Nonmetallic thermal transport in low-dimensional proximity structures with partially preserved time-reversal symmetry in a magnetic field

Gapped excitation spectra of Andreev states are studied in one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) normal systems in superconducting contacts subject to a parallel magnetic field. In the ballistic regime, a specific interplay between magnetic field spin splitting and the effect of a screening supercurrent is found to preserve time-reversal symmetry for certain groups of Andreev states remaining gapped despite the presense of the magnetic field. In 1D wires such states can lead to a fractional thermal magnetoconductance equal to half of the thermal conductance quantum. In 2D systems the thermal magnetoconductance is also predicted to remain suppressed well below the normal-state value in a wide range of magnetic fields.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Ballistic quantum spin Hall state and enhanced edge backscattering in strong magnetic fields

The quantum spin Hall (QSH) state, observed in a zero magnetic field in HgTe quantum wells, respects the time-reversal symmetry and is distinct from quantum Hall (QH) states. We show that the QSH state persists in strong quantizing fields and is identified by counter-propagating (helical) edge channels with nonlinear dispersion inside the band gap. If the Fermi level is shifted into the Landau-quantized conduction or valence band, we find a transition between the QSH and QH regimes. Near the transition the longitudinal conductance of the helical channels is strongly suppressed due to the combined effect of the spectrum nonlinearity and enhanced backscattering. It shows a power-law decay 1/B^2N with magnetic field B, determined by the number of backscatterers on the edge, N. This suggests a rather simple and practical way to probe the quality of recently realized quasiballistic QSH devices using magnetoresistance measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, minor changes, accepted for publication in PR

Measuring Multijet Structure of Hadronic Energy Flow Or What IS A Jet?

Ambiguities of jet algorithms are reinterpreted as instability wrt small variations of input. Optimal stability occurs for observables possessing property of calorimetric continuity (C-continuity) predetermined by kinematical structure of calorimetric detectors. The so-called C-correlators form a basic class of such observables and fit naturally into QFT framework, allowing systematic theoretical studies. A few rules generate other C-continuous observables. The resulting C-algebra correctly quantifies any feature of multijet structure such as the "number of jets" and mass spectra of "multijet substates". The new observables are physically equivalent to traditional ones but can be computed from final states bypassing jet algorithms which reemerge as a tool of approximate computation of C-observables from data with all ambiguities under analytical control and an optimal recombination criterion minimizing approximation errors.Comment: PostScript, 94 pp (US Letter), 18 PS files, [email protected]