arXiv subjects

N. Papanicolaou

Publications and source records attributed to N. Papanicolaou.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2014

Effective S=1/2 description of the S=1 chain with strong easy plane anisotropy

We present a study of the one-dimensional S=1 antiferromagnetic spin chain with large easy plane anisotropy, with special emphasis on field-induced quantum phase transitions. Temperature and magnetic field dependence of magnetization, specific heat, and thermal conductivity is presented using a combination of numerical methods. In addition, the original S=1 model is mapped into the low-energy effective S=1/2 XXZ Heisenberg chain, a model which is exactly solvable using the Bethe ansatz technique. The effectiveness of the mapping is explored, and we show that all considered quantities are in qualitative, and in some cases quantitative, agreement. The thermal conductivity of the considered S=1 model is found to be strongly influenced by the underlying effective description. Furthermore, we elucidate the low-lying electron spin resonance spectrum, based on a semi--analytical Bethe ansatz calculation of the effective S=1/2 model.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

Field induced phase transitions in the helimagnet Ba2CuGe2O7

We present a theoretical study of the two-dimensional spiral antiferromagnet Ba2CuGe2O7 in the presence of an external magnetic field. We employ a suitable nonlinear sigma model to calculate the T=0 phase diagram and the associated low-energy spin dynamics for arbitrary canted fields, in general agreement with experiment. In particular, when the field is applied parallel to the c axis, a previously anticipated Dzyaloshinskii-type incommensurate-to-commensurate phase transition is actually mediated by an intermediate phase, in agreement with our earlier theoretical prediction confirmed by the recent observation of the so-called double-k structure. The sudden pi/2 rotations of the magnetic structures observed in experiment are accounted for by a weakly broken U(1) symmetry of our model. Finally, our analysis suggests a nonzero weak-ferromagnetic component in the underlying Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya anisotropy, which is important for quantitative agreement with experiment.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Magnetic excitations in the spin-1 anisotropic antiferromagnet $NiCl_2-4SC(NH_2)_2$

The spin-1 anisotropic antiferromagnet NiCl_2-4SC(NH2)_2 exhibits a field-induced quantum phase transition that is formally analogous to Bose-Einstein condensation. Here we present results of systematic high-field electron spin resonance (ESR) experimental and theoretical studies of this compound with a special emphasis on single-ion two-magnon bound states. In order to clarify some remaining discrepancies between theory and experiment, the frequency-field dependence of magnetic excitations in this material is reanalyzed. In particular, a more comprehensive interpretation of the experimental signature of single-ion two-magnon bound states is shown to be fully consistent with theoretical results. We also clarify the structure of the ESR spectrum in the so-called intermediate phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Groebli solution for three magnetic vortices

The dynamics of N point vortices in a fluid is described by the Helmholtz-Kirchhoff (HK) equations which lead to a completely integrable Hamiltonian system for N=2 or 3 but chaotic dynamics for N>3. Here we consider a generalization of the HK equations to describe the dynamics of magnetic vortices within a collective-coordinate approximation. In particular, we analyze in detail the dynamics of a system of three magnetic vortices by a suitable generalization of the solution for three point vortices in an ordinary fluid obtained by Groebli more than a century ago. The significance of our results for the dynamics of ferromagnetic elements is briefly discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Virial theorems for vortex states in a confined Bose-Einstein condensate

We derive a class of virial theorems which provide stringent tests of both analytical and numerical calculations of vortex states in a confined Bose-Einstein condensate. In the special case of harmonic confinement we arrive at the somewhat surprising conclusion that the linear moments of the particle density, as well as the linear momentum, must vanish even in the presence of off-center vortices which lack axial or reflection symmetry. Illustrations are provided by some analytical results in the limit of a dilute gas, and by a numerical calculation of a class of single and double vortices at intermediate couplings. The effect of anharmonic confinement is also discussed.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Single vortex states in a confined Bose-Einstein condensate

