Umklapp scattering at reconstructed quantum-Hall edges

We study the low-lying excitations of a quantum-Hall sample that has undergone edge reconstruction such that there exist three branches of chiral edge excitations. Among the interaction processes that involve electrons close to the three Fermi points is a new type of Umklapp-scattering process which has not been discussed before. Using bosonization and a refermionization technique, we obtain exact results for electronic correlation functions and discuss the effect Umklapp scattering has on the Luttinger-liquid properties of quantum-Hall edges.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, uses elsart.cls and phbauth.cls (both are included), contribution to EP2DS-13, to be published in Physica

The Fermi Liquid as a Renormalization Group Fixed Point: the Role of Interference in the Landau Channel

We apply the finite-temperature renormalization-group (RG) to a model based on an effective action with a short-range repulsive interaction and a rotation invariant Fermi surface. The basic quantities of Fermi liquid theory, the Landau function and the scattering vertex, are calculated as fixed points of the RG flow in terms of the effective action's interaction function. The classic derivations of Fermi liquid theory, which apply the Bethe-Salpeter equation and amount to summing direct particle-hole ladder diagrams, neglect the zero-angle singularity in the exchange particle-hole loop. As a consequence, the antisymmetry of the forward scattering vertex is not guaranteed and the amplitude sum rule must be imposed by hand on the components of the Landau function. We show that the strong interference of the direct and exchange processes of particle-hole scattering near zero angle invalidates the ladder approximation in this region, resulting in temperature-dependent narrow-angle anomalies in the Landau function and scattering vertex. In this RG approach the Pauli principle is automatically satisfied. The consequences of the RG corrections on Fermi liquid theory are discussed. In particular, we show that the amplitude sum rule is not valid.Comment: 25 pages, RevTeX 3.

Graphene: A Pseudochiral Fermi Liquid

Doped graphene sheets are pseudochiral two-dimensional Fermi liquids with abnormal electron-electron interaction physics. We address graphene's Fermi liquid properties quantitatively using a microscopic random-phase-approximation theory and comment on the importance of using exchange-correlation potentials based on the properties of a chiral two-dimensional electron gas in density-functional-theory applications to graphene nanostructures.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, submitte

Strongly correlated fermions with nonlinear energy dispersion and spontaneous generation of anisotropic phases

Using the bosonization approach we study fermionic systems with a nonlinear dispersion relation in dimension d>2. We explicitly show how the band curvature gives rise to interaction terms in the bosonic version of the model. Although these terms are perturbatively irrelevant in relation to the Landau Fermi liquid fixed point, they become relevant perturbations when instabilities take place. Using a coherent state path integral technique we built up the effective action that governs the dynamics of the Fermi surface fluctuations. We consider the combined effect of fermionic interactions and band curvature on possible anisotropic phases triggered by negative Landau parameters. In particular we study in some detail the phase diagram for the isotropic/nematic/hexatic quantum phase transition.Comment: RevTeX4, 9 pages, 2 eps figures, Final version as appeared in Phys.Rev.

"quasi-particles" in bosonization theory of interacting fermion liquids at arbitrary dimensions

Within bosonization theory we introduce in this paper a new definition of "quasi-particles" for interacting fermions at arbitrary space dimenions. In dimensions higher than one we show that the constructed quasi-particles are consistent with quasi-particle descriptions in Landau Fermi liquid theory whereas in one-dimension the quasi-particles" are non-perturbative objects (spinons and holons) obeying fractional statistics. The more general situation of Fermi liquids with singular Landau interaction is discussed.Comment: 10 page

Coulomb scattering lifetime of a two-dimensional electron gas

Motivated by a recent tunneling experiment in a double quantum-well system, which reports an anomalously enhanced electronic scattering rate in a clean two-dimensional electron gas, we calculate the inelastic quasiparticle lifetime due to electron-electron interaction in a single loop dynamically screened Coulomb interaction within the random-phase-approximation. We obtain excellent quantitative agreement with the inelastic scattering rates in the tunneling experiment without any adjustable parameter, finding that the reported large ($\geq$ a factor of six) disagreement between theory and experiment arises from quantitative errors in the existing theoretical work and from the off-shell energy dependence of the electron self-energy.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, figures included. Also available at http://www-cmg.physics.umd.edu/~lzheng

