Search

The differential cross sections of the $^{12}$C($^3$He,t)$^{12}$N reaction leading to formation of the 1$^+$ (ground state), 2$^+$(0.96 MeV), 2$^{-}$(1.19 MeV), and 1$^{-}$(1.80 MeV) states of $^{12}$N are measured at $E$($^3$He)=40 MeV. The analysis of the data is carried out within the modified diffraction model (MDM) and distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA). Enhanced $rms$ radii were obtained for the ground, 2$^{-}$(1.19 MeV), and 1$^{-}$(1.80 MeV) states. We revealed that $^{12}$B, $^{12}$N, and $^{12}$C in the IAS with T=1, and spin-parities 2$^{-}$ and 1$^{-}$ have increased radii and exhibit properties of neutron and proton halo states., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

The study of inelastic scattering and multi-nucleon transfer reactions was performed by bombarding a $^{9}$Be target with a $^3$He beam at an incident energy of 30 MeV. Angular distributions for $^9$Be($^3$He,$^3$He)$^{9}$Be, $^9$Be($^3$He,$^4$He)$^{8}$Be, $^9$Be($^3$He,$^5$He)$^{7}$Be, $^9$Be($^3$He,$^6$Li)$^6$Li and $^9$Be($^3$He,$^5$Li)$^7$Li reaction channels were measured. Experimental angular distributions for the corresponding ground states (g.s.) were analysed within the framework of the optical model, the coupled-channel approach and the distorted-wave Born approximation. Cross sections for channels leading to unbound $^5$He$_{g.s.}$, $^5$Li$_{g.s.}$ and $^8$Be systems were obtained from singles measurements where the relationship between the energy and the scattering angle of the observed stable ejectile is constrained by two-body kinematics. Information on the cluster structure of $^{9}$Be was obtained from the transfer channels. It was concluded that cluster transfer is an important mechanism in the investigated nuclear reactions. In the present work an attempt was made to estimate the relative strengths of the interesting $^8$Be+$n$ and $^5$He+$\alpha$ cluster configurations in $^9$Be. The branching ratios have been determined confirming that the $^5$He+$\alpha$ configuration plays an important role. The configuration of $^9$Be consisting of two bound helium clusters $^3$He+$^6$He is significantly suppressed, whereas the two-body configurations ${}^{8}$Be+$n$ and ${}^{5}$He+$\alpha$ including unbound $^8$Be and $^5$He are found more probable., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, HI elastic and inelastic scattering, Transfer reactions, Cluster in light nuclei, Coupled channels, DWBA, Optical model

The key feature of time-dependent dynamics in a paired Fermi superfluid is the presence of a large number of independent degrees of freedom---the pairing amplitudes of fermions with different momenta. We argue that useful prototypes of this dynamics come from D-brane constructions of string theory. Using a specific example of that kind, we identify the mechanism by which a strongly coupled Fermi superfluid relaxes to equilibrium; it involves a wave of excitation in the momentum space, propagating from the Fermi surface towards the ultraviolet. For a sudden quench induced by a change in the fermion coupling, we find that the relaxation occurs rapidly, over only a few oscillations of the quasiparticle gap., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

A study of inelastic scattering and single-particle transfer reactions was performed by an alpha beam at 63 MeV on a 9$Be target. Angular distributions of the differential cross sections for the 9Be(4He,4He')9Be*, 9Be(4He,3He)10Be and 9Be(4He,t)10B reactions were measured. Experimental angular distributions of the differential cross sections for the ground state and a few low-lying states were analyzed in the framework of the optical model, coupled channels and distorted-wave Born approximation. An analysis of the obtained spectroscopic factors was performed., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, regular paper, mispritns are corrected in new version

The structure of high-lying states in $^{22}$Ne has been studied using the $^{14}$C($^{12}$C,$\alpha$)$^{22}$Ne reaction at E($^{12}$C)= 44 MeV. The spins were determined by measuring double ($\alpha$,$\alpha$) angular correlations. Selective population of the 9$^-$ and 11$^-$ states at E$_x$=20.1 and 20.7 MeV, respectively, identifies those states as the 9$^-$ and 11$^-$ members of the first $K^{\pi}$ = 0$^-$ band, whose lower members were investigated by a method using inverse kinematics and a thick gas target. The spin and parity of four other new levels were determined to be 9$^-$ (21.5 MeV),12$^+$ (22.1 MeV),9$^-$ (25.0 MeV) and 8$^+$ (22.9 MeV). The two levels 9$^-$ and 12$^+$ may belong to the rotational doublets., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

The proximity effect in condensed matter physics is a mechanism that naturally produces weak superconductivity. We argue that a braneworld can similarly produce a low-energy breaking of the electroweak symmetry, provided that in addition to the "normal" region, occupied by the conventional phase of QCD, there is a bulk region where the color is in an anisotropic (layered) state with a larger confinement scale. The W and Z bosons, as well as the quarks, acquire masses by scattering off the layered region. A peculiar feature of this scenario is that the strongly interacting sector responsible for the symmetry breaking can be much lighter than the conventional 1 TeV., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure; v2: references added, minor changes

In a short superconducting nanowire connected to bulk superconducting leads, quantum phase slips behave as a system of linearly (as opposed to logarithmically) interacting charges. This system maps onto quantum mechanics of a particle in a periodic potential. We show that, while the state with a high density of phase slips is not a true insulator (a consequence of Josephson tunneling between the leads), for a range of parameters it behaves as such down to unobservably small temperatures. We also show that quantum phase slips give rise to multiple branches (bands) in the energy-current relation and to an interband ("exciton") mode., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; published in Phys. Rev. B

We study numerically gravitational collapse of a spherically symmetric instanton particle in five dimensions. We show that the late stages of the process are characterized by a nearly constant ``free energy'', the value of which matches (within numerical uncertainties) the value obtained from standard black-hole thermodynamics. This suggests a purely classical interpretation of the free energy of a black hole., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; v3: minor changes; published in Phys. Rev. D

We describe a class of theories of dielectric polarization and a species of solitons in these theories. The solitons, made entirely out of the polarization field, have quantized values of the electric charge and can be interpreted as electrons and holes. A soliton-antisoliton pair is an exciton. We present numerical evidence that the elementary soliton is stable., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

We consider tunneling of vortices across a superconducting film that is both narrow and short (and connected to bulk superconducting leads at the ends). We find that in the superconducting state the resistance, at low values of the temperature (T) and current, does not follow the power-law dependence on T characteristic of longer samples but is exponential in 1/T. The coefficient of 1/T in the exponent depends on the length or, equivalently, the total normal-state resistance of the sample. These conclusions persist in the one-dimensional limit, which is similar to the problem of quantum phase slips in an ultra-narrow short wire., Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure; published in Phys. Rev. B

There are reasons (which we enumerate) to think that an infinite extra dimension will harbor a black hole. In this case, brane-localized modes of gravity and gauge fields become quasilocalized, and light from a distant object can become extinct as it is lost to the black hole. In a concrete scenario, where the photon is localized by gravity, we find that the extinction rate for propagating photons is at least comparable to the correction to the real part of the frequency. That results, for example, in a stringent bound on renormalization of the speed of light., Comment: 13 pages; v3: minor changes, to be published in Phys. Rev. D

Gauge theories embedded into higher-dimensional spaces with certain topologies acquire inductance terms, which reflect the energy cost of topological charges accumulated in the extra dimensions. We compute topological susceptibility in the strongly-coupled two-flavor massive Schwinger model with such an inductance term and find that it vanishes, due to the contribution of a global low-energy mode (a ``global axion''). This is in accord with the general argument on the absence of theta-dependence in such topologies. Because the mode is a single oscillator, there is no corresponding particle, and the solution to the U(1) problem is unaffected., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure; accepted to Phys. Rev. D

The paper contains an error in Eqs. (14) and (15) and has been withdrawn by the author., Comment: The paper has been withdrawn

We show that the piezoelectric coupling to three-dimensional phonons in GaAs renormalizes the current-voltage exponent for tunneling of electrons into an incompressible quantum Hall edge. The leading correction is always negative, in agreement with experiments on the $\nu = 1/3$ state and, depending on the precise value of the edge plasmon speed, can be as large as a few percent. We also discuss higher-order corrections, which determine the effect of the piezoelectric coupling in the extreme infrared limit., Comment: 5 pages

Motion of vortices in two-dimensional superfluids in the classical limit is studied by solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation numerically on a uniform lattice. We find that, in the presence of a superflow directed along one of the main lattice periods, vortices move with the superflow on fine lattices but perpendicular to it on coarse ones. We interpret this result as a transition from the full Magnus force in the Galilean-invariant limit to vanishing effective Magnus force in a discrete system, in agreement with the existing experiments on vortex motion in Josephson junction arrays., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures; published in Phys. Rev. B

To study the effect of disorder on quantum phase slips (QPS) in superconducting wires, we consider the plasmon-only model where disorder can be incorporated into a first-principles instanton calculation. We consider weak but general finite-range disorder and compute the formfactor in the QPS rate associated with momentum transfer. We find that the system maps onto dissipative quantum mechanics, with the dissipative coefficient controlled by the wave (plasmon) impedance Z of the wire and with a superconductor-insulator transition at Z=6.5 kOhm. We speculate that the system will remain in this universality class after resistive effects at the QPS core are taken into account., Comment: 4 pages, as accepted at Phys. Rev. Letters

We report results of a classical simulation of thermal phase slips, and the associated relaxation of supercurrent, in a ring-shaped one-dimensional superfluid. We find that the classical relaxation rate vanishes in the uniform limit. This leaves the quantum relaxation, with momentum transfer to phonons, the only mechanism of supercurrent decay in the uniform system. In the presence of a smooth periodic potential, classical decay becomes possible, and we identify a family of moving critical droplets that can mediate it., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; minor changes to the text

Reductions from odd to even dimensionalities ($5\to 4$ or $3\to 2$), for which the effective low-energy theory contains chiral fermions, present us with a mismatch between ultraviolet and infrared anomalies. This applies to both local (gauge) and global currents; here we consider the latter case. We show that the mismatch can be explained by taking into account a change in the spectral asymmetry of the massive modes--an odd-dimensional analog of the phenomenon described by the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer theorem in even dimensionalities. The result has phenomenological implications: we present a scenario in which a QCD-like $\theta$-angle relaxes to zero on a certain (possibly, cosmological) timescale, despite the absence of any light axion-like particle., Comment: 44 pages, 4 figures

In a uniform ring-shaped one-dimensional superfluid, quantum fluctuations that unwind the order parameter need to transfer momentum to quasiparticles (phonons). We present a detailed calculation of the leading exponential factor governing the rate of such phonon-assisted tunneling in a weakly-coupled Bose gas at a low temperature $T$. We also estimate the preexponent. We find that for small superfluid velocities the $T$-dependence of the rate is given mainly by $\exp(-c_s P/ 2T)$, where $P$ is the momentum transfer, and $c_s$ is the phonon speed. At low $T$, this represents a strong suppression of the rate, compared to the non-uniform case. As a part of our calculation, we identify a complex instanton, whose analytical continuation to suitable real-time segments is real and describes formation and decay of coherent quasiparticle states with nonzero total momenta., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. A

Quantum phase slips (QPS) in narrow superfluid channels generate momentum by unwinding the supercurrent. In a uniform Bose gas, this momentum needs to be absorbed by quasiparticles (phonons). We show that this requirement results in an additional exponential suppression of the QPS rate (compared to the rate of QPS induced by a sharply localized perturbation). In BCS-paired fluids, momentum can be transferred to fermionic quasiparticles, and we find an interesting interplay between quasiparticle scattering on QPS and on disorder., Comment: 4 pages, revtex, no figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. Letters

Decoherence associated with super-Hubble modes in de Sitter space may have a dual description, in which it is attributed to interaction of sub-Hubble modes with an ``environment'' residing just inside the observer's horizon. We present a version of such description, together with some consistency checks, which it is shown to pass., Comment: 11 pages, latex; a reference added

Tunneling of vortex-antivortex pairs across a superconducting film can be controlled via inductive coupling of the film to an external circuit. We study this process numerically in a toroidal film (periodic boundary conditions in both directions) by using the dual description of vortices, in which they are represented by a fundamental quantum field. We compare the results to those obtained in the instanton approach., Comment: 6 pages, revtex, 4 figures

We consider induced topological transitions in a wire made from cylindrical superconducting film. During a transition, a pulse of electric current causes transport of a virtual vortex-antivortex pair around the cylinder. We consider both the instanton approach, in which the transition is viewed as motion of vortices in the Euclidean time, and the real-time dual formulation, in which vortices are described by a fundamental quantum field. The instanton approach is convenient to discuss effects of the environment, while in the dual formulation we show that there exists a potentially useful adiabatic regime, in which the probability to create a real vortex pair is exponentially suppressed, but the total transport of the vortex number can be of order one., Comment: 10 pages, two-column revtex, 1 figure; v2 adds a discussion of the effects of the environment on tunneling; v3: a small typo corrected

We present numerical evidence that a domain wall in a background with varying vacuum energy density acquires velocity in the direction of decreasing Hubble parameter. This should lead to at least a partial relaxation of the cosmological constant on the wall., Comment: 10 pages, latex, 4 figures

