ALBERT

Description: An infinite waveguide with a nonuniformity, a segment of finite length with spin–orbit coupling, is considered in the case when the Rashba and Dresselhaus parameters are identical. Analytical expressions have been derived in the single-mode approximation for the conductance of the system for an arbitrary initial spin state. Based on numerical calculations with several size quantization modes, we have detected and described the conductance dips arising when the waves are localized in the nonuniformity due to the formation of an effective potential well in it. We show that allowance for the evanescent modes under carrier spin precession in an effective magnetic field does not lead to a change in the direction of the average spin vector at the output of the system.

Description: The approximate analytic solution of the Cauchy problem is constructed for a system of kinetic equations of an electron–ion plasma that describe the acceleration of ions and the collisionless heating of electrons caused by the radial ponderomotive force of a laser beam that propagates in the transparent plasma of a gas or other low-density target. Under conditions where the Debye radius, r De , of the electrons is considerably smaller than the characteristic localization scale, L , of the laser beam along the radius, ε = r De / L ≪ 1, this solution is found by a group transformation that is specified by the operator of approximate renormalization-group symmetries over small parameters, \(\varepsilon {\kern 1pt} and{\kern 1pt} \mu {\kern 1pt} = {\kern 1pt} \sqrt {Zm/M} \) , of the initial distribution functions of particles. For an axially symmetric geometry of the laser beam, the temporal and spatial dependences of the distribution functions of particles are obtained and their integral characteristics, such as the density, mean velocity, temperature, and energy spectrum, are found. The formation of a cylindrical density cusp and the localized heating of electrons at the laser-channel boundary are analytically described.

Description: The parameters of the seasonal modulations in the intensity of muons and cosmogenic neutrons generated by them at a mean muon energy of 280 GeV have been determined in the LVD (Large Volume Detector) experiment. The modulations of muons and neutrons are caused by a temperature effect, the seasonal temperature and density variations of the upper atmospheric layers. The analysis performed here leads to the conclusion that the variations in the mean energy of the muon flux are the main source of underground cosmogenic neutron variations, because the energy of muons is more sensitive to the temperature effect than their intensity. The parameters of the seasonal modulations in the mean energy of muons and the flux of cosmogenic neutrons at the LVD depth have been determined from the data obtained over seven years of LVD operation.

Description: It is known that, in a molecular dynamics model of Pt 3 Al crystal, a discrete breather (DB) with soft type nonlinearity (DB1) can be excited, which is characterized by a high degree of localization on a light atom (Al), stationarity, as well as a frequency that lies in the gap of the phonon spectrum and decreases with increasing amplitude of the DB. In this paper, it is demonstrated that a DB with hard type nonlinearity (DB2) can be excited in a Pt 3 Al nanofiber; this DB is localized on several light atoms, can move along the crystal, and has a frequency that lies above the phonon spectrum and increases with the DB amplitude. It is noteworthy that the presence of free surfaces of a nanofiber does not prevent the existence of DB1 and DB2 in it. Collisions of two DBs counterpropagating with equal velocities, as well as a collision of DB2 with a standing DB1, are considered. Two colliding DBs with hard type nonlinearity are repelled almost elastically, losing only insignificant part of their energy during the interaction. DB2 is also reflected from a standing DB1; in this case, the energy of the breathers is partially scattered into the Al sublattice. The results obtained indicate that DBs can transfer energy along a crystal over large distances. During the collision of two or more DBs, the energy localized in space can be as high as a few electron-volts; this allows one to raise the question of the participation of DBs in structural transformations of the crystal.

Description: The mid-rapidity transverse momentum spectra of strange hadrons ( \(K^ + ,K^ - ,K^ - /K^ + ,\Lambda ,\bar \Lambda ,\Xi ^ - ,\Xi ^ + \) , and Ω) produced in p – p collisions at the highest RHIC energy √ s NN = 200 GeV have been studied using a statistical unified thermal freeze-out model. The calculated results are found to be in good agreement with the experimental data taken from STAR and BRAHMS experiments. The fits of the transverse momentum spectra to the model calculations provide the thermal freeze-out conditions in terms of the temperature and collective flow effect parameters for different particle species. The model incorporates a longitudinal and a transverse hydrodynamic flow. The rapidity distributions of kaons and their ratios are also reproduced successfully, which reveals the presence of partial nuclear transparency effects in p – p collisions at √ s NN = 200 GeV. The contributions from heavier decay resonances are also taken into account.

Description: We have studied the spatial distribution of particles sputtered from the base (0001) plane of a sapphire single crystal with trigonal crystalline lattice (α-Al 2 O 3 ) that can be considered a superposition of two hexagonal close packed (hcp) structures–the ideal sublattice of oxygen and a somewhat deformed sublattice of aluminum. It is established that the particles sputtered from the base plane of sapphire are predominantly deposited along the sides of an irregular hexagon with spots at its vertices. The patterns of spots have been also studied for sputtering of particles from the (0001) face of a zinc single crystal with the hcp lattice. The spots of sputtered Zn atoms are arranged at the vertices of concentric equilateral hexagons. In both cases, the observed anisotropy of sputtering is related to focused collisions (direct and assisted focusing) and the channeling process. The chemical composition of spots has been determined in various regions of sputtered sapphire deposition. The results are discussed in comparison to analogous earlier data for secondary ion emission from an α-Al 2 O 3 single crystal.

Description: The Eliashberg theory, which is generalized due to peculiar properties of the finite-width electron band for electron–phonon (EP) systems with a variable electron density of states (DOS), as well as with allowance for the electron–hole nonequivalence of the frequency behavior of the chemical potential renormalization depending on the doping level and electron correlations in the vertex function, is used to study T c in cuprates. The phonon contribution to the nodal anomalous electron Green’s function (GF) is considered. Pairing within the total width of the electron band, and not only in a narrow layer at the Fermi surface, is taken into account. The calculated frequency and temperature dependences, as well as the dependence on the doping level of the complex renormalization ReZ, ImZ of the mass, complex renormalization Reχ(ω), Imχ(ω) of the chemical potential, and DOS N (ε) renormalized due to the EP interaction are used to calculate the electron nodal anomalous GF. It is found that the effect of suppressing the high-frequency contribution to the Eliashberg equations derived anew for the EP system with a finite width of the electron band is a decisive factor for the manifestation of the effect of high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC). It is shown that in the vicinity of the optimal hole-type doping level in cuprates, the high value of T c is reproduced by the spectral function of the electron–phonon interaction, which is obtained from tunneling experiments. Upon an increase in the doping level, leading to an increase in the degree of electron–hole nonequivalence, the new logarithmic term appearing in the equations for T c has a tendency to increase T c , while intensification of damping of charge carriers (especially suppression of the cutoff factor) leads to a decrease in T c .

Description: Room-temperature ferromagnetism is detected in a CeO 2 powder with a grain size of about 35 nm and a low (〈0.1 at %) manganese and iron content. The ferromagnetism in a CeO 2 sample with a submicron crystallite size and the same manganese and iron impurity content is lower than in the nanocrystalline sample by an order of magnitude. Apart from ferromagnetism, both samples exhibit EPR spectra of localized paramagnetic centers, the concentration of which is lower than 0.01 at %. A comparative analysis of these results shows that the F-center exchange (FCE) mechanism cannot cause ferromagnetism. This conclusion agrees with the charge-transfer ferromagnetism model proposed recently.

Description: We present the results of a theoretical investigation of the effect of boundary surfaces of a liquidcrystal cell on the effective dielectric susceptibility of the helical structure of a ferroelectric smectic C * liquid crystal (FLC). We consider for this purpose the deformation and untwisting of the helix by solid surfaces bounding the FLC layer. An analytic expression is obtained for critical thickness d c of the liquid-crystal layer, for which untwisting of the helix by surfaces takes place. In calculating the effective dielectric susceptibility, it is shown that the deformation of the FLC helix by the boundaries leads to the occurrence of anisotropy in the effective dielectric susceptibility in the plane perpendicular to the helix axis.

Description: We report first-principle density functional calculations of the spontaneous polarization, piezoelectric stress constants, and elastic constants for the III–V wurtzite structure semiconductors InAs and InP. Using the density functional theory implemented in the VASP code, we obtain polarization values–0.011 and–0.013 C/m 2 , and piezoelectric constants e 33 ( e 31 ) equal to 0.091 (–0.026) and 0.012 (–0.081) C/m 2 for structurally relaxed InP and InAs respectively. These values are consistently smaller than those of nitrides. Therefore, we predict a smaller built-in electric field in such structures.

