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After almost twenty years of intense work on the celebrated LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system, the recent discovery of a superconducting two-dimensional electron gases (2-DEG) in (111)-oriented KTaO3-based heterostructures injects new momentum to the field of oxides interfaces. However, while both interfaces share common properties, experiments also suggest important differences between the two systems. Here, we report gate tunable superconductivity in 2-DEGs generated at the surface of a (111)-oriented KTaO3 crystal by the simple sputtering of a thin Al layer. We use microwave transport to show that (111)-KTaO3 2-DEGs exhibit a node-less superconducting order parameter with a gap value significantly larger than expected within a simple BCS weak-coupling limit model. Consistent with the two-dimensional nature of superconductivity, we evidence a well-defined Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless type of transition, which was not reported on SrTiO3-based interfaces. Our finding offers innovative perspectives for fundamental science but also for device applications in a variety of fields such as spin-orbitronics and topological electronics.

Using the results of extensive Monte Carlo simulations we discuss corrections to the linear mixing rule in strongly coupled binary ionic mixtures. We analyze the plasma screening function at zero separation, H_{jk}(0), for two ions (of types j=1,2 and k=1,2) in a strongly coupled binary mixture. The function H_{jk}(0) is estimated by two methods: (1) from the difference of Helmholtz Coulomb free energies at large and zero separations; (2) by fitting the Widom expansion of H_{jk}(x) in powers of interionic distance x to Monte Carlo data on the radial pair distribution function g_{jk}(x). These methods are shown to be in good agreement. For illustration, we analyze the plasma screening enhancement of nuclear burning rates in dense stellar matter., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, pre-peer reviewed version of the article accepted for publication in Contrib. Plasma Phys. (2009). The results can be applied to plasma screening enhancement of nuclear burning rates in dense stellar matter

We analyze the effect of plasma screening on nuclear reaction rates in dense matter composed of atomic nuclei of one or two types. We perform semiclassical calculations of the Coulomb barrier penetrability taking into account a radial mean field potential of plasma ions. The mean field potential is extracted from the results of extensive Monte Carlo calculations of radial pair distribution functions of ions in binary ionic mixtures. We calculate the reaction rates in a wide range of plasma parameters and approximate these rates by an analytical expression that is expected to be applicable for multicomponent ions mixtures. Also, we analyze Gamow-peak energies of reacting ions in various nuclear burning regimes. For illustration, we study nuclear burning in C-O mixtures., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D

The observables in a strong gravitational lens are usually just the image positions and sometimes the flux ratios. We develop a new and simple algorithm which allows a set of models to be fitted exactly to the observations. Taking our cue from the strong body of evidence that early-type galaxies are close to isothermal, we assume that the lens is scale-free with a flat rotation curve. However, our algorithm allows full flexibility as regards the angular structure of the lensing potential. Importantly, all the free parameters enter linearly into the model and so the lens and flux ratio equations can always be solved by straightforward matrix inversion. We use this new algorithm to examine some of the claims made for substructure on the basis of "anomalous flux ratios". We demonstrate by explicit construction that some of the lenses for which substructure has been claimed can be well-fit by smooth lens models. This is especially the case when the systematic errors in the flux ratios (caused by microlensing or differential extinction or scatter-broadening) are taken into account. However, there is certainly one system (B1422+231) for which the existing smooth models are definitely inadequate and for which substructure may be implicated. Within a few tens of kpc of galaxy centres, dynamical friction is efficient at dissolving any substructure. So, little substructure lies projected within the Einstein radius of most strong lenses. The numbers of strong lenses for which substructure is currently being claimed may be so large that this contradicts rather than supports cold dark matter theories., Comment: 16 pages, version in press at MNRAS, revisions include new treatment of the observational errors and the inclusion of external shear in the models

We study gravitational lensing by the family of scale-free galaxies with flat rotation curves. The models are defined by a shape function, which prescribes the radius of the isophote as a function of position angle from the major axis. The critical curves are analytic, while the caustic network is reducible to a simple quadrature. The cusps are always located at the turning points of the shape function. We show that the models with exactly elliptic isophotes never admit butterfly or swallowtail cusps and so have at most 4 (or 5) images. Higher order imaging is brought about by deviations of the isophotes from pure ellipses -- such as pointedness caused by embedded disks or boxiness caused by recent merging. The criteria for the onset of sextuple and octuple imaging can be calculated analytically in terms of the ellipticity and the fourth-order Fourier coefficients (a_4 and b_4) used by observers to parametrise the isophote shapes. The 6 or 8 images are arranged roughly in a circle, which appears as an incomplete Einstein ring if inadequately resolved. Using data on the shapes of elliptical galaxies and merger remnants, we estimate that 1% of all multiply imaged quasars may be sextuplet systems or higher. Forthcoming satellites like the Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics (GAIA) will provide datasets of roughly 4000 multiply imaged systems, and so about 40 will show sextuple imaging or higher., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, MNRAS (in press)

Recent observations indicate that many if not all galaxies host massive central black holes. In this paper we explore the influence of black holes on the lensing properties. We model the lens as an isothermal ellipsoid with a finite core radius plus a central black hole. We show that the presence of the black hole substantially changes the critical curves and caustics. If the black hole mass is above a critical value, then it will completely suppress the central images for all source positions. Realistic central black holes likely have masses below this critical value. Even in such sub-critical cases, the black hole can suppress the central image when the source is inside a zone of influence, which depends on the core radius and black hole mass. In the sub-critical cases, an additional image may be created by the black hole in some regions, which for some radio lenses may be detectable with high-resolution and large dynamic-range VLBI maps. The presence of central black holes should also be taken into account when one constrains the core radius from the lack of central images in gravitational lenses., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; submitted to MNRAS

We study gravitational lens time delays for a general family of lensing potentials, which includes the popular singular isothermal elliptical potential and singular isothermal elliptical density distribution but allows general angular structure. Using a novel approach, we show that the time delay can be cast in a very simple form, depending only on the observed image positions. Including an external shear changes the time delay proportional to the shear strength, and varying the radial profile of the potential changes the time delay approximately linearly. These analytic results can be used to obtain simple estimates of the time delay and the Hubble constant in observed gravitational lenses. The naive estimates for four of five time delay lenses show surprising agreement with each other and with local measurements of H_0; the complicated Q 0957+561 system is the only outlier. The agreement suggests that it is reasonable to use simple isothermal lens models to infer H_0, although it is still important to check this conclusion by examining detailed models and by measuring more lensing time delays., Comment: 16 pages with 2 embedded figures; submitted to ApJ

We study the problem of gravitational lensing by an isothermal elliptical density galaxy in the presence of a tidal perturbation. When the perturbation is fairly strong and oriented near the galaxy's minor axis, the lens can produce image configurations with six or even eight highly magnified images lying approximately on a circle. We classify the caustic structures in the model and identify the range of models that can produce such lenses. Sextuple and octuple lenses are likely to be rare because they require special lens configurations, but a full calculation of the likelihood will have to include both the existence of lenses with multiple lens galaxies and the strong magnification bias that affects sextuple and octuple lenses. At optical wavelengths these lenses would probably appear as partial or complete Einstein rings, but at radio wavelengths the individual images could probably be resolved., Comment: 30 pages, including 12 postscript figures; accepted for publication in ApJ

The dynamic structure factor ${\tilde S}({\bf k},\omega)$ and the two-particle distribution function $g({\bf r},t)$ of ions in a Coulomb crystal are obtained in a closed analytic form using the harmonic lattice (HL) approximation which takes into account all processes of multi-phonon excitation and absorption. The static radial two-particle distribution function $g(r)$ is calculated for classical ($T \gtrsim \hbar \omega_p$, where $\omega_p$ is the ion plasma frequency) and quantum ($T \ll \hbar \omega_p$) body-centered cubic (bcc) crystals. The results for the classical crystal are in a very good agreement with extensive Monte Carlo (MC) calculations at $1.5 \lesssim r/a \lesssim 7$, where $a$ is the ion-sphere radius. The HL Coulomb energy is calculated for classical and quantum bcc and face-centered cubic crystals, and anharmonic corrections are discussed. The inelastic part of the HL static structure factor $S''(k)$, averaged over orientations of wave-vector {\bf k}, is shown to contain pronounced singularities at Bragg diffraction positions. The type of the singularities is different in classical and quantum cases. The HL method can serve as a useful tool complementary to MC and other numerical methods., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; accepted to Phys. Rev. E

We study the critical curves, caustics, and multiple imaging due to one of the simplest many-body gravitational lens configurations: equal-mass point masses on the vertices of a regular polygon. Some examples of the critical curves and caustics are also displayed. We pose the problem of determining the maximum number of lensed images due to regular-polygon and general point mass configurations. Our numerical simulations suggest a maximum that is linear, rather than quadratic, in the number of point masses., Comment: 3 pages with 1 figure. To appear in the ``Proceedings of the Eighth Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity'', Ed. R. Ruffini, World Scientific (Singapore)

We discuss the optical/UV/Xray spectra of AGN within the frame of the corona model of Witt, Czerny and Zycki (1996). In this model both the disk and the corona accrete and release energy through the viscosity. The relative strength the the disk and the corona is therefore determined by the model. Translated into the spectra, this model allows to predict the spectral index alpha_{ox}, measuring the relative strenth of the big blue bump with respect to the hard X-ray power law. Comparison of the predicted and observed distributions of alpha_{ox} allow us to conclude that the luminosity to the Eddington luminosity ratio in quasars cover typically the range 0.01 - 0.1 and it is broader in Seyferts, 0.001 - 0.3, or even higher. We identify Narrow Line Seyfert galaxies as objects having high luminosity to the Eddington luminosity ratio although, in principle, the second branch of high big blue bump objects for this ratio being below 0.001 is also predicted., Comment: LaTex file, uses epsfig, 4 pages, 5 Postscript figures, contribution to 2nd INTEGRAL Workshop, "The Transparent Universe", St. Malo, Sept.96

We study an accretion disc with a hot continuous corona. We assume that the corona itself accretes and therefore it is powered directly by the release of the gravitational energy and cooled by radiative interaction with the disc. We consider the vertical structure of such a corona and show that the radial infall is accompanied by strong vertical outflow. Such a model has two important consequences: (i) at a given radius the corona forms only for accretion rate larger than a limiting value and the fraction of energy dissipated in the corona decreases with increasing accretion rate, and (ii) the disc spectra are significantly softer in the optical/UV band in comparison with the predictions of standard accretion discs due to the mass loss and the decrease of internal dissipation in the disc. Both trends correspond well to the mean spectra of radio quiet AGN and observed luminosity states in galactic black hole candidates., Comment: 14 pages, uuencoded, compressed PostScript file, plus separately fig1a and fig1b: uuencoded, compressed, tar'ed PostScript files. Submitted to MNRAS. Also available from http://www.camk.edu.pl/

Models of stationary, axisymmetric, non-self-gravitating tori around stellar mass Kerr black holes are calculated. Such objects may form as a result of a merger between two neutron stars, a neutron star and a stellar mass black hole, or a 'failed supernova' collapse of a single rapidly rotating star. We explore a large range of parameters: the black hole mass and angular momentum, the torus mass, angular momentum and entropy. Physical conditions within the tori are similar to those in young and hot neutron stars, but their topology is different, and the range of masses and energies is much larger.

We present a combination of two very different methods for numerically calculating the effects of gravitational microlensing: the backward-ray-tracing that results in two-dimensional magnification patterns, and the parametric representation of caustic lines; they are in a way complementary to each other. The combination of these methods is much more powerful than the sum of its parts. It allows to determine the total magnification and the number of microimages as a function of source position. The mean number of microimages is calculated analytically and compared to the numerical results. The peaks in the lightcurves, as obtained from one-dimensional tracks through the magnification pattern, can now be divided into two groups: those which correspond to a source crossing a caustic, and those which are due to sources passing outside cusps. We determine the frequencies of those two types of events as a function of the surface mass density, and the probability distributions of their magnitudes. We find that for low surface mass density as many as 40 percent of all events in a lightcurve are not due to caustic crossings, but rather due to passings outside cusps.