Comment on: "Revealing common artifacts due to ferromagnetic inclusions in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite", by M. Sepioni, R.R. Nair, I.-Ling Tsai, A.K. Geim and I.V. Grigorieva, EPL 97 (2012) 47001

This comment addresses several issues in the paper by Sepioni et al., where it is stated that the ferromagnetism in pristine highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) reported by several groups in the previous years is most likely due to impurity contamination. In this comment, clear arguments are given why this statement is not justified. Furthermore, it is pointed out, that there are already measurements using element-sensitive microscopic techniques, e.g. X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) that directly proved the intrinsic origin of the ferromagnetism in graphite, also in pristine HOPG.Comment: 1, 0 figures, 9 reference

Excited-state quantum phase transitions in a two-fluid Lipkin model

Background: Composed systems have became of great interest in the framework of the ground state quantum phase transitions (QPTs) and many of their properties have been studied in detail. However, in these systems the study of the so called excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) have not received so much attention. Purpose: A quantum analysis of the ESQPTs in the two-fluid Lipkin model is presented in this work. The study is performed through the Hamiltonian diagonalization for selected values of the control parameters in order to cover the most interesting regions of the system phase diagram. [Method:] A Hamiltonian that resembles the consistent-Q Hamiltonian of the interacting boson model (IBM) is diagonalized for selected values of the parameters and properties such as the density of states, the Peres lattices, the nearest-neighbor spacing distribution, and the participation ratio are analyzed. Results: An overview of the spectrum of the two-fluid Lipkin model for selected positions in the phase diagram has been obtained. The location of the excited-state quantum phase transition can be easily singled out with the Peres lattice, with the nearest-neighbor spacing distribution, with Poincar\'e sections or with the participation ratio. Conclusions: This study completes the analysis of QPTs for the two-fluid Lipkin model, extending the previous study to excited states. The ESQPT signatures in composed systems behave in the same way as in single ones, although the evidences of their presence can be sometimes blurred. The Peres lattice turns out to be a convenient tool to look into the position of the ESQPT and to define the concept of phase in the excited states realm

Obtaining a class of Type N pure radiation metrics using invariant operators

We develop further the integration procedure in the generalised invariant formalism, and demonstrate its efficiency by obtaining a class of Petrov type N pure radiation metrics without any explicit integration, and with comparatively little detailed calculations. The method is similar to the one exploited by Edgar and Vickers when deriving the general conformally flat pure radiation metric. A major addition to the technique is the introduction of non-intrinsic elements in generalised invariant formalism, which can be exploited to keep calculations manageable.Comment: This work was presented in July 2004, in the Gr17 meeting held in Dublin-Irelan

An extended Agassi model: algebraic structure, phase diagram, and large size limit

The Agassi model is a schematic two-level model that involves pairing and monopole-monopole interactions. It is, therefore, an extension of the well known Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model. In this paper we review the algebraic formulation of an extension of the Agassi model as well as its bosonic realization through the Schwinger representation. Moreover, a mean-field approximation for the model is presented and its phase diagram discussed. Finally, a $1/j$ analysis, with $j$ proportional to the degeneracy of each level, is worked out to obtain the thermodynamic limit of the ground state energy and some order parameters from the exact Hamiltonian diagonalization for finite$-j$.Comment: Accepted in Physica Scripta. Focus on SSNET 201

LISA pathfinder micronewton cold gas thrusters: in-flight characterization

The LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission has demonstrated the ability to limit and measure the fluctuations in acceleration between two free falling test masses down to sub-femto-g levels. One of the key elements to achieve such a level of residual acceleration is the drag free control. In this scheme the spacecraft is used as a shield against any external disturbances by adjusting its relative position to a reference test mass. The actuators used to move the spacecraft are cold gas micropropulsion thrusters. In this paper, we report in-flight characterization of these thrusters in term of noise and artefacts during science operations using all the metrology capabilities of LISA Pathfinder. Using the LISA Pathfinder test masses as an inertial reference frame, an average thruster noise of ~0.17¿¿µN/Hz is observed and decomposed into a common (coherent) and an uncorrelated component. The very low noise and stability of the onboard metrology system associated with the quietness of the space environment allowed the measurement of the thruster noise down to ~20¿¿µHz, more than an order of magnitude below any ground measurement. Spectral lines were observed around ~1.5¿¿mHz and its harmonics and around 55 and 70 mHz. They are associated with the cold gas system itself and possibly to a clock synchronization issue. The thruster noise-floor exhibits an excess of ~70% compared to characterization that have been made on ground on a single unit and without the feeding system. However this small excess has no impact on the LPF mission performance and is compatible with the noise budget for the upcoming LISA gravitational wave observatory. Over the whole mission, nominal, and extension, the thrusters showed remarkable stability for both the science operations and the different maneuvers necessary to maintain LPF on its orbit around L1. It is therefore concluded that a similar cold gas system would be a viable propulsion system for the future LISA mission.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Spectral microscopic mechanisms and quantum phase transitions in a 1D correlated problem

In this paper we study the dominant microscopic processes that generate nearly the whole one-electron removal and addition spectral weight of the one-dimensional Hubbard model for all values of the on-site repulsion $U$. We find that for the doped Mott-Hubbard insulator there is a competition between the microscopic processes that generate the one-electron upper-Hubbard band spectral-weight distributions of the Mott-Hubbard insulating phase and finite-doping-concentration metallic phase, respectively. The spectral-weight distributions generated by the non-perturbative processes studied here are shown elsewhere to agree quantitatively for the whole momentum and energy bandwidth with the peak dispersions observed by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in quasi-one-dimensional compounds.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure