Quantum size effects in the attractive hubbard model

We investigate superconducting pair correlations in the attractive Hubbard model on a finite square lattice. Our aim is to understand the pronounced size dependence which they display in the weak and intermediate coupling regimes. These size effects originate from the electronic shell structure of finite systems and severely complicate a reliable extrapolation of numerical simulation data from small systems to the thermodynamic limit. To analyze the size effects in detail, we use the BCS approximation, as well as a particle number conserving modification of it and compare the results with those of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. As an application, we explore the possibility of reducing the shell effects in simulation data by changing the shape of the system and the imposed boundary conditions and by making use of the size dependence of corresponding BCS data.     

Projector Quantum Monte Carlo without minus-sign problem

Quantum Monte Carlo techniques often suffer from the so-called minus-sign problem. This paper explores a possibility to circumvent this fundamental problem by combining the Projector Quantum Monte Carlo method with the variational principle. Results are presented for the two-dimensional Hubbard model.     

Boson peak and fast relaxation process near the glass transition in polystyrene

Atactic polystyrene, both side group and main chain deuterated, was investigated by inelastic neutron scattering in a wide temperature range around the glass transition from 2 to 450 K. In the glass the Boson peak position is only very weakly influenced by the deuteration of the phenyl group. In the neighborhood of the glass transition temperatureT _g we find a fast relaxation process similar to other glasses. The onset of the fast relaxation in polystyrene, however, is observed already at temperaturesT _g — 200 K. Results from partially deuterated polystyrene suggest a change of the phenyl ring dynamics already far belowT _g.     

Turbulent convective heat transfer in an inclined tube filled with sodium

Turbulent free convection of liquid sodium in a straight thermally insulated tube with a length equal to 20 diameters and with end heat exchangers ensuring a fixed temperature drop is investigated experimentally. The experiments are performed for a fixed Rayleigh number Ra = 2.4 × 10⁶ and various angles of inclination of the tube relative to the vertical. A strong dependence of the power transferred along the tube on the angle of inclination is revealed: the Nusselt number in the angular range under investigation changes by an order of magnitude with a maximum at the angle of 65° with the vertical. The characteristics of large-scale circulation and turbulent temperature pulsations show that convective heat transfer is mainly determined by the velocity of large-scale circulation of sodium. Turbulent pulsations are maximal for small angles of inclination (α = 20°–30°) and reduce the heat flux along the channel, although in the limit of small angles (vertical tube), there is no large-scale circulation, and the convective heat flux, which is an order of magnitude larger than the molecular heat flux, is ensured only by small scale (turbulent) flow.     

Non-Gaussian nature of the alpha relaxation of glass-forming polyisoprene

We report quasielastic neutron scattering experiments exploring the alpha relaxation in polyisoprene over an unprecedented range in momentum transfer. Corroborating and validating earlier molecular dynamics simulations, the measurements reveal a crossover from a Gaussian regime of sublinear diffusion to a strongly non-Gaussian regime at short distances. We show that a consistent interpretation in terms of a distribution of finite jumps underlying the alpha process is possible. This model leads to a time-dependent non-Gaussian parameter exhibiting all features revealed so far from various simulations.