Correlations in a band insulator

We study a model of a covalent band insulator with on-site Coulomb repulsion at half-filling using dynamical mean-field theory. Upon increasing the interaction strength the system undergoes a discontinuous transition from a correlated band insulator to a Mott insulator with hysteretic behavior at low temperatures. Increasing the temperature in the band insulator close to the insulator-insulator transition we find a crossover to a Mott insulator at elevated temperatures. Remarkably, correlations decrease the energy gap in the correlated band insulator. The gap renormalization can be traced to the low-frequency behavior of the self-energy, analogously to the quasiparticle renormalization in a Fermi liquid. While the uncorrelated band insulator is characterized by a single gap for both charge and spin excitations, the spin gap is smaller than the charge gap in the correlated system.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Breakdown of a topological phase: Quantum phase transition in a loop gas model with tension

We study the stability of topological order against local perturbations by considering the effect of a magnetic field on a spin model -- the toric code -- which is in a topological phase. The model can be mapped onto a quantum loop gas where the perturbation introduces a bare loop tension. When the loop tension is small, the topological order survives. When it is large, it drives a continuous quantum phase transition into a magnetic state. The transition can be understood as the condensation of `magnetic' vortices, leading to confinement of the elementary `charge' excitations. We also show how the topological order breaks down when the system is coupled to an Ohmic heat bath and discuss our results in the context of quantum computation applications.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Environment-assisted quantum transport in a 10-qubit network

The way in which energy is transported through an interacting system governs fundamental properties in many areas of physics, chemistry, and biology. Remarkably, environmental noise can enhance the transport, an effect known as environment-assisted quantum transport (ENAQT). In this paper, we study ENAQT in a network of coupled spins subject to engineered static disorder and temporally varying dephasing noise. The interacting spin network is realized in a chain of trapped atomic ions and energy transport is represented by the transfer of electronic excitation between ions. With increasing noise strength, we observe a crossover from coherent dynamics and Anderson localization to ENAQT and finally a suppression of transport due to the quantum Zeno effect. We found that in the regime where ENAQT is most effective the transport is mainly diffusive, displaying coherences only at very short times. Further, we show that dephasing characterized by non-Markovian noise can maintain coherences longer than white noise dephasing, with a strong influence of the spectral structure on the transport effciency. Our approach represents a controlled and scalable way to investigate quantum transport in many-body networks under static disorder and dynamic noise.Comment: Mai

Analysis of aggregated tick returns: evidence for anomalous diffusion

In order to investigate the origin of large price fluctuations, we analyze stock price changes of ten frequently traded NASDAQ stocks in the year 2002. Though the influence of the trading frequency on the aggregate return in a certain time interval is important, it cannot alone explain the heavy tailed distribution of stock price changes. For this reason, we analyze intervals with a fixed number of trades in order to eliminate the influence of the trading frequency and investigate the relevance of other factors for the aggregate return. We show that in tick time the price follows a discrete diffusion process with a variable step width while the difference between the number of steps in positive and negative direction in an interval is Gaussian distributed. The step width is given by the return due to a single trade and is long-term correlated in tick time. Hence, its mean value can well characterize an interval of many trades and turns out to be an important determinant for large aggregate returns. We also present a statistical model reproducing the cumulative distribution of aggregate returns. For an accurate agreement with the empirical distribution, we also take into account asymmetries of the step widths in different directions together with crosscorrelations between these asymmetries and the mean step width as well as the signs of the steps.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, typos correcte

Multiple scaling regimes in simple aging models

We investigate aging in glassy systems based on a simple model, where a point in configuration space performs thermally activated jumps between the minima of a random energy landscape. The model allows us to show explicitly a subaging behavior and multiple scaling regimes for the correlation function. Both the exponents characterizing the scaling of the different relaxation times with the waiting time and those characterizing the asymptotic decay of the scaling functions are obtained analytically by invoking a `partial equilibrium' concept.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Universal scaling behavior of the single electron box in the strong tunneling limit

We perform a numerical analysis of recently proposed scaling functions for the single electron box. Specifically, we study the ``magnetic'' susceptibility as a function of tunneling conductance and gate charge, and the effective charging energy at zero gate charge as a function of tunneling conductance in the strong tunneling limit. Our Monte Carlo results confirm the accuracy of the theoretical predictions.Comment: Published versio

Enhanced Electron-Phonon Coupling and its Irrelevance to High Tc_{c} Superconductivity

It is argued that the origin of the buckling of the CuO$_{2}$ planes in certain cuprates as well as the strong electron-phonon coupling of the $B_{1g}$ phonon is due to the electric field across the planes induced by atoms with different valence above and below. The magnitude of the electric field is deduced from new Raman results on YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6+x}$ and Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$(Ca$_{1-x}$Y$_{x}$)Cu$_{2}$O$_{8}$ with different O and Y doping, respectively. In the latter case it is shown that the symmetry breaking by replacing Ca partially by Y enhances the coupling by an order of magnitude, while the superconducting $T_c$ drops to about two third of its original value.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. This and other papers can be downloaded from http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~tp

Database management and analysis of fisheries in Illinois: Final report, 1 March 1999-28 February 2002

Issued May 2002; F-69-RReport issued on: May 200

Magnetic moments of W 5d in Ca2CrWO6 and Sr2CrWO6 double perovskites

We have investigated the magnetic moment of the W ion in the ferrimagnetic double perovskites Sr2CrWO6 and Ca2CrWO6 by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the W L(2,3) edges. In both compounds a finite negative spin and positive orbital magnetic moment was detected. The experimental results are in good agreement with band-structure calculations for (Sr/Ca)2CrWO6 using the full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method. It is remarkable, that the magnetic ordering temperature, TC, is correlated with the magnetic moment at the 'non-magnetic' W atom.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Nonthermal Melting of Néel Order in the Hubbard Model

Symmetry-broken states such as magnetic order and superconductivity are the hallmark of complex properties in solids. An intriguing new direction in condensed-matter physics is to manipulate these properties on the fastest possible time scales using ultrashort laser pulses. Theoretically, however, the collective many-particle dynamics that is responsible for the formation and melting of long-range order is associated with many open questions.Here, we combine two state-of-the-art numerical techniques—time-dependent density matrix renormalization group and nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory—to create a model system that represents interacting electrons on a bipartite lattice in which electrons can tunnel between sites. We prepare this model such that particles on neighboring sites initially align their magnetic moments in an antiparallel manner (i.e., representing antiferromagnetic order). The particles can then move between lattice sites, which leads to the melting of the magnetic order. We theoretically show that the precise movement mechanism depends strongly on the interaction between the particles: For strong interactions, the system behaves like a collection of localized magnetic moments. For weak interactions, on the other hand, the dynamics reflects the existence of coherent quasiparticles, which are typically restricted to excitations close to the ground state. In our case, these quasiparticles prevail on short times even though the system is strongly excited.Our setup, which is well suited for experiments using cold atoms, has the ability to reveal the crossover between localized and itinerant behavior. In the future, similar studies of systems with several active orbitals may make it possible to better understand how complex solids can relax into entirely new—and possibly thermodynamically hidden—phases