Thermal Equilibria of Optically Thin, Magnetically Supported, Two-Temperature, Black Hole Accretion Disks

We obtained thermal equilibrium solutions for optically thin, two-temperature black hole accretion disks incorporating magnetic fields. The main objective of this study is to explain the bright/hard state observed during the bright/slow transition of galactic black hole candidates. We assume that the energy transfer from ions to electrons occurs via Coulomb collisions. Bremsstrahlung, synchrotron, and inverse Compton scattering are considered as the radiative cooling processes. In order to complete the set of basic equations, we specify the magnetic flux advection rate. We find magnetically supported (low-beta), thermally stable solutions. In these solutions, the total amount of the heating via the dissipation of turbulent magnetic fields goes into electrons and balances the radiative cooling. The low-$\beta$ solutions extend to high mass accretion rates and the electron temperature is moderately cool. High luminosities and moderately high energy cutoffs in the X-ray spectrum observed in the bright/hard state can be explained by the low-beta solutions.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures,accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

Stability of half quantum vortex in rotating superfluid 3He-A between parallel plates

We have found the precise stability region of the half quantum vortex (HQV) for superfluid $^3$He A phase confined in parallel plates with a narrow gap under rotation. Standard Ginzburg-Landau free energy, which is well established, is solved to locate the stability region spanned by temperature $T$ and rotation speed ($/Omega$). This $/Omega$-$T$ stability region is wide enough to check it experimentally in available experimental setup. The detailed order parameter structure of HQV characterized by A$_1$ core is given to facilitate the physical reasons of its stability over other vortices or textures.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Majorana surface states of superfluid 3He A- and B-phases in a slab

Motivated by experiments on the superfluid 3He confined in a thin slab, we design a concrete experimental setup for observing the Majorana surface states. We solve the quasi-classical Eilenberger equation, which is quantitatively reliable, to evaluate several quantities, such as local density of states (LDOS), mass current for the A-phase, and spin current for the B-phase. In connection with realistic slab samples, we consider the upper and lower surfaces and the side edges including the corners with several thicknesses. Consequently the influence on the Majorana zero modes from the spatial variation of l-vector for the A-phase in thick slabs and the energy splitting of the zero-energy quasi-particles for the B-phase confined in thin slabs are demonstrated. The corner of slabs in the B-phase is accompanied by the unique zero-energy LDOS of corner modes. On the basis of the quantitative calculation, we propose several feasible and verifiable experiments to check the existence of the Majorana surface states, such as the measurement of specific heat, edge current, and anisotropic spin susceptibility.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, published versio

Global Structure of Optically Thin, Magnetically Supported, Two-Temperature, Black Hole Accretion Disks

We present global solutions of optically thin, two-temperature black hole accretion disks incorporating magnetic fields. We assume that the {\pi}{\phi}-component of the Maxwell stress is proportional to the total pressure, and prescribe the radial dependence of the magnetic flux advection rate in order to complete the set of basic equations. We obtained magnetically supported (low-{\beta}) disk solutions, whose luminosity exceeds the maximum luminosity for an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF), L > 0.4 {\alpha}^2 L_Edd, where L_Edd is the Eddington luminosity. The accretion flow is composed of the outer ADAF, a luminous hot accretion flow (LHAF) inside the transition layer from the outer ADAF to the low-{\beta} disk, the low-{\beta} disk, and the inner ADAF. The low-{\beta} disk region becomes wider as the mass-accretion rate increases further. In the low-{\beta} disk, the magnetic heating balances the radiative cooling, and the electron temperature decreases from ~ 10^9.5 K to ~ 10^8 K as the luminosity increases. These results are consistent with the anti-correlation between the energy cutoff in X-ray spectra (hence the electron temperature) and the luminosity when L > 0.1 L_Edd, observed in the bright/hard state during the bright hard-to-soft transitions of transient outbursts in galactic black hole candidates.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, accepted for Publications of Astronomical Society of Japa

