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Direct numerical simulations of mechanical metamaterials are prohibitively expensive due to the separation of scales between the lattice and the macrostructural size. Hence, multiscale continuum analysis plays a pivotal role in the computational modeling of metastructures at macroscopic scales. In the present work, we assess the continuum limit of mechanical metamaterials via homogenized models derived rigorously from variational methods. It is shown through multiple examples that micropolar-type effective energies, derived naturally from analysis, properly capture the kinematics of discrete lattices in two and three dimensions. Moreover, the convergence of the discrete energy to the continuum limit is shown numerically. We provide open-source computational implementations for all examples, including both discrete and homogenized models., Comment: Accepted version

In this work, we investigate the single-photon transport through two whispering gallery resonators (WGRs) coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide. Using Green's function formalism, we compute the transmission spectra and the photonic density of states (DOS) for the stationary states. We also obtain the formation of two types of bound states in the continuum (BICs). The first kind is localized into the WGR and are symmetry-protected BICs. In contrast, the second depends on the distance between resonators through the waveguide and is of the Fabry-Perot kind. These BICs are represented as Dirac delta functions in the local density of states. Additionally, we show that quasi-BICs manifest as sharp resonances in photonic transmission due to small symmetry-breaking perturbations. Furthermore, we investigate the dynamics of a single-photon wave packet interacting with the WGRs and analyze the mechanism for storing the wave packet in the structure formed by the WGRs and the finite waveguide between them., Comment: 14 pages and 12 figures

In this paper, we investigate the influence of Majorana bound states on the Fano-Rashba effect in a two-channel Fano-Anderson model. Employing Green's function formalism and the equation of motion method, we compute the transmission through the quantum dot and the density of states. Our analysis reveals that the Majorana bound states, localized at the ends of the topological superconductor nanowire, penetrate into the quantum dot, thereby altering the interference pattern in the electronic transmission profile through it, resulting from their interaction with the bound states in the continuum. Furthermore, we explore the robustness of the bound state in the continuum concerning its connection to Majorana bound states and the energy induced by the magnetic field. We posit that our findings contribute to a deeper comprehension of the Fano-Rashba effect in a two-channel quantum dot coupled to a topological superconducting nanowire., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

We resort to variational methods to evaluate the asymptotic behavior of fine metamaterials as a function of cell size. To zeroth order, the metamaterial behaves as a micropolar continuum with both displacement and rotation degrees of freedom, but exhibits linear-elastic fracture mechanics scaling and therefore no size effect. To higher order, the overall energetics of the metastructure can be characterized explicitly in terms of the solution of the zeroth-order continuum problem by the method of {\Gamma}-expansion. We present explicit expressions of the second-order correction for octet frames. As an application, we evaluate the compliance of double-cantilever octet specimens to second order and use the result to elucidate the dependence of the apparent toughness of the specimen on cell size. The analysis predicts the discreteness of the metamaterial lattice to effectively shield the crack-tip, a mechanism that we term lattice shielding. The theory specifically predicts anti-shielding, i. e., coarser is weaker, in agreement with recent experimental observations.

We study the existence of BPS configurations in a restricted baby Skyrme-Maxwell enlarged via the inclusion of a nontrivial magnetic permeability. In order to attain such a goal, we use the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield prescription, which allows us to obtain the lower bound for the energy and the BPS equations whose [electrically neutral] solutions saturate that bound. During the energy minimization procedure, we find a differential constraint which involves the self-dual potential, the superpotential itself and also the magnetic permeability. In order to solve the BPS system, we focus our attention on those solutions with rotational symmetry. For that, we fix the magnetic permeability and select two BPS potentials which exhibit a similar behavior near to the vacuum. We depict the resulting profiles and proceed to an analytical description of the properties of the BPS magnetic field. Furthermore, we consider some essential aspects of our model, such as the conditions for the overall existence of the BPS solutions, and how the permeability affects the magnetic flux. Finally, we present a family of exact BPS solutions., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Suggestions are welcome. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2211.09216

