Anisotropic Electronic Structure of the Kondo Semiconductor CeFe2Al10 Studied by Optical Conductivity

We report temperature-dependent polarized optical conductivity [$\sigma(\omega)$] spectra of CeFe$_2$Al$_{10}$, which is a reference material for CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ with an anomalous magnetic transition at 28 K. The $\sigma(\omega)$ spectrum along the b-axis differs greatly from that in the $ac$-plane, indicating that this material has an anisotropic electronic structure. At low temperatures, in all axes, a shoulder structure due to the optical transition across the hybridization gap between the conduction band and the localized $4f$ states, namely $c$-$f$ hybridization, appears at 55 meV. However, the gap opening temperature and the temperature of appearance of the quasiparticle Drude weight are strongly anisotropic indicating the anisotropic Kondo temperature. The strong anisotropic nature in both electronic structure and Kondo temperature is considered to be relevant the anomalous magnetic phase transition in CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Quasi-particle scattering and protected nature of topological states in a parent topological insulator Bi2_2Se3_3

We report on angle resolved photoemission spectroscopic studies on a parent topological insulator (TI), Bi$_2$Se$_3$. The line width of the spectral function (inverse of the quasi-particle lifetime) of the topological metallic (TM) states shows an anomalous behavior. This behavior can be reasonably accounted for by assuming decay of the quasi-particles predominantly into bulk electronic states through electron-electron interaction and defect scattering. Studies on aged surfaces reveal that topological metallic states are very much unaffected by the potentials created by adsorbed atoms or molecules on the surface, indicating that topological states could be indeed protected against weak perturbations.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B(R

Fermi Surface Nesting and Nanoscale Fluctuating Charge/Orbital Ordering in Colossal Magnetoresistive Oxides

We used high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to reveal the Fermi surface and key transport parameters of the metallic state of the layered Colossal Magnetoresistive (CMR) oxide La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7. With these parameters the calculated in-plane conductivity is nearly one order of magnitude larger than the measured DC conductivity. This discrepancy can be accounted for by including the pseudogap which removes at least 90% of the spectral weight at the Fermi energy. Key to the pseudogap and many other properties are the parallel straight Fermi surface sections which are highly susceptible to nesting instabilities. These nesting instabilities produce nanoscale fluctuating charge/orbital modulations which cooperate with Jahn-Teller distortions and compete with the electron itinerancy favored by double exchange

Comment on "Observation of neutronless fusion reactions in picosecond laser plasmas"

The paper by Belyaev et al. [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 72}, 026406 (2005)] reported the first experimental observation of alpha particles produced in the thermonuclear reaction $^{11}$B($p,\alpha$)$^{8}$Be induced by laser-irradiation on a $^{11}$B polyethylene (CH$_2$) composite target. The laser used in the experiment is characterized by a picosecond pulse duration and a peak of intensity of 2$\times10^{18}$ W/cm$^2$. We suggest that both the background-reduction method adopted in their detection system and the choice of the detection energy region of the reaction products are possibly inadequate. Consequently the total yield reported underestimates the true yield. Based on their observation, we give an estimation of the total yield to be higher than their conclusion, i.e., of the order of 10$^5 \alpha$ per shot.Comment: 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Comment section of Physical Review

Low scale Seesaw model and Lepton Flavor Violating Rare B Decays

We study lepton flavor number violating rare B decays, $b \to s l_h^{\pm} l_l^{\mp}$, in a seesaw model with low scale singlet Majorana neutrinos motivated by the resonant leptogenesis scenario. The branching ratios of inclusive decays $b \to s l_h^{\pm} \bar{l_l}^{\mp}$ with two almost degenerate singlet neutrinos at TeV scale are investigated in detail. We find that there exists a class of seesaw model in which the branching fractions of $b \to s \tau \mu$ and $\tau \to \mu \gamma$ can be as large as $10^{-10}$ and $10^{-9}$ within the reach of Super B factories, respectively, without being in conflict with neutrino mixings and mass squared difference of neutrinos from neutrino data, invisible decay width of $Z$ and the present limit of $Br(\mu \to e \gamma)$.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Cosmological Family Asymmetry and CP violation

