367 research outputs found
Hopf Term for a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas
In this Comment on the paper by W. Apel and Yu. A. Bychkov, cond-mat/9610040
and Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2188 (1997), we draw attention to our prior
microscopic derivations of the Hopf term for various systems and to
shortcomings of the Apel-Bychkov derivation. We explain how the value of the
Hopt term prefactor is expressed in terms of a topological invariant
in the momentum space and the quantized Hall conductivity of the system. (See
also related paper cond-mat/9703195)Comment: RevTeX, 1 page, no figure
Shockley model description of surface states in topological insulators
We show that the surface states in topological insulators can be understood
based on a well-known Shockley model, a one-dimensional tight-binding model
with two atoms per elementary cell, connected via alternating tunneling
amplitudes. We generalize the one-dimensional model to the three-dimensional
case corresponding to the sequence of layers connected via the amplitudes,
which depend on the in-plane momentum p = (p_x,p_y). The Hamiltonian of the
model is described a (2 x 2) Hamiltonian with the off-diagonal element t(k,p)
depending also on the out-of-plane momentum k. We show that the complex
function t(k,p) defines the properties of the surface states. The surface
states exist for the in-plane momenta p, where the winding number of the
function t(k,p) is non-zero as k is changed from 0 to 2pi. The sign of the
winding number defines the sublattice on which the surface states are
localized. The equation t(k,p)=0 defines a vortex line in the three-dimensional
momentum space. The projection of the vortex line on the two-dimensional
momentum p space encircles the domain where the surface states exist. We
illustrate how our approach works for a well-known TI model on a diamond
lattice. We find that different configurations of the vortex lines are
responsible for the "weak" and "strong" topological insulator phases. The phase
transition occurs when the vortex lines reconnect from spiral to circular form.
We discuss the Shockley model description of Bi_2Se_3 and the applicability of
the continuous approximation for the description of the topological edge
states. We conclude that the tight-binding model gives a better description of
the surface states.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures; version 3: Sections I-IV revised, Section VII
added, Refs. [33]-[35] added; Corresponds to the published versio
Orientational order parameters of a de Vries–type ferroelectric liquid crystal obtained by polarized Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction
The orientational order parameters 〈P2〉 and 〈P4〉 of the ferroelectric, de Vries–type liquid crystal 9HL have been determined in the SmA* and SmC* phases by means of polarized Raman spectroscopy, and in the SmA* phase using x-ray diffraction. Quantum density functional theory predicts Raman spectra for 9HL that are in good agreement with the observations and indicates that the strong Raman band probed in the experiment corresponds to the uniaxial, coupled vibration of the three phenyl rings along the molecular long axis. The magnitudes of the orientational order parameters obtained in the Raman and x-ray experiments differ dramatically from each other, a discrepancy that is resolved by considering that the two techniques probe the orientational distributions of different molecular axes. We have developed a systematic procedure in which we calculate the angle between these axes and rescale the orientational order parameters obtained from x-ray scattering with results that are then in good agreement with the Raman data. At least in the case of 9HL, the results obtained by both techniques support a “sugar loaf” orientational distribution in the SmA* phase with no qualitative difference to conventional smectics A. The role of individual molecular fragments in promoting de Vries–type behavior is considered
Edge electron states for quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors in the magnetic-field-induced spin-density-wave phases
We develop a microscopic picture of the electron states localized at the
edges perpendicular to the chains in the Bechgaard salts in the quantum Hall
regime. In a magnetic-field-induced spin-density-wave state (FISDW)
characterized by an integer N, there exist N branches of chiral gapless edge
excitations. Localization length is much longer and velocity much lower for
these states than for the edge states parallel to the chains. We calculate the
contribution of these states to the specific heat and propose a time-of-flight
experiment to probe the propagating edge modes directly.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. V.2: Minor changes to the final version published
in PR
On the Number of Zeros of Abelian Integrals: A Constructive Solution of the Infinitesimal Hilbert Sixteenth Problem
