Harmonic phase mode of a quantum rotor chain 2026-10-07
Expanding the cosine gives a wave equation and a gapless phase mode with physical frequency . The exact harmonic lattice frequency is . It resembles superfluid sound. In one dimension, Gaussian phase fluctuations and possible compact phase slips require care before inferring true long-range order from this branch.
Normal component of a superfluid 2026-10-14
The normal component of a superfluid describes the momentum and entropy carried by excitations rather than the phase-gradient condensate current. Its velocity need not equal the superfluid velocity. In phenomenological condensate equations, prescribing its motion supplies a reference flow for dissipation; a full two-component fluid theory would also evolve its momentum and energy.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 81 3 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For smooth phase differences, . After integrating the angular momenta in the same inverse-energy time coordinate , the coupled quantum rotor chain has the fluctuation actionUnit spacing replaces the lattice sum and difference by their continuum limits. The constant energy per bond contributes an overall factor , suppressed when describing fluctuations. The phase is compact; the Gaussian action describes its smooth sector.
There is an imaginary-time normalization for a coupled rotor chain issue in the printed formula. Factoring out from the action above places , not , in its spatial bracket. The printed bracket is therefore correct in units, or with its spatial coefficient redefined as . With the same dimensional as in the Hamiltonian, it lacks that factor.
In physical real time the wave equation is . The harmonic phase mode of a quantum rotor chain consequently hasThe lattice expression is . The mode is a gapless phase wave analogous to sound in a superfluid, with rotor angular momentum conjugate to its phase. In one dimension this harmonic regime has strong long-distance phase fluctuations rather than true continuous-symmetry long-range order; compact phase slips can change the infrared phase outside the smooth-phase approximation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 337 2 b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Write and . To quadratic order,After dropping the total derivative , the quadratic Lagrangian density isIts Euler--Lagrange equations areFor modes proportional to , nontrivial amplitudes requireThusAt short wavelength the anisotropy is negligible and the quadratic dispersion is that of a conventional ferromagnetic magnon. At long wavelength, easy-plane anisotropy makes the out-of-plane fluctuation the conjugate density of the in-plane phase; eliminating it produces the linear Goldstone sound mode characteristic of a superfluid.
In 1989, William E. Moerner and Lothar Kador reported individual pentacene absorbers in para-terphenyl in Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid by W. E. Moerner and L. Kador (pp. 2535–2538). Different local environments spread photon absorption frequencies; tuning into the sparse wings selected few resonant molecules despite many molecules in the illuminated volume.
Their tunable dye laser focused through a numerical aperture lens onto a – crystal immersed in superfluid helium at . Frequency modulation accompanied either a electric field between coated sapphire disks, detected at , or a quartz shear transducer. An avalanche photodiode measured transmitted-light photon absorption, not fluorescence. Double modulation suppressed residual laser amplitude background.[ref]
Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid by W. E. Moerner and L. Kador. pp. 2535–2537: sample, lens, dye laser, FM/Stark and FM/ultrasound apparatus and detection
Repeated scans gave the predicted modulated line shape. Blank crystals and off-resonance scans gave background; changing modulation frequency expanded and contracted the feature as predicted. Agreement between both perturbation methods supported the individual-absorber inference. The authors acknowledged out-of-focus molecules and the unlikely alternative of multiple absorbers with exactly coincident frequencies.[ref]
Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid by W. E. Moerner and L. Kador. Fig. 1(d–g), Fig. 2(b–g), and pp. 2537–2538: blanks, modulation-frequency changes, background and coincident-absorber qualification
This is evidence for a selected absorber in a prepared, known chemical substance and host. It does not establish arbitrary unknown molecule identity from one spectral feature, provide an atom-resolved photograph, or count every molecule in the crystal. A measurement sensitive to only a narrow excitation range cannot detect a molecule whose transition lies outside that range. This distinction separates the total particle inventory from the number responding to a particular probe.
Superfluidity Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-13
Superfluidity is a quantum-fluid response with phase stiffness and flow without viscous dissipation in an appropriate low-speed regime. A superfluid supports a phase-gradient current; defects and excitations can limit that flow. Bose-Einstein condensation concerns macroscopic one-particle occupation and is a distinct criterion: the Gaussian phase stiffness theory can have divergent absolute-phase fluctuations while retaining a cost for gradients.
Type-B Goldstone boson 2026-10-07
A gapless mode associated with a canonically paired pair of broken symmetry generators. In an isotropic ferromagnet, the nonzero expectation of makes two transverse coordinates one dynamical pair, giving one quadratic magnon branch. Broken-generator counting without this pairing would incorrectly predict two independent modes. This contrasts with the linear phase mode of a superfluid.