Description: The nonlinear regime of high-frequency response for resonant tunneling structures in a time-periodic electric field has been investigated using a technique for solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation based on a Floquet mode expansion of the wave functions. The dependences of current harmonic amplitudes on ac signal amplitude have been calculated and the limiting values of the generated field have been determined for singleand double-well resonant tunneling structures. The dynamic Stark effect is shown to play an important role in the formation of response. It leads to a quadratic (in ac field amplitude) shift in the positions of resonances E r in single-well structures and in double-well ones in the nonresonant case and to a splitting at resonance h ν ≈ E r 2 – E r 1 (ν is the signal frequency, E r 1 and E r 2 are the energies of the size-quantization levels) in double-well structures proportional to the ac signal amplitude. The phenomenon of ac signal detection by resonant tunneling structures has been investigated. The effect of resonant direct-current amplification in double-well structures has been detected at a signal frequency satisfying the condition h ν ≈ E r 2 – E r 1 . In asymmetric systems, detection is shown to be possible in the absence of a dc bias, which allows zero-biased detectors based on them to be created.

Description: Many interesting nonlinear effects are based on the strong interaction of motional degrees of freedom of atoms with an optical cavity field. Among them is the spatial self-organization of atoms in a pattern where the atoms group in either odd or even sites of the cavity-induced optical potential. An experimental observation of this effect can be simplified by using, along with the original cavity-induced feedback, an additional electronic feedback based on the detection of light leaking the cavity and the control of the optical potential for the atoms. Following our previous study, we show that this approach is more efficient from the laser power perspective than the original scheme without the electronic feedback.

Description: Transport measurements at liquid helium temperatures were done on a number of Bi 2 Te 2 Se samples with thicknesses ranging from 30 to 200 μm in order to detect surface states. In each sample we observed Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations and sublinear dependence of off-diagonal component of magnetoresistance tensor on magnetic field. The periods of SdH oscillations in inverse magnetic field were found to be the same within 15%. The positions of SdH oscillations are determined by the normal to surface component of magnetic field. We found that the measured conductivity can be well described by a model with two groups of electrons, 2D and 3D. The conductivity of 2D electrons was found to be relatively weakly varying from sample to sample and not depending on thickness in a systematic manner. This behavior can be explained only by their localization on the surface. Comparison of the results of magnetotransport measurements with our scanning tunneling spectroscopy results on atomically smooth Bi 2 Te 2 Se surface in ultrahigh vacuum led us to conclude that the surface electrons are separated from the bulk electrons by a depletion layer approximately 100 nm thick. This effect could provide the dominant contribution of surface electrons to conductivity in samples with thicknesses less than 200 nm.

Description: An analytic model for evolution of galactic magnetic fields in hierarchical galaxy formation frameworks is introduced. Its major innovative components include explicit and detailed treatment of the physics of merger events, mass gains and losses, gravitational energy sources and delays associated with formation of large-scale magnetic fields. This paper describes the model, its implementation, and core results obtained by its means.

Description: The self-modulation of absorption of a picosecond light pulse was observed earlier [1] in a thin (∼1-μm thick) GaAs layer pumped by a high-power picosecond pulse. Analysis of the characteristics of this self-modulation predicted [5] that the dependences of the probe pulse absorption on the pump pulse energy and picosecond delay between pump and probe pulses should be self-modulated by oscillations. Such self-modulation was experimentally observed in this work. Under certain conditions, absorption oscillations proved to be a function of part of the energy of picosecond stimulated emission of GaAs lying above a certain threshold in the region where the emission front overlapped the probe pulse front. Absorption oscillations are similar to self-modulation of the GaAs emission characteristics observed earlier [4]. This suggests that the self-modulation of absorption and emission is determined by the same type of interaction of light pulses in the active medium, the physical mechanism of which has yet to be determined.

Description: We propose a simple physical model describing the transition of an exciton gas to a conducting exciton liquid. The transition occurs due to cohesive coupling of excitons in the vicinity of the critical point, which is associated with transformation of the exciton ground state to the conduction band and the emergence of conduction electrons. We calculate the cohesion binding energy for the exciton gas and, using it, derive the equations of state, critical parameters, and binodal. The computational method is analogous to that used by us earlier [5] for predicting the vapor-liquid (insulator-metal) phase transition in atomic (hypothetical, free of molecules) hydrogen and alkali metal vapors. The similarity of the methods used for hydrogen and excitons makes it possible to clarify the physical nature of the transition in the exciton gas and to predict more confidently the existence of a new phase transition in atomic hydrogen.

Description: The structure of steps with a height of three (111) interplanar distances on vicinal Si(111) surfaces has been analyzed through density functional theory calculations. It has been shown that several stable atomic configurations are possible depending on the buckling of the reconstruction elements of edges of the steps on the surface. It has been found that the direction of the buckling of reconstruction elements in the ground state of the surface is determined by the Coulomb interaction with their nearest atomic environment.

Description: The properties of epitaxial magnetic (LuBi) 3 (FeGa) 5 O 12 iron garnet films grown on (210) substrates, which exhibit the magnetoelectric effect, are experimentally studied. The induced anisotropy and the behavior of the domain structure in the films are investigated in uniform and nonuniform external fields. The existing hypotheses about the nature of the magnetoelectric coupling in such films are critically analyzed.

Description: A large-scale instability occurring in a stratified conducting medium with small-scale helicity of the velocity field and magnetic fields is detected using an asymptotic many-scale method. Such a helicity is sustained by small external sources for small Reynolds numbers. Two regimes of instability with zero and nonzero frequencies are detected. The criteria for the occurrence of large-scale instability in such a medium are formulated.

Description: The effect of phonon focusing on the anisotropy and temperature dependences of the thermal conductivities of silicon nanofilms is analyzed using the three-mode Callaway model. The orientations of the film planes and the directions of the heat flux for maximal or minimal heat removal from silicon chip elements at low temperatures, as well as at room temperature, are determined. It is shown that in the case of diffuse reflection of phonons from the boundaries, the plane with the {100} orientation exhibits the lowest scattering ability (and the highest thermal conductivity), while the plane with the {111} orientation is characterized by the highest scattering ability (and the lowest thermal conductivity). The thermal conductivity of wide films is determined to a considerable extent by the orientation of the film plane, while for nanowires with a square cross section, the thermal conductivity is mainly determined by the direction of the heat flux. The effect of elastic energy anisotropy on the dependences of the thermal conductivity on the geometrical parameters of films is analyzed. The temperatures of transition from boundary scattering to bulk relaxation mechanisms are determined.

Description: The theoretical assertion that the Fano asymmetry parameter and the asymptotic initial phase of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a continuum are interrelated is experimentally verified. By an example of coherent fully symmetric A 1 g phonons in bismuth that are excited by ultrashort laser pulses at liquid helium temperature, it is demonstrated that, for negative values of the asymmetry parameter, the asymptotic phase increases as the modulus of the parameter decreases.

Description: We verify the identity which relates the two-point Green’s functions of \(\mathcal{N} = 1\) SQED with N f flavors, regularized by higher derivatives, by explicit calculations in the three-loop approximation. This identity explains why, in the limit of the vanishing external momentum, the two-point Green’s function of the gauge superfield is given by integrals of double total derivatives in the momentum space. It also makes it possible to exactly derive the NSVZ β-function in all loops if the renormalization group functions are defined in terms of the bare coupling constant. In order to verify the considered identity, we use it to construct integrals giving the three-loop β-function starting from the two-point Green’s functions of matter superfields in the two-loop approximation. Then we demonstrate that the results for these integrals coincide with the sums of the corresponding three-loop supergraphs.

Description: The nonlinear collapse for a viscous generalized Chaplygin gas model (VGCG) is analyzed in the framework of spherical top-hat collapse. Because the VGCG and baryons are essential to form the large-scale structure, we focus on their nonlinear collapse in this paper. We discuss the influence of model parameters α and ζ 0 on the spherical collapse by varying their values and compare with the ΛCDM model. The results show that for the VGCG model, smaller ζ 0 and larger α make the structure formation earlier and faster, and the collapse curves of the VGCG model are almost coincident with those of the ΛCDM model when the model parameter α is less than 10 −2 .

Description: It is shown that the use of spectroscopic cells of micron thickness ( L = 10–50 μm) allows one to effectively study the behavior of individual levels of the Cs D 2 line in strong magnetic fields up to 9 kG. In particular, the absorption spectrum of Cs excited by circularly polarized light in fields above 8 kG consists of two fully separated groups, each containing eight atomic transitions. The intensities of atomic transitions and their frequency slopes (vs. magnetic field) in each group are almost the same. The physical explanation for the observed features is given; in particular, it is shown that one of the 54 possible atomic transitions in moderate magnetic fields (denoted F g = 4, m F = 4 → F e = 5, m F = 5) has unique characteristics that make it possible to predict the intensities and frequency slopes of seven atomic transitions in the same group. Practical applications of devices based on micrometric-thin cells in strong magnetic fields are considered.

