Topological aspects of quantum spin Hall effect in graphene: Z2_2 topological order and spin Chern number

For generic time-reversal invariant systems with spin-orbit couplings, we clarify a close relationship between the Z$_2$ topological order and the spin Chern number proposed by Kane and Mele and by Sheng {\it et al.}, respectively, in the quantum spin Hall effect. It turns out that a global gauge transformation connects different spin Chern numbers (even integers) modulo 4, which implies that the spin Chern number and the Z$_2$ topological order yield the same classification. We present a method of computing spin Chern numbers and demonstrate it in single and double plane of graphene.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

An edge index for the Quantum Spin-Hall effect

Quantum Spin-Hall systems are topological insulators displaying dissipationless spin currents flowing at the edges of the samples. In contradistinction to the Quantum Hall systems where the charge conductance of the edge modes is quantized, the spin conductance is not and it remained an open problem to find the observable whose edge current is quantized. In this paper, we define a particular observable and the edge current corresponding to this observable. We show that this current is quantized and that the quantization is given by the index of a certain Fredholm operator. This provides a new topological invariant that is shown to take same values as the Spin-Chern number previously introduced in the literature. The result gives an effective tool for the investigation of the edge channels' structure in Quantum Spin-Hall systems. Based on a reasonable assumption, we also show that the edge conducting channels are not destroyed by a random edge.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Topological meaning of Z2_2 numbers in time reversal invariant systems

We show that the Z$_2$ invariant, which classifies the topological properties of time reversal invariant insulators, has deep relationship with the global anomaly. Although the second Chern number is the basic topological invariant characterizing time reversal systems, we show that the relative phase between the Kramers doublet reduces the topological quantum number Z to Z$_2$.Comment: 4 pages, typos correcte

Discovery of very high energy gamma-ray emission in the W 28 (G6.4-0.1) region, and multiwavelength comparisons

H.E.S.S. observations of the old-age (>10^4yr; ~0.5deg diameter) composite supernova remnant (SNR) W 28 reveal very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission situated at its northeastern and southern boundaries. The northeastern VHE source (HESS J1801-233) is in an area where W 28 is interacting with a dense molecular cloud, containing OH masers, local radio and X-ray peaks. The southern VHE sources (HESS J1800-240 with components labelled A, B and C) are found in a region occupied by several HII regions, including the ultracompact HII region W 28A2. Our analysis of NANTEN CO data reveals a dense molecular cloud enveloping this southern region, and our reanalysis of EGRET data reveals MeV/GeV emission centred on HESS J1801-233 and the northeastern interaction region.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the 30th ICRC, Merida, Mexico, 200

Idiopathic macular hole displaced toward optic disc after vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling.

Purpose: To compare the distance between the optic disc and the fovea (disc-to-fovea distance) before and after a successful closure of an idiopathic macular hole (MH) by pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of 37 eyes of 36 patients with a MH that had undergone PPV. The distance between the point of intersection of a blood vessel and the disc margin and the center of the opened or closed MH at 6 months after surgery was measured in the Spectralis HRA+OCT (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) images. Results: The mean disc-to-fovea distance was significantly shorter postoperatively than preoperatively (3,783.7 ±308.5 μm and 3,914.5 ± 320.4 μm, respectively; P<0.0001). The distance in eyes with Stage 3 and 4 MH (n=22) was significantly greater than that in eyes with Stage 2 MH (136.7 ± 134.9 μm vs. 107.8 ± 107.8 μm, respectively; P=0.012; n= 15). Conclusions: The significantly shorter postoperative disc-to-fovea distance in eyes with a closed MH especially Stage 3 and 4 MHs suggests that the fovea moves nasally after PPV with ILM peeling

Statistical mechanics of non-hamiltonian systems: Traffic flow

Statistical mechanics of a small system of cars on a single-lane road is developed. The system is not characterized by a Hamiltonian but by a conditional probability of a velocity of a car for the given velocity and distance of the car ahead. Distribution of car velocities for various densities of a group of cars are derived as well as probabilities of density fluctuations of the group for different velocities. For high braking abilities of cars free-flow and congested phases are found. Platoons of cars are formed for system of cars with inefficient brakes. A first order phase transition between free-flow and congested phase is suggested.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, presented at TGF, Paris, 200

Car-oriented mean-field theory for traffic flow models

We present a new analytical description of the cellular automaton model for single-lane traffic. In contrast to previous approaches we do not use the occupation number of sites as dynamical variable but rather the distance between consecutive cars. Therefore certain longer-ranged correlations are taken into account and even a mean-field approach yields non-trivial results. In fact for the model with $v_{max}=1$ the exact solution is reproduced. For $v_{max}=2$ the fundamental diagram shows a good agreement with results from simulations.Comment: LaTex, 10 pages, 2 postscript figure

Antiferromagnetically coupled alternating spin chains

The effect of antiferromagnetic interchain coupling in alternating spin (1,1/2) chains is studied by mean of a spin wave theory and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). In particular, two limiting cases are investigated, the two-leg ladder and its two dimensional (2D) generalization. Results of the ground state properties like energy, spin gap, magnetizations, and correlation functions are reported for the whole range of the interchain coupling $J_{\perp}$. For the 2D case the spin wave results predict a smooth dimensional crossover from 1D to 2D keeping the ground state always ordered. For the ladder system, the DMRG results show that any $J_{\perp}>0$ drives the system to a gapped ground state. Furthermore the behaviour of the correlation functions closely resemble the uniform spin-1/2 ladder. For $J_{\perp}$ lower than 0.3, however, the gap behaves quadratically as $\Delta\sim0.6 J^2_{\perp}$. Finally, it is argued that the behaviour of the spin gap for an arbitrary number of mixed coupled spin chains is analogous to that of the uniform spin-1/2 chains.Comment: 5 pages, 7 ps-figure

Iron-Based Heavy Quasiparticles in SrFe4_{4}Sb12_{12}: An Infrared Spectroscopic Study

Temperature-dependent infrared reflectivity spectra of SrFe$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ has been measured. A renormalized Drude peak with a heavy effective mass and a pronounced pseudogap of 10 meV develops in the optical conductivity spectra at low temperatures. As the temperature decreases below 100 K, the effective mass ($m^{*}$) rapidly increases, and the scattering rate ($1/\tau$) is quenched. The temperature dependence of $m^{*}$ and $1/\tau$ indicates that the hybridization between the Fe 3d spins and the charge carriers plays an important role in determining the physical properties of SrFe$_{4}$Sb$_{12}$ at low temperatures. This result is the clear evidence of the iron-based heavy quasiparticles.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Adiabatic Ground-State Properties of Spin Chains with Twisted Boundary Conditions

We study the Heisenberg spin chain with twisted boundary conditions, focusing on the adiabatic flow of the energy spectrum as a function of the twist angle. In terms of effective field theory for the nearest-neighbor model, we show that the period 2 (in unit $2\pi$) obtained by Sutherland and Shastry arises from irrelevant perturbations around the massless fixed point, and that this period may be rather general for one-dimensional interacting lattice models at half filling. In contrast, the period for the Haldane-Shastry spin model with $1/r^2$ interaction has a different and unique origin for the period, namely, it reflects fractional statistics in Haldane's sense.Comment: 6 pages, revtex, 3 figures available on request, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp