arXiv subjects

R. E. Zillich

Publications and source records attributed to R. E. Zillich.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

A quantum heat engine based on dynamical materials design

We propose a novel type of quantum heat engine based on the ultrafast dynamical control of the magnetic properties of a nano-scale working body. The working principle relies on nonlinear phononics, an example for dynamical materials design. We describe the general recipe for identifying candidate materials, and also propose Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ as a promising working body for a quantum Otto cycle. Using a spin Hamiltonian as a model for Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$, we investigate the performance in terms of efficiency, output power, and quantum friction. To assess the assumptions underlying our effective spin Hamiltonian we also consider a working substance composed of several unit cells. We show that even without an implementation of transitionless driving, the quantum friction is very low compared to the total produced work and the energy cost of counterdiabatic driving is negligible. This is an advantage of the working substance, as experimentally hard-to-implement shortcuts to adiabaticity are not needed. Moreover, we discuss some remarkable thermodynamic features due to the quantumness of the proposed system such as a non-monotonic dependence of the efficiency on the temperature of the hot-bath. Finally, we explore the dependence of the performance on the system parameters for a generic model of this type of quantum heat engine and identify properties of the energy spectrum required for a well-performing quantum heat engine.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Correlations in the low-density Fermi gas: Fermi-Liquid state, Dimerization, and BCS Pairing

We present ground state calculations for low-density Fermi gases described by two model interactions, an attractive square-well potential and a Lennard-Jones potential, of varying strength. We use the optimized Fermi-Hypernetted Chain integral equation method which has been proved to provide, in the density regimes of interest here, an accuracy better than one percent. We first examine the low-density expansion of the energy and compare with the exact answer by Huang and Yang (H. Huang and C. N. Yang, {\em Phys. Rev.\/} {\bf 105}, 767 (1957)). It is shown that a locally correlated wave function of the Jastrow-Feenberg type does not recover the quadratic term in the expansion of the energy in powers of $\a0\KF$, where $\a0$ is the vacuum $s$-wave scattering length and $\KF$ the Fermi wave number. The problem is cured by adding second-order perturbation corrections in a correlated basis. Going to higher densities and/or more strongly coupled systems, we encounter an instability of the normal state of the system which is characterized by a divergence of the {\em in-medium\/} scattering length. We interpret this divergence as a phonon-exchange driven dimerization of the system, similar to what one has at zero density when the vacuum scattering length $\a0$ diverges. We then study, in the stable regime, the superfluid gap and its dependence on the density and the interaction strength. We identify two different corrections to low-density expansions: One is medium corrections to the pairing interaction, and the other one finite-range corrections. We show that the most important finite-range corrections are a direct manifestation of the many-body nature of the system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Gapped spectrum in pair-superfluid bosons

We study the ground state of a bilayer system of dipolar bosons with dipoles oriented by an external field perpendicularly to the two parallel planes. By decreasing the interlayer distance, for a fixed value of the strength of the dipolar interaction, the system undergoes a quantum phase transition from an atomic to a pair superfluid. We investigate the excitation spectrum across this transition by using microscopic approaches. Quantum Monte Carlo methods are employed to obtain the static structure factors and intermediate scattering functions in imaginary time. The dynamic response is calculated using both the correlated basis functions (CBF) method and the approximate inversion of the Laplace transform of the quantum Monte Carlo imaginary time data. In the atomic phase, both density and spin excitations are gapless. However, in the pair-superfluid phase a gap opens in the excitation energy of the spin mode. For small separation between layers, the minimal spin excitation energy equals the binding energy of a dimer and is twice the gap value.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Microscopic description of anisotropic low-density dipolar Bose gases in two dimensions

A microscopic description of the zero energy two-body ground state and many-body static properties of anisotropic homogeneous gases of bosonic dipoles in two dimensions at low densities is presented and discussed. By changing the polarization angle with respect to the plane, we study the impact of the anisotropy, present in the dipole--dipole interaction, on the energy per particle, comparing the results with mean field predictions. We restrict the analysis to the regime where the interaction is always repulsive, although the strength of the repulsion depends on the orientation with respect to the polarization field. We present a series expansion of the solution of the zero energy two-body problem which allows us to find the scattering length of the interaction and to build a suitable Jastrow factor that we use as a trial wave function for both a variational and diffusion Monte Carlo simulation of the infinite system. We find that the anisotropy has an almost negligible impact on the ground state properties of the many-body system in the universal regime where the scattering length governs the physics of the system. We also show that scaling in the gas parameter persists in the dipolar case up to values where other isotropic interactions with the same scattering length yield different predictions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2004

Roton-Rotation Coupling of Acetylene in $^4$He

Rotational absorption spectra of acetylene in superfluid $^4$He are calculated using a combined correlated basis function-diffusion Monte Carlo method (CBF/DMC) as well as a numerically exact path integral correlation function approach (PICF). Both approaches predict anomalously large distortion constants in addition to reduced rotational constants, and the higher rotational excitations are seen to be accompanied by an additional peak and absorption band. The CBF analysis shows that these phenomena are due to strong coupling of the higher rotational states with the roton and maxon excitations of $^4$He, and the assocated divergence of the helium density of states in this region.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2003

Quantum Rotation of HCN and DCN in Helium-4

We present calculations of rotational absorption spectra of the molecules HCN and DCN in superfluid helium-4, using a combination of the Diffusion Monte Carlo method for ground state properties and an analytic many-body method (Correlated Basis Function theory) for the excited states. Our results agree with the experimentally determined effective moment of inertia which has been obtained from the $J=0\to 1$ spectral transition. The correlated basis function analysis shows that, unlike heavy rotors such as OCS, the J=2 and higher rotational excitations of HCN and DCN have high enough energy to strongly couple to rotons, leading to large shifts of the lines and accordingly to anomalous large spectroscopic distortion constants, to the emergence of roton-maxon bands, and to secondary peaks in the absorption spectra for J=2 and J=3.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2003

Comparison of Rotational Energies and Rigidity of OCS-paraH_2 and OCS-4He complexes

We analyze the nature of the rotational energy level structure of the OCS-He and OCS-H_2 complexes with a comparison of exact calculations to several differentdynamical approximations. We compare with the clamped coordinate quasiadiabatic approximation that introduces an effective potential for each asymmetric rotor level, with an effective rotation Hamiltonian constructed from ground state averages of the inverse of the inertial matrix, and investigate the usefulness of the Eckart condition to decouple rotations and vibrations of these weakly bound complexes between linear OCS and 4He or H_2. Comparison with exact results allows an assessment of the accuracies of the different approximate methods and indicates which approaches are suitable for larger clusters of OCS with 4He and with H_2. We find the OCS-H_2 complex is considerably more rigid than the OCS-4He complex, suggesting that semi-rigid models are useful for analysis of larger clusters of H_2 with OCS.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2003

OCS in small para-hydrogen clusters: energetics and structure with N=1-8 complexed hydrogen molecules

We determine the structure and energetics of complexes of the linear OCS molecule with small numbers of para-hydrogen molecules, N=1-8, using zero temperature quantum Monte Carlo methods. Ground state calculations are carried out with importance-sampled rigid body diffusion Monte Carlo (IS-RBDMC) and excited state calculations with the projection operator imaginary time spectral evolution (POITSE) methodology. The ground states are found to be highly structured, with a gradual build up of two axial rings as N increases to 8. Analysis of the azimuthal density correlations around the OCS molecule shows that these rings are quite delocalized for small N values, but become strongly localized for N \geq 5 . Excited state calculations are made for a range of total cluster angular momentum values and the rotational energy levels fitted to obtain effective rotational and distortion constants of the complexed OCS molecule as a function of cluster size N. Detailed analysis of these spectroscopic constants indicates that the complexes of OCS with para-hydrogen have an unusually rich variation in dynamical behavior, with sizes N=1-2 showing near rigid behavior, sizes N=3-4 showing extremely floppy behavior, and the larger sizes N=5-8 showing more rigid behavior again. The large values of the distortion constant D obtained for N=3-4 are rationalized in terms of the coupling between the OCS rotations and the "breathing" mode of the first, partially filled ring of para-hydrogen molecules.

physics.atm-clus↗