider a ferrofluid system consisting of magnetic particles interacting with a magnetic dipole–dipole interaction. We study the strong magnetic field regime where all magnetic dipoles are completely polarized in the direction of the magnetic field. We introduce a lattice gas model that serves to describe space ordering phenomena in such systems. It is found that, within mean field theory, this model predicts a second order phase transition to a phase with inhomogeneous lamellar-like ordering below a certain critical temperature.     

The Pomeron in Closed Bosonic String Theory

We review the features of the pomeron in the S-matrix theory and in quantum field theory. We extend those general properties to the pomeron of closed bosonic string theory in a Minkowskian background. We compute the couplings of the pomeron to the first few mass levels of closed bosonic string states in flat space. We recognize the deviation from the linearity of the Regge trajectories in a five dimensional anti De Sitter background.     

Superconductivity in the two-band Hubbard model in infinite dimensions

We study a two-band Hubbard model in the limit of infinite dimensions, using a combination of analytical methods and Monte-Carlo techniques. The normal state is found to display various metal to insulators transitions as a function of doping and interaction strength. We derive self-consistent equations for the local Green's functions in the presence of superconducting long-range order, and extend previous algorithms to this case. We present direct numerical evidence that in a specific range of parameter space, the normal state is unstable against a superconducting state characterized by a strongly frequency dependent order-parameter.     

Flights in a pseudo-chaotic system

We consider the problem of transport in a one-parameter family of piecewise rotations of the torus, for rotation number approaching 1∕4. This is a zero-entropy system which in this limit exhibits a divided phase space, with island chains immersed in a "pseudo-chaotic" region. We identify a novel mechanism for long-range transport, namely the adiabatic destruction of accelerator-mode islands. This process originates from the approximate translational invariance of the phase space and leads to long flights of linear motion, for a significant measure of initial conditions. We show that the asymptotic probability distribution of the flight lengths is determined by the geometric properties of a partition of the accelerator-mode island associated with the flight. We establish the existence of flights travelling distances of order O(1) in phase space. We provide evidence for the existence of a scattering process that connects flights travelling in opposite directions.     

Wormholes in dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory

We construct traversable wormholes in dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory in four spacetime dimensions, without needing any form of exotic matter. We determine their domain of existence, and show that these wormholes satisfy a generalized Smarr relation. We demonstrate linear stability with respect to radial perturbations for a subset of these wormholes.     

Pomeron vertices in perturbative QCD in diffractive scattering

We analyze the momentum space triple pomeron vertex in perturbative QCD. In addition to the standard form of this vertex which is used in the context of total cross sections at high energies and in the QCD reggeon field theory, there exists an alternative form which has to be used in the study of high-mass diffraction. We review and analyze the relation between these two versions. We discuss some implications for the BK equation. In the second part of our paper we extend this analysis to the pomeron-odderon-odderon vertex.Received: 11 January 2005, Revised: 24 January 2005, Published online: 3 March 2005