Description: Cathodo- and photoluminescence of amorphous nonstoichiometric films of hafnium oxide are studied with the aim to verify the hypothesis that oxygen vacancies are responsible for the luminescence. To produce oxygen vacancies, hafnium oxide was enriched in surplus metal during synthesis. To reduce the oxygen concentration, the film was annealed in oxygen. A qualitative control of the oxygen concentration was carried out by the refractive index. In the initial, almost stoichiometric films we observed a 2.7-eV band in cathodoluminescence. Annealing in oxygen results in a considerable increase in its intensity, as well as in the appearance of new bands at 1.87, 2.14, 3.40, and 3.6 eV. The observed emission bands are supposed to be due to single oxygen vacancies and polyvacancies in hafnium oxide. The luminescence increase under annealing in an oxygen atmosphere may be a result of the emission quenching effect.

Description: The surface electromagnetic states (SEMSs) on graphene, which has a linear carrier dispersion law and is placed in an antiferromagnetic photonic crystal, are theoretically studied in the terahertz frequency range. The unit cell of such a crystal consists of layers of a nonmagnetic insulator and a uniaxial antiferromagnet, the easy axis of which is parallel to the crystal layers. A dc magnetic field is parallel to the easy axis of the antiferromagnet. An expression that relates the SEMS frequencies to the structure parameters is obtained. The problem of SEMS excitation by an external TE-polarized electromagnetic wave is solved, and the dependences of the transmission coefficient on the dc magnetic field and the carrier concentration are constructed. These dependences are shown to differ substantially from the case of a conventional two-dimensional electron gas with a quadratic electron dispersion law. Thus, the positions of the transmission coefficient peaks related to resonance SEMS excitation can be used to determine the character of carrier dispersion law in a two-dimensional electron gas.

Description: It is shown that the model proposed by Canham quantitatively describes the observed biconcave shape of human erythrocytes.

Description: We report the results of a study of magnetic, electrical, and thermodynamic properties of a single crystal of the magnetic compound Cr 0.26 NbS 1.74 at ambient and high pressures. Results of the measurements of magnetization as a function of temperature reveal the existence of a ferromagnetic phase transition in Cr 0.26 NbS 1.74 . The effective number of Bohr magnetons per Cr atom in the paramagnetic phase of Cr 0.26 NbS 1.74 is µ eff ≈ 4.6µB, which matches the literature data for Cr1/3NbS2. Similarly, the effective number of Bohr magnetons per Cr atom in the saturation fields is rather close in both substances and corresponds to the number of magnetons in the Cr +3 ion. In contrast to the stoichiometric compound, Cr 0.26 NbS 1.74 does not show a metamagnetic transition, that indicates the lack of a magnetic soliton. A high-pressure phase diagram of the compound reveals the quantum phase transition at T = 0 and P ≈ 4.2 GPa and the triple point situated at T ≈ 20 K and P ≈ 4.2 GPa.

Description: We consider the quasi-two-dimensional pseudo-spin-1/2 Kitaev–Heisenberg model proposed for A 2 IrO 3 (A = Li, Na) compounds. The spin-wave excitation spectrum, the sublattice magnetization, and the transition temperatures are calculated in the random phase approximation for four different ordered phases observed in the parameter space of the model: antiferromagnetic, stripe, ferromagnetic, and zigzag phases. The Néel temperature and temperature dependence of the sublattice magnetization are compared with the experimental data on Na 2 IrO 3 .

Description: We theoretically model the dynamics of semiconductor lasers subject to the double-reflector feedback. The proposed model is a new modification of the time-delay rate equations of semiconductor lasers under the optical feedback to account for this type of the double-reflector feedback. We examine the influence of adding the second reflector to dynamical states induced by the single-reflector feedback: periodic oscillations, period doubling, and chaos. Regimes of both short and long external cavities are considered. The present analyses are done using the bifurcation diagram, temporal trajectory, phase portrait, and fast Fourier transform of the laser intensity. We show that adding the second reflector attracts the periodic and perioddoubling oscillations, and chaos induced by the first reflector to a route-to-continuous-wave operation. During this operation, the periodic-oscillation frequency increases with strengthening the optical feedback. We show that the chaos induced by the double-reflector feedback is more irregular than that induced by the single-reflector feedback. The power spectrum of this chaos state does not reflect information on the geometry of the optical system, which then has potential for use in chaotic (secure) optical data encryption.

Description: We generalize the results of Nesterenko [13, 14] and Gogilidze and Surovtsev [15] for DNA structures. Using the generalized Hamiltonian formalism, we investigate solutions of the equilibrium shape equations for the linear free energy model.

Description: We consider electromagnetic nonlinear normal modes in cylindrical cavity resonators filled with a nonlinear nondispersive medium. The key feature of the analysis is that exact analytic solutions of the nonlinear field equations are employed to study the mode properties in detail. Based on such a nonperturbative approach, we rigorously prove that the total energy of free nonlinear oscillations in a distributed conservative system, such as that considered in our work, can exactly coincide with the sum of energies of the normal modes of the system. This fact implies that the energy orthogonality property, which has so far been known to hold only for linear oscillations and fields, can also be observed in a nonlinear oscillatory system.

Description: We study the quantum dynamics of a two-atom Raman coupled model interacting with a quantized bimodal field with intensity-dependent coupling terms in a lossless cavity. The unitary transformation method used to solve the time-dependent problem also gives the eigensolutions of the interaction Hamiltonian. We study the atomic-population dynamics and dynamics of the photon statistics in the two cavity modes, and present evidence of cooperative effects in the production of antibunching and anticorrelations between the modes. We also investigate the effect of detuning on the evolution of second-order correlation functions and observe that the oscillations become more rapid for large detuning.

Description: Gapless phases in ground states of low-dimensional quantum spin systems are rather ubiquitous. Their peculiarity is a remarkable sensitivity to external perturbations due to permanent criticality of such phases manifested by a slow (power-low) decay of pair correlations and the divergence of the corresponding susceptibility. A strong influence of various defects on the properties of the system in such a phase can then be expected. Here, we consider the influence of vacancies on the thermodynamics of the simplest quantum model with a gapless phase, the isotropic spin-1/2 XX chain. The existence of the exact solution of this model gives a unique opportunity to describe in detail the dramatic effect of dilution on the gapless phase—the appearance of an infinite series of quantum phase transitions resulting from level crossing under the variation of a longitudinal magnetic field. We calculate the jumps in the field dependences of the ground-state longitudinal magnetization, susceptibility, entropy, and specific heat appearing at these transitions and show that they result in a highly nonlinear temperature dependence of these parameters at low T. Also, the effect of enhancement of the magnetization and longitudinal correlations in the dilute chain is established. The changes of the pair spin correlators under dilution are also analyzed. The universality of the mechanism of the quantum transition generation suggests that similar effects of dilution can also be expected in gapless phases of other low-dimensional quantum spin systems.

Description: The nonlinear properties of ion acoustic shock waves are studied. The Burgers equation is derived and converted into the time fractional Burgers equation by Agrawal’s method. Using the Adomian decomposition method, shock wave solutions of the time fractional Burgers equation are constructed. The effect of the time fractional parameter on the shock wave properties in ion-pair plasma is investigated. The results obtained may be important in investigating the broadband electrostatic shock noise in D- and F-regions of Earth’s ionosphere.

Description: Four different types of spectroscopic cells that cover all possible existing versions of sealed-off cells (containing alkali atomic vapor) characterized by drastically different relaxation rates γ rel are used to study the electromagnetically induced transparency spectra of two Λ-systems in the D 1 line of 87 Rb in the presence of transverse magnetic field. Two cw narrowband diode-lasers are used to form the coupling laser radiation (with a fixed frequency) and the probe radiation with a tunable frequency. Two strongly contrasting Λ-systems are found: the first shows resonances that are transformed from dark resonances to bright resonances in all cases apart from nanocells, whereas the second shows four dark resonances in all four different types of cell. The theoretical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Description: Magnetic elastomers represent a new type of materials that are “soft” matrices with “hard” magnetic granules embedded in them. The elastic forces of the matrix and the magnetic forces acting between granules are comparable in magnitude even under small deformations. As a result, these materials acquire a number of new properties; in particular, their mechanical and/or magnetic characteristics can depend strongly on the polymer matrix filling with magnetic particles and can change under the action of an external magnetic field, pressure, and temperature. To describe the properties of elastomers, we use a model in which the interaction of magnetic granules randomly arranged in space with one another is described in the dipole approximation by the distribution function of dipole fields, while their interaction with the matrix is described phenomenologically. A multitude of deformation, magnetic-field, and temperature effects that are described in this paper and are quite accessible to experimental observation arise within this model.

