Direct Detection Signals from Absorption of Fermionic Dark Matter

We present a new class of direct detection signals; absorption of fermionic dark matter. We enumerate the operators through dimension six which lead to fermionic absorption, study their direct detection prospects, and summarize additional constraints on their suppression scale. Such dark matter is inherently unstable as there is no symmetry which prevents dark matter decays. Nevertheless, we show that fermionic dark matter absorption can be observed in direct detection and neutrino experiments while ensuring consistency with the observed dark matter abundance and required lifetime. For dark matter masses well below the GeV scale, dedicated searches for these signals at current and future experiments can probe orders of magnitude of unexplored parameter space.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. v2: published in PRL with minor revisions and changes to Fig 2 (no change to results

Stability of solitons in time-modulated two-dimensional lattices

We develop stability analysis for matter-wave solitons in a two-dimensional (2D) Bose-Einstein condensate loaded in an optical lattice (OL), to which periodic time modulation is applied, in different forms. The stability is studied by dint of the variational approximation and systematic simulations. For solitons in the semi-infinite gap, well-defined stability patterns are produced under the action of the attractive nonlinearity, clearly exhibiting the presence of resonance frequencies. The analysis is reported for several time-modulation formats, including the case of in-phase modulations of both quasi-1D sublattices, which build the 2D square-shaped OL, and setups with asynchronous modulation of the sublattices. In particular, when the modulations of two sublattices are phase-shifted by {\delta}={\pi}/2, the stability map is not improved, as the originally well-structured stability pattern becomes fuzzy and the stability at high modulation frequencies is considerably reduced. Mixed results are obtained for anti-phase modulations of the sublattices ({\delta}={\pi}), where extended stability regions are found for low modulation frequencies, but for high frequencies the stability is weakened. The analysis is also performed in the case of the repulsive nonlinearity, for solitons in the first finite bandgap. It is concluded that, even though stability regions may be found, distinct stability boundaries for the gap solitons cannot be identified clearly. Finally, the stability is also explored for vortex solitons of both the "square-shaped" and "rhombic" types (i.e., off- and on-site-centered ones).Comment: Nonlinear Dynamics, to be publishe

Spontaneous symmetry breaking of self-trapped and leaky modes in quasi-double-well potentials

We investigate competition between two phase transitions of the second kind induced by the self-attractive nonlinearity, viz., self-trapping of the leaky modes, and spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of both fully trapped and leaky states. We use a one-dimensional mean-field model, which combines the cubic nonlinearity and a double-well-potential (DWP) structure with an elevated floor, which supports leaky modes (quasi-bound states) in the linear limit. The setting can be implemented in nonlinear optics and BEC. The order in which the SSB and self-trapping transitions take place with the growth of the nonlinearity strength depends on the height of the central barrier of the DWP: the SSB happens first if the barrier is relatively high, while self-trapping comes first if the barrier is lower. The SSB of the leaky modes is characterized by specific asymmetry of their radiation tails, which, in addition, feature a resonant dependence on the relation between the total size of the system and radiation wavelength. As a result of the SSB, the instability of symmetric modes initiates spontaneous Josephson oscillations. Collisions of freely moving solitons with the DWP structure admit trapping of an incident soliton into a state of persistent shuttle motion, due to emission of radiation. The study is carried out numerically, and basic results are explained by means of analytical considerations.Comment: Physical Review A, in pres