The non--mesonic weak decay of double--$Lambda$ hypernuclei is studied within a microscopic diagrammatic approach. Besides the nucleon--induced mechanism, $Lambda Nto nN$, widely studied in single--$Lambda$ hypernuclei, additional hyperon--induced me
chanisms, $Lambda Lambdato Lambda n$, $Lambda Lambdato Sigma^0 n$ and $Lambda Lambdato Sigma^-p$, are accessible in double--$Lambda$ hypernuclei and are investigated here. As in previous works on single--$Lambda$ hypernuclei, we adopt a nuclear matter formalism extended to finite nuclei via the local density approximation and a one--meson exchange weak transition potential (including the ground state pseudoscalar and vector octets mesons) supplemented by correlated and uncorrelated two--pion--exchange contributions. The weak decay rates are evaluated for hypernuclei in the region of the experimentally accessible light hypernuclei $^{10}_{LambdaLambda}$Be and $^{13}_{LambdaLambda}$B. Our predictions are compared with a few previous evaluations. The rate for the $Lambda Lambdato Lambda n$ decay is dominated by $K$--, $K^*$-- and $eta$--exchange and turns out to be about 2.5% of the free $Lambda$ decay rate, $Gamma_{Lambda}^{rm free}$, while the total rate for the $Lambda Lambdato Sigma^0 n$ and $Lambda Lambdato Sigma^- p$ decays, dominated by $pi$--exchange, amounts to about 0.25% of $Gamma_{Lambda}^{rm free}$. The experimental measurement of these decays would be essential for the beginning of a systematic study of the non--mesonic decay of strangeness $-2$ hypernuclei. This field of research could also shed light on the possible existence and nature of the $H$--dibaryon.
The possible application of the barocaloric effect to produce solid state refrigerators is a topic of interest in the field of applied physics. In this work, we present experimental data about the influence of external pressure on the magnetic proper
ties of a manganite with phase separation. Using the Jahn Teller effect associated with the presence of the charge ordering we were able to follow the transition to the ferromagnetic state induced by pressure. We also demonstrated that external pressure can assist the ferromagnetic state, decreasing the magnetic field necessary to generate the magnetic transition.
We present a state-of-the-art x-ray diffraction study of the charge density wave order in 1T-TaS2 as a function of temperature and pressure. Our results prove that the charge density wave, which we characterize in terms of wave vector, amplitude and
the coherence length, indeed exists in the superconducting region of the phase diagram. The data further imply that the ordered charge density wave structure as a whole becomes superconducting at low temperatures, i. e, superconductivity and charge density wave coexist on a macroscopic scale in real space. This result is fundamentally different from a previously proposed separation of superconducting and insulating regions in real space and, instead, provides evidence that the superconducting and the charge density wave gap exist in separate regions of reciprocal space.
The electrical resistivity, crystalline structure and electronic properties calculated from the experimentally measured atomic positions of the compound SmFeAsO$_{0.81}$F$_{0.19}$ have been studied up to pressures ~20GPa. The correlation between the
pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and crystallographic parameters on the same sample shows clearly that a regular FeAs$_{4}$ tetrahedron maximizes Tc, through optimization of carrier transfer to the FeAs planes as indicated by the evolution of the electronic band structures.
We discuss the problem of finding the most favorable conditions for closing the detection loophole in a test of local realism with a Bell inequality. For a generic non-maximally entangled two-qubit state and two alternative measurement bases we apply
Hardys proof of non-locality without inequality and derive an Eberhard-like inequality. For an infinity of non-maximally entangled states we find that it is possible to refute local realism by requiring perfect detection efficiency for only one of the two measurements: the test is free from the detection loophole for any value of the detection efficiency corresponding to the other measurement. The maximum tolerable noise in a loophole-free test is also evaluated.
We performed high pressure experiments on La(0.8)Ca(0.2-x)Sr(x)MnO(3) (LCSMO) (0<x< 0.2) ceramic samples in order to analyze the validity of the well known relation between the A mean ionic radius (<rA>) and the Curie temperature Tc of hole-doped man
ganites at a fixed doping level and for doping values below the 0.3 (Mn+4/Mn+3) ratio. By considering our results and collecting others from the literature, we were able to propose a phenomenological law that considers the systematic dependence of Tc with structural and electronic parameters. This law predicts fairly well the pressure sensitivity of Tc, its dependence with the A-cation radius disorder and its evolution in the high pressure range. Considering a Double Exchange model, modified by polaronic effects, the phenomenological law obtained for Tc can be associated with the product of two terms: the polaronic modified bandwidth and an effective hole doping.
We have studied the structural and superconducting properties of tetragonal FeSe under pressures up to 26GPa using synchrotron radiation and diamond anvil cells. The bulk modulus of the tetragonal phase is 28.5(3)GPa, much smaller than the rest of Fe
based superconductors. At 12GPa we observe a phase transition from the tetragonal to an orthorhombic symmetry. The high pressure orthorhombic phase has a higher Tc reaching 34K at 22GPa.
We have studied the structural and superconductivity properties of the compound LaFeAsO0.9F0.1 under pressures up to 32GPa using synchrotron radiation and diamond anvil cells. We obtain an ambient pressure bulk modulus K_0 = 78(2)GPa, compressibility
comparable to some cuprates. At high pressures, the sample is in the overdoped region, with a linear decrease with pressure variation of the superconducting transition temperature.
We have measured transport properties as a function of temperature and pressure up to 30GPa in the NaxCoO2 system. For the x=0.5 sample the transition temperature at 53K increases with pressure, while paradoxically the sample passes from an insulatin
g to a metallic ground state. A similar transition is observed in the x=0.31 sample under pressure. Compression on the x=0.75 sample transforms the sample from a metallic to an insulating state. We discuss our results in terms of interactions between band structure effects and Na+ order.
The non-mesonic weak decay of $Lambda$--hypernuclei is studied within a one-meson-exchange potential supplemented by a chirally motivated two-pion-exchange mechanism. The effects of final state interactions on the outgoing nucleons are also taken int
o account. In view of the severe discrepancies between theoretical expectations and experimental data, particular attention is payed to the asymmetry of the protons emitted by polarized hypernuclei. The one-meson-exchange model describes the non-mesonic rates and the neutron-to-proton ratio satisfactorily but predicts a too large and negative asymmetry parameter. The uncorrelated and correlated two-pion mechanisms change the rates moderately, thus maintaining the agreement with experiment. The modification in the strength and sign of some decay amplitudes becomes crucial and produces asymmetry parameters which lie well within the experimental observations.
