Weak Topological Insulators in PbTe/SnTe Superlattices

It is desirable to realize topological phases in artificial structures by engineering electronic band structures. In this paper, we investigate $(PbTe)_m(SnTe)_{2n-m}$ superlattices along [001] direction and find a robust weak topological insulator phase for a large variety of layer numbers m and 2n-m. We confirm this topologically non-trivial phase by calculating Z2 topological invariants and topological surface states based on the first-principles calculations. We show that the folding of Brillouin zone due to the superlattice structure plays an essential role in inducing topologically non-trivial phases in this system. This mechanism can be generalized to other systems in which band inversion occurs at multiple momenta, and gives us a brand-new way to engineer topological materials in artificial structures.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, another author adde

A channel Brownian pump powered by an unbiased external force

A Brownian pump of particles in an asymmetric finite tube is investigated in the presence of an unbiased external force. The pumping system is bounded by two particle reservoirs. It is found that the particles can be pumped through the tube from a reservoir at low concentration to one at the same or higher concentration. There exists an optimized value of temperature (or the amplitude of the external force) at which the pumping capacity takes its maximum value. The pumping capacity decreases with increasing the radius at the bottleneck of the tube.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Stellar Parameters and Chemical Abundances of G Giants

We present basic stellar parameters of 99 late-type G giants based on high resolution spectra obtained by the High Dispersion Spectrograph attached to Subaru Telescope. These stars are targets of a Doppler survey program searching for extra-solar planets among evolved stars, with a metallicity of -0.8<[Fe/H]<+0.2. We also derived their abundances of 15 chemical elements, including four $\alpha$-elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), three odd-Z light elements (Al, K, Sc), four iron peak elements (V, Cr, Fe, Ni), and four neutron-capture elements (Y, Ba, La, Eu). Kinematic properties reveal that most of the program stars belong to the thin disk.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, PASJ accepte

Covariant Hamiltonian boundary term: Reference and quasi-local quantities

The Hamiltonian for dynamic geometry generates the evolution of a spatial region along a vector field. It includes a boundary term which determines both the value of the Hamiltonian and the boundary conditions. The value gives the quasi-local quantities: energy-momentum, angular-momentum and center-of-mass. The boundary term depends not only on the dynamical variables but also on their reference values; the latter determine the ground state (having vanishing quasi-local quantities). For our preferred boundary term for Einstein's GR we propose 4D isometric matching and extremizing the energy to determine the reference metric and connection values.Comment: 6 pages, contribution to the Proceedings of the Second LeCosPA Symposium "Everything about Gravity", Taipei, 14-18 Dec., 201

Facilitated movement of inertial Brownian motors driven by a load under an asymmetric potential

Based on recent work [L. Machura, M. Kostur, P. Talkner, J. Luczka, and P. Hanggi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 040601 (2007)], we extend the study of inertial Brownian motors to the case of an asymmetric potential. It is found that some transport phenomena appear in the presence of an asymmetric potential. Within tailored parameter regimes, there exists two optimal values of the load at which the mean velocity takes its maximum, which means that a load can facilitate the transport in the two parameter regimes. In addition, the phenomenon of multiple current reversals can be observed when the load is increased.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure