First excitations of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagomé lattice

We study the exact low energy spectra of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on small samples of the kagomé lattice of up to N=36 sites. In agreement with the conclusions of previous authors, we find that these low energy spectra contradict the hypothesis of Néel type long range order. Certainly, the ground state of this system is a spin liquid, but its properties are rather unusual. The magnetic () excitations are separated from the ground state by a gap. However, this gap is filled with nonmagnetic () excitations. In the thermodynamic limit the spectrum of these nonmagnetic excitations will presumably develop into a gapless continuum adjacent to the ground state. Surprisingly, the eigenstates of samples with an odd number of sites, i.e. samples with an unsaturated spin, exhibit symmetries which could support long range chiral order. We do not know if these states will be true thermodynamic states or only metastable ones. In any case, the low energy properties of the spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the kagomé lattice clearly distinguish this system from either a short range RVB spin liquid or a standard chiral spin liquid. Presumably they are facets of a generically new state of frustrated two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets. Received: 27 November 1997 / Accepted: 29 January 1998     

Self-dual Chern–Simons Vortices on Bounded Domains

In this Letter we consider the Abelian Chern–Simons vortices on a bounded simply connected domain. We establish the existence of solutions for the self-duality equations. We prove the uniqueness of solutions when all the vortex points are equal and the domain is star-shaped. We also show the radial symmetry of solutions on balls centered at the vortex point.     

Exact ground state of the generalized three-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland model

We generalize the Shastry-Sutherland model to three dimensions. By representing the model as a sum of the semidefinite positive projection operators, we exactly prove that the model has exact dimer ground state. Several schemes for constructing the three-dimensional Shastry-Sutherland model are proposed. Received 20 February 2002 / Received in final form 27 May 2002 Published online 17 September 2002     

Vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates: A review of the experimental results

Rotating dilute Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of alkali atoms offer a testing ground for theories of vortices in weakly interacting superfluids. In a rotating super-fluid, quantised vortices, with a vorticity h/m, form above a critical velocity. Such vortices have been generated in BEC of alkali atoms by different techniques such as (a) wave function engineering of a two-component BEC, (b) decay of solitons, (c) rotation of a thermal cloud before cooling it below the condensation temperature, (d) stirring with an ‘optical’ spoon, (e) rotating a deformation in the anisotropic trap in which the condensate is trapped and (f) by creating Berry phase by adiabatically reversing the axial magnetic field. Since the core of a vortex is a fraction of a micrometer in diameter, it cannot be directly imaged optically. The condensate with vortices is allowed to ballistically expand till the size increases by one order before the vortices are imaged. Surface wave spectroscopy and the change in aspect ratio of a rotating cloud are the other techniques used. Studies have been made on the creation and dynamics of single vortex and on systems with more than a hundred vortices. Results have been obtained on vortex nucleation, stability of vortex structures, nature of the vortex lattice and defects in such a lattice. Important results are: (a) evidence exists that vortex nucleation takes place by a surface mode instability; but this is not the only mechanism; (b) the vortex lattice is perfectly triangular right up to the edge; (c) in the initial stages of rotation of the cloud a tangled web of vortices is seen; it takes a few hundred milliseconds before the vortices arrange themselves in a lattice; this time appears to be independent of temperature; (d) the decay of vortices appears to arise from the transfer of energy to the rotating thermal component and is dependent on temperature; (e) defects in the lattices such as dislocations and grain boundaries are seen; (f) transverse oscillations (Tkachenko modes) of the vortex lattice have been observed; and (g) giant vortices have been produced. These will be discussed.     

On Vortex Dynamics in the Self-Dual Chern–Simons–Higgs System

The dynamics of n vortices in the self-dual Chern–Simons–Higgs system defined on the infinite plane is investigated. In adiabatic approximation, the vortex dynamics is determined by considering a rigid motion of a vortex configuration and a motion around a fixed center of mass. A motion of two vortices is studied in detail.     

