Finite-temperature conductance of strongly interacting quantum wire with a nuclear spin order

We study the temperature dependence of the electrical conductance of a clean strongly interacting quantum wire in the presence of a helical nuclear spin order. The nuclear spin helix opens a temperature-dependent partial gap in the electron spectrum. Using a bosonization framework we describe the gapped electron modes by sine-Gordon-like kinks. We predict an internal resistivity caused by an Ohmic-like friction these kinks experience via interacting with gapless excitations. As a result, the conductance rises from $G=e^2/h$ at temperatures below the critical temperature when nuclear spins are fully polarized to $G=2e^2/h$ at higher temperatures when the order is destroyed, featuring a relatively wide plateau in the intermediate regime. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental data for GaAs quantum wires obtained recently by Scheller et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 066801 (2014)].Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Lifetime of Majorana qubits in Rashba nanowires with non-uniform chemical potential

We study the lifetime of topological qubits based on Majorana bound states hosted in a one-dimensional Rashba nanowire (NW) with proximity-induced superconductivity and non-uniform chemical potential needed for manipulation and read-out. If nearby gates tune the chemical potential locally so that part of the NW is in the trivial phase, Andreev bound states (ABSs) can emerge which are localized at the interface between topological and trivial phases with energies significantly less than the gap. The emergence of such subgap states strongly decreases the Majorana qubit lifetime at finite temperatures due to local perturbations that can excite the system into these ABSs. Using Keldysh formalism, we study such excitations caused by fluctuating charges in capacitively coupled gates and calculate the corresponding Majorana lifetimes due to thermal noise, which are shown to be much shorter than those in NWs with uniform chemical potential.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Stabilization of the surface CDW order parameter by long-range Coulomb interaction

We study theoretically formation of two-dimensional (2D) charge density wave (CDW) in a system of conducting chains at the surface of an insulator due to interaction of quasi 1D surface electrons with phonons. We show that the unscreened long-range Coloumb interaction between the charges induced by fluctuations of the CDW phase stabilizes the finite order parameter value at finite temperatures, and thus the long-range order (LRO) exists. In the case of screened Coloumb interaction the phase fluctuations suppress the phase transition, but decay of the order parameter is rather slow, it obeys a power-law $\propto r^{-\gamma}$ with small exponent $\gamma

A Dynamic Model of Stochastic Innovation Race: Leader-Follower Case

We provide steps towards analysis of rational behaviors of innovators acting on a market of a technological product. The situation when a technological leader competes with a large number of identical followers is in the focus. The process of development of new generations of the product is treated as a Poisson-type cyclic stochastic process. The technology spillovers effect acts as a driving force of the technological progress. We obtain an analytic characterization of optimal leaders R&D and manufacturing investment policies. Numerical simulations and economic interpretations are presented as well

Degeneracy lifting of Majorana bound states due to electron-phonon interactions

We study theoretically how electron-phonon interaction affects the energies and level broadening (inverse lifetime) of Majorana bound states (MBSs) in a clean topological nanowire at low temperatures. At zero temperature, the energy splitting between the right and left MBSs remains exponentially small with increasing nanowire length $L$. At finite temperatures, however, the absorption of thermal phonons leads to the broadening of energy levels of the MBSs that does not decay with system length, and the coherent absorption/emission of phonons at opposite ends of the nanowire results in MBSs energy splitting that decays only as an inverse power-law in $L$. Both effects remain exponential in temperature. In the case of quantized transverse motion of phonons, the presence of Van Hove singularities in the phonon density of states causes additional resonant enhancement of both the energy splitting and the level broadening of the MBSs. This is the most favorable case to observe the phonon-induced energy splitting of MBSs as it becomes much larger than the broadening even if the topological nanowire is much longer than the coherence length. We also calculate the charge and spin associated with the energy splitting of the MBSs induced by phonons. We consider both a spinless low-energy continuum model, which we evaluate analytically, as well as a spinful lattice model for a Rashba nanowire, which we evaluate numerically

Heavy-Ion Beam Acceleration of Two-Charge States from an Ecr Ion Source

This paper describes a design for the front end of a superconducting (SC) ion linac which can accept and simultaneously accelerate two charge states of uranium from an ECR ion source. This mode of operation increases the beam current available for the heaviest ions by a factor of two. We discuss the 12 MeV/u prestripper section of the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) driver linac including the LEBT, RFQ, MEBT and SC sections, with a total voltage of 112 MV. The LEBT consists of two bunchers and electrostatic quadrupoles. The fundamental frequency of both bunchers is half of the RFQ frequency. The first buncher is a multiharmonic buncher, designed to accept more than 80% of each charge state and to form bunches of extremely low longitudinal emittance (rms emittance is lower than 0.2 keV/u nsec) at the output of the RFQ. The second buncher is located directly in front of the RFQ and matches the velocity of each charge-state bunch to the design input velocity of the RFQ. We present full 3D simulations of a two-charge-state uranium beam including space charge forces in the LEBT and RFQ, realistic distributions of all electric and magnetic fields along the whole prestripper linac, and the effects of errors, evaluated for several design options for the prestripper linac. The results indicate that it is possible to accelerate two charge states while keeping emittance growth within tolerable limits.Comment: LINAC2000, MOD0