The Development of Equilibrium After Preheating

We present a fully nonlinear study of the development of equilibrium after preheating. Preheating is the exponentially rapid transfer of energy from the nearly homogeneous inflaton field to fluctuations of other fields and/or the inflaton itself. This rapid transfer leaves these fields in a highly nonthermal state with energy concentrated in infrared modes. We have performed lattice simulations of the evolution of interacting scalar fields during and after preheating for a variety of inflationary models. We have formulated a set of generic rules that govern the thermalization process in all of these models. Notably, we see that once one of the fields is amplified through parametric resonance or other mechanisms it rapidly excites other coupled fields to exponentially large occupation numbers. These fields quickly acquire nearly thermal spectra in the infrared, which gradually propagates into higher momenta. Prior to the formation of total equilibrium, the excited fields group into subsets with almost identical characteristics (e.g. group effective temperature). The way fields form into these groups and the properties of the groups depend on the couplings between them. We also studied the onset of chaos after preheating by calculating the Lyapunov exponent of the scalar fields.Comment: 15 pages, 23 figure

Origin of the Three-body Parameter Universality in Efimov Physics

In recent years extensive theoretical and experimental studies of universal few-body physics have led to advances in our understanding of universal Efimov physics [1]. The Efimov effect, once considered a mysterious and esoteric effect, is today a reality that many experiments in ultracold quantum gases have successfully observed and continued to explore [2-14]. Whereas theory was the driving force behind our understanding of Efimov physics for decades, recent experiments have contributed an unexpected discovery. Specifically, measurements have found that the so-called three-body parameter determining several properties of the system is universal, even though fundamental assumptions in the theory of the Efimov effect suggest that it should be a variable property that depends on the precise details of the short-range two- and three-body interactions. The present Letter resolves this apparent contradiction by elucidating unanticipated implications of the two-body interactions. Our study shows that the three-body parameter universality emerges because a universal effective barrier in the three-body potentials prevents the three particles from simultaneously getting close to each other. Our results also show limitations on this universality, as it is more likely to occur for neutral atoms and less likely to extend to light nuclei.Comment: 11 pages; 9 figures. Includes Supplementary Materia

Three-Body Recombination in One Dimension

We study the three-body problem in one dimension for both zero and finite range interactions using the adiabatic hyperspherical approach. Particular emphasis is placed on the threshold laws for recombination, which are derived for all combinations of the parity and exchange symmetries. For bosons, we provide a numerical demonstration of several universal features that appear in the three-body system, and discuss how certain universal features in three dimensions are different in one dimension. We show that the probability for inelastic processes vanishes as the range of the pair-wise interaction is taken to zero and demonstrate numerically that the recombination threshold law manifests itself for large scattering length.Comment: 15 pages 7 figures Submitted to Physical Review

ORDINARY AND GENERALIZED STOCHASTIC DOMINANCE: A PRIMER

Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Advanced propellant management system for spacecraft propulsion systems. Phase 1 - Survey study and evaluation

Apollo spacecraft propulsion system propellant managemen

Ultracold atom-molecule collisions with fermionic atoms

Elastic and inelastic properties of weakly bound s- and p-wave molecules of fermionic atoms that collide with a third atom are investigated. Analysis of calculated collisional properties of s-wave dimers of fermions in different spin states permit us to compare and highlight the physical mechanisms that determine the stability of s-wave and p-wave molecules. In contrast to s-wave molecules, the collisional properties of p-wave molecules are found to be largely insensitive to variations of the p-wave scattering length and that these collisions will usually result in short molecular lifetimes. We also discuss the importance of this result for both theories and experiments involving degenerate Fermi gases.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure