Intersite Correlations Research Articles

Phase Diagram of a Three-Orbital Model for High-TcCuprate Superconductors

We study the phase diagram of an effective three-orbital model of the cuprates using variational MonteCarlo calculations on asymptotically large lattices and exact diagonalization on a 24-site cluster. States with ordered orbital current loops (LC), itinerant antiferromagnetism, d-wave superconductivity, and the Fermi liquid are investigated using appropriate Slater determinants refined by Jastrow functions for on-site and intersite correlations. We find an LC state stable in the thermodynamic limit for a range of parameters compatible with the Fermi surface of a typical hole doped superconductor provided the transfer integrals between the oxygen atoms have signs determined by the effects of indirect transfer through the Cu-4s orbitals as suggested by Andersen. The results of the calculations are that the LC phase gives way at lower dopings to an antiferromagnetism phase, and at larger dopings to superconductivity and Fermi liquid phases.

Pressure-Dependent Relaxation in the Photoexcited Mott InsulatorET–F2TCNQ: Influence of Hopping and Correlations on Quasiparticle Recombination Rates

We measure the ultrafast recombination of photoexcited quasiparticles (holon-doublon pairs) in the one dimensional Mott insulator ET-F(2)TCNQ as a function of external pressure, which is used to tune the electronic structure. At each pressure value, we first fit the static optical properties and extract the electronic bandwidth t and the intersite correlation energy V. We then measure the recombination times as a function of pressure, and we correlate them with the corresponding microscopic parameters. We find that the recombination times scale differently than for metals and semiconductors. A fit to our data based on the time-dependent extended Hubbard Hamiltonian suggests that the competition between local recombination and delocalization of the Mott-Hubbard exciton dictates the efficiency of the recombination.

Spatial and temporal variability of air pollution in Birmingham, Alabama

Quantification of the spatial and temporal variations of outdoor air pollutant concentrations provides important information for epidemiological and other air-pollution studies, many of which have relied in the past on data from a single, centrally-located air pollution monitoring site. A method is developed for combining air pollution measurements from multiple monitors and monitoring networks to generate daily air pollution concentration fields representing spatial variations over distances of approximately 1–10 km. Meteorological and co-pollutant data are used to estimate missing site measurements, yielding more realistic concentration fields as the number of monitoring locations with available data increases. Monitoring data are interpolated with weights computed from intersite pollutant correlations, which decay with distance, so distances between interpolation points and monitoring sites are factored into the interpolation weights. The approach minimizes the influence of source-oriented sites that represent limited areas, because data from such sites exhibit low intersite correlations and yield interpolation weights that decay rapidly to zero. Interpolated values represent pollutant concentrations averaged over spatial scales that depend on intersite distances and the interpolation grid, and do not delineate sharp spatial gradients associated with roadside or near-source conditions. The approach yields quantified interpolation errors the values of which depend on measurement uncertainties, intersite distances, and the representativeness of monitoring site locations. The method is illustrated using an 11-year period of measurements of ozone, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations from Jefferson County, Alabama. The principal city is Birmingham, which is influenced by regional-scale air pollution and by local emissions from mobile sources, industrial facilities, and residential communities. Emission sources are not distributed uniformly throughout Birmingham, the ridge-and-valley topography complicates dispersion of local emissions, and monitoring data indicate that air pollutant concentrations vary spatially as well as temporally. No single monitor represents air quality across the entire study area.

Genetic control of fiber properties and growth in triploid hybrid clones of Populus tomentosa

To better understand the genetic control of fiber properties (fiber length [FL], fiber width [FW] and coarseness [C]) and growth traits (tree height [H], diameter at breast height [DBH] and stem volume [SV]) in triploid hybrid clones of Populus tomentosa carr., genetic relationships among selected fiber properties with growth traits were examined in five-year-old clonal field trials located in Yanzhou, Gaotang and Xiangfen, China. In total, 180 trees from 10 clones were sampled from the three sites. The site had a moderate effect on FW, C and tree growth, and a highly significant (P<0.001) effect on FL and fiber length/width (FL/W). Clonal effects were also significant (P<0.05) for all studied traits except for the DBH and SV. Clone×site interactions were significant for all studied traits (except for FL). The estimated repeatability of clonal mean for FL (0.91) was higher than for FW (0.88), C (0.77), FL/W (0.74), H (0.62), DBH (0.61) and SV (0.55). Intersite genetic correlation estimates indicated that fiber properties were more stable than growth traits. Positively insignificant genetic correlation estimates between FL and growth trait and negatively insignificant genetic correlation estimates between C and growth traits were observed. This suggests that in the triploid hybrid poplar, clones selection for growth traits will not result in a significant increase or reduction in the fiber properties.

Nonlocal excitations and 1/8 singularity in cuprates

Momentum-dependent excitation spectra of the two-dimensional Hubbard model on a square lattice have been investigated at zero temperature on the basis of the full self-consistent projection operator method in order to clarify nonlocal effects of electron correlations on the spectra. Intersite antiferromagnetic correlations are found to cause shadow bands and enhance the Mott-Hubbard splittings near the half-filling. Furthermore, nonlocal excitations are shown to move the critical doping concentration δ h *, at which the singular quasiparticle peak is located just on the Fermi level, from δ h * = 0.153 (the single-site value) to δ h * = 0.123. The latter suggests the occurrence of an instability such as the stripe at δ h * = 1/8.

Magnetic moment screening in the correlated Kondo lattice model

The local moments, magnetic correlations and susceptibility in the 2D half-filled correlated Kondo lattice model are studied. We calculate their dependence on the control parameters given by local exchange coupling JK and Coulomb repulsion U. Exact diagonalization (ED) approach for ground state properties as well as finite temperature Lanczos method (FTLM) for the uniform susceptibility are employed for small tiles on the square lattice. The competition of on-site screening and induced inter-site correlations leads to non-monotonic local moment dependence on U for weak Kondo coupling JK. In the large U limit the numerical results are compared to those of the analytical bond operator method in mean field treatment. The variation of the Kondo temperature scale with U is obtained from the temperature dependence of the susceptibility. A monotonic increase with U is found.

Atmospheric behaviour of particulate oxalate at UK urban background and rural sites

Oxalic acid is widely reported in the literature as one of the major components of organic aerosol. It has been reported as both a product of primary emissions from combustion processes and as a secondary product of atmospheric chemistry. Concentrations of particulate oxalate have been measured at a UK urban site (500 daily samples) and for a more limited period simultaneously at a rural site (100 samples) in the fine (less than 2.5 μm) and coarse (2.5–10 μm) size fractions. Full size distributions have also been measured by sampling with a MOUDI cascade impactor. Average concentrations of oxalate sampled over different intervals in PM10 are 0.04 ± 0.03 μg m−3 at the rural site and 0.06 ± 0.05 μg m−3 at the urban background site, broadly comparable with measurements from other European locations. During the period of simultaneous sampling at the urban and rural site, concentrations were very similar and the inter-site correlation in the PM2.5 fraction for oxalate (r = 0.45; p < 0.001) was appreciably weaker than that for sulphate and nitrate (r = 0.82 and 0.84, respectively). Nonetheless, the data clearly point to a predominantly secondary source of oxalate at these sites. Possible contributions from road traffic and woodsmoke appear to be very small. In the larger urban dataset, oxalate in PM2.5 was correlated significantly (p < 0.01) with sulphate (r = 0.60), nitrate (r = 0.48) and secondary organic carbon (r = 0.25). Clustering of air mass back trajectories demonstrates the importance of advection from mainland Europe. The size distribution of oxalate at the urban site showed a major mode at around 0.55 μm and a minor mode at around 1.5 μm in the mass distribution. The former mode is similar to that for sulphate suggesting either a similar in-cloud formation mechanism, or cloud processing of oxalate and sulphate after formation in homogeneous reaction processes.

Assessing future climatic changes of rainfall extremes at small spatio-temporal scales

Climate change is expected to influence the occurrence and magnitude of rainfall extremes and hence the flood risks in cities. Major impacts of an increased pluvial flood risk are expected to occur at hourly and sub-hourly resolutions. This makes convective storms the dominant rainfall type in relation to urban flooding. The present study focuses on high-resolution regional climate model (RCM) skill in simulating sub-daily rainfall extremes. Temporal and spatial characteristics of output from three different RCM simulations with 25 km resolution are compared to point rainfall extremes estimated from observed data. The applied RCM data sets represent two different models and two different types of forcing. Temporal changes in observed extreme point rainfall are partly reproduced by the RCM RACMO when forced by ERA40 re-analysis data. Two ECHAM forced simulations show similar increases in the occurrence of rainfall extremes of over a 150-year period, but significantly different changes in the magnitudes. The physical processes behind convective rainfall extremes generate a distinctive spatial inter-site correlation structure for extreme events. All analysed RCM rainfall extremes, however, show a clear deviation from this correlation structure for sub-daily rainfalls, partly because RCM output represents areal rainfall intensities and partly due to well-known inadequacies in the convective parameterization of RCMs. The results highlight the problem urban designers are facing when using RCM output. The paper takes the first step towards a methodology by which RCM performance and other downscaling methods can be assessed in relation to the simulation of short-duration rainfall extremes.

Multi-proxy dating of Holocene maar lakes and Pleistocene dry maar sediments in the Eifel, Germany

During the last twelve years the ELSA Project (Eifel Laminated Sediment Archive) at Mainz University has drilled a total of about 52 cores from 27 maar lakes and filled-in maar basins in the Eifel/Germany. Dating has been completed for the Holocene cores using 6 different methods (210Pb and 137Cs activities, palynostratigraphy, event markers, varve counting, 14C). In general, the different methods consistently complement one another within error margins. Event correlation was used for relating typical lithological changes with historically known events such as the two major Holocene flood events at 1342 AD and ca 800 BC. Dating of MIS2–MIS3 core sections is based on greyscale tuning, radiocarbon and OSL dating, magnetostratigraphy and tephrochronology. The lithological changes in the sediment cores demonstrate a sequence of events similar to the North Atlantic rapid climate variability of the Last Glacial Cycle. The warmest of the MIS3 interstadials was GI14, when a forest with abundant spruce covered the Eifel area from 55 to 48 ka BP, i.e. during a time when also other climate archives in Europe suggested very warm conditions. The forest of this “Early Stage 3 warm phase” developed subsequently into a steppe with scattered birch and pine, and finally into a glacial desert at around 25 ka BP. Evidence for Mono Lake and Laschamp geomagnetic excursions is found in two long cores. Several large eruptions during Middle and Late Pleistocene (Ulmener Maar – 11,000 varve years BP, Laacher See – 12,900 varve years BP, Mosenberg volcanoes/Meerfelder Maar 41–45 cal ka BP, Dümpel Maar 116 ka BP, Glees Maar – 151 ka BP) produced distinct ash-layers crucial for inter-core and inter-site correlations. The oldest investigated maar of the Eifel is 40Ar/39Ar dated to the time older than 520 ka BP.

Mott Transition and Spin Structures of Spin-1 Bosons in Two-Dimensional Optical Lattice at Unit Filling

We study the ground state properties of spin-1 bosons in a two-dimensional optical lattice, by applying a variational Monte Carlo method to the S=1 Bose-Hubbard model on a square lattice at unit filling. A doublon-holon binding factor introduced in the trial state provides a noticeable improvement in the variational energy over the conventional Gutzwiller wave function and allows us to deal effectively with the inter-site correlations of particle densities and spins. We systematically show how spin-dependent interactions modify the superfluid-Mott insulator transitions in the S=1 Bose-Hubbard model due to the interplay between the density and spin fluctuations of bosons. Furthermore, regarding the magnetic phases in the Mott region, the calculated spin structure factor elucidates the emergence of nematic and ferromagnetic spin orders for antiferromagnetic ($U_2>0$) and ferromagnetic ($U_2<0$) couplings, respectively.

Anomalous temperature–growth response of Abies faxoniana to sustained freezing stress along elevational gradients in China’s Western Sichuan Province

A network of ten Faxon fir tree-ring width chronologies was constructed from sites ranging in elevation from 3,000 to 3,450 m in the Wolong Natural Reserve in Western Sichuan Province, China. The site chronologies display significant inter-site correlations (mean R = 0.647, p < 0.001) and the first principal component (PC1) accounts for 68.32 % of the total variation of the chronologies, implying a high degree of similarity in growth variation among the elevation gradients. Correlation analysis using monthly climate data indicates that the radial growth response of Faxon fir along the elevation gradients is markedly similar to common climatic signals, such as sunshine duration (positive) and cloud cover (negative), from January to March. Thus, it appears that winter freezing stress, which is caused by low solar radiation and high cloudiness, is the major environmental factor regulating the growth of trees across the elevational gradients. In addition, the site chronologies have no elevation-dependent growth responses to temperature or precipitation. Irrespective of the elevational differences of the sample sites, an anomalous reduction in radial growth occurred consistently since the 1960s, diverging from the instrumental temperature records since the 1990s. The cause of this divergence may be ascribed to the recent accelerated winter freezing stress and its role in controlling radial growth.

Genotypic variation in wood properties and growth traits of triploid hybrid clones of Populus tomentosa at three clonal trials

To better understand the genetic control of growth traits (tree height, dbh, and stem volume) and wood properties (basic wood density and fiber length) in triploid hybrid clones of Populus tomentosa, genetic relationships among selected wood properties with growth traits were examined in 5-year-old clonal field trials located in Yanzhou, Gaotang, and Xiangfen, northern China. In total, 180 trees from 10 clones were sampled from the three sites. The site had a moderate effect on basic wood density (BWD), stem wood dry weight (DWT), and tree growth and had a highly significant effect on fiber length (FL) (P < 0.001). Clonal effects were also significant (P < 0.05) for all studied traits (except for diameter at breast height (DBH) and stem volume (SV)). Clone × site interaction was significant for all the studied traits except for FL. The estimated repeatability of clonal means for FL (0.91) was higher than for BWD (0.71), DWT (0.62), tree height (0.62), DBH (0.61), and SV (0.55). Intersite genetic correlation estimates indicated that wood properties were more stable than growth traits. Phenotypic correlation estimates between SV and BWD ranged from −0.29 to −0.10.

Interplay of magnetism, Fermi surface reconstructions, and hidden order in the heavy-fermion material URu2Si2

URu$_2$Si$_2$ is surely one of the most mysterious of the heavy-fermion compounds. Despite more than twenty years of experimental and theoretical works, the order parameter of the transition at $T_0 = 17.5$ K is still unknown. The state below $T_0$ remains called "hidden-order phase" and the stakes are still to identify the energy scales driving the system to this phase. We present new magnetoresistivity and magnetization measurements performed on very-high-quality single crystals in pulsed magnetic fields up to 60 T. We show that the transition to the hidden-order state in URu$_2$Si$_2$ is initially driven by a high-temperature crossover at around 40-50 K, which is a fingerprint of inter-site electronic correlations. In a magnetic field $\mathbf{H}$ applied along the easy-axis $\bf{c}$, the vanishing of this high-temperature scale precedes the polarization of the magnetic moments, as well as it drives the destabilization of the hidden-order phase. Strongly impurity-dependent magnetoresistivity confirms that the Fermi surface is reconstructed below $T_0$ and is strongly modified in a high magnetic field applied along $\mathbf{c}$, i.e. at a sufficiently-high magnetic polarization. The possibility of a sharp crossover in the hidden-order state controlled by a field-induced change of the Fermi surface is pointed out.

Lower subband splitting and superconductivity of 2D Hubbard fermions with strong intersite correlations

The effect of the strong intersite Coulomb correlations on the formation of an electron structure in the Shubin-Vonsowsky model in the regime of strong one-site correlations is studied. The results reveal a split-off band of the Fermi states. The spectral intensity of this band grows with the enhancement of the doping level and is determined by the mean-square fluctuation of occupation numbers. This changes the structure of the electron density of states qualitatively.

MonoclinicM1phase of VO2: Mott-Hubbard versus band insulator

We revisit the problem of the insulating ground state of the monoclinic ${M}_{1}$ phase in vanadium dioxide and argue that essential intersite correlation effects within vanadium dimers can be captured by the static mean-field approximation. We propose the LDA + DMFT +$V$ approach, which combines the density functional theory within the local density approximation (LDA) with the extended Hubbard model. In this approach, the intersite Coulomb interactions beyond the LDA are taken into account by the Hartree-Fock approximation, while the on-site ones are described by the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). The proposed approach as well as the cluster extension of the DMFT are used to study the spectral and magnetic properties of the ${M}_{1}$ phase. According to our results, taking into account intersite correlations in vanadium dimers enhances bonding-antibonding splitting with respect to the LDA one, resulting in an insulating ground state, whereas on-site correlations only slightly change the picture, leading to a renormalization of bands. The magnetic properties of the ${M}_{1}$ phase can be attributed to the singlet ground state of vanadium dimers. We conclude that the ${M}_{1}$ phase is a correlated band insulator and the Peierls scenario, enhanced by the intersite correlation effects, is the driving mechanism of the metal-insulator transition in VO${}_{2}$.

Nonlocal Coulomb interaction in the two-dimensional spin-1/2 Falicov–Kimball model

The two-dimensional (2D) extended Falicov–Kimball model has been studied to observe the role of nonlocal Coulomb interaction (Unc) using an exact diagonalization technique. The f-state occupation (nf), the f–d intersite correlation function (cfd), the specific heat (C), entropy (S) and the specific heat coefficient (γ) have been examined. Nonlocal Coulomb interaction-induced discontinuous insulator-to-metal transition occurs at a critical f-level energy. More ordered state is obtained with the increase of Unc. In the specific heat curves, two-peak structure as well as a single-peak structure appears. At low-temperature region, a sharp rise in the specific heat coefficient γ is observed. The peak value of γ shifts to the higher temperature region with Unc.

Spin-gapped wave function as normal state in attractive Hubbard model

With the pseudogap in cuprate superconductors in mind, we study an attractive Hubbard model on the square lattice, in which the mechanism of superconductivity undergoes a crossover at | U co|/ t from a BCS type to a Bose-Einstein condensation type, as the interaction strength | U |/ t increases. Correspondingly, for | U |>| U co|, a normatate, realized for T > T c, is considered to exhibit gapped behavior. We try to construct such a state and study its properties using a variational Monte Carlo method, which treats the local correlation accurately and can connect the weak-and strong-correlation limits continuously. We introduce an intersite correlation factor between antiparallel spins in nearest-neighbor sites, in addition to the onsite (Gutzwiller) projection. This factor brings about a first-order transition from a metal to a spin-gapped phase at | U= | U c |= W (bandwidth). For | U |>| U c|, a gap opens in the spin degree of freedom, whereas the charge sector remains gapless. In this phase, conductivity is caused by a hopping of doublons.

Has the magnitude of floods across the USA changed with global CO2 levels?

Statistical relationships between annual floods at 200 long-term (85–127 years of record) streamgauges in the coterminous United States and the global mean carbon dioxide concentration (GMCO2) record are explored. The streamgauge locations are limited to those with little or no regulation or urban development. The coterminous US is divided into four large regions and stationary bootstrapping is used to evaluate if the patterns of these statistical associations are significantly different from what would be expected under the null hypothesis that flood magnitudes are independent of GMCO2. In none of the four regions defined in this study is there strong statistical evidence for flood magnitudes increasing with increasing GMCO2. One region, the southwest, showed a statistically significant negative relationship between GMCO2 and flood magnitudes. The statistical methods applied compensate both for the inter-site correlation of flood magnitudes and the shorter-term (up to a few decades) serial correlation of floods. Citation Hirsch, R.M. and Ryberg, K.R., 2012. Has the magnitude of floods across the USA changed with global CO2 levels? Hydrolological Sciences Journal, 57 (1), 1–9.

Phase diagram, energy scales, and nonlocal correlations in the Anderson lattice model

We study the Anderson lattice model with one $f$ orbital per lattice site as the simplest model which describes generic features of heavy fermion materials. The resistivity and magnetic susceptibility results obtained within dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) for a nearly half-filled conduction band show the existence of a single energy scale ${T}^{*}$ which is similar to the single-ion Kondo temperature ${T}_{K}^{o}$. To determine the importance of intersite correlations, we have also solved the model within cellular DMFT (CDMFT) with two sites in a unit cell. The antiferromagnetic region on the phase diagram is much narrower than in the single-site solution, having a smaller critical hybridization ${V}_{c}$ and N\'eel temperature ${T}_{N}$. At temperatures above ${T}_{N}$ the nonlocal correlations are small, and the DMFT paramagnetic solution is in this case practically exact, which justifies the ab initio local density approximation (LDA) + DMFT approach in theoretical studies of heavy fermions. Strong intersite correlations in the CDMFT solution for $T&lt;{T}_{N}$, however, indicate that they have to be properly treated in order to unravel the physical properties near the quantum critical point.

Extending the Gutzwiller approximation for liquid 3He by including intersite correlations

AbstractThe simple Gutzwiller approximation, applied to the approach to Mott localization in a half‐filled band Hubbard model, gives a remarkably good description of the properties of liquid 3He as the liquid‐solid transition is approached under pressure. The key variable, the density of unbound doubly occupied and empty sites is evaluated keeping only single site correlations. We extend the Gutzwiller approximation to incorporate nearest neighbor correlations. This extension improves the agreement with the experimental evolution of the spin susceptibility and effective mass with pressure, but does not remove the large discrepancy in the compressibility.