Spin-orbit induced spin-density wave in a quantum wire

We present analysis of the interacting quantum wire problem in the presence of magnetic field and spin-orbit interaction. We show that an interesting interplay of Zeeman and spin-orbit terms, facilitated by the electron-electron interaction, results in the spin-density wave (SDW) state when the magnetic field and spin-orbit axes are orthogonal. This strongly affects charge transport through the wire: with SDW stabilized, single particle backscattering off an nonmagnetic impurity becomes irrelevant. Sensitivity of the effect to the direction of the magnetic field can be used for experimental verification of this proposal.Comment: 4.1 pages, 1 figure; v2: published versio

Equilibrium currents in chiral systems with non-zero Chern number

We describe simple quantum-mechanical approach to calculating equilibrium particle current along the edge of a system with non-trivial band spectrum topology. The approach does not require any a priori knowledge of the band topology and, as a matter of fact, treats topological and non-topological contributions to the edge currents on the same footing. We illustrate its usefulness by demonstrating the existence of `topologically non-trivial' particle currents along the edges of three different physical systems: two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman magnetic field, surface state of a topological insulator, and kagome antiferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We describe relation of our results to the notion of orbital magnetization.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Dimerized phase and transitions in a spatially anisotropic square lattice antiferromagnet

We investigate the spatially anisotropic square lattice quantum antiferromagnet. The model describes isotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains (exchange constant J) coupled antiferromagnetically in the transverse (J_\perp) and diagonal (J_\times), with respect to the chain, directions. Classically, the model admits two ordered ground states -- with antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic inter-chain spin correlations -- separated by a first order phase transition at J_\perp=2J_\times. We show that in the quantum model this transition splits into two, revealing an intermediate quantum-disordered columnar dimer phase, both in two dimensions and in a simpler two-leg ladder version. We describe quantum-critical points separating this spontaneously dimerized phase from classical ones.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Equilibrium currents in chiral systems with nonzero Chern number

pre-printWe describe a simple quantum-mechanical approach to calculating equilibrium particle current along the edge of a system with nontrivial band spectrum topology. The approach does not require any a priori knowledge of the band topology and, as a matter of fact, treats topological and nontopological contributions to the edge currents on the same footing.We illustrate its usefulness by demonstrating the existence of "topologically nontrivial" particle currents along the edges of three different physical systems: two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman magnetic field, surface state of a topological insulator, and kagom´e antiferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We describe the relationship of our results to the notion of orbital magnetization

String order and adiabatic continuity of Haldane chains and band insulators

The ground state of spin-1 Haldane chains is characterized by the so-called string order. We show that the same hidden order is also present in ordinary one-dimensional band insulators. We construct a family of Hamiltonians which connects adiabatically band insulators to two topologically non-equivalent spin models, the Haldane chain and the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 ladder. We observe that the localized spin-1/2 edge-state characteristic of spin-1 chains is smoothly connected to a surface-bound state of band insulators and its emergence is not related to any bulk phase transition. Furthermore, we show that the string order is absent in any dimensions higher than one.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures. Appendix about charge string orders added. Version as publishe

Gapped Phases of Quantum Wires

We investigate possible nontrivial phases of a two-subband quantum wire. It is found that inter- and intra-subband interactions may drive the electron system of the wire into a gapped state. If the nominal electron densities in the two subbands are sufficiently close to each other, then the leading instability is the inter-subband charge-density wave (CDW). For large density imbalance, the interaction in the inter-subband Cooper channel may lead to a superconducting instability. The total charge-density mode, responsible for the conductance of an ideal wire, always remains gapless, which enforces the two-terminal conductance to be at the universal value of 2e^2/h per occupied subband. On the contrary, the tunneling density of states (DOS) in the bulk of the wire acquires a hard gap, above which the DOS has a non-universal singularity. This singularity is weaker than the square-root divergency characteristic for non-interacting quasiparticles near a gap edge due to the "dressing" of massive modes by a gapless total charge density mode. The DOS for tunneling into the end of a wire in a CDW-gapped state preserves the power-law behavior due to the frustration the edge introduces into the CDW order. This work is related to the vast literature on coupled 1D systems, and most of all, on two-leg Hubbard ladders. Whenever possible, we give derivations of the important results by other authors, adopted for the context of our study.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, to appear in "Interactions and Transport Properties of Lower Dimensional Systems", Lecture Notes in Physics, Springe

Quantum phases of a Feshbach-resonant atomic Bose gas in one dimension

We study an atomic Bose gas with an s-wave Feshbach resonance in a one-dimensional optical lattice, with the densities of atoms and molecules incommensurate with the lattice. At zero temperature, most of the parameter region is occupied by a phase in which the superfluid fluctuations of atoms and molecules are the predominant ones, due to the phase fluctuations of atoms and molecules being locked by a Josephson coupling between them. When the density difference between atoms and molecules is commensurate with the lattice, two additional phases may exist: the two component Luttinger liquid where both the atomic and molecular sectors are gapless, and the inter-channel charge density wave where the relative density fluctuations between atoms and molecules are frozen at low energy.Comment: 4+epsilon pages, 3 figures; references adde