It has been demonstrated experimentally that non-axially symmetric vortices precess around the centre of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Two types of single vortex states have been observed, usually referred to as the S-vortex and the U-vortex. We study theoretically the single vortex excitations in spherical and elongated condensates as a function of the interaction strength. We solve numerically the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and calculate the angular momentum as a function of precession frequency. The existence of two types of vortices means that we have two different precession frequencies for each angular momentum value. As the interaction strength increases the vortex lines bend and the precession frequencies shift to lower values. We establish that for given angular momentum the S-vortex has higher energy than the U-vortex in a rotating elongated condensate. We show that the S-vortex is related to the solitonic vortex which is a nonlinear excitation in the nonrotating system. For small interaction strengths the S-vortex is related to the dark soliton. In the dilute limit a lowest Landau level calculation provides an analytic description of these vortex modes in terms of the harmonic oscillator states.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Lattice pinning of magnetic domains in the helimagnet Ba_2CuGe_2O_7

The layered magnetic compound Ba_2CuGe_2O_7 exhibits spiral antiferromagnetic order thanks to a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) anisotropy that is allowed by crystal symmetry. Here we theoretically examine some finer issues such as the experimentally observed lattice pinning of the propagation vector of helical magnetic domains. We find that DM anisotropy alone would lead to incorrect pinning, but agreement with experiment is restored upon including an additional exchange anisotropy that is also consistent with symmetry. The present results shed light on the so-called bisection rule which has been abstracted from experiment in presence of an in-plane magnetic field.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Geometry and elasticity of strips and flowers

We solve several problems that involve imposing metrics on surfaces. The problem of a strip with a linear metric gradient is formulated in terms of a Lagrangean similar to those used for spin systems. We are able to show that the low energy state of long strips is a twisted helical state like a telephone cord. We then extend the techniques used in this solution to two--dimensional sheets with more general metrics. We find evolution equations and show that when they are not singular, a surface is determined by knowledge of its metric, and the shape of the surface along one line. Finally, we provide numerical evidence that once these evolution equations become singular, either the surface is not differentiable, or else the metric deviates from the target metric as a result of minimization of a suitable energy functional .

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Bubble domains in disc-shaped ferromagnetic particles

We study the fundamental magnetic states of disc-shaped ferromagnetic particles with a uniaxial anisotropy along the symmetry axis. Besides the monodomain, a bidomain state is also identified and studied both numerically and theoretically. This bidomain state consists of two coaxial oppositely magnetized cylindrically symmetric domains and remains stable even at zero bias field, unlike magnetic bubbles in ferromagnetic films. For a given disc thickness we find the critical radius above which the magnetization configuration falls into the bidomain bubble state. The critical radius depends strongly on the film thickness especially for ultrathin films. The effect of an external field is also studied and the bidomain state is found to remain stable over a range of field strengths.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

Solitons, solitonic vortices, and vortex rings in a confined Bose-Einstein condensate

Quasi-one-dimensional solitons that may occur in an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate become unstable at high particle density. We study two basic modes of instability and the corresponding bifurcations to genuinely three-dimensional solitary waves such as axisymmetric vortex rings and non-axisymmetric solitonic vortices. We calculate the profiles of the above structures and examine their dependence on the velocity of propagation along a cylindrical trap. At sufficiently high velocity, both the vortex ring and the solitonic vortex transform into an axisymmetric soliton. We also calculate the energy-momentum dispersions and show that a Lieb-type mode appears in the excitation spectrum for all particle densities.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2002

Nonlinear waves in a cylindrical Bose-Einstein condensate

We present a complete calculation of solitary waves propagating in a steady state with constant velocity v along a cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein trap approximated as infinitely-long cylindrical. For sufficiently weak couplings (densities) the main features of the calculated solitons could be captured by effective one-dimensional (1D) models. However, for stronger couplings of practical interest, the relevant solitary waves are found to be hybrids of quasi-1D solitons and 3D vortex rings. An interesting hierarchy of vortex rings occurs as the effective coupling constant is increased through a sequence of critical values. The energy-momentum dispersion of the above structures is shown to exhibit characteristics similar to a mode proposed sometime ago by Lieb within a strictly 1D model, as well as some rotonlike features.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2002

Vortex Rings and Lieb Modes in a Cylindrical Bose-Einstein Condensate

We present a calculation of a solitary wave propagating along a cylindrical Bose-Einstein trap, which is found to be a hybrid of a one-dimensional (1D) soliton and a three-dimensional (3D) vortex ring. The calculated energy-momentum dispersion exhibits characteristics similar to those of a mode proposed sometime ago by Lieb within a 1D model, as well as some rotonlike features.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