Edge reconstructions in fractional quantum Hall systems

Two dimensional electron systems exhibiting the fractional quantum Hall effects are characterized by a quantized Hall conductance and a dissipationless bulk. The transport in these systems occurs only at the edges where gapless excitations are present. We present a {\it microscopic} calculation of the edge states in the fractional quantum Hall systems at various filling factors using the extended Hamiltonian theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect. We find that at $\nu=1/3$ the quantum Hall edge undergoes a reconstruction as the background potential softens, whereas quantum Hall edges at higher filling factors, such as $\nu=2/5, 3/7$, are robust against reconstruction. We present the results for the dependence of the edge states on various system parameters such as temperature, functional form and range of electron-electron interactions, and the confining potential. Our results have implications for the tunneling experiments into the edge of a fractional quantum Hall system.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures; minor typos corrected; added 2 reference

Hamiltonian Theory of the FQHE: Conserving Approximation for Incompressible Fractions

A microscopic Hamiltonian theory of the FQHE developed by Shankar and the present author based on the fermionic Chern-Simons approach has recently been quite successful in calculating gaps and finite tempertature properties in Fractional Quantum Hall states. Initially proposed as a small-$q$ theory, it was subsequently extended by Shankar to form an algebraically consistent theory for all $q$ in the lowest Landau level. Such a theory is amenable to a conserving approximation in which the constraints have vanishing correlators and decouple from physical response functions. Properties of the incompressible fractions are explored in this conserving approximation, including the magnetoexciton dispersions and the evolution of the small-$q$ structure factor as \nu\to\half. Finally, a formalism capable of dealing with a nonuniform ground state charge density is developed and used to show how the correct fractional value of the quasiparticle charge emerges from the theory.Comment: 15 pages, 2 eps figure

The novel transcriptional regulator SczA mediates protection against Zn2+ stress by activation of the Zn2+-resistance gene czcD in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Maintenance of the intracellular homeostasis of metal ions is important for the virulence of many bacterial pathogens. Here, we demonstrate that the czcD gene of the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae is involved in resistance against Zn2+, and that its transcription is induced by the transition-metal ions Zn2+, Co2+ and Ni2+. Upstream of czcD a gene was identified, encoding a novel TetR family regulator, SczA, that is responsible for the metal ion-dependent activation of czcD expression. Transcriptome analyses revealed that in a sczA mutant expression of czcD, a gene encoding a MerR-family transcriptional regulator and a gene encoding a zinc-containing alcohol dehydrogenase (adhB) were downregulated. Activation of the czcD promoter by SczA is shown to proceed by Zn2+-dependent binding of SczA to a conserved DNA motif. In the absence of Zn2+, SczA binds to a second site in the czcD promoter, thereby fully blocking czcD expression. This is the first example of a metalloregulatory protein belonging to the TetR family that has been described. The presence in S. pneumoniae of the Zn2+-resistance system characterized in this study might reflect the need for adjustment to a fluctuating Zn2+ pool encountered by this pathogen during infection of the human body

On the critical behavior of disordered quantum magnets: The relevance of rare regions

The effects of quenched disorder on the critical properties of itinerant quantum antiferromagnets and ferromagnets are considered. Particular attention is paid to locally ordered spatial regions that are formed in the presence of quenched disorder even when the bulk system is still in the paramagnetic phase. These rare regions or local moments are reflected in the existence of spatially inhomogeneous saddle points of the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson functional. We derive an effective theory that takes into account small fluctuations around all of these saddle points. The resulting free energy functional contains a new term in addition to those obtained within the conventional perturbative approach, and it comprises what would be considered non-perturbative effects within the latter. A renormalization group analysis shows that in the case of antiferromagnets, the previously found critical fixed point is unstable with respect to this new term, and that no stable critical fixed point exists at one-loop order. This is contrasted with the case of itinerant ferromagnets, where we find that the previously found critical behavior is unaffected by the rare regions due to an effective long-ranged interaction between the order parameter fluctuations.Comment: 16 pp., REVTeX, epsf, 2 figs, final version as publishe