The tunneling splitting of the energy levels of a ferromagnetic particle in the presence of an applied magnetic field - previously derived only for the ground state with the path integral method - is obtained in a simple way from Schr"odinger theory. The origin of the factors entering the result is clearly understood, in particular the effect of the asymmetry of the barriers of the potential. The method should appeal particularly to experimentalists searching for evidence of macroscopic spin tunneling.
Transitions from classical to quantum behaviour in a spin system with two degenerate ground states separated by twin energy barriers which are asymmetric due to an applied magnetic field are investigated. It is shown that these transitions can be interpreted as first- or second-order phase transitions depending on the anisotropy and magnetic parameters defining the system in an effective Lagrangian description.
Abstract: The calculation of absorption cross sections for minimal scalars in supergravity backgrounds is an important aspect of the investigation of AdS/CFT correspondence and requires a matching of appropriate wave functions. The low energy case has attracted particular attention. In the following the dependence of the cross section on the matching point is investigated. It is shown that the low energy limit is independent of the matching point and hence exhibits universality. In the high energy limit the independence is not maintained, but the result is believed to possess the correct energy dependence.
Abstract: A Born-Infeld theory describing a D2-brane coupled to a 4-form RR field strength is considered, and the general solutions of the static and Euclidean time equations are derived and discussed. The period of the bounce solutions is shown to allow a consideration of tunneling and quantum-classical transitions in the sphaleron region. The order of such transitions, depending on the strength of the RR field strength, is determined. A criterion is then derived to confirm these findings.
Abstract: The functional relation between interquark potential and interquark distance is explicitly derived by considering the Nambu-Goto action in the AdS5 X S 5 background. It is also shown that a similar relation holds in a general background. The implications of this relation for confinement are briefly discussed.
Abstract: The transition from the instanton-dominated quantum regime to the sphaleron-dominated classical regime is studied in the d = 2 abelian-Higgs model when the spatial coordinate is compactified to S1. Contrary to the noncompactified case, this model allows both sharp first-order and smooth second-order transitions depending on the size of the circle. This finding may make the model a useful toy model for the analysis of baryon number violating processes.
Abstract: Standard methods of nonlinear dynamics are used to investigate the stability of particles, branes and D-branes of abelian Born-Infeld theory. In particular the equation of small fluctuations about the D-brane is derived and converted into a modified Mathieu equation and - complementing earlier low-energy investigations in the case of the dilaton-axion system - studied in the high-energy domain. Explicit expressions are derived for the S-matrix and absorption and reflection amplitudes of the scalar fluctuation in the presence of the D-brane. The results confirm physical expectations and numerical studies of others. With the derivation and use of the (hitherto practically unknown) high energy expansion of the Floquet exponent our considerations also close a gap in earlier treatments of the Mathieu equation.
Abstact. The tunnel splitting in biaxial antiferromagnetic particles is studied with a magnetic field applied along the hard anisotropy axis. We observe the oscillation of tunnel splitting as a function of the magnetic field due to the quantum phase interference of two tunneling paths of opposite windings. The oscillation is similar to the recent experimental result with Fe8 molecular clusters.