We compare decoherence induced in a simple quantum system (qubit) for two different initial states of the environment: canonical (fixed temperature) and microcanonical (fixed energy), for the general case of a fully interacting oscillator environment. We find that even a relatively compact oscillator bath (with the effective number of degrees of freedom of order 10), initially in a microcanonical state, will typically cause decoherence almost indistinguishable from that by a macroscopic, thermal environment, except possibly at singularities of the environment's specific heat (critical points). In the latter case, the precise magnitude of the difference between the canonical and microcanonical results depends on the critical behavior of the dissipative coefficient, characterizing the interaction of the qubit with the environment., Comment: 18 pages, revtex, 2 figures; minor textual changes, corrected typo in eq. (53) (v2); textual changes, mostly in the introduction (v3)

The final stage of Bose-Einstein condensation in a large volume occurs through coarsening--growth of individual correlated patches. We present analytical arguments and numerical evidence that in the momentum space this growth corresponds to strong turbulence of the particle number, with a turbulent cascade towards the infrared and the power law $n(k) \propto k^{-(d+1)}$ in $d=2,3$ spatial dimensions. As a corollary, we find that the correlation length grows linearly in time, with the speed of order of the speed of Bogoliubov's quasiparticles (phonons). We use these results to estimate the speed of BEC in atomic vapors and in galactic dark matter., Comment: 18 pages, latex, 3 figures

We consider the possibility that tunneling in a degenerate double-well potential in de Sitter spacetime leads to coherent oscillations of quantum probability to find the system in a given well. We concentrate on the case when the mass scale of the potential is much larger than the Hubble parameter and present a procedure for analytical continuation of the ``time''-dependent instantons, which allows us to study the subsequent real-time evolution. We find that the presence of the de Sitter horizon makes tunneling completely incoherent and calculate the decoherence time. We discuss the difference between this case and the case of a $\theta$-vacuum, when tunneling in de Sitter spacetime preserves quantum coherence., Comment: 21 pages, latex, 3 figures

We consider decay of the inflaton with a quartic potential coupled to other fields, including gravity, but restricted to spherical symmetry. We describe analytically an early, quasilinear regime, during which inflaton fluctuations and the metric functions are driven by nonlinear effects of the decay products. We present a detailed study of the leading nonlinear effects in this regime. Results of the quasilinear approximation, in its domain of applicability, are found to be consistent with those of fully nonlinear lattice studies. We discuss how these results may be promoted to the full three dimensions., Comment: 18 pages, revtex, 2 figures

We numerically integrate the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in a single-degree-of-freedom model of SQUID with a variable potential barrier between the basis flux states. We find that linear superpositions of the basis states, with relatively little residual excitation, can be formed by pulsed modulations of the barrier, provided the pulse duration exceeds the period of small oscillations of the flux. Two pulses applied in sequence exhibit strong interference effects, which we propose to use for an experimental determination of the decoherence time in SQUIDs., Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 4 figures

A superconducting ring has different sectors of states corresponding to different values of the trapped magnetic flux; this multitude of states can be used for quantum information storage. If a current supporting a nonzero flux is set up in the ring, fluctuations of electromagnetic field will be able to ``detect'' that current and thus cause a loss of quantum coherence. We estimate the decoherence exponent for a ring of a round type-II wire and find that it contains a macroscopic suppression factor $(\delta / R_{1})^{2}$, where $R_{1}$ is the radius of the wire, and $\delta$ is the London penetration depth. We present some encouraging numerical estimates based on this result., Comment: 13 pages, revtex, 1 figure; corrected calculation for low frequencies

We study numerically evolution of metric perturbations during reheating in a model with two fields and a strong parametric resonance. Our calculation is fully nonlinear and includes gravity but is restricted to spherical symmetry. In this model, super-Hubble metric perturbations can grow during reheating only due to effects nonlinear in fluctuations of the fields. We find that they indeed grow and, soon after the growth begins, dominate variances of the metric functions. Thus, the metric functions become smooth but varying significantly over large scales. Their profiles at late times are interpreted as signalling a gravitational instability and formation of a black hole., Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 4 figures; corrected typo in eq. (1). Time variable in the plots was slightly messed up: fixed in v3 (a cosmetic change)

We study numerically evolution of a self-gravitating nonequilibrium Bose gas contained in a fixed volume. We find that, even when the volume is small enough to prevent collisionless instability, a compact phase-correlated object (a Bose star) can form, by gravity alone, from a disordered initial state. We interpret this effect and the associated growth of the density contrast as consequences of a new type of gravitational instability---a nonlinear instability due to stimulated gravitational scattering of the bosons. Our results imply that formation of Bose stars, in regions that have fallen out of the Hubble expansion, may be a quite general phenomenon, not requiring a large preexisting correlation length or any short-range interactions., Comment: 16 pages, revtex, 4 figures

We describe macroscopic quantum memory devices based on type-II toroidal superconductors and estimate in one case and compute in another the rates at which quantum information stored in these devices ``degrades'' because of thermal fluctuations. In the case when the entire solid torus is superconducting, the Boltzmann factor in the rate corresponds to a well-defined critical fluctuation, and the rate is suppressed exponentially with the linear size of the system. In the case when superconductivity is confined to the surface of the torus, the rate is determined by diffusive motion of vortices around the torus and does not depend exponentially on the linear size; we find, however, that when the two dimensions of the torus are comparable the rate does not contain the usual volume enhancement factor, i.e. it does not grow with the total surface area of the sample. We describe a possible way to write to and read from this quantum memory., Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 2 figures; a minor correction for v2; small corrections and some added details for v3

We consider evolution of initial disturbances in spatially extended systems with autonomous rhythmic activity, such as the heart. We consider the case when the activity is stable with respect to very smooth (changing little across the medium) disturbances and construct lattice models for description of not-so-smooth disturbances, in particular, topological defects; these models are modifications of the diffusive XY model. We find that when the activity on each lattice site is very rigid in maintaining its form, the topological defects - vortices or spirals - nucleate a transition to a disordered, turbulent state., Comment: 17 pages, revtex, 3 figures

We consider phase separation in nonequilibrium Bose gas with an attractive interaction between the particles. Using numerical integrations on a lattice, we show that the system evolves into a state that contains drops of Bose-Einstein condensate suspended in uncondensed gas. When the initial gas is sufficiently rarefied, the rate of formation of this quantum dew scales with the initial density as expected for a process governed by two-particle collisions., Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 5 figures

This paper has been withdrawn by the author as the conjecture proposed in it is wrong., Comment: The paper is withdrawn as the conjecture proposed in it is wrong

We investigate nonthermal phase transitions that may occur after post-inflationary preheating in a simple model of a two-component scalar field with the effective potential $\lambda (\phi_i^2 - {\rm v}^2)^2/4$, where $\phi_1$ is identified with the inflaton field. We use three-dimensional lattice simulations to investigate the full nonlinear dynamics of the model. Fluctuations of the fields generated during and after preheating temporarily make the effective potential convex in the $\phi_1$ direction. The subsequent nonthermal phase transition with symmetry breaking leads to formation of cosmic strings even for ${\rm v} \gg 10^{16}$ GeV. This mechanism of string formation, in a modulated (by the oscillating field $\phi_{1}$) phase transition, is different from the usual Kibble mechanism., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, revtex. Computer generated movies illustrating string production can be found at http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~tkachev/movies.html and at http://physics.stanford.edu/~linde

During preheating after inflation, parametric resonance rapidly generates very large fluctuations of scalar fields. In models where the inflaton field $\phi$ oscillates in a double-well potential and interacts with another scalar field $X$, fluctuations of X can keep the \phi to -\phi symmetry temporarily restored. If the coupling of \phi to X is much stronger than the inflaton self-coupling, the subsequent symmetry breaking is a first-order phase transition. We demonstrate the existence of this nonthermal phase transition with lattice simulations of the full nonlinear dynamics of the interacting fields. In particular, we observe nucleation of an expanding bubble., Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages

Resonant decay of the inflaton produces highly non-equilibrium states dominated by interacting classical waves. We discuss several topics in the theory of formation and evolution of such states., Comment: latex, 19 pages including 3 postscript figures; invited talk at "Strong and Electroweak Matter '97", 21-25 May 1997, Eger, Hungary; to appear in the Proceedings; minor corrections

We show that gravitational radiation is produced quite efficiently in interactions of classical waves created by resonant decay of a coherently oscillating field. For simple models of chaotic inflation in which the inflaton interacts with another scalar field, we find that today's ratio of energy density in gravitational waves per octave to the critical density of the universe can be as large as 10^{-12} at the maximal wavelength of order 10^{5} cm. In the pure $\lambda\phi^4$ model, the maximal today's wavelength of gravitational waves produced by this mechanism is of order 10^6 cm, close to the upper bound of operational LIGO and TIGA frequencies. The energy density of waves in this model, though, is likely to be well below the sensitivity of LIGO or TIGA at such frequencies. We discuss possibility that in other inflationary models interaction of classical waves can lead to an even stronger gravitational radiation background., Comment: Latex, 18 pages including 3 figures