Description: In cell environments crowded with macromolecules, the depletion effects act and assist in the assembly of a wide range of cellular structures, from the cytoskeleton to the chromatin loop, which are well accepted. But a recent quantum dot experiment indicated that the dimensions of the receptor–ligand complex have strong effects on the size-dependent exclusion of proteins in cell environments. In this article, a continuum elastic model is constructed to resolve the competition between the dimension of the receptor–ligand complex and depletion effects in the endocytosis of a spherical virus-like bioparticle. Our results show that the depletion effects do not always assist endocytosis of a spherical virus-like bioparticle; while the dimension of the ligand–receptor complex is larger than the size of a small bioparticle in cell environments, the depletion effects do not work and reverse effects appear. The ligand density covered on the virus can be identified quantitatively.

Description: The structure and properties of pulsating solitons (breathers) in the spiral structures of magnets are analyzed within the sine-Gordon model. The breather core pulsations are shown to be accompanied by local shifts and oscillations of the spiral structure with the formation of “precursors” and “tails” in the moving soliton. The possibilities for the observation and excitation of breathers in the spiral structures of magnets and multiferroics are discussed.

Description: The results of optoheterodyne Doppler measurements of the ballistic expansion of the products of surface destruction under shock-wave loading are presented. The possibility of determining the physical characteristics of a rapidly flying dust cloud, including the microparticle velocities, the microparticle sizes, and the areal density of the dust cloud, is shown. A compact stand for performing experiments on shock-wave loading of metallic samples is described. Shock-wave loading is performed by a 100-µm-thick tantalum flyer plate accelerated to a velocity of 2.8 km/s. As the samples, lead plates having various thicknesses and the same surface roughness are used. At a shock-wave pressure of 31.5 GPa, the destruction products are solid microparticles about 50 µm in size. At a pressure of 42 and 88 GPa, a liquid-drop dust cloud with a particle size of 10–15 µm is formed. To interpret the spectral data on the optoheterodyne Doppler measurements of the expansion of the surface destruction products (spalled fragments, dust microparticles), a transport equation for the function of mutual coherence of a multiply scattered field is used. The Doppler spectra of a backscattered signal are calculated with the model developed for the dust cloud that appears when a shock wave reaches the sample surface at the parameters that are typical of an experimental situation. Qualitative changes are found in the spectra, depending on the optical thickness of the dust cloud. The obtained theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental data.

Description: In a system of N interacting single-level quantum dots (QDs), we study the relaxation dynamics and the current–voltage characteristics determined by symmetry properties of the QD arrangement. Different numbers of dots, initial charge configurations, and various coupling regimes to reservoirs are considered. We reveal that effective charge trapping occurs for particular regimes of coupling to the reservoir when more than two dots form a ring structure with the C N spatial symmetry. We reveal that the effective charge trapping caused by the C N spatial symmetry of N coupled QDs depends on the number of dots and the way of coupling to the reservoirs. We demonstrate that the charge trapping effect is directly connected with the formation of dark states, which are not coupled to reservoirs due to the system spatial symmetry C N . We also reveal the symmetry blockade of the tunneling current caused by the presence of dark states.

Description: We consider excitations that exist, in addition to phonons, in the ideal Bose gas at zero temperature. These excitations are vortex rings whose energy spectrum is similar to the roton one in liquid helium.

Description: A unified statistical thermal freeze-out model (USTFM) is used to study the chemical potential dependence of identified particle ratios at mid-rapidity in heavy-ion collisions. We successfully reproduce the experimental data ranging from SPS energies to LHC energies, suggesting the statistical nature of the particle production in these collisions and hence the validity of our approach. The behavior of the freeze-out temperature is studied with respect to chemical potential. The freeze-out temperature is found to be universal at the RHIC and LHC and is close to the QCD predicted phase transition temperature, suggesting that the chemical freeze-out occurs soon after the hadronization takes place.

Description: The problem of localized states in 1D systems with a relativistic spectrum, namely, graphene stripes and carbon nanotubes, is studied analytically. The bound state as a superposition of two chiral states is completely described by their relative phase, which is the foundation of the variable phase method (VPM) developed herein. Based on our VPM, we formulate and prove the relativistic Levinson theorem. The problem of bound states can be reduced to the analysis of closed trajectories of some vector field. Remarkably, the Levinson theorem appears as the Poincaré index theorem for these closed trajectories. The VPM equation is also reduced to the nonrelativistic and semiclassical limits. The limit of a small momentum p y of transverse quantization is applicable to an arbitrary integrable potential. In this case, a single confined mode is predicted.

Description: A new subtractive procedure for canceling ultraviolet and infrared divergences in the Feynman integrals described here is developed for calculating QED corrections to the electron anomalous magnetic moment. The procedure formulated in the form of a forest expression with linear operators applied to Feynman amplitudes of UV-diverging subgraphs makes it possible to represent the contribution of each Feynman graph containing only electron and photon propagators in the form of a converging integral with respect to Feynman parameters. The application of the developed method for numerical calculation of two- and threeloop contributions is described.

Description: Within the framework of the Ammosov–Delone–Krainov theory, we consider the angular and energy distribution of outgoing electrons due to ionization by a circularly polarized electromagnetic field. A correction of the ground ionization potential by the ponderomotive and Stark shift is incorporated in both distributions. Spatial dependence is analyzed.

Description: The contribution of bends and constrictions by a superconducting film to the detection by a singlephoton superconducting detector is investigated. It has been shown that, for currents smaller than the minimal detection current of a straight film, the detection efficiency of a film with a constriction attains saturation upon an increase in the current, which coincides qualitatively with the behavior of this dependence observed in the experiment. It has also been found that the effect of bends in the film and the external magnetic field on the detection efficiency for low-energy photons is essential, while for high-energy photons no such influence is observed.

Description: This paper investigates instability ranges of a cylindrically symmetric collapsing cosmic filamentary structure in the Brans–Dicke theory of gravity. For this purpose, we use a perturbating approach to the modified field equations as well as dynamic equations and construct a collapse equation. The collapse equation with an adiabatic index (Γ) is used to explore the instability ranges of both isotropic and anisotropic fluid in Newtonian and post-Newtonian approximations. It turns out that the instability ranges depend on the dynamic variables of collapsing filaments. We conclude that the system always remains unstable for 0 〈 Γ 〈 1, while Γ 〉 1 provides instability only in a special case.

Description: Exact solutions are obtained for the problem of an equilibrium configuration of an uncharged cylindrical jet of a conducting liquid in a transverse electric field. The transverse cross section of the jet moving between two planar electrodes is deformed under the action of electrostatic forces (capillary forces play a stabilizing role). According to the solutions obtained, the initially circular cross section of the jet may be significantly (formally, unboundedly) stretched along the lines of forces of the field, and the boundaries of the jet asymptotically approach the electrodes.

Description: The problem of the development of shear instability in a three-layer medium simulating the flow of a stratified incompressible fluid is considered. The hydrodynamic equations are solved by expanding the Hamiltonian in a small parameter. The equations for three interacting waves, one of which is unstable, have been derived and solved numerically. The three-wave interaction is shown to stabilize the instability. Various regimes of the system’s dynamics, including the stochastic ones dependent on one of the invariants in the problem, can arise in this case. It is pointed out that the instability development scenario considered differs from the previously considered scenario of a different type, where the three-wave interaction does not stabilize the instability. The interaction of wave packets is considered briefly.

Description: Magnetic resonance at the F g = 1 \( \rightleftarrows \) F e = 1 transition of the D 1 line in 87 Rb has been studied with pumping and detection by linearly polarized radiation and detection at the double frequency of the radiofrequency field. The intervals of allowed values of the static and alternating magnetic fields in which magnetic resonance has a single maximum have been found. The structure appearing beyond these intervals has been explained. It has been shown that the quadratic Zeeman shift is responsible for the three-peak structure of resonance; the radiofrequency shift results in the appearance of additional extrema in resonance, which can be used to determine the relaxation constant Γ 2 . The possibility of application in magnetometry has been discussed.

Description: A model for describing the thermodynamic properties of a hard/soft-magnetic bilayer is proposed and thoroughly studied using the Monte Carlo method. Temperature dependences of the heat capacity, total magnetization, magnetizations of the hard- and soft-magnetic layers, total magnetic susceptibility, and susceptibilities of the hard- and soft-magnetic layers have been calculated by this method in the framework of the proposed model. The obtained temperature dependences of the heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility display double maxima that result from the two phase transitions that take place in the system. The influence of system dimensions on the thermodynamic properties of the model has been considered.

Description: Emission by 120-GeV positrons in the channeling regime in the (011) plane of a silicon single crystal has been considered. Trajectories of positrons under different initial conditions have been calculated within the theory of nonlinear oscillations. The amplitude distribution function of channeled particles has been determined taking into account the nonlinearity of their motion. The intensity of radiation under various initial conditions has been calculated by two different methods. These results can be useful for comparison with experimental data at energies of positrons beginning with 100 GeV and higher.

Description: The discrete breathers in graphane in thermodynamic equilibrium in the temperature range 50–600 K are studied by molecular dynamics simulation. A discrete breather is a hydrogen atom vibrating along the normal to a sheet of graphane at a high amplitude. As was found earlier, the lifetime of a discrete breather at zero temperature corresponds to several tens of thousands of vibrations. The effect of temperature on the decay time of discrete breathers and the probability of their detachment from a sheet of graphane are studied in this work. It is shown that closely spaced breathers can exchange energy with each other at zero temperature. The data obtained suggest that thermally activated discrete breathers can be involved in the dehydrogenation of graphane, which is important for hydrogen energetics.

Description: The atomic dynamics of the binary Al 100– x Cu x system is simulated at a temperature T = 973 K, a pressure p = 1.0 bar, and various copper concentrations x . These conditions (temperature, pressure) make it possible to cover the equilibrium liquid Al 100– x Cu x phase at copper concentrations 0 ≤ x ≤ 40% and the supercooled melt in the concentration range 40% ≤ x ≤ 100%. The calculated spectral densities of the time correlation functions of the longitudinal \({\tilde C_L}\) ( k, ω ) and transverse \({\tilde C_T}\) ( k, ω ) currents in the Al 100– x Cu x melt at a temperature T = 973 K reveal propagating collective excitations of longitudinal and transverse polarizations in a wide wavenumber range. It is shown that the maximum sound velocity in the v L ( x ) concentration dependence takes place for the equilibrium melt at an atomic copper concentration x = 10 ± 5%, whereas the supercooled Al 100– x Cu x melt saturated with copper atoms ( x ≥ 40%) is characterized by the minimum sound velocity. In the case of the supercooled melt, the concentration dependence of the kinematic viscosity ν( x ) is found to be interpolated by a linear dependence, and a deviation from the linear dependence is observed in the case of equilibrium melt at x 〈 40%. An insignificant shoulder in the ν( x ) dependence is observed at low copper concentrations ( x 〈 20%), and it is supported by the experimental data. This shoulder is caused by the specific features in the concentration dependence of the density ρ( x ).

Description: The localized optical modes in spiral photonic liquid crystals are theoretically studied for the certainty at the example of chiral liquid crystals (CLCs) for the case of CLC with an anisotropic local absorption. The model adopted here (absence of dielectric interfaces in the structures under investigation) makes it possible to get rid of mixing of polarizations on the surfaces of the CLC layer and of the defect structure and to reduce the corresponding equations to only the equations for light with polarization diffracting in the CLC. The dispersion equations determining connection of the edge mode (EM) and defect mode (DM) frequencies with the CLC layer parameters (anisotropy of local absorption, CLC order parameter) and other parameters of the DMS are obtained. Analytic expressions for the transmission and reflection coefficients of CLC layer and DMS for the case of CLC with an anisotropic local absorption are presented and analyzed. It is shown that the CLC layers with locally anisotropic absorption reduce the EM and DM lifetimes (and increase the lasing threshold) in the way different from the case of CLC with an isotropic local absorption. Due to the Borrmann effect revealing of which is different at the opposite stop-band edges in the case of CLC layers with an anisotropic local absorption the EM life-times for the EM frequencies at the opposite stop-bands edges may be significantly different. The options of experimental observations of the theoretically revealed phenomena are briefly discussed.

Description: The rotating magnetohydrodynamic flows of a thin layer of astrophysical and space plasmas with a free surface in a vertical external magnetic field are considered in the shallow water approximation. The presence of a vertical external magnetic field changes significantly the dynamics of wave processes in an astrophysical plasma, in contrast to a neutral fluid and a plasma layer in an external toroidal magnetic field. There are three-wave nonlinear interactions in the case under consideration. Using the asymptotic method of multiscale expansions, we have derived nonlinear equations for the interaction of wave packets: three magneto- Poincare waves, three magnetostrophic waves, two magneto-Poincare and one magnetostrophic waves, and two magnetostrophic and one magneto-Poincare waves. The existence of decay instabilities and parametric amplification is predicted. We show that a magneto-Poincare wave decays into two magneto-Poincare waves, a magnetostrophic wave decays into two magnetostrophic waves, a magneto-Poincare wave decays into one magneto-Poincare and one magnetostrophic waves, and a magnetostrophic wave decays into one magnetostrophic and one magneto-Poincare waves. There are the following parametric amplification mechanisms: the parametric amplification of magneto-Poincare waves, the parametric amplification of magnetostrophic waves, the amplification of a magneto-Poincare wave in the field of a magnetostrophic wave, and the amplification of a magnetostrophic wave in the field of a magneto-Poincare wave. The instability growth rates and parametric amplification factors have been found for the corresponding processes.

Description: The electric field-induced reorientation of a nematic liquid crystal in cells with a planar helicoidal or a homeoplanar structure of a director field is studied theoretically and experimentally. The dependences of the capacitances of these systems on the voltage in an applied electric field below and above the Fréedericksz threshold are experimentally obtained and numerically calculated. The calculations use the director distribution in volume that is obtained by direct minimization of free energy at various voltages. The inhomogeneity of the electric field inside a cell is taken into account. The calculation results are shown to agree with the experimental data.

Description: The magnetization, the electrical resistivity, the specific heat, the thermal conductivity, and the thermal diffusion of a polycrystalline Heusler alloy Ni 45.37 Mn 40.91 In 13.72 sample are studied. Anomalies, which are related to the coexistence of martensite and austenite phases and the change in their ratio induced by a magnetic field and temperature, are revealed and interpreted. The behavior of the properties of the alloy near Curie temperature T C also demonstrates signs of a structural transition, which suggests that the detected transition is a first-order magnetostructural phase transition. The nontrivial behavior of specific heat detected near the martensite transformation temperatures is partly related to a change in the electron density of states near the Fermi level. The peculiar peak of phonon thermal conductivity near the martensitic transformation is interpreted as a consequence of the appearance of additional soft phonon modes, which contribute to the specific heat and the thermal conductivity.

Description: It is shown that linear instability of plane Couette flow can take place even at finite Reynolds numbers Re 〉 Re th ≈ 139, which agrees with the experimental value of Re th ≈ 150 ± 5 [16, 17]. This new result of the linear theory of hydrodynamic stability is obtained by abandoning traditional assumption of the longitudinal periodicity of disturbances in the flow direction. It is established that previous notions about linear stability of this flow at arbitrarily large Reynolds numbers relied directly upon the assumed separation of spatial variables of the field of disturbances and their longitudinal periodicity in the linear theory. By also abandoning these assumptions for plane Poiseuille flow, a new threshold Reynolds number Re th ≈ 1035 is obtained, which agrees to within 4% with experiment—in contrast to 500% discrepancy for the previous estimate of Re th ≈ 5772 obtained in the framework of the linear theory under assumption of the “normal” shape of disturbances [2].

Description: In magnetic compounds with Jahn–Teller (JT) ions (such as Mn 3+ or Cu 2+ ), the ordering of the electron or hole orbitals is associated with cooperative lattice distortions. There the role of JT effect, although widely recognized, is still elusive in the ground state properties. Here we discovered that, in these materials, there exist excitations whose energy spectrum is described in terms of the total angular momentum eigenstates and is quantized as in quantum rotors found in JT centers. We observed features originating from these excitations in the optical spectra of a model compound LaMnO 3 using ellipsometry technique. They appear clearly as narrow sidebands accompanying the electron transition between the JT split orbitals at neighboring Mn 3+ ions, displaying anomalous temperature behavior around the Néel temperature T N ≈ 140 K. We present these results together with new experimental data on photoluminescence found in LaMnO 3 , which lend additional support to the ellipsometry implying the electronic-vibrational origin of the quantum rotor orbital excitations. We note that the discovered orbital excitations of quantum rotors may play an important role in many unusual properties observed in these materials upon doping, such as high-temperature superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance.

Description: Images formed by light with suppressed photon fluctuations are interesting objects for studies with the aim of increasing their limiting information capacity and quality. This light in the sub-Poisson state can be prepared in a resonator filled with a medium with Kerr nonlinearity, in which self-phase modulation takes place. Spatially and temporally multimode light beams are studied and the production of spatial frequency spectra of suppressed photon fluctuations is described. The efficient operation regimes of the system are found. A particular schematic solution is described, which allows one to realize the potential possibilities laid in the formation of the squeezed states of light to a maximum degree during self-phase modulation in a resonator for the maximal suppression of amplitude quantum noises upon two-dimensional imaging. The efficiency of using light with suppressed quantum fluctuations for computer image processing is studied. An algorithm is described for interpreting measurements for increasing the resolution with respect to the geometrical resolution. A mathematical model that characterizes the measurement scheme is constructed and the problem of the image reconstruction is solved. The algorithm for the interpretation of images is verified. Conditions are found for the efficient application of sub-Poisson light for super-resolution imaging. It is found that the image should have a low contrast and be maximally transparent.

Description: A thermodynamic approach is used to describe the distribution of particles of a disperse phase in a plane laminar flow. The effect of the density, shape, and velocity of disperse particles in the flow is considered. Conditions are described under which various modes of stratification of the flow (near-wall, central, intermediate, and multilayer modes) arise. The equilibrium distributions obtained are self-similar; this allows one to compare the behavior of colloidal, highly disperse, coarsely disperse, and coarse-grain systems for various shear velocities and flow widths.

Description: It is shown how the general formulas of the nonequilibrium diagram technique can be used in problems of tunnel planar structures described in the effective mass approach. The relation between such a “continual” approach and the tunneling Hamiltonian method is established, and the applicability conditions for this method are determined. The effects beyond the applicability limits of the tunneling Hamiltonian method, which can be described by the continual approach, are considered.

Description: We theoretically study nonradiative and radiative energy transfer between two localized quantum emitters, a donor (initially excited) and an acceptor (receiving the excitation). The rates of nonradiative and radiative processes are calculated depending on the spatial and spectral separation between the donor and acceptor states and for different donor and acceptor lifetimes for typical parameters of semiconductor quantum dots. We find that the donor lifetime can be significantly modified only due to the nonradiative Förster energy transfer process at donor–acceptor separations of approximately 10 nm (depending on the acceptor radiative lifetime) and for the energy detuning not larger than 1–2 meV. The efficiency of the nonradiative Förster energy transfer process under these conditions is close to unity and decreases rapidly with an increase in the donor–acceptor distance or energy detuning. At large donor–acceptor separations greater than 40 nm, the radiative corrections to the donor lifetime are comparable with nonradiative ones but are relatively weak.

Description: A brief review is given of the studies in which quasi-two-dimensional spatially-direct and dipolar electron–hole liquids in Si/SiGe/Si type-II heterostructures with a low Ge content in the SiGe layer were discovered and investigated.

Description: An experimental technique is developed to perform photoexcitation of an ensemble of translationinvariant triplet excitons, to manipulate this ensemble, and to detect the properties of its components. In particular, the influence of temperature on the radiationless decay during the relaxation of an exciton spin into the ground state of a Hall insulator at a filling factor ν = 2 is studied. The generation of photoexcited electrons and holes is controlled using photoinduced resonance reflection spectra, which makes it possible to estimate the density of light-generated electron–hole pairs and to independently control the self-consistent generation of electrons at the first Landau level and holes (vacancies) at the ground (zero) cyclotron electronic level. The existence of triplet excitons is established from inelastic light scattering spectra, which are used to determine the singlet–triplet exciton splitting. The lifetimes of triplet excitons, which are closely related to the relaxation time of an electron spin, are extremely long: they reach 100 μs in perfect GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with a high mobility of two-dimensional electrons at low temperatures. These long spin relaxation times are qualitatively explained, and the expected collective behavior of high-density triplet magnetoexcitons at sufficiently low temperatures, which is related to their Bose nature, is discussed.

Description: A system of dipolar excitons at temperatures exceeding the expected Bose–Einstein condensation temperature is considered. It is shown that a first-order phase transition with the formation of a phase close to the crystal of such excitons is possible at such temperatures. The phase diagram in the range of low concentrations and temperatures is constructed. The effect of this transition on the luminescence spectrum of the system is analyzed.

Description: A theory for the linear and quadratic responses of a 2D gas of indirect dipolar excitons to an external surface acoustic wave perturbation in the presence of a static random potential is considered. The theory is constructed both for high temperatures, definitely greater than the exciton gas condensation temperature, and at zero temperature by taking into account the Bose–Einstein condensation effects. The particle Green functions, the density–density correlation function, and the quadratic response function are calculated by the “cross” diagram technique. The results obtained are used to calculate the absorption of Rayleigh surface waves and the acoustic exciton gas drag by a Rayleigh wave. The damping of Bogoliubov excitations in an exciton condensate due to theirs scattering by a random potential has also been determined.

Description: We present a compact and self-contained review of the recently developed Keldysh formalism for multiple parallel worlds. The formalism has been applied to consistent quantum evaluation of the flows of informational quantities, in particular, to the evaluation of Renyi and Shannon entropy flows. We start with the formulation of the standard and extended Keldysh techniques in a single world in a form convenient for our presentation. We explain the use of Keldysh contours encompassing multiple parallel worlds. In the end, we briefly summarize the concrete results obtained with the method.

Description: The works dealing with the theory of e + e – pair production from vacuum under the action of highintensity laser radiation are reviewed. The following problems are discussed: pair production in a constant electric field E and time-variable homogeneous field E ( t ); the dependence of the number of produced pairs \({N_{{e^ + }{e^ - }}}\) on the shape of a laser pulse (dynamic Schwinger effect); and a realistic three-dimensional model of a focused laser pulse, which is based on exact solution of Maxwell’s equations and contains parameters such as focal spot radius R , diffraction length L , focusing parameter Δ, pulse duration τ , and pulse shape. This model is used to calculate \({N_{{e^ + }{e^ - }}}\) for both a single laser pulse ( n = 1) and several ( n ≥ 2) coherent pulses with a fixed total energy that simultaneously “collide” in a laser focus. It is shown that, at n ≫ 1, the number of pairs increases by several orders of magnitude as compared to the case of a single pulse. The screening of a laser field by the vapors that are generated in vacuum, its “depletion,” and the limiting fields to be achieved in laser experiments are considered. The relation between pair production, the problem of a quantum frequency-variable oscillator, and the theory of groups SU (1, 1) and SU (2) is discussed. The relativistic version of the imaginary time method is used in calculations. In terms of this version, a relativistic theory of tunneling is developed and the Keldysh theory is generalized to the case of ionization of relativistic bound systems, namely, atoms and ions. The ionization rate of a hydrogen-like ion with a charge 1 ≤ Z ≤ 92 is calculated as a function of laser radiation intensity ( F and ellipticity ρ.

Description: A brief survey is given of theoretical works on surface states (SSs) in Dirac materials. Within the formalism of envelope wave functions and boundary conditions for these functions, a minimal model is formulated that analytically describes surface and edge states of various (topological and nontopological) types in several systems with Dirac fermions (DFs). The applicability conditions of this model are discussed.

Description: We review the effects caused by a large difference in the dielectric constants of a semiconductor and its surrounding in colloidal semiconductor nanostructures (NSs) with various shapes, e.g., nanocrystals, nanorods, and nanoplatelets. The difference increases the electron–hole interaction and consequently the exciton binding energy and its oscillator transition strength. On the other hand, this difference reduces the electric field of a photon penetrating the NS (the phenomenon is called the local field effect) and reduces the photon coupling to an exciton. We show that the polarization properties of the individual colloidal NSs as well as of their randomly oriented ensemble are determined both by the anisotropy of the local field effect and by the symmetry of the exciton states participating in optical transitions. The calculations explain the temperature and time dependences of the degree of linear polarization measured in an ensemble of CdSe nanocrystals.

