23,876 research outputs found
Spin injection into a metal from a topological insulator
We study a junction of a topological insulator with a thin two-dimensional
(2D) non-magnetic or partially polarized ferromagnetic metallic film deposited
on a 3D insulator. We show that such a junction leads to a finite spin current
injection into the film whose magnitude can be controlled by tuning a voltage
applied across the junction. For ferromagnetic films, the direction of the
component of the spin current along the film magnetization can also be tuned by
tuning the barrier potential at the junction. We point out the role of
the chiral spin-momentum locking of the Dirac electrons behind this phenomenon
and suggest experiments to test our theory.Comment: Revised version with supplemental material
Time and Tachyon
Recent analysis suggests that the classical dynamics of a tachyon on an
unstable D-brane is described by a scalar Born-Infeld type action with a
runaway potential. The classical configurations in this theory at late time are
in one to one correspondence with the configuration of a system of
non-interacting (incoherent), non-rotating dust. We discuss some aspects of
canonical quantization of this field theory coupled to gravity, and explore,
following earlier work on this subject, the possibility of using the scalar
field (tachyon) as the definition of time in quantum cosmology. At late `time'
we can identify a subsector in which the scalar field decouples from gravity
and we recover the usual Wheeler - de Witt equation of quantum gravity.Comment: LaTeX file, 24 page
Universal near-horizon conformal structure and black hole entropy
It is shown that a massless scalar probe reveals a universal near-horizon
conformal structure for a wide class of black holes, including the BTZ. The
central charge of the corresponding Virasoro algebra contains information about
the black hole. With a suitable quantization condition on the central charge,
the CFT associated with the black hole in our approach is consistent with the
recent observation of Witten, where the dual theory for the BTZ in the AdS/CFT
framework has been identified with the construction of Frenkel, Lepowsky and
Meurman. This CFT admits the Fischer-Griess monster group as its symmetry. The
logarithm of the dimension of a specific representation of the monster group
has been identified by Witten as the entropy of the BTZ black hole. Our
algebraic approach shows that a wide class of black holes share the same
near-horizon conformal structure as that for the BTZ. With a suitable
quantization condition, the CFT's for all these black holes in our formalism
can be identified with the FLM model, although not through the AdS/CFT
correspondence. The corresponding entropy for the BTZ provides a lower bound
for the entropy of this entire class of black holes.Comment: References updated, text rearrange
Magnetotransport of Dirac Fermions on the surface of a topological insulator
We study the properties of Dirac fermions on the surface of a topological
insulator in the presence of crossed electric and magnetic fields. We provide
an exact solution to this problem and demonstrate that, in contrast to their
counterparts in graphene, these Dirac fermions allow relative tuning of the
orbital and Zeeman effects of an applied magnetic field by a crossed electric
field along the surface. We also elaborate and extend our earlier results on
normal metal-magnetic film-normal metal (NMN) and normal metal-barrier-magnetic
film (NBM) junctions of topological insulators [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 104},
046403 (2010)]. For NMN junctions, we show that for Dirac fermions with Fermi
velocity , the transport can be controlled using the exchange field
of a ferromagnetic film over a region of width . The
conductance of such a junction changes from oscillatory to a monotonically
decreasing function of beyond a critical which leads to the
possible realization of magnetic switches using these junctions. For NBM
junctions with a potential barrier of width and potential , we find
that beyond a critical , the criteria of conductance maxima
changes from to for
integer . Finally, we compute the subgap tunneling conductance of a normal
metal-magnetic film-superconductor (NMS) junctions on the surface of a
topological insulator and show that the position of the peaks of the zero-bias
tunneling conductance can be tuned using the magnetization of the ferromagnetic
film. We point out that these phenomena have no analogs in either conventional
two-dimensional materials or Dirac electrons in graphene and suggest
experiments to test our theory.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures; v
Tuning the conductance of Dirac fermions on the surface of a topological insulator
We study the transport properties of the Dirac fermions with Fermi velocity
on the surface of a topological insulator across a ferromagnetic strip
providing an exchange field over a region of width . We show
that the conductance of such a junction changes from oscillatory to a
monotonically decreasing function of beyond a critical . This
leads to the possible realization of a magnetic switch using these junctions.
We also study the conductance of these Dirac fermions across a potential
barrier of width and potential in the presence of such a
ferromagnetic strip and show that beyond a critical , the
criteria of conductance maxima changes from
to for integer . We point out that these novel phenomena
have no analogs in graphene and suggest experiments which can probe them.Comment: v1 4 pages 5 fig
Remark about Non-BPS D-Brane in Type IIA Theory
In this paper we would like to show simple mechanisms how from the action for
non-BPS D-brane we can obtain action describing BPS D(p-1)-brane in Type IIA
theory.Comment: 13 pages, completely rewritten pape
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