Unconventional antiferromagnetic correlations of the doped Haldane gapsystem Y 2 BaNi 1 - x Zn x O 5

We make a new proposal to describe the very low temperature susceptibility of the doped Haldane gap compound Y₂BaNi_1-xZn_xO₅. We propose a new mean field model relevant for this compound. The ground state of this mean field model is unconventional because antiferromagnetism coexists with random dimers. We present new susceptibility experiments at very low temperature. We obtain a Curie-Weiss susceptibility χ( T ) ∼ C /(Θ + T ) as expected for antiferromagnetic correlations but we do not obtain a direct signature of antiferromagnetic long range order. We explain how to obtain the “impurity” susceptibility ( T ) by subtracting the Haldane gap contribution to the total susceptibility. In the temperature range [1 K, 300 K] the experimental data are well fitted by T ( T ) = C _imp 1 + T _imp / T . In the temperature range [100 mK, 1 K] the experimental data are well fitted by T ( T ) = A ln( T / T _c ), where T _c increases with x. This fit suggests the existence of a finite Néel temperature which is however too small to be probed directly in our experiments. We also obtain a maximum in the temperature dependence of the ac-susceptibility ( T ) which suggests the existence of antiferromagnetic correlations at very low temperature. Received 17 July 2001     

Generalized double affine Hecke algebras of rank 1 and quantized del Pezzo surfaces

Let D be a simply laced Dynkin diagram of rank r whose affinization has the shape of a star (i.e., D₄,E₆,E₇,E₈). To such a diagram one can attach a group G whose generators correspond to the legs of the affinization, have orders equal to the leg lengths plus 1, and the product of the generators is 1. The group G is then a 2-dimensional crystallographic group: G=Z??Z², where ? is 2, 3, 4, and 6, respectively. In this paper, we define a flat deformation H(t,q) of the group algebra C[G] of this group, by replacing the relations saying that the generators have prescribed orders by their deformations, saying that the generators satisfy monic polynomial equations of these orders with arbitrary roots (which are deformation parameters). The algebra H(t,q) for D₄ is the Cherednik algebra of type C^∨C₁, which was studied by Noumi, Sahi, and Stokman, and controls Askey-Wilson polynomials. We prove that H(t,q) is the universal deformation of the twisted group algebra of G, and that this deformation is compatible with certain filtrations on C[G]. We also show that if q is a root of unity, then for generic t the algebra H(t,q) is an Azumaya algebra, and its center is the function algebra on an affine del Pezzo surface. For generic q, the spherical subalgebra eH(t,q)e provides a quantization of such surfaces. We also discuss connections of H(t,q) with preprojective algebras and Painlevé VI.     

On the invariant measures for the two-dimensional euler flow

It is proven that the canonical Gibbs measure associated with a gas of vortices of intensity ± converges, in the limitN, 0,Nconst, to a Gaussian measure, which is invariant for the two-dimensional Euler equation.On leave from Dipartimento di Matematica Università di Roma Tor Vergata Roma, Italy.On leave from Dipartimento di Matematica Università di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy.     

Radiation: Waves or particles? A quantized approach to time

A fundamental difficulty in theoretical physics is the dual and apparently incompatible interpretations of radiation as showing both continuous and extensive wave properties but also those of discrete atomic or smaller individual particles. Some of these contradictions are outlined. The explanation offered is of a quantized nature of time; units t_o=h/m_oc² for a particle at rest, and of similar interval unit s_o when in relative motion, with conventional relativistic corrections.

For many purposes this form of quantization replaces the need for a wave concept which then appears as a mathematical approach, chosen to avoid the physical concept of an intrinsicc time for any particle, just as we have for its intrinsic mass, spin and electrical charge. t_o and s_o are directly related to its frequency, energy and mass. The uncertainty principle and interference relations follow directly from this model, without any physical wave concept.     

Static Retention of Dynamic Chiral Arrangements for Achiral Shear Thinning Metal–Organic Colloids

Chiral compounds are known to be important not only because they are the fundamental components of living organisms, but also for their unique chiroptical properties. In recent years, scientists have fabricated several chiral organic supramolecular aggregates by using chiral physical fields, such as vortex flow. Herein, the relationship between dynamic chiroptical properties and rheological nature is discussed, suggesting the shear thinning properties of non-Newtonian fluids might help colloidal particles adopt a chiral arrangement in vortices. Furthermore, the storage modulus of colloids could be increased by adding a linking agent, which successfully kept the dynamic chiroptical properties in the static state. Moreover, the salt effect on the host–guest interaction involved in the colloids was studied, the results suggested a significant enhancement of the transferred dynamic circular dichroism for the achiral guest molecule.