Knight Field Enabled Nuclear Spin Polarization in Single Quantum Dots

We demonstrate dynamical nuclear spin polarization in the absence of an external magnetic field, by resonant circularly polarized optical excitation of a single electron or hole charged quantum dot. Optical pumping of the electron spin induces an effective inhomogeneous magnetic (Knight) field that determines the direction along which nuclear spins could polarize and enables nuclear-spin cooling by suppressing depolarization induced by nuclear dipole-dipole interactions. Our observations suggest a new mechanism for spin-polarization where spin exchange with an electron reservoir plays a crucial role. These experiments constitute a first step towards quantum measurement of the Overhauser field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Shadowing Effects on the Nuclear Suppression Factor, R_dAu, in d+Au Interactions

We explore how nuclear modifications to the nucleon parton distributions affect production of high transverse momentum hadrons in deuteron-nucleus collisions. We calculate the charged hadron spectra to leading order using standard fragmentation functions and shadowing parameterizations. We obtain the d+Au to pp ratio both in minimum bias collisions and as a function of centrality. The minimum bias results agree reasonably well with the BRAHMS data while the calculated centrality dependence underestimates the data and is a stronger function of p_T than the data indicate.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, final version, Phys. Rev. C in pres

Boundary Critical Phenomena in SU(3) "Spin" Chains

SU(3)-invariant "spin" chains with a single impurity, such as a modified exchange coupling on one link, are analyzed using boundary conformal field theory techniques. These chains are equivalent to a special case of the "tJV" model, i.e. the t-J model with a nearest neighbour repulsion added. In the continuum limit they are equivalent to two free bosons at a special value of the compactification radii. The SU(3) symmetry, which is made explicit in this formulation, provides insight into the exact solution of a non-trivial boundary critical point found earlier in another formulation of this model as a theory of quantum Brownian motion.Comment: 19 pages, Rev Te

The Light Curve and Internal Magnetic Field of the Mode-Switching Pulsar PSR B0943+10

A number of radio pulsars exhibit intriguing mode-switching behavior. Recent observations of PSR B0943+10 revealed correlated radio and X-ray mode switches, providing a new avenue for understanding this class of objects. The large X-ray pulse fraction observed during the radio quiet phase (Q mode) was previously interpreted as a result of changing obscuration of X-rays by dense magnetosphere plasma. We show that the large X-ray pulse fraction can be explained by including the beaming effect of a magnetic atmosphere, while remaining consistent with the dipole field geometry constrained by radio observations. We also explore a more extreme magnetic field configuration, where a magnetic dipole displaced from the center of the star produces two magnetic polar caps of different sizes and magnetic field strengths. These models are currently consistent with data in radio and X-rays and can be tested or constrained by future X-ray observations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ

Self-consistent nonlinear kinetic simulations of the anomalous Doppler instability of suprathermal electrons in plasmas

Suprathermal tails in the distributions of electron velocities parallel to the magnetic field are found in many areas of plasma physics, from magnetic confinement fusion to solar system plasmas. Parallel electron kinetic energy can be transferred into plasma waves and perpendicular gyration energy of particles through the anomalous Doppler instability (ADI), provided that energetic electrons with parallel velocities v ≥ (ω + Ωce )/k are present; here Ωce denotes electron cyclotron frequency, ω the wave angular frequency and k the component of wavenumber parallel to the magnetic field. This phenomenon is widely observed in tokamak plasmas. Here we present the first fully self-consistent relativistic particle-in-cell simulations of the ADI, spanning the linear and nonlinear regimes of the ADI. We test the robustness of the analytical theory in the linear regime and follow the ADI through to the steady state. By directly evaluating the parallel and perpendicular dynamical contributions to j · E in the simulations, we follow the energy transfer between the excited waves and the bulk and tail electron populations for the first time. We find that the ratio Ωce /(ωpe + Ωce ) of energy transfer between parallel and perpendicular, obtained from linear analysis, does not apply when damping is fully included, when we find it to be ωpe /(ωpe + Ωce ); here ωpe denotes the electron plasma frequency. We also find that the ADI can arise beyond the previously expected range of plasma parameters, in particular when Ωce > ωpe . The simulations also exhibit a spectral feature which may correspond to observations of suprathermal narrowband emission at ωpe detected from low density tokamak plasmas

1.3 mm Polarized emission in the circumstellar disk of a massive protostar

We present the first resolved observations of the 1.3 mm polarized emission from the disk-like structure surrounding the high-mass protostar Cepheus A HW2. These CARMA data partially resolve the dust polarization, suggesting a uniform morphology of polarization vectors with an average position angle of 57° ± 6° and an average polarization fraction of 2.0% ± 0.4%. The distribution of the polarization vectors can be attributed to (1) the direct emission of magnetically aligned grains of dust by a uniform magnetic field, or (2) the pattern produced by the scattering of an inclined disk. We show that both models can explain the observations, and perhaps a combination of the two mechanisms produces the polarized emission. A third model including a toroidal magnetic field does not match the observations. Assuming scattering is the polarization mechanism, these observations suggest that during the first few 104 years of high-mass star formation, grain sizes can grow from1 mm to several 10s μm.Fil: Fernandez Lopez, Manuel. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia; ArgentinaFil: Stephens, I. W.. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados Unidos. Boston University; Estados Unidos. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Girart, J. M.. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados Unidos. Institut de Ciències de l’Espai; EspañaFil: Looney, L.. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Curiel, S.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Segura Cox, D.. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Eswaraiah, C.. National Tsing Hua University; República de ChinaFil: Lai, S. P.. National Tsing Hua University; República de Chin

General formalism of Hamiltonians for realizing a prescribed evolution of a qubit

We investigate the inverse problem concerning the evolution of a qubit system, specifically we consider how one can establish the Hamiltonians that account for the evolution of a qubit along a prescribed path in the projected Hilbert space. For a given path, there are infinite Hamiltonians which can realize the same evolution. A general form of the Hamiltonians is constructed in which one may select the desired one for implementing a prescribed evolution. This scheme can be generalized to higher dimensional systems.Comment: 6 page

Chemical equilibrium and stable stratification of a multi-component fluid: thermodynamics and application to neutron stars

A general thermodynamic argument shows that multi-component matter in full chemical equilibrium, with uniform entropy per baryon, is generally stably stratified. This is particularly relevant for neutron stars, in which the effects of entropy are negligible compared to those of the equilibrium composition gradient established by weak interactions. It can therefore be asserted that, regardless of the uncertainties in the equation of state of dense matter, neutron stars are stably stratified. This has important, previously discussed consequences for their oscillation modes, magnetic field evolution, and internal angular momentum transport.Comment: AASTeX, 8 pages, including 1 PS figure. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Real-space renormalization group approach for the corner Hamiltonian

We present a real-space renormalization group approach for the corner Hamiltonian, which is relevant to the reduced density matrix in the density matrix renormalization group. A set of self-consistent equations that the renormalized Hamiltonian should satisfy in the thermodynamic limit is also derived from the fixed point of the recursion relation for the corner Hamiltonian. We demonstrate the renormalization group algorithm for the $S=1/2$ XXZ spin chain and show that the results are consistent with the exact solution. We further examine the renormalization group for the S=1 Heisenberg spin chain and then discuss the nature of the eigenvalue spectrum of the corner Hamiltonian for the non-integrable model.Comment: 7 page

Treatment of Heavy Quarks in Deeply Inelastic Scattering

We investigate a simplified version of the ACOT prescription for calculating deeply inelastic scattering from Q^2 values near the squared mass M_H^2 of a heavy quark to Q^2 much larger than M_H^2.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure