Analytic study of the three-urn model for separation of sand

We present an analytic study of the three-urn model for separation of sand. We solve analytically the master equation and the first-passage problem. We find that the stationary probability distribution obeys the detailed balance and is governed by the {\it free energy}. We find that the characteristic lifetime of a cluster diverges algebraically with exponent 1/3 at the limit of stability.Comment: 5pages, 4 figures include

Temperature-dependent Fermi surface evolution in heavy fermion CeIrIn5

In Cerium-based heavy electron materials, the 4f electron's magnetic moments bind to the itinerant quasiparticles to form composite heavy quasiparticles at low temperature. The volume of the Fermi surfacein the Brillouin zone incorporates the moments to produce a "large FS" due to the Luttinger theorem. When the 4f electrons are localized free moments, a "small FS" is induced since it contains only broad bands of conduction spd electrons. We have addressed theoretically the evolution of the heavy fermion FS as a function of temperature, using a first principles dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) approach combined with density functional theory (DFT+DMFT). We focus on the archetypical heavy electrons in CeIrIn5, which is believed to be near a quantum critical point. Upon cooling, both the quantum oscillation frequencies and cyclotron masses show logarithmic scaling behavior (~ ln(T_0/T)) with different characteristic temperatures T_0 = 130 and 50 K, respectively. The resistivity coherence peak observed at T ~ 50 K is the result of the competition between the binding of incoherent 4f electrons to the spd conduction electrons at Fermi level and the formation of coherent 4f electrons.Comment: 5 pages main article,3 figures for the main article, 2 page Supplementary information, 2 figures for the Supplementary information. Supplementary movie 1 and 2 are provided on the webpage(http://www-ph.postech.ac.kr/~win/supple.html

Electronic structure of YbB6_{6}: Is it a Topological Insulator or not?

To resolve the controversial issue of the topological nature of the electronic structure of YbB$_{6}$, we have made a combined study using density functional theory (DFT) and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Accurate determination of the low energy band topology in DFT requires the use of modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential incorporating the spin-orbit coupling and the on-site Coulomb interaction $U$ of Yb $4f$ electrons as large as 7 eV. We have double-checked the DFT result with the more precise GW band calculation. ARPES is done with the non-polar (110) surface termination to avoid band bending and quantum well confinement that have confused ARPES spectra taken on the polar (001) surface termination. Thereby we show definitively that YbB$_{6}$ has a topologically trivial B 2$p$-Yb 5$d$ semiconductor band gap, and hence is a non-Kondo non-topological insulator (TI). In agreement with theory, ARPES shows pure divalency for Yb and a $p$-$d$ band gap of 0.3 eV, which clearly rules out both of the previous scenarios of $f$-$d$ band inversion Kondo TI and $p$-$d$ band inversion non-Kondo TI. We have also examined the pressure-dependent electronic structure of YbB$_{6}$, and found that the high pressure phase is not a Kondo TI but a \emph{p}-\emph{d} overlap semimetal.Comment: The main text is 6 pages with 4 figures, and the supplementary information contains 6 figures. 11 pages, 10 figures in total To be appeared in Phys. Rev. Lett. (Online publication is around March 16 if no delays.

Superconductivity of metastable dihydrides at ambient pressure

Hydrogen in metals is a significant research area with far-reaching implications, encompassing diverse fields such as hydrogen storage, metal-insulator transitions, and the recently emerging phenomenon of room-temperature (\textit{T_C}) superconductivity under high pressure. Hydrogen atoms pose challenges in experiments as they are nearly invisible, and they are considered within ideal crystalline structures in theoretical predictions, which hampers research on the formation of meta-stable hydrides. Here, we propose pressure-induced hydrogen migration from tetrahedral site ($\textit{T}$) to octahedral site ($\textit{O}$),forming $LaH_x^OH_{2-x}^{T}$ in cubic $LaH^2$.Under decompression, it retains $H_x^O$ occupancy, and is dynamically stable even at ambient pressure, enabling a synthesis route of metastable dihydrides via compression-decompression process. We predict that the electron phonon coupling strength of $LaH_x^OH_{2-x}^{T}$ is enhanced with increasing $\textit{x}$, and the associated \textit{T_C} reaches up to 10.8 $\textit{K}$ at ambient pressure. Furthermore, we calculated stoichiometric hydrogen migration threshold pressure (\textit{P_C}) for various lanthanides dihydrides ($\textit{R}$$H_2$, where $\textit{R}$=Y, Sc, Nd, and Lu), and found an inversely linear relation between \textit{P_C} and ionic radii of $\textit{R}$. We propose that the highest \textit{T_C} in the face-centered-cubic dihydride system can be realized by optimizing the $\textit{O}$/$\textit{T}$-site occupancies