2,974 research outputs found
Wigner-Poisson statistics of topological transitions in a Josephson junction
The phase-dependent bound states (Andreev levels) of a Josephson junction can
cross at the Fermi level, if the superconducting ground state switches between
even and odd fermion parity. The level crossing is topologically protected, in
the absence of time-reversal and spin-rotation symmetry, irrespective of
whether the superconductor itself is topologically trivial or not. We develop a
statistical theory of these topological transitions in an N-mode quantum-dot
Josephson junction, by associating the Andreev level crossings with the real
eigenvalues of a random non-Hermitian matrix. The number of topological
transitions in a 2pi phase interval scales as sqrt(N) and their spacing
distribution is a hybrid of the Wigner and Poisson distributions of
random-matrix theory.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures; v2 to appear in PRL, with appendix in the
supplementary materia
AX J0049.4-7323 - a close look at a neutron star interacting with a circumstellar disk
Detailed evidence on the system AX J0049.4-7323 is presented here to show how
the passage of the neutron star in the binary system disrupts the circumstellar
disk of the mass donor Be star. A similar effect is noted in three other
Be/X-ray binary systems. Together the observational data should provide
valuable tools for modelling these complex interactions.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA
Statistical Topological Insulators
We define a class of insulators with gapless surface states protected from
localization due to the statistical properties of a disordered ensemble, namely
due to the ensemble's invariance under a certain symmetry. We show that these
insulators are topological, and are protected by a invariant.
Finally, we prove that every topological insulator gives rise to an infinite
number of classes of statistical topological insulators in higher dimensions.
Our conclusions are confirmed by numerical simulations.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, 5 figures, this is the final, published versio
Metallic phase of the quantum Hall effect in four-dimensional space
We study the phase diagram of the quantum Hall effect in four-dimensional
(4D) space. Unlike in 2D, in 4D there exists a metallic as well as an
insulating phase, depending on the disorder strength. The critical exponent
of the diverging localization length at the quantum Hall
insulator-to-metal transition differs from the semiclassical value of
4D Anderson transitions in the presence of time-reversal symmetry. Our
numerical analysis is based on a mapping of the 4D Hamiltonian onto a 1D
dynamical system, providing a route towards the experimental realization of the
4D quantum Hall effect.Comment: 4+epsilon pages, 3 figure
Majorana fermions emerging from magnetic nanoparticles on a superconductor without spin-orbit coupling
There exists a variety of proposals to transform a conventional s-wave
superconductor into a topological superconductor, supporting Majorana fermion
mid-gap states. A necessary ingredient of these proposals is strong spin-orbit
coupling. Here we propose an alternative system consisting of a one-dimensional
chain of magnetic nanoparticles on a superconducting substrate. No spin-orbit
coupling in the superconductor is needed. We calculate the topological quantum
number of a chain of finite length, including the competing effects of disorder
in the orientation of the magnetic moments and in the hopping energies, to
identify the transition into the topologically nontrivial state (with Majorana
fermions at the end points of the chain).Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Completeness in Photometric and Spectroscopic Searches for Clusters
We investigate, using simulated galaxy catalogues, the completeness of
searches for massive clusters of galaxies in redshift surveys or imaging
surveys with photometric redshift estimates, i.e. what fraction of clusters
(M>10^14/h Msun) are found in such surveys. We demonstrate that the matched
filter method provides an efficient and reliable means of identifying massive
clusters even when the redshift estimates are crude. In true redshift surveys
the method works extremely well. We demonstrate that it is possible to
construct catalogues with high completeness, low contamination and both varying
little with redshift.Comment: ApJ in press, 15 pages, 10 figure
Group-cluster merging and the formation of starburst galaxies
A significant fraction of clusters of galaxies are observed to have
substructure, which implies that merging between clusters and subclusters is a
rather common physical process of cluster formation.
It still remains unclear how cluster merging affects the evolution of cluster
member galaxies.
We report the results of numerical simulations, which show the dynamical
evolution of a gas-rich late-type spiral in a merger between a small group of
galaxies and a cluster. The simulations demonstrate that time-dependent tidal
gravitational field of the merging excites non-axisymmetric structure of the
galaxy, subsequently drives efficient transfer of gas to the central region,
and finally triggers a secondary starburst.
This result provides not only a new mechanism of starbursts but also a close
physical relationship between the emergence of starburst galaxies and the
formation of substructure in clusters. We accordingly interpret post-starburst
galaxies located near substructure of the Coma cluster as one observational
example indicating the global tidal effects of group-cluster merging.
Our numerical results furthermore suggest a causal link between the observed
excess of blue galaxies in distant clusters and cluster virialization process
through hierarchical merging of subclusters.Comment: 5 pages 3 color figures, ApJL in pres
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