Ground states of hard-core bosons in one dimensional periodic potentials

With Girardeau's Fermi-Bose mapping, we find the exact ground states of hard-core bosons residing in a one dimensional periodic potential. The analysis of these ground states shows that when the number of bosons $N$ is commensurate with the number of wells $M$ in the periodic potential, the boson system is a Mott insulator whose energy gap, however, is given by the single-particle band gap of the periodic potential; when $N$ is not commensurate with $M$, the system is a metal (not a superfluid). In fact, we argue that there may be no superfluid phase for any one-dimensional boson system in terms of Landau's criterion of superfluidity. The Kronig-Penney potential is used to illustrate our results.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Observation of a metallic superfluid in a numerical experiment

We report the observation, in Monte Carlo simulations, of a novel type of quantum ordered state: {\it the metallic superfluid}. The metallic superfluid features ohmic resistance to counter-flows of protons and electrons, while featuring dissipationless co-flows of electrons and protons. One of the candidates for a physical realization of this remarkable state of matter is hydrogen or its isotopes under high compression. This adds another potential candidate to the presently known quantum dissipationless states, namely superconductors, superfluid liquids and vapours, and supersolids.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Static and dynamic properties of crystalline phases of two-dimensional electrons in a strong magnetic field

We study the cohesive energy and elastic properties as well as normal modes of the Wigner and bubble crystals of the two-dimensional electron system (2DES) in higher Landau levels. Using a simple Hartree-Fock approach, we show that the shear moduli ($c_{66}$'s) of these electronic crystals show a non-monotonic behavior as a function of the partial filling factor $\nu^*$ at any given Landau level, with $c_{66}$ increasing for small values of $\nu^*$, before reaching a maximum at some intermediate filling factor $\nu^*_m$, and monotonically decreasing for $\nu^*>\nu^*_m$. We also go beyond previous treatments, and study how the phase diagram and elastic properties of electron solids are changed by the effects of screening by electrons in lower Landau levels, and by a finite thickness of the experimental sample. The implications of these results on microwave resonance experiments are briefly discussed.Comment: Discussion updated - 16 pages, 10 figures; version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Controllable pi junction with magnetic nanostructures

We propose a novel Josephson device in which 0 and $\pi$ states are controlled by an electrical current. In this system, the $\pi$ state appears in a superconductor/normal metal/superconductor junction due to the non-local spin accumulation in the normal metal which is induced by spin injection from a ferromagnetic electrode. Our proposal offers not only new possibilities for application of superconducting spin-electronic devices but also the in-depth understanding of the spin-dependent phenomena in magnetic nanostructures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Local Realism of Macroscopic Correlations

We show that for macroscopic measurements which cannot reveal full information about microscopic states of the system, the monogamy of Bell inequality violations present in quantum mechanics implies that practically all correlations between macroscopic measurements can be described by local realistic models. Our results hold for sharp measurement and arbitrary closed quantum systems.Comment: 9 pages incl. one Appendix, 2 figure

Geometric origin of excess low-frequency vibrational modes in amorphous solids

Glasses have a large excess of low-frequency vibrational modes in comparison with crystalline solids. We show that such a feature is a necessary consequence of the geometry generic to weakly connected solids. In particular, we analyze the density of states of a recently simulated system, comprised of weakly compressed spheres at zero temperature. We account for the observed a) constancy of the density of modes with frequency, b) appearance of a low-frequency cutoff, and c) power-law increase of this cutoff with compression. We predict a length scale below which vibrations are very different from those of a continuous elastic body.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Argument rewritten, identical result

Conductance quantization and snake states in graphene magnetic waveguides

We consider electron waveguides (quantum wires) in graphene created by suitable inhomogeneous magnetic fields. The properties of uni-directional snake states are discussed. For a certain magnetic field profile, two spatially separated counter-propagating snake states are formed, leading to conductance quantization insensitive to backscattering by impurities or irregularities of the magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, final version accepted as Rapid Comm. in PR

A joint time-dependent density-functional theory for excited states of electronic systems in solution

We present a novel joint time-dependent density-functional theory for the description of solute-solvent systems in time-dependent external potentials. Starting with the exact quantum-mechanical action functional for both electrons and nuclei, we systematically eliminate solvent degrees of freedom and thus arrive at coarse-grained action functionals which retain the highly accurate \emph{ab initio} description for the solute and are, in principle, exact. This procedure allows us to examine approximations underlying popular embedding theories for excited states. Finally, we introduce a novel approximate action functional for the solute-water system and compute the solvato-chromic shift of the lowest singlet excited state of formaldehyde in aqueous solution, which is in good agreement with experimental findings.Comment: 11 page

Anisotropic states of two-dimensional electrons in high magnetic fields

We study the collective states formed by two-dimensional electrons in Landau levels of index $n\ge 2$ near half-filling. By numerically solving the self-consistent Hartree-Fock (HF) equations for a set of oblique two-dimensional lattices, we find that the stripe state is an anisotropic Wigner crystal (AWC), and determine its precise structure for varying values of the filling factor. Calculating the elastic energy, we find that the shear modulus of the AWC is small but finite (nonzero) within the HF approximation. This implies, in particular, that the long-wavelength magnetophonon mode in the stripe state vanishes like $q^{3/2}$ as in an ordinary Wigner crystal, and not like $q^{5/2}$ as was found in previous studies where the energy of shear deformations was neglected.Comment: minor corrections; 5 pages, 4 figures; version to be published in Physical Review Letter

Resistance of superconducting nanowires connected to normal metal leads

We study experimentally the low temperature resistance of superconducting nanowires connected to normal metal reservoirs. We find that a substantial fraction of the nanowires is resistive, down to the lowest temperature measured, indicative of an intrinsic boundary resistance due to the Andreev-conversion of normal current to supercurrent. The results are successfully analyzed in terms of the kinetic equations for diffusive superconductors