Probing non-Abelian statistics of Majorana fermions in ultracold atomic superfluid

We propose an experiment to directly probe the non-Abelian statistics of Majorana fermions by braiding them in an s-wave superfluid of ultracold atoms. We show different orders of braiding operations give orthogonal output states that can be distinguished through Raman spectroscopy. Realization of Majorana bound states in an s-wave superfluid requires strong spin-orbital coupling and a controllable Zeeman field in the perpendicular direction. We present a simple laser configuration to generate the artificial spin-orbital coupling and the required Zeeman field in the dark state subspace.Comment: 4 pages; Add detailed discussion of feasibility of the scheme;add ref

Minimal Potentials with Very Many Minima

We demonstrate, by construction, that simple renormalizable matrix potentials with S_N, as opposed to O(N), symmetry can exhibit an exponentially large number of inequivalent deep local minima.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, 2 figures. Additional applications and references adde

Theory for the single-point velocity statistics of fully developed turbulence

We investigate the single-point velocity probability density function (PDF) in three-dimensional fully developed homogeneous isotropic turbulence within the framework of PDF equations focussing on deviations from Gaussianity. A joint analytical and numerical analysis shows that these deviations may be quantified studying correlations of dynamical quantities like pressure gradient, external forcing and energy dissipation with the velocity. A stationary solution for the PDF equation in terms of these quantities is presented, and the theory is validated with the help of direct numerical simulations indicating sub-Gaussian tails of the PDF.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, corrected typo in eq. (4

The statistical geometry of material loops in turbulence

Material elements - which are lines, surfaces, or volumes behaving as passive, non-diffusive markers of dye - provide an inherently geometric window into the intricate dynamics of chaotic flows. Their stretching and folding dynamics has immediate implications for mixing in the oceans or the atmosphere, as well as the emergence of self-sustained dynamos in astrophysical settings. Here, we uncover robust statistical properties of an ensemble of material loops in a turbulent environment. Our approach combines high-resolution direct numerical simulations of Navier-Stokes turbulence, stochastic models, and dynamical systems techniques to reveal predictable, universal features of these complex objects. We show that the loop curvature statistics become stationary through a dynamical formation process of high-curvature slings, leading to distributions with power-law tails whose exponents are determined by the large-deviations statistics of finite-time Lyapunov exponents of the background flow. This prediction applies to advected material lines in a broad range of chaotic flows. To complement this dynamical picture, we confirm our theory in the analytically tractable Kraichnan model with an exact Fokker-Planck approach

Unconventional superfluidity of fermions in Bose-Fermi mixtures

We examine two dimensional mixture of single-component fermions and dipolar bosons. We calculate the self-enregies of the fermions in the normal state and the Cooper pair channel by including first order vertex correction to derive a modified Eliashberg equation. We predict appearance of superfluids with various non-standard pairing symmetries at experimentally feasible transition temperatures within the strong-coupling limit of the Eliashberg equation. Excitations in these superfluids are anyonic and follow non-Abelian statistics

Nexus between quantum criticality and the chemical potential pinning in high-TcT_c cuprates

For strongly correlated electrons the relation between total number of charge carriers $n_e$ and the chemical potential $\mu$ reveals for large Coulomb energy the apparently paradoxical pinning of $\mu$ within the Mott gap, as observed in high-$T_c$ cuprates. By unravelling consequences of the non-trivial topology of the charge gauge U(1) group and the associated ground state degeneracy we found a close kinship between the pinning of $\mu$ and the zero-temperature divergence of the charge compressibility $\kappa\sim\partial n_e/\partial\mu$, which marks a novel quantum criticality governed by topological charges rather than Landau principle of the symmetry breaking.Comment: 4+ pages, 2 figures, typos corrected, version as publishe

Large-effect flowering time mutations reveal conditionally adaptive paths through fitness landscapes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Contrary to previous assumptions that most mutations are deleterious, there is increasing evidence for persistence of large-effect mutations in natural populations. A possible explanation for these observations is that mutant phenotypes and fitness may depend upon the specific environmental conditions to which a mutant is exposed. Here, we tested this hypothesis by growing large-effect flowering time mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana in multiple field sites and seasons to quantify their fitness effects in realistic natural conditions. By constructing environment-specific fitness landscapes based on flowering time and branching architecture, we observed that a subset of mutations increased fitness, but only in specific environments. These mutations increased fitness via different paths: through shifting flowering time, branching, or both. Branching was under stronger selection, but flowering time was more genetically variable, pointing to the importance of indirect selection on mutations through their pleiotropic effects on multiple phenotypes. Finally, mutations in hub genes with greater connectedness in their regulatory networks had greater effects on both phenotypes and fitness. Together, these findings indicate that large-effect mutations may persist in populations because they influence traits that are adaptive only under specific environmental conditions. Understanding their evolutionary dynamics therefore requires measuring their effects in multiple natural environments

Correlation lengths and scaling functions in the three-dimensional O(4) model

We investigate numerically the transverse and longitudinal correlation lengths of the three-dimensional O(4) model as a function of the external field H. From our data we calculate the scaling function of the transverse correlation length, and that of the longitudinal correlation length for T>T_c. We show that the scaling functions do not only describe the critical behaviours of the correlation lengths but encompass as well the predicted Goldstone effects, in particular the H^{-1/2}-dependence of the transverse correlation length for T<T_c. In addition, we determine the critical exponent delta=4.824(9) and several critical amplitudes from which we derive the universal amplitude ratios R_{chi}=1.084(18), Q_c=0.431(9), Q_2^T=4.91(8), Q_2^L=1.265(24) and U_{xi}^c=1.99(1). The last result supports a relation between the longitudinal and transverse correlation functions, which was conjectured to hold below T_c but seems to be valid also at T_c.Comment: 24 pages, 13Ps-figures, Latex2e,one page added,version to appear in Nucl. Phys. B[FS

Parity Violation in Aharonov-Bohm Systems: The Spontaneous Hall Effect

We show how macroscopic manifestations of $P$ (and $T$) symmetry breaking can arise in a simple system subject to Aharonov-Bohm interactions. Specifically, we study the conductivity of a gas of charged particles moving through a dilute array of flux tubes. The interaction of the electrons with the flux tubes is taken to be of a purely Aharonov-Bohm type. We find that the system exhibits a non-zero transverse conductivity, i.e., a spontaneous Hall effect. This is in contrast with the fact that the cross sections for both scattering and bremsstrahlung (soft photon emission) of a single electron from a flux tube are invariant under reflections. We argue that the asymmetry in the conductivity coefficients arises from many-body effects. On the other hand, the transverse conductivity has the same dependence on universal constants that appears in the Quantum Hall Effect, a result that we relate to the validity of the Mean Field approximation.Comment: 12 pages (4 figures available upon request), RevTex, EHU-FT-93/1

Dissipation, noise and DCC domain formation

We investigate the effect of friction on domain formation in disoriented chiral condensate. We solve the equation of motion of the linear sigma model, in the Hartree approximation, including a friction and a white noise term. For quenched initial condition, we find that even in presence of noise and dissipation domain like structure emerges after a few fermi of evolution. Domain size as large as 5 fm can be formed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure