An explanation for a universality of transition temperatures in families of copper oxide superconductors

A remarkable mystery of the copper oxide high-transition-temperature (Tc) superconductors is the dependence of Tc on the number of CuO2 layers, n, in the unit cell of a crystal. In a given family of these superconductors, Tc rises with the number of layers, reaching a peak at n=3, and then declines: the result is a bell-shaped curve. Despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon, it is still poorly understood and attention has instead been mainly focused on the properties of a single CuO2 plane. Here we show that the quantum tunnelling of Cooper pairs between the layers simply and naturally explains the experimental results, when combined with the recently quantified charge imbalance of the layers and the latest notion of a competing order nucleated by this charge imbalance that suppresses superconductivity. We calculate the bell-shaped curve and show that, if materials can be engineered so as to minimize the charge imbalance as n increases, Tc can be raised further.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. The version published in Natur

Do Bid-Ask Spreads Or Bid and Ask Depths Convey New Information First?

This paper investigates the order in which new information is first reflected in the market – through changes in spreads or through updated depths. We develop an error correction model of spreads and depths and estimate Gonzalo-Granger common factor components using two years of tick-by-tick quote data on all stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We show that indeed depths rather than spreads are first to impound new information that leads to new quote trends. Specifically, (bid and ask) depths convey information first in virtually every stock in both years, while spreads almost never convey information in 1998, and do so in only 8 out of 30 cases in 1995. Even in those 8 cases, the percentage of new information revealed by spreads ranges from 50 – 59% with the depths accounting for the rest. Our results have important implications for academic research on asymmetric information trading, for security market design, and for public policy.VECM, spreads, depths, information,

The effects of magnetic field on the d-density wave order in the cuprates

We consider the effects of a perpendicular magnetic field on the d-density wave order and conclude that if the pseudogap phase in the cuprates is due to this order, then it is highly insensitive to the magnetic field in the underdoped regime, while its sensitivity increases as the gap vanishes in the overdoped regime. This appears to be consistent with the available experiments and can be tested further in neutron scattering experiments. We also investigate the nature of the de Haas- van Alphen effect in the ordered state and discuss the possibility of observing it.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTex4. Corrected a silly but important typo in the abstrac

Quantum dynamics of an Ising spin-chain in a random transverse field

We consider an Ising spin-chain in a random transverse magnetic field and compute the zero temperature wave vector and frequency dependent dynamic structure factor numerically by using Jordan-Wigner transformation. Two types of distributions of magnetic fields are introduced. For a rectangular distribution, a dispersing branch is observed, and disorder tends to broaden the dispersion peak and close the excitation gap. For a binary distribution, a non-dispersing branch at almost zero energy is recovered. We discuss the relationship of our work to the neutron scattering measurement in $\mathrm{LiHoF_4}$.Comment: 4 pages and 6 eps figures; minor clarifications were made; the text was shortened to add an additional figur

Sharp signature of DDW quantum critical point in the Hall coefficient of the cuprates

We study the behavior of the Hall coefficient, $R_H$, in a system exhibiting $d_{{x^2}-{y^2}}$ density-wave (DDW) order in a regime in which the carrier concentration, $x$, is tuned to approach a quantum critical point at which the order is destroyed. At the mean-field level, we find that $n_{\rm Hall}=1/R_H$ evinces a sharp signature of the transition. There is a kink in $n_{\rm Hall}$ at the critical value of the carrier concentration, $x_c$; as the critical point is approached from the ordered side, the slope of $n_{\rm Hall}$ diverges. Hall transport experiments in the cuprates, at high magnetic fields sufficient to destroy superconductivity, should reveal this effect.Comment: 5 pages, 2 eps figure

Dynamical simulation of current fluctuations in a dissipative two-state system

Current fluctuations in a dissipative two-state system have been studied using a novel quantum dynamics simulation method. After a transformation of the path integrals, the tunneling dynamics is computed by deterministic integration over the real-time paths under the influence of colored noise. The nature of the transition from coherent to incoherent dynamics at low temperatures is re-examined.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter

Modulation of the local density of states within the dd-density wave theory in the underdoped cuprates

The low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy spectra in the underdoped regime is analyzed from the perspective of coexisting $d$-density wave and d-wave superconducting states. The calculations are carried out in the presence of a low concentration of unitary impurities and within the framework of the fully self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory, which allows local modulations of the magnitude of the order parameters in response to the impurities. Our theory captures the essential aspects of the experiments in the underdoped BSCCO at very low temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTex4. New added material as well as reference

Theory of d-density wave viewed from a vertex model and its implications

The thermal disordering of the $d$-density wave, proposed to be the origin of the pseudogap state of high temperature superconductors, is suggested to be the same as that of the statistical mechanical model known as the 6-vertex model. The low temperature phase consists of a staggered order parameter of circulating currents, while the disordered high temperature phase is a power-law phase with no order. A special feature of this transition is the complete lack of an observable specific heat anomaly at the transition. There is also a transition at a even higher temperature at which the magnitude of the order parameter collapses. These results are due to classical thermal fluctuations and are entirely unrelated to a quantum critical point in the ground state. The quantum mechanical ground state can be explored by incorporating processes that causes transitions between the vertices, allowing us to discuss quantum phase transition in the ground state as well as the effect of quantum criticality at a finite temperature as distinct from the power-law fluctuations in the classical regime. A generalization of the model on a triangular lattice that leads to a 20-vertex model may shed light on the Wigner glass picture of the metal-insulator transition in two-dimensional electron gas. The power-law ordered high temperature phase may be generic to a class of constrained systems and its relation to recent advances in the quantum dimer models is noted.Comment: RevTex4, 10 pages, 11 figure