Braiding Majorana corner modes in a second-order topological superconductor

We propose the concept of a device based on a square-shaped sample of a two-dimensional second-order topological helical superconductor which hosts two zero-dimensional Majorana quasiparticles at the corners. The two zero-energy modes rely on particle-hole symmetry (PHS) and their spacial position can be shifted by rotating an in-plane magnetic field and tuning proximity-induced spin-singlet pairing. We consider an adiabatic cycle performed on the degenerate ground-state manifold and show that it realizes the braiding of the two modes whereby they accumulate a non-trivial statistical phase $\pi$ within one cycle. Alongside with the PHS-ensured operator algebra, the fractional statistics confirms the Majorana nature of the zero-energy excitations. A schematic design for a possible experimental implementation of such a device is presented, which could be a step towards realizing non-Abelian braiding.Comment: A different physical system is considered in this version (topological superconductor), however, the topological and symmetry features are closely related to those of the two-layer topological insulator of version 2 (arXiv:1904.07822v2). A more accurate distinction is made between the fractional statistics of the Majorana corner states and their potential non-Abelian propertie

The Euler Equations on Thin Domains

For the Euler equations in a thin domain Q_ε = Ω×(0, ε), Ω a rectangle in R^2, with initial data in (W^(2,q)(Qε))^3, q > 3, bounded uniformly in ε, the classical solution is shown to exist on a time interval (0, T(ε)), where T(є) → +∞ as є → 0. We compare this solution with that of a system of limiting equations on Ω

Lagrangian Reduction by Stages

This booklet studies the geometry of the reduction of Lagrangian systems with symmetry in a way that allows the reduction process to be repeated; that is, it develops a context for Lagrangian reduction by stages. The Lagrangian reduction procedure focuses on the geometry of variational structures and how to reduce them to quotient spaces under group actions. This philosophy is well known for the classical cases, such as Routh reduction for systems with cyclic variables (where the symmetry group is Abelian) and Euler{Poincare reduction (for the case in which the conguration space is a Lie group) as well as Euler-Poincare reduction for semidirect products. The context established for this theory is a Lagrangian analogue of the bundle picture on the Hamiltonian side. In this picture, we develop a category that includes, as a special case, the realization of the quotient of a tangent bundle as the Whitney sum of the tangent of the quotient bundle with the associated adjoint bundle. The elements of this new category, called the Lagrange{Poincare category, have enough geometric structure so that the category is stable under the procedure of Lagrangian reduction. Thus, reduction may be repeated, giving the desired context for reduction by stages. Our category may be viewed as a Lagrangian analog of the category of Poisson manifolds in Hamiltonian theory. We also give an intrinsic and geometric way of writing the reduced equations, called the Lagrange{Poincare equations, using covariant derivatives and connections. In addition, the context includes the interpretation of cocycles as curvatures of connections and is general enough to encompass interesting situations involving both semidirect products and central extensions. Examples are given to illustrate the general theory. In classical Routh reduction one usually sets the conserved quantities conjugate to the cyclic variables equal to a constant. In our development, we do not require the imposition of this constraint. For the general theory along these lines, we refer to the complementary work of Marsden, Ratiu and Scheurle [2000], which studies the Lagrange-Routh equations

Reduction theory and the Lagrange–Routh equations

Reduction theory for mechanical systems with symmetry has its roots in the classical works in mechanics of Euler, Jacobi, Lagrange, Hamilton, Routh, Poincaré, and others. The modern vision of mechanics includes, besides the traditional mechanics of particles and rigid bodies, field theories such as electromagnetism, fluid mechanics, plasma physics, solid mechanics as well as quantum mechanics, and relativistic theories, including gravity. Symmetries in these theories vary from obvious translational and rotational symmetries to less obvious particle relabeling symmetries in fluids and plasmas, to subtle symmetries underlying integrable systems. Reduction theory concerns the removal of symmetries and their associated conservation laws. Variational principles, along with symplectic and Poisson geometry, provide fundamental tools for this endeavor. Reduction theory has been extremely useful in a wide variety of areas, from a deeper understanding of many physical theories, including new variational and Poisson structures, to stability theory, integrable systems, as well as geometric phases. This paper surveys progress in selected topics in reduction theory, especially those of the last few decades as well as presenting new results on non-Abelian Routh reduction. We develop the geometry of the associated Lagrange–Routh equations in some detail. The paper puts the new results in the general context of reduction theory and discusses some future directions

The Euler-Poincaré Equations in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

Recent theoretical work has developed the Hamilton's-principle analog of Lie-Poisson Hamiltonian systems defined on semidirect products. The main theoretical results are twofold: 1. Euler-Poincaré equations (the Lagrangian analog of Lie-Poisson Hamiltonian equations) are derived for a parameter dependent Lagrangian from a general variational principle of Lagrange d'Alembert type in which variations are constrained; 2. an abstract Kelvin-Noether theorem is derived for such systems. By imposing suitable constraints on the variations and by using invariance properties of the Lagrangian, as one does for the Euler equations for the rigid body and ideal fluids, we cast several standard Eulerian models of geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD) at various levels of approximation into Euler-Poincaré form and discuss their corresponding Kelvin-Noether theorems and potential vorticity conservation laws. The various levels of GFD approximation are related by substituting a sequence of velocity decompositions and asymptotic expansions into Hamilton's principle for the Euler equations of a rotating stratified ideal incompressible fluid. We emphasize that the shared properties of this sequence of approximate ideal GFD models follow directly from their Euler-Poincaré formulations. New modifications of the Euler-Boussinesq equations and primitive equations are also proposed in which nonlinear dispersion adaptively filters high wavenumbers and thereby enhances stability and regularity without compromising either low wavenumber behavior or geophysical balances

The Euler–Poincaré Equations and Semidirect Products with Applications to Continuum Theories

We study Euler–Poincaré systems (i.e., the Lagrangian analogue of Lie–Poisson Hamiltonian systems) defined on semidirect product Lie algebras. We first give a derivation of the Euler–Poincaré equations for a parameter dependent Lagrangian by using a variational principle of Lagrange d'Alembert type. Then we derive an abstract Kelvin–Noether theorem for these equations. We also explore their relation with the theory of Lie–Poisson Hamiltonian systems defined on the dual of a semidirect product Lie algebra. The Legendre transformation in such cases is often not invertible; thus, it does not produce a corresponding Euler–Poincaré system on that Lie algebra. We avoid this potential difficulty by developing the theory of Euler–Poincaré systems entirely within the Lagrangian framework. We apply the general theory to a number of known examples, including the heavy top, ideal compressible fluids and MHD. We also use this framework to derive higher dimensional Camassa–Holm equations, which have many potentially interesting analytical properties. These equations are Euler–Poincaré equations for geodesics on diffeomorphism groups (in the sense of the Arnold program) but where the metric is H^1 rather thanL^2

An almost Poisson structure for the generalized rigid body equations

In this paper we introduce almost Poisson structures on Lie groups which generalize Poisson structures based on the use of the classical Yang-Baxter identity. Almost Poisson structures fail to be Poisson structures in the sense that they do not satisfy the Jacobi identity.In the case of cross products of Lie groups, we show that an almost Poisson structure can be used to derive a system which is intimately related to a fundamental Hamiltonian integrable system — the generalized rigid body equations