Electronic properties of a large quantum dot at a finite temperature

The physical properties of a two-dimensional parabolic quantum dot composed of large number of interacting electrons are numerically determined by the Thomas–Fermi (TF) method at a finite temperature. Analytical solutions are given for zero temperature for comparative purposes. The exact solution of the TF equation is obtained for the non-interacting system at finite temperatures. The effect of the number of particles and temperature on the properties are investigated both for interacting and non-interacting cases. The results indicate that the effect of e–e interaction on the density profile shows different temperature dependencies above and below a certain temperature T_c.     

On the local structure of the phase separation line in the two-dimensional Ising system

We investigate the structure of the phase separation line between the pure phases in the two-dimensional Ising model, the liquid and vapor phase in lattice gas language, at low temperatures. The fluctuations in the location of this line are known to diverge in the thermodynamic limit, something which is also believed to happen to the continuum liquid-vapor interface in three dimensions (in the absence of the gravitational field). We show that despite this global divergence it is possible to define precisely the local structure of the phase separation line. This has a finite, exponentially small, width at low temperatures which is related by a central limit theorem⁽¹⁾ to the width of the global fluctuations on the appropriate (divergent) length scale. The latter has been computed explicitly⁽²⁾ for all temperatures below the critical temperatureT _c, where it diverges as (T _c –T)^–1/2. We also prove a Gibbs formula for the surface tension at low temperature, which relates it to the local structure of the phase separation line.Supported in part by NSF grant No. M^rPHY 78-15920 and MCS78-01885.On leave from: Departement de Physique Théorique, Université de Louvain, Belgium.     

Flow equations for the spin-boson problem

Using continuous unitary transformations recently introduced by Wegner [1], we obtain flow equations for the parameters of the spin-boson Hamiltonian. Interactions not contained in the original Hamiltonian are generated by this unitary transformation. Within an approximation that neglects additional interactions quadratic in the bath operators, we can close the flow equations. Applying this formalism to the case of Ohmic dissipation at zero temperature, we calculate the renormalized tunneling frequency. We find a transition from an untrapped to trapped state at the critical coupling constant α _c =1. We also obtain the static susceptibility via the equilibrium spin correlation function. Our results are both consistent with results known from the Kondo problem and those obtained from mode-coupling theories. Using this formalism at finite temperature, we find a transition from coherent to incoherent tunneling atT ₂ ^* ≈2T ₁ ^* , whereT ₁ ^* is the crossover temperature of the dynamics known from the NIBA.     

A model study of quark-number susceptibility at finite chemical potential and temperature

In this Letter, we try to give a direct method for calculating the quark-number susceptibility (QNS) at finite chemical potential and temperature. In our approach the QNS is given by a formula which solely involves (the dressed quark propagator at finite chemical potential μ and temperature T). From this the QNS at finite chemical potential and temperature is calculated in the framework of rainbow-ladder approximation of the Dyson–Schwinger approach using the meromorphic quark propagator proposed in [M.S. Bhagwat, M.A. Pichowsky, P.C. Tandy, Phys. Rev. D 67 (2003) 054019]. It is found that the QNS χ(μ,T) has a singularity when μ comes close to a critical value μ₀, and the susceptibility as a function of T becomes discontinuous at some values of T when μ is near μ₀. At high temperature the QNS approaches the ideal quark gas result, while at very small temperature (T<40 MeV) the susceptibility equals zero. For all values of μ we studied, the susceptibility shows a rapid increase near T=120–140 MeV, which could be regarded as the signal of a crossover.     

Thermodynamics on noncommutative geometry in coherent state formalism

The thermodynamics of ideal gas on the noncommutative geometry in the coherent state formalism is investigated. We first evaluate the statistical interparticle potential and see that there are residual “attraction (repulsion) potential” between boson (fermion) in the high temperature limit. The characters could be traced to the fact that, the particle with mass m in noncommutative thermal geometry with noncommutativity θ and temperature T will correspond to that in the commutative background with temperature T(1+kTmθ)⁻¹. Such a correspondence implies that the ideal gas energy will asymptotically approach to a finite limiting value as that on commutative geometry at T_θ=(kmθ)⁻¹. We also investigate the squeezed coherent states and see that they could have arbitrary mean energy. The thermal properties of those systems are calculated and compared to each other. We find that the heat capacity of the squeezed coherent states of boson and fermion on the noncommutative geometry have different values, contrast to that on the commutative geometry.     

Dielectric/piezoelectric properties and temperature dependence of domain structure evolution in lead free single crystal

(K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃ (KNN) single crystals were grown using a high temperature flux method. The dielectric permittivity was measured as a function of temperature for [001]-oriented KNN single crystals. The ferroelectric phase transition temperatures, including the rhombohedral–orthorhombic T_R−O, orthorhombic–tetragonal T_O−T and tetragonal–cubic T_C were found to be located at −149  C, 205 C and 393 C, respectively. The domain structure evolution with an increasing temperature in [001]-oriented KNN single crystal was observed using polarized light microscopy (PLM), where three distinguished changes of the domain structures were found to occur at −150  C, 213 C and 400 C, corresponding to the three phase transition temperatures.     

Interfacial Adsorption in Two-Dimensional Potts Models

The interfacial adsorption W at the first-order transition in two-dimensional q-state Potts models is studied. In particular, findings of Monte Carlo simulations and of density-matrix renormalization group calculations at q=16 are consistent with the analytic result, obtained in the Hamiltonian limit at large values of q, that Wt ^–1/3 on approach to the bulk critical temperature T _c, t=|T _c–T|/T _c. In addition, the numerical findings allow to estimate corrections to scaling. Our study supports and quantifies a previous conclusion by Bricmont and Lebowitz based on low temperature expansions.     

Low-energy electronic spin excitations between filling factors ν=1 and studied by optically detected nuclear magnetic resonance

We report measurements of the spin relaxation time (T_1n) for nuclei in the potential well confining a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system at a single GaAs–GaAlAs heterojunction. At low temperatures nuclear spin relaxation is dominated by electron–nuclear spin scattering: we find that T_1n displays sharp maxima at incompressible states throughout the hierarchy of the fractional quantum Hall effect. This behaviour is consistent with the existence of low-energy spin excitations only where the electron system is compressible. Our measurements also provide evidence for a gap in the spin excitation spectrum at .     

Temperature Dependence of the CPN-1 Model and the Analogy with Quantum Chromodynamics

The two-dimensional CP^N-1 model — a simple field-theoretic analogue of four-dimensional quantum chromodynamics (QCD) — is analysed and reviewed. The major themes are the temperature dependence of the CP^N-1 model, and the analogy between CP^N-1 and QCD. A detailed treatment of the 1/N approximation of the CP^N-1 model is given. The main results emerging from this approximation are discussed at length. These are: asymptotic freedom, dimensional transmutation, confinement and topological charge nonquantization at zero temperature T = O, screening and topological charge quantization at finite temperature T. The analogy with QCD is explained in detail. A new, qualitative, analysis of the CP^N-1 model at finite temperature is introduced. This approach exploits the conformal invariance of the model to “heat” an arbitrary CP^N-1 field from T = O to finite temperature. This is achieved by conformal-transforming the flat Euclidean space-time of the T = O theory to the cylindrical space-time of the finite temperature theory.     

On the Coulomb energy of a finite-temperature electron gas

We rederive the Coulomb expansion of the electron gas average energy at finite temperature, starting from scratch, i.e., using only the framework of the grand canonical ensemble and not the finite-T Green's function formalism. We recover the analytical expressions of the exchange and correlation energy in both the high-T and theT=0 limits. We explicitly show the origin of the crossover of the correlation energy leading term frome ⁴ lne ² at zero temperature toe ³ at finiteT. We also discuss the relative importance of exchange and correlation in both limits.     

Squaric acid—a realization of the baxter model?

Squaric acid is a layered structure with an antiferrodistortive phase transition atT _c =373 K. Vertex and Ising models are considered, leading to the conclusion that two-dimensional squaric acid is a realization of the2d X–Y model with a cubic anisotropy, belonging to the same universality class as the Baxter or symmetrical Ashkin-Teller model. Experimental evidence is briefly discussed.     

On the absence of intermediate phases in the two-dimensional Coulomb gas

For a simple, continuum two-dimensional Coulomb gas (with soft cutoff), Gallavotti and Nicoló [J. Stat. Phys. 38:133–156 (1985)] have proved the existence of finite coefficients in the Mayer activity expansion up to order 2n below a series of temperature thresholdsT _n =T [1+(2n–1)^–1] (n=1, 2,...). With this in mind they conjectured that an infinite sequence of intermediate, multipole phases appears between the exponentially screened plasma phase aboveT ₁ and the full, unscreened Kosterilitz-Thouless phase belowT T _KT. We demonstrate that Debye-Hückel-Bjerrum theory, as recently investigated ford=2 dimensions, provides a natural and quite probably correct explanation of the pattern of finite Mayer coefficients while indicating the totalabsence of any intermediate phases at nonzero density ; only the KT phase extends to >0.     

T1–T2 Correlation Spectra Obtained Using a Fast Two-Dimensional Laplace Inversion

Spin relaxation is a sensitive probe of molecular structure and dynamics. Correlation of relaxation time constants, such as T₁ and T₂, conceptually similar to the conventional multidimensional spectroscopy, have been difficult to determine primarily due to the absense of an efficient multidimensional Laplace inversion program. We demonstrate the use of a novel computer algorithm for fast two-dimensional inverse Laplace transformation to obtain T₁–T₂ correlation functions. The algorithm efficiently performs a least-squares fit on two-dimensional data with a nonnegativity constraint. We use a regularization method to find a balance between the residual fitting errors and the known noise amplitude, thus producing a result that is found to be stable in the presence of noise. This algorithm can be extended to include functional forms other than exponential kernels. We demonstrate the performance of the algorithm at different signal-to-noise ratios and with different T₁–T₂ spectral characteristics using several brine-saturated rock samples.     

First passage time in a two-layer system

As a first step in the first passage problem for passive tracer in stratified porous media, we consider the case of a two-dimensional system consisting of two layers with different convection velocities. Using a lattice generating function formalism and a variety of analytic and numerical techniques, we calculate the asymptotic behavior of the first passage time probability distribution. We show analytically that the asymptotic distribution is a simple exponential in time for any choice of the velocities. The decay constant is given in terms of the largest eigenvalue of an operator related to a half-space Green's function. For the anti-symmetric case of opposite velocities in the layers, we show that the decay constant for system lengthL crosses over fromL ^–2 behavior in the diffusive limit toL ^–1 behavior in the convective regime, where the crossover lengthL ^* is given in terms of the velocities. We also have formulated a general self-consistency relation, from which we have developed a recursive approach which is useful for studying the short-time behavior.     

Real-time approach to quark confined systems at finite temperatures

A real-time formalism is proposed to incorporate finite temperatures into confined quark systems at the example of the Generalised Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for QCD. This approach allows one to study various properties of the system at T > 0, such as chiral symmetry breaking and restoration, properties of the bound-state spectrum, and so on.     

Giant heat capacity and nuclear-spin diffusion in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures near ν=1

We report low temperature (T) heat capacity (C) data on a multiple-quantum-well GaAs/AlGaAs sample in the quantum-Hall regime. Relative to its low field magnitude, C exhibits up to ≈10⁵-fold enhancement near Landau level filling v=1 where skyrmions are the expected ground state of the confined two-dimensional electrons. We attribute this striking behavior to a skyrmion-induced enhancement of the coupling between the nuclear spin system and the lattice. The data are consistent with the Schottky nuclear heat capacity of Ga and As atoms in the quantum wells, except at very low T where C vs. T exhibits a remarkably sharp peak suggestive of a phase transition in the electronic system. Our quasi-adiabatic experiments provide quantitative evidence that the sharp peak in C vs. T is due to an enhanced nuclear-spin diffusion from the GaAs quantum wells into the AlGaAs barriers. We discuss the physical origin of this enhancement in terms of the possible Skyrme solid–liquid phase transition.     

Optical parametric oscillation in a vertical triple microcavity

We report the realization of a monolithic vertical-cavity, surface emitting micro-optical parametric conversion nanostructure, triply resonant with the parametric frequencies, allowing parametric oscillation with ultra-low pump power threshold. The photonic phase-space naturally provides triple resonance for the parametric frequencies, together with built-in cavity phase matching for the pump wave at normal incidence. Parametric oscillation is observed in both the strong and weak exciton–photon coupling regime, allowing high operating temperature. Signal and idler beams can be collected at 0 or at finite angles. The OPO threshold is low enough to envisage the realization of an all-semiconductor electrically-pumped micro-parametric oscillator.     

On the decay of correlations inSO(n)-symmetric ferromagnets

We prove that for low temperaturesT the spin-spin correlation function of the two-dimensional classicalSO(n)-symmetric Ising ferromagnet decays faster than |x|^–constT providedn2. We also discuss a nearest neighbor continuous spin model, with spins restricted to a finite interval, where we show that the spin-spin correlation function decays exponentially in any number of dimensions.Work supported in part by NSF, Grant PHY76-17191A Sloan Fellow     

Paraconductivity for a d-wave superconductor in short-wavelength fluctuation regime

A theoretical study of the fluctuation conductivity above T_c (paraconductivity) is reported for a d-wave superconductor with resonant scattering impurities. A d-wave system is modeled by tight-binding electrons in the two-dimensional squared lattice, and the impurity scattering is treated in the T-matrix approximation in a unitary limit. In calculating the Aslamazov–Larkin (AL) and the Maki–Thompson (MT) terms, we also consider effects of a short-wavelength cutoff in the fluctuation spectrum. The d-wave character in the AL and MT terms manifests itself to renormalization effects on the fluctuation amplitude and reduced temperature, whereas an anomalous-MT term is absent. The present calculations can describe fairly well experiments on the paraconductivity in zinc-doped cuprate superconductors provided that effects of a total-energy cutoff are taken into account.