A note on color neutrality in NJL-type models

By referring to the underlying physics behind the color charge neutrality condition in quark matter, we discuss how this condition should be properly imposed in NJL-type models in a phenomenologically meaningful way. In particular, we show that the standard assumption regarding the use of two color chemical potentials, chosen in a very special way, is not justified in general. When used uncritically, such an approach leads to wrong or unphysical conclusions.Comment: 4 pages, no figure; v2: minor clarifications, references adde

Backflow and dissipation during the quantum decay of a metastable Fermi liquid

The particle current in a metastable Fermi liquid against a first-order phase transition is calculated at zero temperature. During fluctuations of a droplet of the stable phase, in accordance with the conservation law, not only does an unperturbed current arise from the continuity at the boundary, but a backflow is induced by the density response. Quasiparticles carrying these currents are scattered by the boundary, yielding a dissipative backflow around the droplet. An energy of the hydrodynamic mass flow of the liquid and a friction force exerted on the droplet by the quasiparticles have been obtained in terms of a potential of their interaction with the droplet.Comment: 5 pages (REVTeX), to be published in Phys. Rev.

Single domain YBCO/Ag bulk superconductors fabricated by seeded infiltration and growth

We have applied the seeded infiltration and growth (IG) technique to the processing of samples containing Ag in an attempt to fabricate Ag-doped Y-Ba-Cu-O (YBCO) bulk superconductors with enhanced mechanical properties. The IG technique has been used successfully to grow bulk Ag-doped YBCO superconductors of up to 25 mm in diameter in the form of single grains. The distribution of Ag in the parent Y-123 matrix fabricated by the IG technique is observed to be at least as uniform as that in samples grown by conventional top seeded melt growth (TSMG). Fine Y-211 particles were observed to be embedded within the Y-123 matrix for the IG processed samples, leading to a high critical current density, Jc, of over 70 kA/cm2 at 77.3 K in self-field. The distribution of Y-211 in the IG sample microstructure, however, is inhomogeneous, which leads to a variation in the spatial distribution of Jc throughout the bulk matrix. A maximum-trapped field of around 0.43 T at 1.2 mm above the sample surface (i.e. including 0.7 mm for the sensor mould thickness) is observed at liquid nitrogen temperature, despite the relatively small grain size of the sample (20 mm diameter × 7 mm thickness)

Surface tension in a compressible liquid-drop model: Effects on nuclear density and neutron skin thickness

We examine whether or not the surface tension acts to increase the nucleon density in the nuclear interior within a compressible liquid-drop model. We find that it depends on the density dependence of the surface tension, which may in turn be deduced from the neutron skin thickness of stable nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Physical Review

Doping and critical-temperature dependence of the energy gaps in Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2 thin films

The dependence of the superconducting gaps in epitaxial Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_{x})_2As_2 thin films on the nominal doping x (0.04 \leq x \leq 0.15) was studied by means of point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy. The normalized conductance curves were well fitted by using the 2D Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model with two nodeless, isotropic gaps -- although the possible presence of gap anisotropies cannot be completely excluded. The amplitudes of the two gaps \Delta_{S} and \Delta_{L} show similar monotonic trends as a function of the local critical temperature T_{c}^{A} (measured in the same point contacts) from 25 K down to 8 K. The dependence of the gaps on x is well correlated to the trend of the critical temperature, i.e. to the shape of the superconducting region in the phase diagram. When analyzed within a simple three-band Eliashberg model, this trend turns out to be compatible with a mechanism of superconducting coupling mediated by spin fluctuations, whose characteristic energy scales with T_{c} according to the empirical law \Omega_{0}= 4.65*k_{B}*T_{c}, and with a total electron-boson coupling strength \lambda_{tot}= 2.22 for x \leq 0.10 (i.e. up to optimal doping) that slightly decreases to \lambda_{tot}= 1.82 in the overdoped samples (x = 0.15).Comment: 8 pages, 5 color figure

Melting Pattern of Diquark Condensates in Quark Matter

Thermal color superconducting phase transitions in high density three-flavor quark matter are investigated in the Ginzburg-Landau approach. Effects of nonzero strange quark mass, electric and color charge neutrality, and direct instantons are considered. Weak coupling calculations show that an interplay between the mass and electric neutrality effects near the critical temperature gives rise to three successive second-order phase transitions as the temperature increases: a modified color-flavor locked (mCFL) phase (ud, ds, and us pairings) -> a ``dSC'' phase (ud and ds pairings) -> an isoscalar pairing phase (ud pairing) -> a normal phase (no pairing). The dSC phase is novel in the sense that while all eight gluons are massive as in the mCFL phase, three out of nine quark quasiparticles are gapless.Comment: minor changes in the text, fig.2 modifie

Electron screening in the liquid-gas mixed phases of nuclear matter

Screening effects of electrons on inhomogeneous nuclear matter, which includes spherical, slablike, and rodlike nuclei as well as spherical and rodlike nuclear bubbles, are investigated in view of possible application to cold neutron star matter and supernova matter at subnuclear densities. Using a compressible liquid-drop model incorporating uncertainties in the surface tension, we find that the energy change due to the screening effects broadens the density region in which bubbles and nonspherical nuclei appear in the phase diagram delineating the energetically favorable shape of inhomogeneous nuclear matter. This conclusion is considered to be general since it stems from a model-independent feature that the electron screening acts to decrease the density at which spherical nuclei become unstable against fission and to increase the density at which uniform matter becomes unstable against proton clustering.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Curvature effect on nuclear pasta: Is it helpful for gyroid appearance?

In supernova cores and neutron star crusts, nuclei are thought to deform to rodlike and slablike shapes, which are often called nuclear pasta. We study the equilibrium properties of the nuclear pasta by using a liquid drop model with curvature corrections. It is confirmed that the curvature effect acts to lower the transition densities between different shapes. We also examine the gyroid structure, which was recently suggested as a different type of nuclear pasta by analogy with the polymer systems. The gyroid structure investigated in this paper is approximately formulated as an extension of the periodic minimal surface whose mean curvature vanishes. In contrast to our expectations, we find from the present approximate formulation that the curvature corrections act to slightly disfavor the appearance of the gyroid structure. By comparing the energy corrections in the gyroid phase and the hypothetical phases composed of d-dimensional spheres, where d is a general dimensionality, we show that the gyroid is unlikely to belong to a family of the generalized dimensional spheres.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Spin-Down of Neutron Stars and Compositional Transitions in the Cold Crustal Matter

Transitions of nuclear compositions in the crust of a neutron star induced by stellar spin-down are evaluated at zero temperature. We construct a compressible liquid-drop model for the energy of nuclei immersed in a neutron gas, including pairing and shell correction terms, in reference to the known properties of the ground state of matter above neutron drip density, $4.3 \times 10^{11} g cm^{-3}$. Recent experimental values and extrapolations of nuclear masses are used for a description of matter at densities below neutron drip. Changes in the pressure of matter in the crust due to the stellar spin-down are calculated by taking into account the structure of the crust of a slowly and uniformly rotating relativistic neutron star. If the initial rotation period is $\sim$ ms, these changes cause nuclei, initially being in the ground-state matter above a mass density of about $3 \times 10^{13} g cm^{-3}$, to absorb neutrons in the equatorial region where the matter undergoes compression, and to emit them in the vicinity of the rotation axis where the matter undergoes decompression. Heat generation by these processes is found to have significant effects on the thermal evolution of old neutron stars with low magnetic fields; the surface emission predicted from this heating is compared with the $ROSAT$ observations of X-ray emission from millisecond pulsars and is shown to be insufficient to explain the observed X-ray luminosities.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 11 Postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Ap