Theory of Laser-Controlled Competing Superconducting and Charge Orders

We investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of competing coexisting superconducting (SC) and charge-density wave (CDW) orders in an attractive Hubbard model. A time-periodic laser field →A(t) lifts the SC-CDW degeneracy, since the CDW couples linearly to the field (→A), whereas SC couples in second order (→A2) due to gauge invariance. This leads to a striking resonance: When the photon energy is red detuned compared to the equilibrium single-particle energy gap, CDW is enhanced and SC is suppressed, while this behavior is reversed for blue detuning. Both orders oscillate with an emergent slow frequency, which is controlled by the small amplitude of a third induced order, namely η pairing, given by the commutator of the two primary orders. The induced η pairing is shown to control the enhancement and suppression of the dominant orders. Finally, we demonstrate that light-induced superconductivity is possible starting from a predominantly CDW initial state

Skyrmion in spinor condensates and its stability in trap potentials

A necessary condition for the existence of a skyrmion in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates with $\mathrm{SU(2)}$ symmetry was recently provided by two of the authors [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 97}, 080403 (2006)], by mapping the problem to a classical particle in a potential subject to time-dependent dissipation. Here we further elaborate this approach. For two classes of models, we demonstrate the existence of the critical dissipation strength above which the skyrmion solution does not exist. Furthermore, we discuss the local stability of the skyrmion solution by considering the second-order variation. A sufficient condition for the local stability is given in terms of the ground-state energy of a one-dimensional quantum-mechanical Hamiltonian. This condition requires a minimum number of bosons, for a certain class of the trap potential. In the optimal case, the minimum number of bosons can be as small $\sim 10^4$.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, final versio

Synthetic gauge fields in synthetic dimensions: interactions and chiral edge modes

Synthetic ladders realized with one-dimensional alkaline-earth(-like) fermionic gases and subject to a gauge field represent a promising environment for the investigation of quantum Hall physics with ultracold atoms. Using density-matrix renormalization group calculations, we study how the quantum Hall-like chiral edge currents are affected by repulsive atom-atom interactions. We relate the properties of such currents to the asymmetry of the spin resolved momentum distribution function, a quantity which is easily addressable in state-of-art experiments. We show that repulsive interactions significantly enhance the chiral currents. Our numerical simulations are performed for atoms with two and three internal spin states

Manipulating the Tomonaga-Luttinger exponent by electric field modulation

We establish a theoretical framework for artificial control of the power-law singularities in Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid states. The exponent governing the power-law behaviors is found to increase significantly with an increase in the amplitude of the periodic electric field modulation applied externally to the system. This field-induced shift in the exponent indicates the tunability of the transport properties of quasi-one-dimensional electron systems.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Magnetic properties of the quantum spin-1/2 XX diamond chain: The Jordan-Wigner approach

The Jordan-Wigner transformation is applied to study magnetic properties of the quantum spin-1/2 $XX$ model on the diamond chain. Generally, the Hamiltonian of this quantum spin system can be represented in terms of spinless fermions in the presence of a gauge field and different gauge-invariant ways of assigning the spin-fermion transformation are considered. Additionally, we analyze general properties of a free-fermion chain, where all gauge terms are neglected and discuss their relevance for the quantum spin system. A consideration of interaction terms in the fermionic Hamiltonian rests upon the Hartree-Fock procedure after fixing the appropriate gauge. Finally, we discuss the magnetic properties of this quantum spin model at zero as well as non-zero temperatures and analyze the validity of the approximation used through a comparison with the results of the exact diagonalization method for finite (up to 36 spins) chains. Besides the $m=1/3$ plateau the most prominent feature of the magnetization curve is a jump at intermediate field present for certain values of the frustrating vertical bond.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

Energy and Flux Measurements of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Observed During the First ANITA Flight

The first flight of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment recorded 16 radio signals that were emitted by cosmic-ray induced air showers. For 14 of these events, this radiation was reflected from the ice. The dominant contribution to the radiation from the deflection of positrons and electrons in the geomagnetic field, which is beamed in the direction of motion of the air shower. This radiation is reflected from the ice and subsequently detected by the ANITA experiment at a flight altitude of 36km. In this paper, we estimate the energy of the 14 individual events and find that the mean energy of the cosmic-ray sample is 2.9 EeV. By simulating the ANITA flight, we calculate its exposure for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We estimate for the first time the cosmic-ray flux derived only from radio observations. In addition, we find that the Monte Carlo simulation of the ANITA data set is in agreement with the total number of observed events and with the properties of those events.Comment: Added more explanation of the experimental setup and textual improvement

Noninvasive laser-induced photoacoustic tomography for structural and functional in vivo imaging of the brain

Imaging techniques based on optical contrast analysis can be used to visualize dynamic and functional properties of the nervous system via optical signals resulting from changes in blood volume, oxygen consumption and cellular swelling associated with brain physiology and pathology. Here we report in vivo noninvasive transdermal and transcranial imaging of the structure and function of rat brains by means of laser-induced photoacoustic tomography (PAT). The advantage of PAT over pure optical imaging is that it retains intrinsic optical contrast characteristics while taking advantage of the diffraction-limited high spatial resolution of ultrasound. We accurately mapped rat brain structures, with and without lesions, and functional cerebral hemodynamic changes in cortical blood vessels around the whisker-barrel cortex in response to whisker stimulation. We also imaged hyperoxia- and hypoxia-induced cerebral hemodynamic changes. This neuroimaging modality holds promise for applications in neurophysiology, neuropathology and neurotherapy

Search for Anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the Telescope Array Experiment

We study the anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) events collected by the Telescope Array (TA) detector in the first 40 months of operation. Following earlier studies, we examine event sets with energy thresholds of 10 EeV, 40 EeV, and 57 EeV. We find that the distributions of the events in right ascension and declination are compatible with an isotropic distribution in all three sets. We then compare with previously reported clustering of the UHECR events at small angular scales. No significant clustering is found in the TA data. We then check the events with E>57 EeV for correlations with nearby active galactic nuclei. No significant correlation is found. Finally, we examine all three sets for correlations with the large-scale structure of the Universe. We find that the two higher-energy sets are compatible with both an isotropic distribution and the hypothesis that UHECR sources follow the matter distribution of the Universe (the LSS hypothesis), while the event set with E>10 EeV is compatible with isotropy and is not compatible with the LSS hypothesis at 95% CL unless large deflection angles are also assumed. We show that accounting for UHECR deflections in a realistic model of the Galactic magnetic field can make this set compatible with the LSS hypothesis.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure