Phonons in single crystals of PrFeAsO_{1-y} are investigated using high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering and ab initio pseudopotential calculations. Extensive measurements of several samples at temperatures spanning the magnetic ordering tempera
ture and the superconducting transition temperature show that there are some changes in phonon spectra with temperature and/or doping. We compare our measurements with several ab initio pseudopotential models (nonmagnetic tetragonal, oxygen-deficient O_{7/8} supercell, magnetic orthorhombic, and magnetic tetragonal) and find that the experimentally observed changes are much smaller than the differences between the experimental data and the calculations. Agreement is improved if magnetism is included in the calculations via the local spin density approximation, as the Fe atomic motions parallel to the ferromagnetic ordering direction are softened. However, the antiferromagnetically polarized modes remain hard, and in disagreement with the experimental data. In fact, given the increasing evidence for anisotropy in the iron pnictide materials, the phonon response is surprisingly isotropic. We consider several modifications of the ab initio calculations to improve the agreement with the experimental data. Improved agreement is found by setting the matrix to zero (clipping the bond) between nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetically aligned Fe atoms in the magnetic calculation, or by softening only the in-plane nearest-neighbor Fe-As force constant in the nonmagnetic calculation. We discuss these results in the context of other measurements, especially of phonons, for several FeAs systems. Fluctuating magnetism may be a partial explanation for the failure of the calculations, but seems incomplete in the face of the similarity of the measured phonon response in all the systems investigated here including those known to have static magnetism.
We present results of lattice QCD simulations with mass-degenerate up and down and mass-split strange and charm (Nf=2+1+1) dynamical quarks using Wilson twisted mass fermions at maximal twist. The tuning of the strange and charm quark masses is perfo
rmed at three values of the lattice spacing a~0.06 fm, a~0.08 fm and a~0.09 fm with lattice sizes ranging from L~1.9 fm to L~3.9 fm. We perform a preliminary study of SU(2) chiral perturbation theory by combining our lattice data from these three values of the lattice spacing.
Phonon dispersion of detwinned NiO is measured using inelastic x-ray scattering. It is found that, near the zone center, the energy of the transverse optical phonon mode polarized parallel to the antiferromagnetic order is ~1 meV lower than that of t
he mode polarized perpendicular to the order, at room temperature. This is explained via anisotropic polarization of the Ni and O atoms, as confirmed using a Berrys phase approach with first-principles calculations. Our explanation avoids an apparent contradiction in previous discussions focusing on Heisenberg interaction.
We present first results from runs performed with Nf=2+1+1 flavours of dynamical twisted mass fermions at maximal twist: a degenerate light doublet and a mass split heavy doublet. An overview of the input parameters and tuning status of our ensembles
is given, together with a comparison with results obtained with Nf=2 flavours. The problem of extracting the mass of the K- and D-mesons is discussed, and the tuning of the strange and charm quark masses examined. Finally we compare two methods of extracting the lattice spacings to check the consistency of our data and we present some first results of ChiPT fits in the light meson sector.
We present a comprehensive investigation of light meson physics using maximally twisted mass fermions for two mass-degenerate quark flavours. By employing four values of the lattice spacing, spatial lattice extents ranging from 2.0 fm to 2.5 fm and p
seudo scalar masses in the range 280 MeV to 650 MeV we control the major systematic effects of our calculation. This enables us to confront our data with chiral perturbation theory and extract low energy constants of the effective chiral Lagrangian and derived quantities, such as the light quark mass, with high precision.
The lattice dynamics of LaFeAsO_{1-x}F_{x} (x=0, 0.1) and PrFeAsO_{1-y} (y~0.1) are investigated using inelastic x-ray scattering and ab-initio calculation. Measurements of powder samples provide an approximation to the phonon DOS, while dispersion i
s measured from a single crystal of PrFeAsO_{1-y}. A model that agrees reasonably well with all of the data at room temperature is built from results of ab-initio calculations by softening the strength of the Fe-As bond by 30%.
We present results on the mass of the nucleon and the Delta using two dynamical degenerate twisted mass quarks and the tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action. The evaluation is performed at four quark masses corresponding to a pion mass in the ran
ge of about 300-600 MeV on lattices of 2.1-2.7 fm. We check for cut-off effects by evaluating these baryon masses on lattices of spatial size 2.1 fm at beta=3.9 and beta=4.05 and on a lattice of 2.4 fm at beta=3.8. The values we find are compatible within our statistical errors. Lattice results are extrapolated to the physical limit using continuum chiral perturbation theory. Performing a combined fit to our lattice data at beta=3.9 and beta=4.05 we find a nucleon mass of 964pm 28 (stat.) pm 8 (syst.) MeV. The nucleon mass at the physical point provides an independent determination of the lattice spacing. Using heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory at O(p^3) we find a_{beta=3.9}=0.0890pm 0.0039(stat.) pm 0.0014(syst.) fm, and a_{beta=4.05}= 0.0691pm 0.0034(stat.) pm 0.0010(syst.) fm, in good agreement with the values determined from the pion decay constant. Isospin violating lattice artifacts in the Delta-system are found to be compatible with zero for the values of the lattice spacings used in this work. Performing a combined fit to our lattice data at beta=3.9 and beta=4.05 we find for the masses of the Delta^{++,-} and Delta^{+,0} 1316 pm 60 (stat.) MeV and 1330 pm 74 (stat.) MeV respectively. We confirm that in the continuum limit they are also degenerate.
Inelastic x-ray scattering and $ab$-$initio$ calculation are applied to investigate the lattice dynamics and electron-phonon coupling of the ternary silicide superconductor CaAlSi ($P/bar{6}m2$). A soft c-axis polarized mode is clearly observed along
the $/Gamma$-$A$-$L$ symmetry directions. The soft mode is strongly anharmonically broadened at room temperature, but, at 10 K, its linewidth narrows and becomes in good agreement with calculations of linear electron-phonon coupling. This establishes a coherent description of the detailed phonon properties in this system and links them clearly and consistently with the superconductivity.