We prove that the number of limit cycles generated by a small
non-conservative perturbation of a Hamiltonian polynomial vector field on the
plane, is bounded by a double exponential of the degree of the fields. This
solves the long-standing tangential Hilbert 16th problem. The proof uses only
the fact that Abelian integrals of a given degree are horizontal sections of a
regular flat meromorphic connection (Gauss-Manin connection) with a
quasiunipotent monodromy group.Comment: Final revisio
Collective modes in a system with two spin-density waves: the `Ribault' phase of quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors
We study the long-wavelength collective modes in the magnetic-field-induced
spin-density-wave (FISDW) phases experimentally observed in organic conductors
of the Bechgaard salts family, focusing on phases that exhibit a sign reversal
of the quantum Hall effect (Ribault anomaly). We have recently proposed that
two SDW's coexist in the Ribault phase, as a result of Umklapp processes. When
the latter are strong enough, the two SDW's become circularly polarized
(helicoidal SDW's). In this paper, we study the collective modes which result
from the presence of two SDW's. We find two Goldstone modes, an out-of-phase
sliding mode and an in-phase spin-wave mode, and two gapped modes. The sliding
Goldstone mode carries only a fraction of the total optical spectral weight,
which is determined by the ratio of the amplitude of the two SDW's. In the
helicoidal phase, all the spectral weight is pushed up above the SDW gap. We
also point out similarities with phase modes in two-band or bilayer
superconductors. We expect our conclusions to hold for generic two-SDW systems.Comment: Revised version, 25 pages, RevTex, 7 figure
Dispersion Instability in Strongly Interacting Electron Liquids
We show that the low-density strongly interacting electron liquid,
interacting via the long-range Coulomb interaction, could develop a dispersion
instability at a critical density associated with the approximate flattening of
the quasiparticle energy dispersion. At the critical density the quasiparticle
effective mass diverges at the Fermi surface, but the signature of this Fermi
surface instability manifests itself away from the Fermi momentum at higher
densities. For densities below the critical density the system is unstable
since the quasiparticle velocity becomes negative. We show that one physical
mechanism underlying the dispersion instability is the emission of soft
plasmons by the quasiparticles. The dispersion instability occurs both in two
and three dimensional electron liquids. We discuss the implications of the
dispersion instability for experiments at low electron densities.Comment: Accepted version for publicatio
Second virial coefficients of light nuclear clusters and their chemical freeze-out in nuclear collisions
Here we develop a new strategy to analyze the chemical freeze-out of light
(anti)nuclei produced in high energy collisions of heavy atomic nuclei within
an advanced version of the hadron resonance gas model. It is based on two
different, but complementary approaches to model the hard-core repulsion
between the light nuclei and hadrons. The first approach is based on an
approximate treatment of the equivalent hard-core radius of a roomy nuclear
cluster and pions, while the second approach is rigorously derived here using a
self-consistent treatment of classical excluded volumes of light (anti)nuclei
and hadrons. By construction, in a hadronic medium dominated by pions, both
approaches should give the same results. Employing this strategy to the
analysis of hadronic and light (anti)nuclei multiplicities measured by ALICE at
TeV and by STAR at GeV, we got rid
of the existing ambiguity in the description of light (anti)nuclei data and
determined the chemical freeze-out parameters of nuclei with high accuracy and
confidence. At ALICE energy the nuclei are frozen prior to the hadrons at the
temperature MeV, while at STAR energy there is a
single freeze-out of hadrons and nuclei at the temperature
MeV. We argue that the found chemical freeze-out volumes of nuclei can be
considered as the volumes of quark-gluon bags that produce the nuclei at the
moment of hadronization.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 3 table
Hall Effect in a Quasi-One-Dimensional System
We consider the Hall effect in a system of weakly coupled one-dimensional
chains with Luttinger interaction within each chain. We construct a
perturbation theory in the inter-chain hopping term and find that there is a
power law dependence of the Hall conductivity on the magnetic field with an
exponent depending on the interaction constant. We show that this perturbation
theory becomes valid if the magnetic field is sufficiently large.Comment: 20 page
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