We investigate the existence of BPS structures in a Maxwell-Higgs electrodynamics immersed within a chiral medium, whose electromagnetic properties are described by both the Chern-Simons term and a neutral scalar field. The implementation of the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield's technique provides the BPS potential and the self-dual equations whose solutions saturate the Bogomol'nyi bound. In such a context, we look for vortices in two chiral media: the first one engenders localized vortices with an exponential decay similar to that of the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen solutions, whereas the second medium generates delocalized profiles whose tail follows a power-law decay. Once we have solved the BPS systems, we comment on the effects induced by the presence of the chiral medium on the Maxwell-Higgs vortices., Comment: LaTeX 2e, 13 pages, 16 figures

In this paper, we establish an asymptotic formula for the twisted second moments of Dirichlet $L$-functions with one and two twists when averaged over all primitive Dirichlet characters of modulus $R$, where $R$ is a monic polynomial in $\mathbb{F}_q[T]$. The main result in this paper generalizes the work of Djankovi\'c [`The reciprocity law for the twisted second moment of Dirichlet $L$-functions over rational function fields', Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 98 (2018), no. 3, 382--388]., Comment: 12 pages. Comments welcome

We investigate the transport properties through a nanostructure composed of parallel double quantum dots coupled to two normal contacts. Additionally, each quantum dot is connected to a topological superconducting nanowire, hosting Majorana zero modes at its ends. A magnetic flux threading across the area enclosed by the interferometer is considered. First, we investigate the physical quantities of the system employing Green's function formalism. We find that the emergence of bound states appears in symmetric configurations of topological superconducting nanowires, i.e., depending on their lengths and coupling energies to the quantum dots. Also, we find a transport suppression anomaly as a function of the magnetic flux in the same symmetric configurations mentioned above. Besides, we find that the magnetic flux controls both the projection of Majorana zero modes and of the bound states in the continuum into the density of states and the linear conductance, suggesting that only by switching this parameter can we manipulate both bound states., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

We consider a restricted baby Skyrme-Maxwell scenario enlarged via the inclusion of a nontrivial magnetic permeability. We then proceed with the minimization of its total energy by means of the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) prescription, from which we get that the self-dual potential now depends on the magnetic permeability itself. As a result, we obtain not only the lower bound for the energy, but also the self-dual equations whose solutions saturate that bound. In such a context, we focus our attention on those time-independent gauged skyrmions with radial symmetry and no electric charge. We solve the effective self-dual equations numerically for different choices of the magnetic permeability, from which we obtain BPS magnetic fields whose internal structures form concentric rings. We also explain analytically the formation of these structures based on the values of a single real parameter which characterizes the respective magnetic permeabilities., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables. Comments are welcome

We give an analytic proof of the asymptotic behaviour of the moments of moments of the characteristic polynomials of random symplectic and orthogonal matrices. We therefore obtain alternate, integral expressions for the leading order coefficients previously found by Assiotis, Bailey and Keating. We also discuss the conjectures of Bailey and Keating for the corresponding moments of moments of L-functions with symplectic and orthogonal symmetry. Specifically, we show that these conjectures follow from the shifted moments conjecture of Conrey, Farmer, Keating, Rubinstein and Snaith., Comment: 17 pages

The dependence of the actual/effective ionic concentration on the nominal salt concentration is experimentally investigated for aqueous solutions of NaCl and KCl. The actual ionic bulk density is determined by means of the impedance spectroscopy technique using two approaches for the data analysis: A first approach scrutinizing the real part's plateau of the cell's electric impedance spectrum versus the bulk density of dopant when the impedance is written in the series representation. A second one via extraction of the ionic density from simultaneously fitting of the real and imaginary parts of the impedance spectrum by using the Poisson-Nernst-Planck model. The validity of this procedure reposes on the hypothesis that both the diffusion coefficient and the dielectric constant are independent from the salt concentration in the explored range of concentrations. Our experimental results indicate that a first-order reaction describes well the dissociation phenomenon. The dissociation-association ratio of the reaction has been calculated. Deviations from linearity appear at rather low concentrations of the order of mM., Comment: 18 pages in preprint style, 12 figures, including appendix