Vortex structures and zero energy states in the BCS-to-BEC evolution of p-wave resonant Fermi gases

Multiply quantized vortices in the BCS-to-BEC evolution of p-wave resonant Fermi gases are investigated theoretically. The vortex structure and the low-energy quasiparticle states are discussed, based on the self-consistent calculations of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes and gap equations. We reveal the direct relation between the macroscopic structure of vortices, such as particle densities, and the low-lying quasiparticle state. In addition, the net angular momentum for multiply quantized vortices with a vorticity $\kappa$ is found to be expressed by a simple equation, which reflects the chirality of the Cooper pairing. Hence, the observation of the particle density depletion and the measurement of the angular momentum will provide the information on the core-bound state and $p$-wave superfluidity. Moreover, the details on the zero energy Majorana state are discussed in the vicinity of the BCS-to-BEC evolution. It is demonstrated numerically that the zero energy Majorana state appears in the weak coupling BCS limit only when the vortex winding number is odd. There exist the $\kappa$ branches of the core bound states for a vortex state with vorticity $\kappa$, whereas only one of them can be the zero energy. This zero energy state vanishes at the BCS-BEC topological phase transition, because of interference between the core-bound and edge-bound states.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, published versio

Spontaneous mass current and textures of p-wave superfluids of trapped Fermionic atom gases at rest and under rotation

It is found theoretically based on the Ginzburg-Landau framework that p-wave superfluids of neutral atom gases in three dimension harmonic traps exhibit spontaneous mass current at rest, whose direction depends on trap geometry. Under rotation various types of the order parameter textures are stabilized, including Mermin-Ho and Anderson-Toulouse-Chechetkin vortices. In a cigar shape trap spontaneous current flows longitudial to the rotation axis and thus perpendicular to the ordinary rotational current. These features, spontaneous mass current at rest and texture formation, can be used as diagnoses for p-wave superfluidity.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Vortex states in superconductors with strong Pauli-paramagnetic effect

Using the quasiclassical theory, we analyze the vortex structure of strong-paramagnetic superconductors.There, induced paramagnetic moments are accumulated exclusively around the vortex core. We quantitatively evaluate the significant paramagnetic effect in the H-dependence of various quantities, such as low temperature specific heat, Knight shift, magnetization and the flux line lattice (FLL) form factor. The anomalous H-dependence of the FLL form factor observed by the small angle neutron scattering in CeCoIn_5 is attributable to the large paramagnetic contribution.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

The early history of protostellar disks, outflows, and binary stars

In star formation, magnetic fields act as a cosmic angular momentum extractor that increases mass accretion rates onto protostars and in the process, creates spectacular outflows. However, recently it has been argued that this magnetic brake is so strong that early protostellar disks -- the cradles of planet formation -- cannot form. Our three-dimensional numerical simulations of the early stages of collapse (\lesssim 10^5 yr) of overdense star--forming clouds form early outflows and have magnetically regulated and rotationally dominated disks (inside 10 AU) with high accretion rates, despite the slip of the field through the mostly neutral gas. We find that in three dimensions, magnetic fields suppress gravitationally driven instabilities which would otherwise prevent young, well ordered disks from forming. Our simulations have surprising consequences for the early formation of disks, their density and temperature structure, the mechanism and structure of early outflows, the flash heating of dust grains through ambipolar diffusion, and the origin of planets and binary stars.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters; corrected text to match journal version; movies can be found at http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~duffindf/movies.htm

Quantum Hall line junction with impurities as a multi-slit Luttinger liquid interferometer

We report on quantum interference between a pair of counterpropagating quantum Hall edge states that are separated by a high quality tunnel barrier. Observed Aharonov-Bohm oscillations are analyzed in terms of resonant tunneling between coupled Luttinger liquids that creates bound electronic states between pairs of tunnel centers that act like interference slits. We place a lower bound in the range of 20-40 $\mu$m for the phase coherence length and directly confirm the extended phase coherence of quantum Hall edge states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl