Electron Monte Carlo Simulations of Nanoporous Si Thin Films -- The Influence of Pore-Edge Charges

Electron transport within nanostructures can be important to varied engineering applications, such as thermoelectrics and nanoelectronics. In theoretical studies, electron Monte Carlo simulations are widely used as an alternative approach to solving the electron Boltzmann transport equation, where the energy-dependent electron scattering, exact structure shape, and detailed electric field distribution can be fully incorporated. In this work, such electron Monte Carlo simulations are employed to predict the electrical conductivity of periodic nanoporous Si films that have been widely studied for thermoelectric applications. The focus is on the influence of pore-edge charges on the electron transport. The results are further compared to our previous modeling [Hao et al., J. Appl. Phys. 121, 094308 (2017)], where the pore-edge electric field has its own scattering rate to be added to the scattering rates of other mechanisms

Topological superconducting states in monolayer FeSe/SrTiO3_{3}

The monolayer FeSe with a thickness of one unit cell grown on a single-crystal SrTiO$_{3}$ substrate (FeSe/STO) exhibits striking high-temperature superconductivity with transition temperature $T_{c}$ over 65K reported by recent experimental measurements. In this work, through analyzing the distinctive electronic structure, and providing systematic classification of the pairing symmetry , we find that both $s$-and $p$-wave pairing with odd parity give rise to topological superconducting states in monolayer FeSe, and the exotic properties of $s$-wave topological superconducting states have close relations with the unique non-symmorphic lattice structure which induces the orbital-momentum locking. Our results indicate that the monolayer FeSe could be in the topological nontrivial $s$-wave superconducting states if the relevant effective pairing interactions are dominant in comparison with other candidates.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

The Top Quark Production Asymmetries AFBtA_{FB}^t and AFBℓA_{FB}^{\ell}

A large forward-backward asymmetry is seen in both the top quark rapidity distribution $A_{FB}^t$ and in the rapidity distribution of charged leptons $A_{FB}^\ell$ from top quarks produced at the Tevatron. We study the kinematic and dynamic aspects of the relationship of the two observables arising from the spin correlation between the charged lepton and the top quark with different polarization states. We emphasize the value of both measurements, and we conclude that a new physics model which produces more right-handed than left-handed top quarks is favored by the present data.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Topological crystalline antiferromagnetic state in tetragonal FeS

Integration between magnetism and topology is an exotic phenomenon in condensed-matter physics. Here, we propose an exotic phase named topological crystalline antiferromagnetic state, in which antiferromagnetism intrinsically integrates with nontrivial topology, and we suggest such a state can be realized in tetragonal FeS. A combination of first-principles calculations and symmetry analyses shows that the topological crystalline antiferromagnetic state arises from band reconstruction induced by pair checker-board antiferromagnetic order together with band-gap opening induced by intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in tetragonal FeS. The topological crystalline antiferromagnetic state is protected by the product of fractional translation symmetry, mirror symmetry, and time-reversal symmetry, and present some unique features. In contrast to strong topological insulators, the topological robustness is surface-dependent. These findings indicate that non-trivial topological states could emerge in pure antiferromagnetic materials, which sheds new light on potential applications of topological properties in fast-developing antiferromagnetic spintronics.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

A General Analysis of Wtb anomalous Couplings

We investigate new physics effects on the Wtb effective couplings in a model-independent manner. The new physics effects are summarized as four independent couplings $f_1^L$, $f_1^R$, $f_2^L$ and $f_2^R$. Using single-top-quark productions and W-helicity fraction measurements at the LHC and Tevatron, we perform a global fit to impose constraints on top quark effective couplings. We introduce a set of parameters $x_0$, $x_m$, $x_p$ and $x_5$ to study the correlations among Wtb effective couplings. We show that (i) improving the measurements of $\sigma_t$ and $\sigma_{tW}$ is important in constraining the correlation of $(f_1^R,f_2^R)$ and $(f_2^L,f_2^R)$; (ii) $f_1^L$ and $f_2^R$ are anti-correlated, which is sensitive to all the experiments; (iii) $f_1^R$ and $f_2^L$ are also anti-correlated, which is sensitive to the W-helicity measurements; (iv) the correlation between $f_2^L$ and $f_2^R$ is sensitive to the precision of $\sigma_t$, $\sigma_{tW}$ and $F_0$ measurements. The effective Wtb couplings are studied in three kinds of new physics models: $SU(2)_1 \times SU(2)_2 \times U(1)_X$ models, vector-like quark models and Littlest Higgs model with and without T-parity. The Wtb couplings in the left-right model and the un-unified model are sensitive to the ratio of gauge couplings when the new heavy gauge boson's mass ($M_{W'}$) is less than several hundred GeV, but the constraint is loose if $M_{W'}>1$ TeV. The Wtb couplings in vector-like quark models and the Littlest Higgs models are sensitive to the mixing angles of new heavy particles and SM particles. We also include the constraints of the oblique T-parameter and Zbb couplings which impose much tighter constraints on the mixing angles. We show that the Wtb coupling constraints become relevant if the precision of single top production cross section measurements could be reduced to 1\% relative to the SM predictions in future.Comment: Chin. Phys. C in pres