In-gap bound states and tunneling conductance of multiband superconductors through a normal/superconductor/superconductor junction

The tunneling conductance between a metal and a multiband s-wave superconductor with a thin layer of single-band s-wave superconductor sandwiched in between is examined in this paper. We show that an in-gap peak in conductance curve is found as a result of the formation of in-gap bound state between the single-band and multiband superconductor junctions if the phases of the superconducting order parameters of the multiband superconductor are frustrated. The implication of this result in determining the gap symmetry of the iron-based superconductors is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Secure Massive MIMO Transmission in the Presence of an Active Eavesdropper

In this paper, we investigate secure and reliable transmission strategies for multi-cell multi-user massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems in the presence of an active eavesdropper. We consider a time-division duplex system where uplink training is required and an active eavesdropper can attack the training phase to cause pilot contamination at the transmitter. This forces the precoder used in the subsequent downlink transmission phase to implicitly beamform towards the eavesdropper, thus increasing its received signal power. We derive an asymptotic achievable secrecy rate for matched filter precoding and artificial noise (AN) generation at the transmitter when the number of transmit antennas goes to infinity. For the achievability scheme at hand, we obtain the optimal power allocation policy for the transmit signal and the AN in closed form. For the case of correlated fading channels, we show that the impact of the active eavesdropper can be completely removed if the transmit correlation matrices of the users and the eavesdropper are orthogonal. Inspired by this result, we propose a precoder null space design exploiting the low rank property of the transmit correlation matrices of massive MIMO channels, which can significantly degrade the eavesdropping capabilities of the active eavesdropper.Comment: To appear in ICC 1

The Effect of Timely Loan Loss Recognition in the Banking System on Firms’ Debt Structure

In this paper, we examine how the system under which banks record loan losses, specifically, the timeliness of loan loss recognition, affects borrowers’ debt structure. Using data from 55 countries, we find that more timely loan loss recognition reduces firms’ reliance on bank debt relative to public debt. This result reflects an equilibrium in which firms in an economy rely less on bank debt when there are greater lending constraints and more borrower monitoring in a more timely loan loss accounting regime. Consistent with such a regime resulting in tighter loan conditions, we find an even lower use of bank debt in countries with stringent bank supervision and among financially constrained and opaque firms. Overall, our study offers new insight into the real effects of banks’ accounting on firms’ debt structure when firms can choose alternative debt providers