Smearing of Coulomb Blockade by Resonant Tunneling

We study the Coulomb blockade in a grain coupled to a lead via a resonant impurity level. We show that the strong energy dependence of the transmission coefficient through the impurity level can have a dramatic effect on the quantization of the grain charge. In particular, if the resonance is sufficiently narrow, the Coulomb staircase shows very sharp steps even if the transmission through the impurity at the Fermi energy is perfect. This is in contrast to the naive expectation that perfect transmission should completely smear charging effects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Transport through a quantum dot with SU(4) Kondo entanglement

We investigate a mesoscopic setup composed of a small electron droplet (dot) coupled to a larger quantum dot (grain) also subject to Coulomb blockade as well as two macroscopic leads used as source and drain. An exotic Kondo ground state other than the standard SU(2) Fermi liquid unambiguously emerges: an SU(4) Kondo correlated liquid. The transport properties through the small dot are analyzed for this regime, through boundary conformal field theory, and allow a clear distinction with other regimes such as a two-channel spin state or a two-channel orbital state.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Quantum Charge Fluctuations in a Superconducting Grain

We consider charge quantization in a small superconducting grain that is contacted by a normal-metal electrode and is controlled by a capacitively coupled gate. At zero temperature and zero conductance $G$ between the grain and the electrode, the charge $Q$ as a function of the gate voltage $V_g$ changes in steps. The step height is $e$ if $\Delta<E_c$, where $\Delta$ and $E_c$ are, respectively, the superconducting gap and the charging energy of the grain. Quantum charge fluctuations at finite conductance remove the discontinuity in the dependence of $Q$ on $V_g$ and lead to a finite step width $\propto G^2\Delta$. The resulting shape of the Coulomb blockade staircase is of a novel type. The grain charge is a continuous function of $V_g$ while the differential capacitance, $dQ/dV_g$, has discontinuities at certain values of the gate voltage. We determine analytically the shape of the Coulomb blockade staircase also at non-zero temperatures.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Quantum phase transitions in a resonant-level model with dissipation: Renormalization-group studies

We study a spinless level that hybridizes with a fermionic band and is also coupled via its charge to a dissipative bosonic bath. We consider the general case of a power-law hybridization function \Gamma(\w)\propto |\w|^r with $r\ge 0$, and a bosonic bath spectral function B(\w)\propto \w^s with $s\ge -1$. For $r<1$ and $\mathrm{max}(0,2r-1)<s<1$, this Bose-Fermi quantum impurity model features a continuous zero-temperature transition between a delocalized phase, with tunneling between the impurity level and the band, and a localized phase, in which dissipation suppresses tunneling in the low-energy limit. The phase diagram and the critical behavior of the model are elucidated using perturbative and numerical renormalization-group techniques, between which there is excellent agreement in the appropriate regimes. For $r=0$ this model's critical properties coincide with those of the spin-boson and Ising Bose-Fermi Kondo models, as expected from bosonization.Comment: 14 pages, 14 eps figure

Inelastic Processes in the Collision of Relativistic Highly Charged Ions with Atoms

A general expression for the cross sections of inelastic collisions of fast (including relativistic) multicharged ions with atoms which is based on the genelazition of the eikonal approximation is derived. This expression is applicable for wide range of collision energy and has the standard nonrelativistic limit and in the ultrarelativistic limit coincides with the Baltz's exact solution ~\cite{art13} of the Dirac equation. As an application of the obtained result the following processes are calculated: the excitation and ionization cross sections of hydrogenlike atom; the single and double excitation and ionization of heliumlike atom; the multiply ionization of neon and argon atoms; the probability and cross section of K-vacancy production in the relativistic $U^{92+} - U^{91+}$ collision. The simple analytic formulae for the cross sections of inelastic collisions and the recurrence relations between the ionization cross sections of different multiplicities are also obtained. Comparison of our results with the experimental data and the results of other calculations are given.Comment: 25 pages, latex, 7 figures avialable upon request,submitted to PR

Soliton localization in Bose-Einstein condensates with time-dependent harmonic potential and scattering length

We derive exact solitonic solutions of a class of Gross-Pitaevskii equations with time-dependent harmonic trapping potential and interatomic interaction. We find families of exact single-solitonic, multi-solitonic, and solitary wave solutions. We show that, with the special case of an oscillating trapping potential and interatomic interaction, a soliton can be localized indefinitely at an arbitrary position. The localization is shown to be experimentally possible for sufficiently long time even with only an oscillating trapping potential and a constant interatomic interaction.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in J.Phys.

Finite Size Effects in Addition and Chipping Processes

We investigate analytically and numerically a system of clusters evolving via collisions with clusters of minimal mass (monomers). Each collision either leads to the addition of the monomer to the cluster or the chipping of a monomer from the cluster, and emerging behaviors depend on which of the two processes is more probable. If addition prevails, monomers disappear in a time that scales as $\ln N$ with the total mass $N\gg 1$, and the system reaches a jammed state. When chipping prevails, the system remains in a quasi-stationary state for a time that scales exponentially with $N$, but eventually, a giant fluctuation leads to the disappearance of monomers. In the marginal case, monomers disappear in a time that scales linearly with $N$, and the final supercluster state is a peculiar jammed state, viz., it is not extensive.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 45 reference

Coulomb Blockade Peak Spacings: Interplay of Spin and Dot-Lead Coupling

For Coulomb blockade peaks in the linear conductance of a quantum dot, we study the correction to the spacing between the peaks due to dot-lead coupling. This coupling can affect measurements in which Coulomb blockade phenomena are used as a tool to probe the energy level structure of quantum dots. The electron-electron interactions in the quantum dot are described by the constant exchange and interaction (CEI) model while the single-particle properties are described by random matrix theory. We find analytic expressions for both the average and rms mesoscopic fluctuation of the correction. For a realistic value of the exchange interaction constant J_s, the ensemble average correction to the peak spacing is two to three times smaller than that at J_s = 0. As a function of J_s, the average correction to the peak spacing for an even valley decreases monotonically, nonetheless staying positive. The rms fluctuation is of the same order as the average and weakly depends on J_s. For a small fraction of quantum dots in the ensemble, therefore, the correction to the peak spacing for the even valley is negative. The correction to the spacing in the odd valleys is opposite in sign to that in the even valleys and equal in magnitude. These results are robust with respect to the choice of the random matrix ensemble or change in parameters such as charging energy, mean level spacing, or temperature.Comment: RevTex, 11 pages, 9 figures. v2: Conclusions section expanded. Accepted for publication in PR

Inelastic cotunneling induced decoherence and relaxation, charge and spin currents in an interacting quantum dot under a magnetic field

We present a theoretical analysis of several aspects of nonequilibirum cotunneling through a strong Coulomb-blockaded quantum dot (QD) subject to a finite magnetic field in the weak coupling limit. We carry this out by developing a generic quantum Heisenberg-Langevin equation approach leading to a set of Bloch dynamical equations which describe the nonequilibrium cotunneling in a convenient and compact way. These equations describe the time evolution of the spin variables of the QD explicitly in terms of the response and correlation functions of the free reservoir variables. This scheme not only provides analytical expressions for the relaxation and decoherence of the localized spin induced by cotunneling, but it also facilitates evaluations of the nonequilibrium magnetization, the charge current, and the spin current at arbitrary bias-voltage, magnetic field, and temperature. We find that all cotunneling events produce decoherence, but relaxation stems only from {\em inelastic} spin-flip cotunneling processes. Moreover, our specific calculations show that cotunneling processes involving electron transfer (both spin-flip and non-spin-flip) contribute to charge current, while spin-flip cotunneling processes are required to produce a net spin current in the asymmetric coupling case. We also point out that under the influence of a nonzero magnetic field, spin-flip cotunneling is an energy-consuming process requiring a sufficiently strong external bias-voltage for activation, explaining the behavior of differential conductance at low temperature: in particular, the splitting of the zero-bias anomaly in the charge current and a broad zero-magnitude "window" of differential conductance for the spin current near zero-bias-voltage.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, published version, to appear in Phys. Rev.