In this paper we address the problem of computing asymptotic formulae for the expected values and second moments of central values of primitive Dirichlet $L$-functions $L(1/2,\chi_{8d}\otimes\psi)$ when $\psi$ is a fixed even primitive non-quadratic character of odd modulus $q$, $\chi_{8d}$ is a primitive quadratic character, $d\equiv h\pmod r$ is odd and squarefree and $r\equiv0\pmod q$ is even. Restricting to these arithmetic progressions ensures that the resulting sets of $L$-functions each form a ``family of primitive $L$-functions" in the specific sense defined by Conrey, Farmer, Keating, Rubinstein and Snaith. Soundararajan had previously computed these quantities without restricting them to arithmetic progressions. It turns out that the restriction to arithmetic progressions introduces non-diagonal terms that require significantly more detailed analysis which we carry on in this paper., Comment: 30 pages. Comments are welcome

In this paper we introduce the study of mollified moments of quadratic $L$-functions $L(s,\chi_{D})$ over function fields. Using the Ratios Conjecture for quadratic Dirichlet $L$-functions over the rational function field $\mathbb{F}_{q}(x)$, specifically the special cases of the Ratios Conjecture that have been recently proven in this setting by Bui, Florea and Keating, we compute the mollified first and second moments for this family of $L$-functions. From the Katz and Sarnak density conjecture, it is expected that $L(\tfrac{1}{2},\chi_{D})\neq 0$ for $100\%$ of the discriminants. As an application of our mollified moment calculations, we prove that this is the case., Comment: There is a mistake in the proofs of theorems 2.3 and 2.4. Specifically the error term in equations (3.6) and (4.4)

In this article, we study the quantum transport through a single-level quantum-dot in Kondo regime, coupled to current leads and embedded between two one-dimensional topological superconductors, each hosting Majorana zero modes at their ends. The Kondo effect in the quantum dot is modeled by mean-field finite-$U$ auxiliary bosons approximation and solved by using the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. First, we calculate the density of states of the quantum dot, and then both the current and the differential conductance through the quantum dot in order to characterize the interplay between the Kondo resonance and Majorana zero modes. The results reveal that the presence of Majorana zero modes modifies the Kondo resonance exhibiting an anti-resonance structure in the density of states, leading to obtain spin-resolved behavior of the measurable current and differential conductance. We believe our findings could be helpful to understand the behavior of the Kondo effect in connection with Majorana zero modes., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

In this work, we construct stellar models ba-\break sed on the complexity factor as a supplementary condition which allows to close the system of differential equations arising from the Gravitational Decoupling. The assumed complexity is a generalization of the one obtained from the well known Tolman IV solution. We use Tolman IV, Wyman IIa, Durgapal IV and Heintzmann IIa as seeds solutions. Reported compactness parameters of SMC X-1 and Cen X-3 are used to study the physical acceptability of the models. Some aspects related to the density ratio are also discussed., Comment: References updated. Some new references added. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2108.10311

In this work, we investigate the spectra in an Aharonov-Bohm quantum-ring interferometer forming a Josephson junction between two topological superconductors (TSC) nanowires. The TSCs host Majorana bound states at their edges, and both the magnetic flux and the superconducting phase difference between the TSCs are used as control parameters. We use a tight-binding approach to model the quantum ring coupled to both TSCs, described by the Kitaev effective Hamiltonian. We solve the problem by means of exact numerical diagonalization of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) Hamiltonian and obtain the spectra for two sizes of the quantum ring as a function of the magnetic flux and the phase difference between the TSCs. Depending on the size of the quantum ring and the coupling, the spectra display several patterns. Those are denoted as line, point and undulated nodes, together with flat bands, which are topologically protected. The first three patterns can be possibly detected by means of persistent and Josephson currents. Hence, our results could be useful to understand the spectra and their relation with the behavior of the current signals., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

We investigate the existence of first-order vortices inherent to both the Maxwell-Chern-Simons-Higgs and the Maxwell-Chern-Simons-$CP(2)$ models extended via the inclusion of an extra scalar sector which plays the role of a source field. For both cases, we focus our attention on the time-independent configurations with radial symmetry which can be obtained through the implementation of the so-called Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) prescription. In this sense, in order to solve the corresponding first-order differential equations, we introduce some particular scenarios which are driven by the source field whose presence, we expect, must change the way the resulting vortices behave. After solving the effective first-order system through a finite-difference algorithm, we comment about the main new effects induced by the presence of the source field in the shape of the final configurations., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. Comments are welcome

In this work, we investigate a quantum-ring coupled to a topological superconductor, hosting Majorana bound states (MBSs). We study the MBSs effects over the spectrum and persistent current along the quantum-ring. To obtain physical quantities, we employ the Green's function formalism. We found that the presence of MBSs leads to dramatic changes in the quantum-ring spectrum by inducing particle-hole symmetry. On the other hand, we have obtained a substantial reduction of the persistent current in the strong coupling limit between ring and MBSs depending on the ring parity. These behaviors provide a measurable signature of MBSs. Our findings could be used as additional information on MBSs presence in these quantum systems.

In this paper, we consider a general form of the analogue of Ramanujan's sum in the ring of polynomials over a finite field. We first prove some multiplicative properties of such functions before considering their finite Fourier series and some specific examples. In the end, we also prove a result about the Dirichlet series of such functions., Comment: 13 pages; comments are welcome

In this work, we consider a single-level quantum dot (QD) and a Majorana bound state (MBS) placed at the end of a topological superconducting nanowire (TSW). Both are coupled to the continuum and do not have a direct connection between them. We addressed the behavior of MBS leaking phenomena and its consequences into the QD physics in non-interacting and Coulomb blockade regime. By employing Green's function formalism via the equation of motion procedure, we calculate the physical quantities of interest. Our results show that the leakage of the MBS into the continuum state is achieved and can alter the physics of Coulomb blockade in the system through continuum-mediated coupling between MBS and QD. As a main consequence, we found a robust and non-trivial mechanism to accomplish a bound state in the continuum in the system.

In this paper we use techniques first introduced by Florea to improve the asymptotic formula for the first moment of the quadratic Dirichlet L-functions over the rational function field, running over all monic, square-free polynomials of even degree at the central point. With some extra technical difficulties that doesn't appear in Florea's paper, we prove that there are extra main terms of size $(2g+2)q^{\frac{2g+2}{3}}, q^{\frac{g}{6}+\left[\frac{g}{2}\right]}$ and $q^{\frac{g}{6}+\left[\frac{g-1}{2}\right]}$, whilst bounding the error term by $q^{\frac{g}{2}(1+\epsilon)}$., Comment: 33 pages

Techniques for leaf-cutting ant control have been investigated in literature due to the importance of the damage they cause to agriculture. The effectiveness of different forms of control is explored in researches aimed at identifying the balance between pest control efficiency and environmental damage caused by the treatments applied. Plantations with large territorial extensions, which can be contiguous or not, are usually subdivided into local administration that collects data to determine the frequencies of areas size occupied by ant nests. The purpose of this work is to build a relationship of similarities among different geographical regions using the frequency data of nests size occurrence by applying Information Bottleneck (IB) method and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). IB allows simultaneous clustering of each region with the ant nest size distribution, while PCA is used to reduce the variable dimensionalities into a three-dimensional representation of the results. The approach was applied to data of leaf-cutting ants Atta spp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in cultivated Eucalyptus spp forests in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The results suggest information acquired by the method can help coordinate pest management, such as the allocation of baits, material and personnel., Comment: 17 pages 4 figures; Added a reference

We obtain the asymptotic main term of moments of arbitrary derivatives of $L$-functions in the function field setting. Specifically, the first, second, and mixed fourth moments. The average is taken over all non-trivial characters of a prime modulus $Q \in \mathbb{F}_q [t]$, and the asymptotic limit is as $\mathrm{deg} \, Q \longrightarrow \infty$. This extends the work of Tamam who obtained the asymptotic main term of low moments of $L$-functions, without derivatives, in the function field setting. It also expands on the work of Conrey, Rubinstein, and Snaith who cojectured, using random matrix theory, the asymptotic main term of any even moment of the derivative of the Riemann zeta-function in the number field setting., Comment: 20 pages