Description: Physical processes in a plasma under the action of relativistically strong electromagnetic waves generated by high-power lasers have been briefly reviewed. These processes are of interest in view of the development of new methods for acceleration of charged particles, creation of sources of bright hard electromagnetic radiation, and investigation of macroscopic quantum-electrodynamical processes. Attention is focused on nonlinear waves in a laser plasma for the creation of compact electron accelerators. The acceleration of plasma bunches by the radiation pressure of light is the most efficient regime of ion acceleration. Coherent hard electromagnetic radiation in the relativistic plasma is generated in the form of higher harmonics and/or electromagnetic pulses, which are compressed and intensified after reflection from relativistic mirrors created by nonlinear waves. In the limit of extremely strong electromagnetic waves, radiation friction, which accompanies the conversion of radiation from the optical range to the gamma range, fundamentally changes the behavior of the plasma. This process is accompanied by the production of electron–positron pairs, which is described within quantum electrodynamics theory.

Description: There are two paradigmatic frameworks for treating quantum systems coupled to a dissipative environment: the Caldeira–Leggett and Ambegaokar–Eckern–Schön approaches. Here, we recall the differences between them and explain the consequences of applying each to a zero-dimensional spin (having an SU(2) symmetry) in a dissipative environment (a dissipative quantum dot near or beyond the Stoner instability point).

Description: We analyze the role of local geometry in the spin and orbital interaction in transition metal compounds with orbital degeneracy. We stress that the tendency observed in the most studied case (transition metals in O 6 octahedra with one common oxygen—common corner of neighboring octahedra—and with ~180° metal–oxygen–metal bonds), that ferro-orbital ordering renders antiferro-spin coupling and, vice versa, antiferro-orbitals give ferro-spin ordering, is not valid in the general case, in particular, for octahedra with a common edge and with ~90° M–O–M bonds. Special attention is paid to the “third case,” that of neighboring octahedra with a common face (three common oxygens), which has largely been disregarded until now, although there are many real systems with this geometry. Interestingly enough, the spin-orbit exchange in this case turns out to be simpler and more symmetric than in the first two cases. We also consider, which form the effective exchange takes for different geometries in the case of strong spin–orbit coupling.

Description: This mini-review is dedicated to the 85th birthday of Prof. L.V. Keldysh, from whom we have learned so much. In this paper, we study the potential and electron density depth profiles in surface accumulation layers in crystals with a large and nonlinear dielectric response such as SrTiO 3 (STO) in the cases of planar, spherical, and cylindrical geometries. The electron gas can be created by applying an induction D 0 to the STO surface. We describe the lattice dielectric response of STO using the Landau–Ginzburg free energy expansion and employ the Thomas–Fermi (TF) approximation for the electron gas. For the planar geometry, we arrive at the electron density profile n ( x ) ∝ ( x + d ) –12/7 , where d ∝ D 0 –12/7 . We extend our results to overlapping electron gases in GTO/STO/GTO heterojunctions and electron gases created by spill-out from NSTO (heavily n -type doped STO) layers into STO. Generalization of our approach to a spherical donor cluster creating a big TF atom with electrons in STO brings us to the problem of supercharged nuclei. It is known that for an atom with a nuclear charge Ze where Z 〉 170, electrons collapse onto the nucleus, resulting in a net charge Zn 〈 Z . Here, instead of relativistic physics, the collapse is caused by the nonlinear dielectric response. Electrons collapse into the charged spherical donor cluster with radius R when its total charge number Z exceeds the critical value Z c ≈ R / a , where a is the lattice constant. The net charge e Z n grows with Z until Z exceeds Z * ≈ ( R / a ) 9/7 . After this point, the charge number of the compact core Z n remains ≈ Z *, with the rest Z * electrons forming a sparse TF atom with it. We extend our studies of collapse to the case of long cylindrical clusters as well.

Description: We study thermal conductivity in the disordered two-dimensional electron liquid in the presence of long-range Coulomb interactions. We describe a microscopic analysis of the problem using the partition function defined on the Keldysh contour as a starting point. We extend the renormalization group (RG) analysis developed for thermal transport in the disordered Fermi liquid and include scattering processes induced by the long-range Coulomb interaction in the sub-temperature energy range. For the thermal conductivity, unlike for the electrical conductivity, these scattering processes yield a logarithmic correction that may compete with the RG corrections. The interest in this correction arises from the fact that it violates the Wiedemann–Franz law. We checked that the sub-temperature correction to the thermal conductivity is not modified either by the inclusion of Fermi liquid interaction amplitudes or as a result of the RG flow. We therefore expect that the answer obtained for this correction is final. We use the theory to describe thermal transport on the metallic side of the metal–insulator transition in Si MOSFETs.

Description: Due to their long lifetimes, indirect excitons can cool to below the temperature of quantum degeneracy. This gives an opportunity to experimentally study cold composite bosons. Both theoretically predicted phenomena and phenomena that have not been anticipated were observed in a cold gas of indirect excitons. In this contribution, we overview our studies of cold indirect excitons over the past decade, presenting spontaneous coherence and condensation of excitons, spatially modulated exciton state, long-range spin currents and spin textures, and exciton localization–delocalization transitions.

Description: We briefly review the generalized dynamic mean-field theory DMFT+Σ applied to both repulsive and attractive disordered Hubbard models. We examine the general problem of metal–insulator transition and the phase diagram in the repulsive case, as well as the BCS–BEC crossover region of the attractive model, demonstrating a certain universality of single-electron properties under disordering in both models. We also discuss and compare the results for the density of states and dynamic conductivity in the repulsive and attractive cases and the generalized Anderson theorem behavior of the superconducting critical temperature in the disordered attractive case. A brief discussion of the behavior of Ginzburg–Landau coefficients under disordering in the BCS–BEC crossover region is also presented.

Description: Basic premises, approximations, and results of L.V. Keldysh’s 1964 work on multiphoton ionization of atoms are discussed, as well as its influence on the modern science of the interaction of atomic–molecular systems with a strong laser field.

Description: We consider a dynamical phase transition induced by a short optical pulse in a system prone to thermodynamical instability. We address the case of pumping to excitons whose density contributes directly to the order parameter. To describe both thermodynamic and dynamic effects on equal footing, we adopt a view of the excitonic insulator for the phase transition and suggest a formation of the Bose condensate for the pumped excitons. The work is motivated by experiments in donor–acceptor organic compounds with a neutral- ionic phase transition coupled to the spontaneous lattice dimerization and to charge transfer excitons. The double nature of the ensemble of excitons leads to an intricate time evolution, in particular, to macroscopic quantum oscillations from the interference between the Bose condensate of excitons and the ground state of the excitonic insulator. The coupling of excitons and the order parameter also leads to self-trapping of their wave function, akin to self-focusing in optics. The locally enhanced density of excitons can surpass a critical value to trigger the phase transformation, even if the mean density is below the required threshold. The system is stratified in domains that evolve through dynamical phase transitions and sequences of merging. The new circumstances in experiments and theory bring to life, once again, some remarkable inventions made by L.V. Keldysh.

Description: Effects that are related to deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium have a special place in modern physics. Among these, nonequilibrium phenomena in quantum systems attract the highest interest. The experimental technique of spin-noise spectroscopy has became quite widespread, which makes it possible to observe spin fluctuations of charge carriers in semiconductors under both equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. This calls for the development of a theory of spin fluctuations of electrons and electron–hole complexes for nonequilibrium conditions. In this paper, we consider a range of physical situations where a deviation from equilibrium becomes pronounced in the spin noise. A general method for the calculation of electron and exciton spin fluctuations in a nonequilibrium state is proposed. A short review of the theoretical and experimental results in this area is given.

Description: The scattering of particles with a small number of internal degrees of freedom is considered. Billiard formalism is used to study the scattering of two such structurally complex particles. The main scattering characteristics are found. Various types of scattering modes are revealed. In particular, a mode is detected when the velocity of motion of such particles away from each other is higher than their approach velocity before the collision. The scattering of such particles is shown to occur after a finite number of collisions. A generalized Newton law is proposed for the collision of particles with a small number of degrees of freedom, and the form of the effective coefficient of restitution is found.

Description: A sample of quasi-two-dimensional graphite (QTDG) whose magnetic properties are described within the Dirac fermion model is investigated by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) techniques. The broad spectrum of the sample points to a large dispersion of crystallite sizes in this system, which is also confirmed by STM data. It is established that the local diamagnetic susceptibility may substantially exceed the average value over the sample and reaches an abnormally high value of −1.3 × 10 −4 emu/g at T = 4.2 K, which is greater than the corresponding value of highly oriented graphite by a factor of four.

