Unconventional pairings and radial line nodes in inversion symmetry broken superconductors

Noncentrosymmetric superconductors (NCSs) with broken inversion symmetry can have spin-dependent order parameters (OPs) with mixed parity which can also have nodes in the pair potential as well as the energy spectra. These nodes are distinct features that are not present in conventional superconductors. They appear as points or lines in the momentum space where the latter can have angular or radial geometries dictated by the dimensionality, the lattice structure and the pairing interaction. In this work we study the nodes in time reversal symmetry (TRS) preserving NCSs at the OP, the pair potential, and the energy spectrum levels. Nodes are examined by using spin independent pairing interactions respecting the rotational C∞v symmetry in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The pairing symmetries and the nodal topology are affected by the relative strength of the pairing channels which is studied for the mixed singlet-triplet, pure singlet, and pure triplet. Complementary to the angular line nodes widely present in the literature, the C∞v symmetry here allows radial line nodes (RLNs) due to the nonlinear momentum dependence in the OPs. The topology of the RLNs in the mixed case shows a distinctly different characterization than the half-spin quantum vortex at the Dirac point. We apply this NCS physics to the inversion symmetry broken exciton condensates (ECs) in double quantum wells where the point and the RLNs can be found. On the other hand, for a pure triplet condensate, two fully gapped and topologically distinct regimes exist, separated by a QSHI-like zero energy superconducting state with even number of Majorana modes. We also remark on how the point and the RLNs can be manipulated, enabling an external control on the topology. © 2016 Elsevier B.V

Weakly anisotropic noncentrosymmetric superconductors with radial line nodes and the origin of the anomalous thermodynamic data

In noncentrosymmetric superconductors (NCSs), the inversion symmetry (IS) is most commonly broken by an antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Removing the spin degeneracy and splitting the Fermi surface (FS) into two branches. A two component condensate is then produced mixing an even singlet and an odd triplet. When the triplet and the singlet strengths are comparable, the pair potential can have rich nodes. The angular line nodes (ALNs) are associated with the point group symmetries of the anisotropic lattice structure and they are widely studied in the literature. When the anisotropy is weak, other types of nodes can be present which then affect differently the low temperature properties. Here, we focus on the weakly anisotropic NCSs and the line nodes which survive in the limit of full isotropy. We study the topology of these radial line nodes (RLNs) and show that it is characterized by the Z2 index similar to the quantum-spin-Hall Insulators. From the thermodynamic perspective, the RLNs cause, even in the topological phases, an exponentially suppressed low temperature behaviour which can be mistaken by nodeless s-wave pairing, thus, providing an explanation to a number of recent experiments with contraversial pairing symmetries. In the rare case when the RLN is on the Fermi surface, the exponential suppression is replaced by a linear temperature dependence. The RLNs are difficult to detect, and for this reason, they may have escaped experimental attention. We demonstrate that Andreev conductance measurements with clean interfaces can efficiently identify the weakly anisotropic (WA) conditions where the RLNs are expected to be found. ©2017 The Physical Society of Japan

Synthesis of niobium-alumina composite aggregates and their application in coarse-grained refractory ceramic-metal castables

Niobium-alumina aggregate fractions with particle sizes up to 3150 µm were produced by crushing pre-synthesised fine-grained composites. Phase separation with niobium enrichment in the aggregate class 45–500 µm was revealed by XRD/Rietveld analysis. To reduce the amount of carbon-based impurities, no organic additives were used for the castable mixtures, which resulted in water demands of approximately 27 vol.% for the fine- and coarse-grained castables. As a consequence, open porosities of 18% and 30% were determined for the fine- and coarse-grained composites, respectively. Due to increased porosity, the modulus of rupture at room temperature decreased from 52 MPa for the fine-grained composite to 11 MPa for the coarse-grained one. However, even the compressive yield strength decreased from 49 MPa to 18 MPa at 1300 °C for the fine-grained to the coarse-grained composite, the latter showed still plasticity with a strain up to 5%. The electrical conductivity of fine-grained composite samples was in the range between 40 and 60 S/cm, which is fifteen magnitudes above the values of pure corundum

Waterpipe (narghile) smoking among medical and non-medical university students in Turkey

Objectives. This investigation was performed in order to determine the prevalence rate of waterpipe smoking in students of Erciyes University and the effects of some socio-demographic factors

FMAP: Distributed Cooperative Multi-Agent Planning

This paper proposes FMAP (Forward Multi-Agent Planning), a fully-distributed multi-agent planning method that integrates planning and coordination. Although FMAP is specifically aimed at solving problems that require cooperation among agents, the flexibility of the domain-independent planning model allows FMAP to tackle multi-agent planning tasks of any type. In FMAP, agents jointly explore the plan space by building up refinement plans through a complete and flexible forward-chaining partial-order planner. The search is guided by h D T G , a novel heuristic function that is based on the concepts of Domain Transition Graph and frontier state and is optimized to evaluate plans in distributed environments. Agents in FMAP apply an advanced privacy model that allows them to adequately keep private information while communicating only the data of the refinement plans that is relevant to each of the participating agents. 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