Positive definite functions on the Heisenberg group

Work supported in part by the NSF     

Observation of the nonlinear effect in relativistic Thomson scattering of electron and laser beams

Thomson scattering of high-power laser and electron beams is a good test of electrodynamics in the high-field region. We demonstrated production of high-intensity X-rays in the head-on collision of a CO₂ laser and 60-MeV electron beams at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Accelerator Test Facility. The energy of an X-ray photon was limited at 6.5 keV in the linear (lowest order) Thomson scattering, but the nonlinear (higher order) process produces higher energy X-rays. We measured the angular distribution of the high-energy X-rays and confirmed that it agrees with theoretical predictions.     

General coordinate invariance and conformal invariance in nonrelativistic physics: Unitary Fermi gas

We show that the Lagrangian for interacting nonrelativistic particles can be coupled to an external gauge field and metric tensor in a way that exhibits a nonrelativistic version of general coordinate invariance. We explore the consequences of this invariance on the example of the degenerate Fermi gas at infinite scattering length, where conformal invariance also plays an important role. We find the most general effective Lagrangian consistent with both general coordinate and conformal invariance to leading and next-to-leading orders in the momentum expansion. At the leading order the Lagrangian contains one phenomenological constant and reproduces the results of the Thomas-Fermi theory and superfluid hydrodynamics. At the next-to-leading order there are two additional constants. We express various physical quantities through these constants.     

On non-Fermi liquid quantum critical points in heavy fermion metals

Heavy electron metals on the verge of a quantum phase transition to magnetism show a number of unusual non-Fermi liquid properties which are poorly understood. This article discusses in a general way various theoretical aspects of this phase transition with an eye toward understanding the non-Fermi liquid phenomena. We suggest that the non-Fermi liquid quantum critical state may have a sharp Fermi surface with power law quasiparticles but with a volume not set by the usual Luttinger rule. We also discuss the possibility that the electronic structure change associated with the possible Fermi surface reconstruction may diverge at a different time/length scale from that associated with magnetic phenomena.     

Maximizing a Linear Fractional Function on a Pareto Efficient Frontier

We consider the problem of maximizing a linear fractional function on the Pareto efficient frontier of two other linear fractional functions. We present a finite pivoting-type algorithm that solves the maximization problem while computing simultaneously the efficient frontier. Application to multistage efficiency analysis is discussed. An example demonstrating the computational procedure is included.     

Investigations of Solid State Dynamics at the NRSSR Beamline at PETRA II. An Overview

The present status of the new nuclear resonance beamline PETRA 1 at HASYLAB, DESY, Hamburg is described. Besides an overview of the experimental setup some examples of recent experiments are given. Those cover the main applications, i.e., inelastic scattering from iron alloys and quasielastic scattering from glass-forming liquids. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observation of dielectronic satellites in the K-spectrum of argon ions in plasma produced by femtosecond laser pulses

The satellite structure of 1s2p ^1,3 P ₁-1s ²¹ S ₀ lines of the He-like argon ion in plasma produced by a 45-fs laser pulse in a gas-jet cluster target is measured with a high spectral resolution. Radiation transitions 2p → 1s from autoionizing states (AISs) are detected for ions ranging from Li-like to F-like. The spectrum observed is theoretically simulated with the use of the spectroscopic data for the AISs of multicharged ions obtained within the multiconfiguration relativistic Hartree-Fock method. Good agreement with experimental data is obtained when the main population channels of these states are taken into account for typical values of cluster-target plasma parameters.     

Formation of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films from polymer pyrolysis

Free-standing and supported hydrogenated amorphous carbon films (a:C–H) were prepared upon pyrolysis of the polymer formed by ethanolamine (EA) and citric acid (CA), under an ambient atmosphere at 300 °C. EA facilitates the formation of the macroscopic films, while CA is essential for obtaining the a:C–H microstructure, which comprises a mixture of sp² and sp³ carbon. Received: 29 May 2001 / Accepted: 17 August 2001 / Published online: 20 December 2001     

Generic replica symmetric field-theory for short range Ising spin glasses

Symmetry considerations and a direct, Hubbard-Stratonovich type, derivation are used to construct a replica field-theory relevant to the study of the spin glass transition of short range models in a magnetic field. A mean-field treatment reveals that two different types of transitions exist, whenever the replica number n is kept larger than zero. The Sherrington-Kirkpatrick critical point in zero magnetic field between the paramagnet and replica magnet (a replica symmetric phase with a nonzero spin glass order parameter) separates from the de Almeida-Thouless line, along which replica symmetry breaking occurs. We argue that for studying the de Almeida-Thouless transition around the upper critical dimension d = 6, it is necessary to use the generic cubic model with all the three bare masses and eight cubic couplings. The critical role n may play is also emphasized. To make perturbative calculations feasible, a new representation of the cubic interaction is introduced. To illustrate the method, we compute the masses in one-loop order. Some technical details and a list of vertex rules are presented to help future renormalisation-group calculations. Received 9 October 2001     

Nonlinear optical parameters and optical limitation in cobalt-doped polyvinylpyrrolidone solutions

Nonlinear optical parameters (nonlinear refractive indices and nonlinear absorption coefficients) of solutions of polyvinylpyrrolidone doped by cobalt to various concentrations are measured at the lasing and second-harmonic wavelengths of a picosecond Nd:YAG laser (λ=1064 and 532 nm, respectively, and τ=35 ps). Data on optical limitation in these solutions are presented. The absence of nonlinear absorption in the IR spectral range and its significant effect in the visible range are demonstrated. Optical limitation at a wavelength of 1064 nm is related to defocusing, whereas at 532 nm, this effect is caused by two-photon absorption and partially by inverse saturated absorption and defocusing. Nonlinear optical parameters of metal-polymer complexes are reported.