We discuss how the cosmological baryon asymmetry can be achieved by the lepton family asymmetries of heavy Majorana neutrino decays and they are related to CP violation in neutrino oscillation, in the minimal seesaw model with two heavy Majorana neutrinos. We derive the most general formula for CP violation in neutrino oscillation in terms of the heavy Majorana masses and Yukawa mass term. It is shown that the formula is very useful to classify several models in which $e-$, $\mu-$ and $\tau-$leptogenesis can be separately realized and to see how they are connected with low energy CP violaton. To make the models predictive, we take texture with two zeros in the Dirac neutrino Yukawa matrix. In particular, we find some interesting cases in which CP violation in neutrino oscillation can happen while lepton family asymmetries do not exist at all. On the contrary, we can find $e-$, $\mu-$ and $\tau-$leptogenesis scenarios in which the cosmological CP violation and low energy CP violation measurable via neutrino oscillations are very closely related to each other. By determining the allowed ranges of the parameters in the models, we predict the sizes of CP violation in neutrino oscillation and $|V_{e3}^{MNS}|$. Finally, the leptonic unitarity triangles are reconstructed.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures A figure caption correcte

Existence of Heavy Fermions in the Antiferromagnetic Phase of CeIn3

We report the pressure-dependent optical conductivity spectra of a heavy fermion (HF) compound CeIn3 below the Neel temperature of 10 K to investigate the existence of the HF state in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase. The peak due to the interband transition in the hybridization gap between the conduction band and nearly localized 4f states (c-f hybridization) appears at the photon energy of about 20 meV not only in the HF regime but also in the AFM regime. Both the energy and intensity of the c-f hybridization peak continuously increase with the application of pressure from the AFM to the HF regime. This result suggests that the c-f hybridization, as well as the heavy fermions, exists even in the AFM phase of CeIn3.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Quantum Larmor radiation in conformally flat universe

We investigate the quantum effect on the Larmor radiation from a moving charge in an expanding universe based on the framework of the scalar quantum electrodynamics (SQED). A theoretical formula for the radiation energy is derived at the lowest order of the perturbation theory with respect to the coupling constant of the SQED. We evaluate the radiation energy on the background universe so that the Minkowski spacetime transits to the Milne universe, in which the equation of motion for the mode function of the free complex scalar field can be exactly solved in an analytic way. Then, the result is compared with the WKB approach, in which the equation of motion of the mode function is constructed with the WKB approximation which is valid as long as the Compton wavelength is shorter than the Hubble horizon length. This demonstrates that the quantum effect on the Larmor radiation of the order e^2\hbar is determined by a non-local integration in time depending on the background expansion. We also compare our result with a recent work by Higuchi and Walker [Phys. Rev. D80 105019 (2009)], which investigated the quantum correction to the Larmor radiation from a charged particle in a non-relativistic motion in a homogeneous electric field.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Detection of coherent magnons via ultrafast pump-probe reflectance spectroscopy in multiferroic Ba0.6Sr1.4Zn2Fe12O22

We report the detection of a magnetic resonance mode in multiferroic Ba0.6Sr1.4Zn2Fe12O22 using time domain pump-probe reflectance spectroscopy. Magnetic sublattice precession is coherently excited via picosecond thermal modification of the exchange energy. Importantly, this precession is recorded as a change in reflectance caused by the dynamic magnetoelectric effect. Thus, transient reflectance provides a sensitive probe of magnetization dynamics in materials with strong magnetoelectric coupling, such as multiferroics, revealing new possibilities for application in spintronics and ultrafast manipulation of magnetic moments.Comment: 4 figure

Entropic Sampling and Natural Selection in Biological Evolution

With a view to connecting random mutation on the molecular level to punctuated equilibrium behavior on the phenotype level, we propose a new model for biological evolution, which incorporates random mutation and natural selection. In this scheme the system evolves continuously into new configurations, yielding non-stationary behavior of the total fitness. Further, both the waiting time distribution of species and the avalanche size distribution display power-law behaviors with exponents close to two, which are consistent with the fossil data. These features are rather robust, indicating the key role of entropy