Intermediate phase in the spiral antiferromagnet Ba_2CuGe_2O_7

The magnetic compound Ba_2CuGe_2O_7 has recently been shown to be an essentially two-dimensional spiral antiferromagnet that exhibits an incommensurate-to-commensurate phase transition when a magnetic field applied along the c-axis exceeds a certain critical value H_c. The T=0 dynamics is described here in terms of a continuum field theory in the form of a nonlinear sigma model. We are thus in a position to carry out a complete calculation of the low-energy magnon spectrum for any strength of the applied field throughout the phase transition. In particular, our spin-wave analysis reveals field-induced instabilities at two distinct critical fields H_1 and H_2 such that H_1 < H_c < H_2. Hence we predict the existence of an intermediate phase whose detailed nature is also studied to some extent in the present paper.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Magnon dispersion and thermodynamics in CsNiF_3

We present an accurate transfer matrix renormalization group calculation of the thermodynamics in a quantum spin-1 planar ferromagnetic chain. We also calculate the field dependence of the magnon gap and confirm the accuracy of the magnon dispersion derived earlier through an 1/n expansion. We are thus able to examine the validity of a number of previous calculations and further analyze a wide range of experiments on CsNiF_3 concerning the magnon dispersion, magnetization, susceptibility, and specific heat. Although it is not possible to account for all data with a single set of parameters, the overall qualitative agreement is good and the remaining discrepancies may reflect departure from ideal quasi-one-dimensional model behavior. Finally, we present some indirect evidence to the effect that the popular interpretation of the excess specific heat in terms of sine-Gordon solitons may not be appropriate.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2000

Low-frequency spin dynamics in the orthorombic phase of La_2CuO_4

An effective field theory is derived that describes the low-frequency spin dynamics in the low-temperature orthorombic phase of La_2CuO_4. Restricted to a single CuO_2 layer the effective theory is a simple generalization of the relativistic nonlinear sigma model to include all spin interactions allowed by symmetry. Incorporating a weak interlayer interaction leads to two coupled nonlinear sigma models which provide an efficient description of the complete bilayer dynamics. Particular attention is paid to the weak-ferromagnetic and spin-flop transitions induced by external magnetic fields. The main features of the observed (covert) weak ferromagnetism are thus accounted for in a straightforward manner but some of the finer theoretical predictions would require further experimental investigation. The derived framework is also suitable for the study of the structure and dynamics of magnetic domains in undoped La_2CuO_4.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Thermodynamics of the spin-flop transition in a quantum XYZ chain

A special limit of an antiferromagnetic XYZ chain was recently shown to exhibit interesting bulk as well as surface spin-flop transitions at T=0. Here we provide a complete calculation of the thermodynamics of the bulk transition using a transfer-matrix-renormalization-group (TMRG) method that addresses directly the thermodynamic limit of quantum spin chains. We also shed some light on certain spinwave anomalies at low temperature predicted earlier by Johnson and Bonner.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1997

Dynamics of topological magnetic solitons

A direct link between the topological complexity of magnetic media and their dynamics is established through the construction of unambiguous conservation laws for the linear and angular momenta as moments of a topological vorticity. As a consequence, the dynamics of topological magnetic solitons is shown to exhibit the characteristic features of the Hall effect of electrodynamics or the Magnus effect of fluid dynamics. The main points of this program are reviewed here for both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, while a straightforward extension to the study of superfluids is also discussed briefly.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1996

Vortex dynamics in 2D antiferromagnets

The dynamics of vortices in a 2D Heisenberg antiferromagnet with an easy-plane anisotropy is studied numerically within the discrete spin model as well as analytically within a continuum approximation based on a suitable extension of the relativistic nonlinear sigma model. We find that two like vortices scatter at 90 degrees during a head-on collision, whereas a vortex-antivortex pair is annihilated into spinwave radiation emitted mainly at 90 degrees. When a uniform bias field is applied, vortex dynamics is affected rather profoundly and acquires the characteristic features of the Hall effect of electrodynamics or the Magnus effect of fluid dynamics. In particular, a single vortex is always spontaneously pinned, two like vortices form a rotating bound state, and a vortex-antivortex pair undergoes Kelvin motion. Finally, in the presence of a bias field, vortices are shown to be the prominent topological excitations even for an isotropic antiferromagnet.

cond-mat.str-el↗