We prove results on moments of $L$-functions in the function field setting, where the moment averages are taken over primitive characters of modulus $R$, where $R$ is a polynomial in $\mathbb{F}_q [T]$. We consider the behaviour as $\textrm{deg} R \rightarrow \infty$ and the cardinality of the finite field is fixed. Specifically, we obtain an exact formula for the second moment provided that $R$ is square-full, and an asymptotic formula for the fourth moment for any $R$. The fourth moment result is a function field analogue of Heath-Brown's result in the number field setting, which was subsequently improved by Soundararajan. Both the second and fourth moment results extend work done by Tamam in the function field setting who focused on the case where $R$ is prime., Comment: 49 pages. Another reference to related work has been made towards the end of section 1. Minor grammatical corrections made in abstract

We study a Maxwell-$CP(2)$ model coupled to a real scalar field through a dielectric function multiplying the Maxwell term. In such a context, we look for first-order rotationally symmetric solitons by means of the Bogomol'nyi algorithm, i.e. by minimizing the total energy of the effective model. We perform our investigation by choosing an explicit form of the dielectric function. The numerical solutions show regular vortices whose shapes dramatically differ from their canonical counterparts. We can understood such differences as characterizing the existence of an internal structure., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

We investigate transport properties through a crossbar-shaped structure formed by a quantum dot (QD) coupled to two normal leads and embedded between two one-dimensional topological superconductors (TSCs). Each TSC hosts Majorana bound states (MBSs) at its ends, which can interact between them with an effective coupling strength. We find a signature of bound states in continuum (BIC) in the MBSs spectral function. By allowing finite inter MBSs coupling, BICs splitting is observed and shows projection in transmission for asymmetric coupling case as cuasi-BICs. As a consequence, we also show that the Fano effect, arising from interference phenomena between MBSs hybridization trough QD, is observed with a half-integer amplitude modulation. We believe our findings can help to better understand the properties of MBSs and their interplay with QDs., Comment: 7 figures, 7 pages

We prove that the Dirichlet $L$-functions associated with Dirichlet characters in $\mathbb{F}_{q}[x]$ are universal. That is, given a modulus of high enough degree, $L$-functions with characters to this modulus can be found that approximate any given nonvanishing analytic function arbitrarily closely., Comment: There is a mistake in the paper. We will upload a new version as soon as the mistake is fixed

We investigate through Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) the statistical properties of turbulent flows in the inertial subrange for non-Newtonian power-law fluids. The structural invariance found for the vortex size distribution is achieved through a self-organized mechanism at the microscopic scale of the turbulent motion that adjusts, according to the rheological properties of the fluid, the ratio between the viscous dissipations inside and outside the vortices. Moreover, the deviations from the K41 theory of the structure functions' exponents reveal that the anomalous scaling exhibits a systematic nonuniversal behavior with respect to the rheological properties of the fluids., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Recent experiments on measuring time-delays during tunnelling of cold atoms through an optically created potential barrier are reinvigorating the controversial debate regarding possible time-delays during light-induced tunnelling of an electron from an atom. Compelling theoretical and experimental arguments have been put forward to advocate opposite views, confirming or refuting the existence of finite tunnelling time delays. Yet, such a delay, whether present or not, is but a single quantity characterizing the tunnelling wavepacket; the underlying dynamics are richer. Here we propose to augment photo-electron detection in laser-induced tunnelling with detection of light emitted by the tunnelling electron -- the so-called Brunel radiation. Using a combination of single-color and two-color driving fields, we identify the all-optical signatures of the re-shaping of the tunnelling wavepacket as it emerges from the tunnelling barrier and moves away from the core. This reshaping includes not only an effective time-delay but also time-reversal asymmetry of the ionization process, which we describe theoretically and observe experimentally. We show how both delay and reshaping are mapped on the polarization properties of the Brunel radiation, with different harmonics behaving as different hands of a clock moving at different speeds. The all-optical detection paves the way to time-resolving optical tunnelling in condensed matter systems, e.g. tunnelling across bandgaps in solids, on the attosecond time-scale., Comment: In the last version, only an acknowledgement has been changed in comparison to the pre-last one

We theoretically consider a quantum magnetic impurity coupled to a superconductor, and obtain the local density of states at the position of the impurity taking into account the effect of spin-fluctuations and single-ion magnetic anisotropy. We particularly focus on the spectrum of subgap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR or Shiba) states induced by a quantum impurity with easy- or hard-axis uniaxial anisotropy. Although this is a relevant experimental situation in, e.g., magnetic adatoms on the surface of clean metals, it is customary that theoretical descriptions assume a classical-spin approximation which is not able to account for single-ion anisotropy and other quantum effects. Here, quantum fluctuations of the spin are taken into account in the equations of motion of the electronic Green's function in the weak-coupling limit, and considerably modify the energy of the Shiba states compared to the classical-spin approximation. Our results point towards the importance of incorporating quantum fluctuations and anisotropy effects for the correct interpretation of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. New version contains substantial improvements regarding the theoretical formalism

In this work, we study the bound states in the continuum (BICs) in a system formed by a triple quantum dot array embedded between two one-dimensional topological superconductors, both hosting Majorana bound states (MBSs) at its ends. The results show the formation of BICs with topological characteristics due to the presence of MBSs. The latter is a consequence of the interplay between the BIC arising from quantum dots states by means of energy level symmetry breaking through gate voltages, and MBSs leaked into the quantum dots. The BIC is not observed when both TSCs are in long wire limit, i. e. for vanishing inter MBSs coupling, while it projects into the electronic transmission whenever the inter MBSs couplings are away from zero, regardless if they are different and/or the phase difference between both TSCs. We study the behavior of BICs poisoned by MBSs as a function of the parameters that are controlling the system. We believe our findings could be useful to implement a protection tool for BICs using MBSs based on tunable gate voltages., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

We study the transport properties of an interferometer composed by a quantum dot (QD) coupled with two normal leads and two one-dimensional topological superconductor nanowires (TNWs) hosting Majorana bound states (MBS) at their ends. The geometry considered is such that one TNW has both ends connected with the QD, forming an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer threaded by an external magnetic flux, while the other TNW is placed near the interferometer TNW. This geometry can alternatively be seen as a long wire contacted across a local defect, with possible coupling between independent-MBS. We use the Green's function formalism to calculate the conductance across normal current leads on the QD. We find that the conductance exhibits a half-quantum value regardless of the AB phase and location of the dot energy level, whenever the interferometer configuration interacts with the neighboring TNW. These findings suggest that such a geometry could be used for a sensitive detection of MBS interactions across TNWs, exploiting the high sensitivity of conductance to the AB phase in the interferometer., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

In this work, we study the conductance and the thermoelectric properties of a quantum dot embedded between two metallic leads with a side-coupled triple quantum dot molecule under a magnetic field. We focus on the spin polarization and thermoelectric quantities. Our results show the possibility of design an efficient spin filter device besides a noticeable enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient driven by the asymmetry in the quantum dots energy levels and a tunable pure spin Seebeck effect is obtained. This behavior also holds in the interacting case, where a pure spin Seebeck effect can be obtained for fixed values of the embedded quantum dot energy level. Our findings could lead to the implementation of a new pure spin energy conversion and capable spin filter devices working with weak magnetic fields., Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures

We analyze, from a quantum information theory perspective, the possibility of realizing a SU(4) entangled Kondo regime in semiconductor double quantum dot devices. We focus our analysis on the ground state properties and consider the general experimental situation where the coupling parameters of the two quantum dots differ. We model each quantum dot with an Anderson type Hamiltonian including an interdot Coulomb repulsion and tunnel couplings for each quantum dot to independent fermionic baths. We find that the spin and pseudospin entanglements can be made equal, and the SU(4) symmetry recovered, if the gate voltages are chosen in such a way that the average charge occupancies of the two quantum dots are equal, and the double occupancy on the double quantum dot is suppressed. We present density matrix renormalization group numerical results for the spin and pseudospin entanglement entropies, and analytical results for a simplified model that captures the main physics of the problem., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, Phys. Rev. B