Tunable Fano-Kondo resonance in side-coupled double quantum dot system

We study the interference between the Fano and Kondo effects in a side-coupled double-quantum- dot system where one of the quantum dots couples to conduction electron bath while the other dot only side-couples to the first dot via antiferromagnetic (AF) spin exchange coupling. We apply both the perturbative renormalization group (RG) and numerical renormalization group (NRG) approaches to study the effect of AF coupling on the Fano lineshape in the conduction leads. With particle-hole symmetry, the AF exchange coupling competes with the Kondo effect and leads to a local spin-singlet ground state for arbitrary small coupling, so called "two-stage Kondo effect". As a result, via NRG we find the spectral properties of the Fano lineshape in the tunneling density of states (TDOS) of conduction electron leads shows double dip-peak features at the energy scale around the Kondo temperature and the one much below it, corresponding to the two-stage Kondo effect; it also shows an universal scaling behavior at very low energies. We find the qualitative agreement between the NRG and the perturbative RG approach. Relevance of our work to the experiments is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Tunneling decay of false vortices

We consider the decay of vortices trapped in the false vacuum of a theory of scalar electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions. The potential is inspired by models with intermediate symmetry breaking to a metastable vacuum that completely breaks a U(1) symmetry, while in the true vacuum the symmetry is unbroken. The false vacuum is unstable through the formation of true vacuum bubbles; however, the rate of decay can be extremely long. On the other hand, the false vacuum can contain metastable vortex solutions. These vortices contain the true vacuum inside in addition to a unit of magnetic flux and the appropriate topologically nontrivial false vacuum outside. We numerically establish the existence of vortex solutions which are classically stable; however, they can decay via tunneling. In general terms, they tunnel to a configuration which is a large, thin-walled vortex configuration that is now classically unstable to the expansion of its radius. We compute an estimate for the tunneling amplitude in the semi-classical approximation. We believe our analysis would be relevant to superconducting thin films or superfluids.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figure

The Battle of the Bulge: Decay of the Thin, False Cosmic String

We consider the decay of cosmic strings that are trapped in the false vacuum in a theory of scalar electrodynamics in 3+1 dimensions. We restrict our analysis to the case of thin-walled cosmic strings which occur when large magnetic flux trapped inside the string. Thus the string looks like a tube of fixed radius, at which it is classically stable. The core of the string contains magnetic flux in the true vacuum, while outside the string, separated by a thin wall, is the false vacuum. The string decays by tunnelling to a configuration which is represented by a bulge, where the region of true vacuum within, is ostensibly enlarged. The bulge can be described as the meeting, of a kink soliton anti-soliton pair, along the length of the string. It can be described as a bulge appearing in the initial string, starting from the string of small, classically stable radius, expanding to a fat string of large, classically unstable (to expansion) radius and then returning back to the string of small radius along its length. This configuration is the bounce point of a corresponding O(2) symmetric instanton, which we can determine numerically. Once the bulge appears it explodes in real time. The kink soliton anti-soliton pair recede from each other along the length of the string with a velocity that quickly approaches the speed of light, leaving behind a fat tube. At the same time the radius of the fat tube that is being formed, expands (transversely) as it is no longer classically stable, converting false vacuum to the true vacuum with ever diluting magnetic field within. The rate of this expansion is determined by the energy difference between the true vacuum and the false vacuum. Our analysis could be applied to a network, of cosmic strings formed in the very early universe or vortex lines in a superheated superconductor.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

When chiral photons meet chiral fermions - Photoinduced anomalous Hall effects in Weyl semimetals

The Weyl semimetal is characterized by three-dimensional linear band touching points called Weyl nodes. These nodes come in pairs with opposite chiralities. We show that the coupling of circularly polarized photons with these chiral electrons generates a Hall conductivity without any applied magnetic field in the plane orthogonal to the light propagation. This phenomenon comes about because with all three Pauli matrices exhausted to form the three-dimensional linear dispersion, the Weyl nodes cannot be gapped. Rather, the net influence of chiral photons is to shift the positions of the Weyl nodes. Interestingly, the momentum shift is tightly correlated with the chirality of the node to produce a net anomalous Hall signal. Application of our proposal to the recently discovered TaAs family of Weyl semimetals leads to an order-of-magnitude estimate of the photoinduced Hall conductivity which is within the experimentally accessible range.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Low-amplitude and long-period radial velocity variations in giants HD 3574, 63 Cygni, and HD 216946 (Research Note)

Aims. We study the low-amplitude and long-period variations in evolved stars using precise radial velocity measurements. Methods. The high-resolution, fiber-fed Bohyunsan Observatory Echelle Spectrograph (BOES) was used from September 2004 to May 2014 as part of the exoplanet search program at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO). Results. We report the detection of low-amplitude and long-period orbital radial velocity variations in three evolved stars, HD 3574, 63 Cyg, and HD 216946. They have periods of 1061, 982, and 1382 days and semi-amplitudes of 376, 742, and 699 m/s, respectively.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publisation in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Thermal Hall Effect of Spins in a Paramagnet

Theory of Hall transport of spins in a correlated paramagnetic phase is developed. By identifying the thermal Hall current operator in the spin language, which turns out to equal the spin chirality in the pure Heisenberg model, various response functions can be derived straightforwardly. Subsequent reduction to the Schwinger boson representation of spins allows a convenient calculation of thermal and spin Hall coefficients in the paramagnetic regime using self-consistent mean-field theory. Com- parison is made to results from the Holstein-Primakoff reduction of spin operators appropriate for ordered phases