Description: We propose a generalization of the LDA + DMFT + Σ k approach to the multiband case, in which correlated and uncorrelated states are present in the model simultaneously. Using the multiband version of the LDA + DMFT + Σ k approach, we calculate the density of states and spectral functions for the Emery model in a wide energy interval around the Fermi level. We also obtain the Fermi surfaces for the electron-doped high-temperature superconductor Nd 2 − x Ce x CuO 4 in the pseudogap phase. The self-energy part Σ k introduced additionally to take into account pseudogap fluctuations describes the nonlocal interaction of correlated electrons with collective Heisenberg short-range spin fluctuations. To solve the effective impurity model, the numerical renorm-group (NRG) method is used for the DMFT equations. Good qualitative agreement of the Fermi surfaces calculated using the LDA + DMFT + Σ k approach and experimental angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopic data is attained. The stability of the dielectric solution with charge transfer in the Emery model with correction for double counting is analyzed in the Appendix.

Description: The results of thermogravimetric, X-ray diffraction, and electrical studies of LiCu 2 O 2 single crystals in the temperature range 300–1100 K are presented. A reversible first-order phase transition between the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases is found to occur in these single crystals at T = 993 K. A pronounced peak on a differential thermal analysis curve and jumps in the unit cell parameters and the electrical resistivity are detected at the phase-transition temperature. The data on the crystal structure of LiCu 2 O 2 and the phase transition-induced change in the entropy determined in this work are used to conclude that the revealed phase transition is caused by the ordering-disordering of Li + and Cu 2+ cations in their structural positions.

Description: The north-south asymmetry for cosmic-ray particles was measured with one instrument of the PAMELA satellite-borne experiment in the period June 2006–May 2009. The analysis has been performed by two independent methods: by comparing the count rates in regions with identical geomagnetic conditions and by comparing the experimental distribution of particle directions with the simulated distribution that would be in the case of an isotropic particle flux. The dependences of the asymmetry on energy release in the PAMELA calorimeter and on time have been constructed. The asymmetry ( N n − N s )/( N n + N s ) is 0.06 ± 0.004 at the threshold energy release in the calorimeter and gradually decreases with increasing energy release. The observed effect is shown to be produced by electrons in the energy range 10–100 GeV.

Description: The interaction of 3 d - and 4 d -metals with a WC(0001) surface has been studied theoretically by density-functional theory methods depending on surface termination and adsorbate position. The most stable sites of metal adsorption on the surface have been determined. The binding energy of d -metals with the surface is shown to be higher in the case of carbon terminated surface. This is explained by the predominant ionic-covalent contribution to the chemical bond at the interface, with the bond ionicity being determined by charge transfer from the metals to the electronegative carbon. Analysis of the electronic and structural characteristics has revealed the factors affecting the bonding energetics at the metal-carbide interface depending on the metal d -shell filling with electrons.

Description: It is shown that stable limiting cycles corresponding to nonlinear beats with complete energy exchange between oscillators can exist in a system of two weakly coupled active oscillators (generators). The oscillatory regime of this type, which implements a new type of synchronization in an active system, is an alternative to the well-studied synchronization in a regime close to a nonlinear normal mode. In this case, the ranges of dissipative parameters corresponding to different types of synchronization do not intersect. The analytic description of attractors revealed in analysis is based on the concept of limiting phase trajectories, which was developed earlier by one of the authors for conservative systems. A transition (in the parametric space) from the complete energy exchange between oscillators to predominant localization of energy in one of the oscillators can be naturally described using this concept. The localized normal mode is an attractor in the range of parameters in which neither the limiting phase trajectory nor any of the collective normal modes is an attractor.

Description: The problem of the interaction of two coaxial, counter-rotating ring vortices in the presence of a convergent (accretion) flow with a sink at the center of symmetry has been solved. The vortices that would recede from each other in the absence of a flow (the problem inverse to the Helmholtz problem) are shown to be brought closer together by the flow and then ejected with acceleration along the axis of symmetry. The ejection velocity increases with sink strength. However, if the sink strength exceeds some critical value that depends on the initial conditions, then no ejection occurs and the vortices are captured by the flow and collapse. A similar capture and collapse are also possible during the motion of a single vortex in a flow. The difference from the planar case, where no collapse occurs, is significant. The detected phenomenon can be applied when studying nonlinear processes in atmospheric vortices as well as in active galactic nuclei and planetary atmospheres.

Description: We report on the results of calculating the conditions for light generation in cholesteric liquid crystals doped with fluorescent dyes using kinetic equations. Specific features of spectral properties of the chiral cholesteric medium as a photonic structure and spatially distributed type of the feedback in the active medium are taken into account. The expression is derived for the threshold pump radiation intensity as a function of the dye concentration and sample thickness. The importance of taking into account the distributed loss level in the active medium for calculating the optimal parameters of the medium and for matching the calculated values with the results of experiments is demonstrated.

Description: Monte Carlo numerical simulation of the Stockmayer model is performed for particles with a sufficiently large dipole moment ( m * ≤ 4.2). At concentrations 0.16 〈 ρ 〈 0.31, a columnar phase is found which consists of parallel cylindrical layers, the particles forming a crystal structure in each cylinder with their dipoles codirected and parallel to the cylinder axis. The dipoles of nearest cylinders have opposite directions.

Description: Self-similar flows in a turbulent boundary layer when the free-stream velocity is specified as a power function of the longitudinal coordinate are investigated. The self-similar formulation not only simplifies solving the problem by reducing the equations of motion to ordinary differential equations but also provides a mean for formulating the closure conditions for these equations. It is shown that for the class of flows under consideration that depend on three governing parameters, the dimensionless mixing length in the outer region is a function of the normalized distance from the wall and the exponent m of the power law. In calculations, this function is assumed to be independent of pressure gradient, which gives the results very close to experimental data. As a result of an exact asymptotic solution of the problem, we establish the characteristic scale of the velocity defect in the outer region (the velocity-defect law) valid in the entire range of variation of the Clauser similarity parameter.

Description: The previously developed ab initio model and the kinetic Monte Carlo method (KMCM) are used to simulate precipitation in a number of iron-copper alloys with different copper concentrations x and temperatures T . The same simulations are also made using an improved version of the previously suggested stochastic statistical method (SSM). The results obtained enable us to make a number of general conclusions about the dependences of the decomposition kinetics in Fe-Cu alloys on x and T . We also show that the SSM usually describes the precipitation kinetics in good agreement with the KMCM, and using the SSM in conjunction with the KMCM allows extending the KMC simulations to the longer evolution times. The results of simulations seem to agree with available experimental data for Fe-Cu alloys within statistical errors of simulations and the scatter of experimental results. Comparison of simulation results with experiments for some multicomponent Fe-Cu-based alloys allows making certain conclusions about the influence of alloying elements in these alloys on the precipitation kinetics at different stages of evolution.

Description: The chemical composition, electronic structure, structure, and physical properties a lutetium oxide Lu 2 O 3 film are studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The short-range order in Lu 2 O 3 is found to correspond to its cubic modification. The binding energies of the 1 s and 2 p levels of oxygen and the 4 d 5/2 and 4 f 7/2 levels of lutetium are 529.2, 5.0 and 7.4, 195.9 eV, respectively. The energy gap determined from the electron energy loss spectrum of the film is 5.9 eV. The electron energy loss spectra have two peaks at 17.4 and 22.0 eV, which can be attributed to the excitation of bulk plasma oscillations. The dispersion of the refractive index is measured by spectral ellipsometry. The refractive index is shown to increase from 1.82 at 1.5 eV to 2.18 at 5.0 eV, and the high-frequency permittivity of Lu 2 O 3 is 3.31.

Description: We report on the results of laboratory experiments of filamentation of sharply focused gigawatt femtosecond laser radiation passed through various aperture diaphragms in air. For the multiple filamentation regime, the dependences of the length and spatial structure of the filamentation region on the initial beam profile are established. It is found that light beam profiling by a diaphragm leads in some cases to a displacement of the filamentation region and to repeated self-focusing of radiation behind the linear focal waist. In the beam of the same power in the absence of a diaphragm and in the regime of the formation of a single filament, this effect terminates in front of the geometrical focus. The experimental results are illustrated by numerical simulation data.

Description: The phenomenon of nonrepeatability of successive remagnetization cycles in Co/M (M = Pt, Pd, Au) multilayer film structures is explained in the framework of the Kolmogorov crystallization model. It is shown that this model of phase transitions can be adapted so as to adequately describe the process of magnetic relaxation in the indicated systems with “memory.” For this purpose, it is necessary to introduce some additional elements into the model, in particular, (i) to take into account the fact that every cycle starts from a state “inherited” from the preceding cycle and (ii) to assume that the rate of growth of a new magnetic phase depends on the cycle number. This modified model provides a quite satisfactory qualitative and quantitative description of all features of successive magnetic relaxation cycles in the system under consideration, including the surprising phenomenon of cumulative growth of minor hysteresis loops.