Magnetic focusing of charge carriers from spin-split bands: Semiclassics of a Zitterbewegung effect

We present a theoretical study of the interplay between cyclotron motion and spin splitting of charge carriers in solids. While many of our results apply more generally, we focus especially on discussing the Rashba model describing electrons in the conduction band of asymmetric semiconductor heterostructures. Appropriate semiclassical limits are distinguished that describe various situations of experimental interest. Our analytical fomulae, which take full account of Zeeman splitting, are used to analyse recent magnetic-focusing data. Surprisingly, it turns out that the Rashba effect can dominate the splitting of cyclotron orbits even when the Rashba and Zeeman spin-splitting energies are of the same order. We also find that the origin of spin-dependent cyclotron motion can be traced back to Zitterbewegung-like oscillatory dynamics of charge carriers from spin-split bands. The relation between the two phenomena is discussed, and we estimate the effect of Zitterbewegung-related corrections to the charge carriers' canonical position.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, IOP style, v2: minor changes, to appear in NJP Focus Issue on Spintronic

Generic identifiability and second-order sufficiency in tame convex optimization

We consider linear optimization over a fixed compact convex feasible region that is semi-algebraic (or, more generally, "tame"). Generically, we prove that the optimal solution is unique and lies on a unique manifold, around which the feasible region is "partly smooth", ensuring finite identification of the manifold by many optimization algorithms. Furthermore, second-order optimality conditions hold, guaranteeing smooth behavior of the optimal solution under small perturbations to the objective

The spin contribution to the form factor of quantum graphs

Following the quantisation of a graph with the Dirac operator (spin-1/2) we explain how additional weights in the spectral form factor K(\tau) due to spin propagation around orbits produce higher order terms in the small-\tau asymptotics in agreement with symplectic random matrix ensembles. We determine conditions on the group of spin rotations sufficient to generate CSE statistics.Comment: 9 page

Trace formulae for three-dimensional hyperbolic lattices and application to a strongly chaotic tetrahedral billiard

This paper is devoted to the quantum chaology of three-dimensional systems. A trace formula is derived for compact polyhedral billiards which tessellate the three-dimensional hyperbolic space of constant negative curvature. The exact trace formula is compared with Gutzwiller's semiclassical periodic-orbit theory in three dimensions, and applied to a tetrahedral billiard being strongly chaotic. Geometric properties as well as the conjugacy classes of the defining group are discussed. The length spectrum and the quantal level spectrum are numerically computed allowing the evaluation of the trace formula as is demonstrated in the case of the spectral staircase N(E), which in turn is successfully applied in a quantization condition.Comment: 32 pages, compressed with gzip / uuencod

From error bounds to the complexity of first-order descent methods for convex functions

This paper shows that error bounds can be used as effective tools for deriving complexity results for first-order descent methods in convex minimization. In a first stage, this objective led us to revisit the interplay between error bounds and the Kurdyka-\L ojasiewicz (KL) inequality. One can show the equivalence between the two concepts for convex functions having a moderately flat profile near the set of minimizers (as those of functions with H\"olderian growth). A counterexample shows that the equivalence is no longer true for extremely flat functions. This fact reveals the relevance of an approach based on KL inequality. In a second stage, we show how KL inequalities can in turn be employed to compute new complexity bounds for a wealth of descent methods for convex problems. Our approach is completely original and makes use of a one-dimensional worst-case proximal sequence in the spirit of the famous majorant method of Kantorovich. Our result applies to a very simple abstract scheme that covers a wide class of descent methods. As a byproduct of our study, we also provide new results for the globalization of KL inequalities in the convex framework. Our main results inaugurate a simple methodology: derive an error bound, compute the desingularizing function whenever possible, identify essential constants in the descent method and finally compute the complexity using the one-dimensional worst case proximal sequence. Our method is illustrated through projection methods for feasibility problems, and through the famous iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm (ISTA), for which we show that the complexity bound is of the form $O(q^{k})$ where the constituents of the bound only depend on error bound constants obtained for an arbitrary least squares objective with $\ell^1$ regularization

Trace Formulae for quantum graphs with edge potentials

This work explores the spectra of quantum graphs where the Schr\"odinger operator on the edges is equipped with a potential. The scattering approach, which was originally introduced for the potential free case, is extended to this case and used to derive a secular function whose zeros coincide with the eigenvalue spectrum. Exact trace formulas for both smooth and $\delta$-potentials are derived, and an asymptotic semiclassical trace formula (for smooth potentials) is presented and discussed

Quantum graphs with singular two-particle interactions

We construct quantum models of two particles on a compact metric graph with singular two-particle interactions. The Hamiltonians are self-adjoint realisations of Laplacians acting on functions defined on pairs of edges in such a way that the interaction is provided by boundary conditions. In order to find such Hamiltonians closed and semi-bounded quadratic forms are constructed, from which the associated self-adjoint operators are extracted. We provide a general characterisation of such operators and, furthermore, produce certain classes of examples. We then consider identical particles and project to the bosonic and fermionic subspaces. Finally, we show that the operators possess purely discrete spectra and that the eigenvalues are distributed following an appropriate Weyl asymptotic law

Semiclassical Approach to Chaotic Quantum Transport

We describe a semiclassical method to calculate universal transport properties of chaotic cavities. While the energy-averaged conductance turns out governed by pairs of entrance-to-exit trajectories, the conductance variance, shot noise and other related quantities require trajectory quadruplets; simple diagrammatic rules allow to find the contributions of these pairs and quadruplets. Both pure symmetry classes and the crossover due to an external magnetic field are considered.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures (appendices B-D not included in journal version

Clarke subgradients of stratifiable functions

We establish the following result: if the graph of a (nonsmooth) real-extended-valued function $f:\mathbb{R}^{n}\to \mathbb{R}\cup\{+\infty\}$ is closed and admits a Whitney stratification, then the norm of the gradient of $f$ at $x\in{dom}f$ relative to the stratum containing $x$ bounds from below all norms of Clarke subgradients of $f$ at $x$. As a consequence, we obtain some Morse-Sard type theorems as well as a nonsmooth Kurdyka-\L ojasiewicz inequality for functions definable in an arbitrary o-minimal structure

Spectral Statistics for the Dirac Operator on Graphs

We determine conditions for the quantisation of graphs using the Dirac operator for both two and four component spinors. According to the Bohigas-Giannoni-Schmit conjecture for such systems with time-reversal symmetry the energy level statistics are expected, in the semiclassical limit, to correspond to those of random matrices from the Gaussian symplectic ensemble. This is confirmed by numerical investigation. The scattering matrix used to formulate the quantisation condition is found to be independent of the type of spinor. We derive an exact trace formula for the spectrum and use this to investigate the form factor in the diagonal approximation