588 research outputs found
Endstates in multichannel spinless p-wave superconducting wires
Multimode spinless p-wave superconducting wires with a width W much smaller
than the superconducting coherence length \xi are known to have multiple
low-energy subgap states localized near the wire's ends. Here we compare the
typical energies of such endstates for various terminations of the wire: A
superconducting wire coupled to a normal-metal stub, a weakly disordered
superconductor wire and a wire with smooth confinement. Depending on the
termination, we find that the energies of the subgap states can be higher or
lower than for the case of a rectangular wire with hard-wall boundaries.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Rigorous Calculations of Non-Abelian Statistics in the Kitaev Honeycomb Model
We develop a rigorous and highly accurate technique for calculation of the
Berry phase in systems with a quadratic Hamiltonian within the context of the
Kitaev honeycomb lattice model. The method is based on the recently found
solution of the model which uses the Jordan-Wigner-type fermionization in an
exact effective spin-hardcore boson representation. We specifically simulate
the braiding of two non-Abelian vortices (anyons) in a four vortex system
characterized by a two-fold degenerate ground state. The result of the braiding
is the non-Abelian Berry matrix which is in excellent agreement with the
predictions of the effective field theory. The most precise results of our
simulation are characterized by an error on the order of or lower. We
observe exponential decay of the error with the distance between vortices,
studied in the range from one to nine plaquettes. We also study its correlation
with the involved energy gaps and provide preliminary analysis of the relevant
adiabaticity conditions. The work allows to investigate the Berry phase in
other lattice models including the Yao-Kivelson model and particularly the
square-octagon model. It also opens the possibility of studying the Berry phase
under non-adiabatic and other effects which may constitute important sources of
errors in topological quantum computation.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, 3 appendice
A Description of Kitaev's Honeycomb Model with Toric-Code Stabilizers
We present a solution of Kitaev's spin model on the honeycomb lattice and of
related topologically ordered spin models. We employ a Jordan-Wigner type
fermionization and find that the Hamiltonian takes a BCS type form, allowing
the system to be solved by Bogoliubov transformation. Our fermionization does
not employ non-physical auxiliary degrees of freedom and the eigenstates we
obtain are completely explicit in terms of the spin variables. The ground-state
is obtained as a BCS condensate of fermion pairs over a vacuum state which
corresponds to the toric code state with the same vorticity. We show in detail
how to calculate all eigenstates and eigenvalues of the model on the torus. In
particular, we find that the topological degeneracy on the torus descends
directly from that of the toric code, which now supplies four vacua for the
fermions, one for each choice of periodic vs. anti-periodic boundary
conditions. The reduction of the degeneracy in the non-Abelian phase of the
model is seen to be due to the vanishing of one of the corresponding candidate
BCS ground-states in that phase. This occurs in particular in the fully
periodic vortex-free sector. The true ground-state in this sector is exhibited
and shown to be gapped away from the three partially anti-periodic
ground-states whenever the non-Abelian phase is gapped.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Multi-wavelength Observations of Dusty Star Formation at Low and High Redshift
This paper examines what can be learned about high-redshift star formation
from the small fraction of high-redshift galaxies' luminosities that is emitted
at accessible wavelengths. We review and quantify empirical correlations
between bolometric luminosities produced by star formation and the UV, mid-IR,
sub-mm, and radio luminosities of galaxies in the local universe. These
correlations suggest that observations of high-redshift galaxies at any of
these wavelengths should constrain their star-formation rates to within
0.2--0.3 dex. We assemble the limited evidence that high-redshift galaxies obey
these locally calibrated correlations. The characteristic luminosities and dust
obscurations of galaxies at z ~ 0, z ~ 1, and z ~ 3 are reviewed. After
discussing the relationship between the high-redshift populations selected in
surveys at different wavelengths, we calculate the contribution to the 850um
background from each. The available data show that a correlation between
star-formation rate and dust obscuration L_dust/L_UV exists at low and high
redshift. This correlation plays a central role in the major conclusion of this
paper: most star formation at high redshift occurred in galaxies with 1 <
L_dust/L_UV < 100 similar to those that host the majority of star formation in
the local universe and to those that are detected in UV-selected surveys.
(abridged)Comment: Scheduled for publication in ApJ v544 Dec 2000. Significant changes
to section 4. Characteristic UV and dust luminosities of star-forming
galaxies at redshifts z~0, z~1, and z~3 presented. Existence of extremely
obscured galaxies more clearly acknowledged. Original conclusions reinforced
by the observed correlation between bolometric luminosity and dust
obscuration at 0<z<
The modular S-matrix as order parameter for topological phase transitions
We study topological phase transitions in discrete gauge theories in two
spatial dimensions induced by the formation of a Bose condensate. We analyse a
general class of euclidean lattice actions for these theories which contain one
coupling constant for each conjugacy class of the gauge group. To probe the
phase structure we use a complete set of open and closed anyonic string
operators. The open strings allow one to determine the particle content of the
condensate, whereas the closed strings enable us to determine the matrix
elements of the modular -matrix, also in the broken phase. From the measured
broken -matrix we may read off the sectors that split or get identified in
the broken phase, as well as the sectors that are confined. In this sense the
modular -matrix can be employed as a matrix valued non-local order parameter
from which the low-energy effective theories that occur in different regions of
parameter space can be fully determined.
To verify our predictions we studied a non-abelian anyon model based on the
quaternion group of order eight by Monte Carlo simulation. We
probe part of the phase diagram for the pure gauge theory and find a variety of
phases with magnetic condensates leading to various forms of (partial)
confinement in complete agreement with the algebraic breaking analysis. Also
the order of various transitions is established.Comment: 37 page
Zero-voltage conductance peak from weak antilocalization in a Majorana nanowire
We show that weak antilocalization by disorder competes with resonant Andreev
reflection from a Majorana zero-mode to produce a zero-voltage conductance peak
of order e^2/h in a superconducting nanowire. The phase conjugation needed for
quantum interference to survive a disorder average is provided by particle-hole
symmetry - in the absence of time-reversal symmetry and without requiring a
topologically nontrivial phase. We identify methods to distinguish the Majorana
resonance from the weak antilocalization effect.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. Addendum, February 2014: Appendix B shows
results for weak antilocalization in the circular ensemble. (This appendix is
not in the published version.
M\"ossbauer Antineutrinos: Recoilless Resonant Emission and Absorption of Electron Antineutrinos
Basic questions concerning phononless resonant capture of monoenergetic
electron antineutrinos (M\"ossbauer antineutrinos) emitted in bound-state
beta-decay in the 3H - 3He system are discussed. It is shown that lattice
expansion and contraction after the transformation of the nucleus will
drastically reduce the probability of phononless transitions and that various
solid-state effects will cause large line broadening. As a possible
alternative, the rare-earth system 163Ho - 163Dy is favoured.
M\"ossbauer-antineutrino experiments could be used to gain new and deep
insights into several basic problems in neutrino physics
First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star
We present a search for periodic gravitational waves from the neutron star in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia
A. The search coherently analyzes data in a 12 day interval taken from the fifth science run of the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It searches gravitational-wave frequencies from 100 to 300 Hz
and covers a wide range of first and second frequency derivatives appropriate for the age of the remnant and
for different spin-down mechanisms. No gravitational-wave signal was detected. Within the range of search
frequencies, we set 95% confidence upper limits of (0.7–1.2) × 10^(−24) on the intrinsic gravitational-wave
strain, (0.4–4) × 10^(−4) on the equatorial ellipticity of the neutron star, and 0.005–0.14 on the amplitude of
r-mode oscillations of the neutron star. These direct upper limits beat indirect limits derived from energy
conservation and enter the range of theoretical predictions involving crystalline exotic matter or runaway r-modes.
This paper is also the first gravitational-wave search to present upper limits on the r-mode amplitude
Upper Limits on a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory has performed a third science run with much improved sensitivities of all three interferometers. We present an analysis of approximately 200 hours of data acquired during this run, used to search for a stochastic background of gravitational radiation. We place upper bounds on the energy density stored as gravitational radiation for three different spectral power laws. For the flat spectrum, our limit of Ω_0<8.4×10^(-4) in the 69–156 Hz band is ~10^5 times lower than the previous result in this frequency range
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