GAPS IN THE HEISENBERG-ISING MODEL

We report on the closing of gaps in the ground state of the critical Heisenberg-Ising chain at momentum $\pi$. For half-filling, the gap closes at special values of the anisotropy $\Delta= \cos(\pi/Q)$, $Q$ integer. We explain this behavior with the help of the Bethe Ansatz and show that the gap scales as a power of the system size with variable exponent depending on $\Delta$. We use a finite-size analysis to calculate this exponent in the critical region, supplemented by perturbation theory at $\Delta\sim 0$. For rational $1/r$ fillings, the gap is shown to be closed for {\em all} values of $\Delta$ and the corresponding perturbation expansion in $\Delta$ shows a remarkable cancellation of various diagrams.Comment: 12 RevTeX pages + 4 figures upon reques

Static tests of excess ground attenuation at Wallops Flight Center

An extensive experimental measurement program which evaluated the attenuation of sound for close to horizontal propagation over the ground was designed to replicate, under static conditions, results of the flight measurements carried out earlier by NASA at the same site (Wallops Flight Center). The program consisted of a total of 41 measurement runs of attenuation, in excess of spreading and air absorption losses, for one third octave bands over a frequency range of 50 to 4000 Hz. Each run consisted of measurements at 10 locations up to 675 m, from a source located at nominal elevations of 2.5, or 10 m over either a grassy surface or an adjacent asphalt concrete runway surface. The tests provided a total of over 8100 measurements of attenuation under conditions of low wind speed averaging about 1 m/s and, for most of the tests, a slightly positive temperature gradient, averaging about 0.3 C/m from 1.2 to 7 m. The results of the measurements are expected to provide useful experimental background for the further development of prediction models of near grazing incidence sound propagation losses

Preliminary criteria for internal acoustic environments of orbiting space stations

Maximum noise levels for manned orbiting space station

Fourier Spectra and Shock Spectra for Simple Undamped Systems - A Generalized Approach

Fourier spectra and shock spectra for transient excitation

Long-range sound propagation: A review of some experimental data

Three experimental studies of long range sound propagation carried out or sponsored in the past by NASA are briefly reviewed to provide a partial prospective for some of the analytical studies presented in this symposium. The three studies reviewed cover (1) a unique test of two large rocket engines conducted in such a way as to provide an indication of possible atmospheric scattering loss from a large low-frequency directive sound source, (2) a year-long measurement of low frequency sound propagation which clearly demonstrated the dominant influence of the vertical gradient in the vector sound velocity towards the receiver in defining excess sound attenuation due to refraction, and (3), a series of excess ground attenuation measurements over grass and asphalt surfaces replicated several times under very similar inversion weather conditions

Properties of the Nearly Free Electron Superconductor Ag5Pb2O6 Inferred from Fermi Surface Measurements

We measured the Fermi surface of the recently discovered superconductor Ag5Pb2O6 via a de Haas-van Alphen rotation study. Two frequency branches were observed and identified with the neck and belly orbits of a very simple, nearly free electron Fermi surface. We use the observed Fermi surface geometry to quantitatively deduce superconducting properties such as the in-plane and out-of-plane penetration depths, the coherence length in the clean limit, and the critical field; as well as normal state properties such as the specific heat and the resistivity anisotropy.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physica C (M2S Proceedings

Resolving the electron temperature discrepancies in HII Regions and Planetary Nebulae: kappa-distributed electrons

The measurement of electron temperatures and metallicities in H ii regions and Planetary Nebulae (PNe) has-for several decades-presented a problem: results obtained using different techniques disagree. What it worse, they disagree consistently. There have been numerous attempts to explain these discrepancies, but none has provided a satisfactory solution to the problem. In this paper, we explore the possibility that electrons in H ii regions and PNe depart from a Maxwell-Boltzmann equilibrium energy distribution. We adopt a "kappa-distribution" for the electron energies. Such distributions are widely found in Solar System plasmas, where they can be directly measured. This simple assumption is able to explain the temperature and metallicity discrepancies in H ii regions and PNe arising from the different measurement techniques. We find that the energy distribution does not need to depart dramatically from an equilibrium distribution. From an examination of data from Hii regions and PNe it appears that kappa ~ 10 is sufficient to encompass nearly all objects. We argue that the kappa-distribution offers an important new insight into the physics of gaseous nebulae, both in the Milky Way and elsewhere, and one that promises significantly more accurate estimates of temperature and metallicity in these regions.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, published in Ap

Generalized Thermalization in an Integrable Lattice System

After a quench, observables in an integrable system may not relax to the standard thermal values, but can relax to the ones predicted by the generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE) [M. Rigol et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 050405 (2007)]. The GGE has been shown to accurately describe observables in various one-dimensional integrable systems, but the origin of its success is not fully understood. Here we introduce a microcanonical version of the GGE and provide a justification of the GGE based on a generalized interpretation of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, which was previously introduced to explain thermalization of nonintegrable systems. We study relaxation after a quench of one-dimensional hard-core bosons in an optical lattice. Exact numerical calculations for up to 10 particles on 50 lattice sites (~10^10 eigenstates) validate our approach.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, as publishe