Comment on "High Field Studies of Superconducting Fluctuations in High-Tc Cuprates. Evidence for a Small Gap distinct from the Large Pseudogap"

By using high magnetic field data to estimate the background conductivity, Rullier-Albenque and coworkers have recently published [Phys.Rev.B 84, 014522 (2011)] experimental evidence that the in-plane paraconductivity in cuprates is almost independent of doping. In this Comment we also show that, in contrast with their claims, these useful data may be explained at a quantitative level in terms of the Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau approach for layered superconductors, extended by Carballeira and coworkers to high reduced-temperatures by introducing a total-energy cutoff [Phys.Rev.B 63, 144515 (2001)]. When combined, these two conclusions further suggest that the paraconductivity in cuprates is conventional, i.e., associated with fluctuating superconducting pairs above the mean-field critical temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

The diamagnetism above the superconducting transition in underdoped La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) revisited: Chemical disorder or phase incoherent superconductivity?

The interplay between superconducting fluctuations and inhomogeneities presents a renewed interest due to recent works supporting an anomalous [beyond the conventional Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) scenario] diamagnetism above Tc in underdoped cuprates. This conclusion, mainly based in the observation of new anomalies in the low-field isothermal magnetization curves, is in contradiction with our earlier results in the underdoped La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3157 (2000)]. These seemingly intrinsic anomalies are being presented in various influential works as a 'thermodynamic evidence' for phase incoherent superconductivity in the pseudogap regime, this last being at present a central and debated issue of the cuprate superconductors' physics. Here we have extended our magnetization measurements in La(1.9)Sr(0.1)CuO(4) to two samples with different chemical disorder, in one of them close to the one associated with the random distribution of Sr ions. For this sample, the corresponding Tc-distribution may be approximated as symmetric around the average Tc, while in the most disordered sample is strongly asymmetric. The comparison between the magnetization measured in both samples provides a crucial check of the chemical disorder origin of the observed diamagnetism anomalies, which are similar to those claimed as due to phase fluctuations by other authors. This conclusion applies also to the sample affected only by the intrinsic-like chemical disorder, providing then a further check that the intrinsic diamagnetism above the superconducting transition of underdoped cuprates is not affected by the opening of a pseudogap in the normal state. It is also shown here that once these disorder effects are overcome, the remaining precursor diamagnetism may be accounted at a quantitative level in terms of the GGL approach under a total energy cutoff.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Minor corrections include

Diamagnetism around the Meissner transition in a homogeneous cuprate single crystal

The in-plane diamagnetism around the Meissner transition was measured in a Tl$_2$Ba$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10}$ single crystal of high chemical and structural quality, which minimizes the inhomogeneity and disorder rounding effects on the magnetization. When analyzed quantitatively and consistently above and below the transition in terms of the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) approach with fluctuations of Cooper pairs and vortices, these data provide a further confirmation that the observed Meissner transition is a conventional GL superconducting transition in a homogeneous layered superconductor.Comment: 5 pages, including 3 figure

Fluctuation diamagnetism around the superconducting transition in a cuprate crystal with a reduced Meissner fraction

The magnetization around the superconducting transition was measured in a Tl$_{0.5}$Pb$_{0.5}$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_7$ crystal affected by a considerable reduction ($\sim$55%) of its effective superconducting volume fraction but still with a relatively sharp low-field Meissner transition, a behaviour that may be attributed to the presence of structural inhomogeneities. By taking into account these inhomogeneities just through the Meissner fraction, the observed diamagnetism may still be explained, consistently above and below the superconducting transition, in terms of the conventional Ginzburg-Landau approach with fluctuations of Cooper pairs and vortices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Anomalous precursor diamagnetism at low reduced magnetic fields and the role of Tc inhomogeneities in the superconductors Pb55In45 and underdoped La1.9Sr0.1CuO4

The magnetic field dependence of the magnetization was measured above the superconducting transition in a high-Tc underdoped cuprate La1.9Sr0.1CuO4 and in a low-Tc alloy (Pb55In45). Near the superconducting transition [typically for (T-Tc)/Tc<0.05] and under low applied magnetic field amplitudes [typically for H/Hc2(0)<0.01, where Hc2(0) is the corresponding upper critical field extrapolated to T=0 K] the magnetization of both samples presents a diamagnetic contribution much larger than the one predicted by the Gaussian Ginzburg-Landau (GGL) approach for superconducting fluctuations. These anomalies have been already observed in cuprate compounds by various groups and attributed to intrinsic effects associated with the own nature of these high-Tc superconductors. However, we will see here that our results in both high and low-Tc superconductors may be explained quantitatively, and consistently with the GGL behavior observed at higher fields, by just taking into account the presence in the samples of an uniform distribution of Tc inhomogeneities. These Tc inhomogeneities, which may be in turn associated with stoichiometric inhomogeneities, were estimated from independent measurements of the temperature dependence of the field-cooled magnetic susceptibility under low applied magnetic fields.Comment: 25 pages, including 6 figures and 1 table. Typos corrected. Compacte

THE PROBLEM OF ESTIMATING CAUSAL RELATIONS BY REGRESSING ACCOUNTING (SEMI) IDENTITIES

Inferences about the coefficient values of a model estimated with a linear regression cannot be made when both the dependent and the independent variable are part of an accounting (semi) identity. The coefficients will no longer indicate a causal relation as they must adapt to satisfy the identity. A good example is an investment-cash flow sensitivity model. Este trabajo habla de la imposibilidad de extraer conclusiones sobre el valor de los coeficientes de un modelo de regresión lineal que intenta estimar una relación causal, cuando tanto la variable dependiente como la variable independiente forman parte de una (semi) identidad contable. Los coeficientes no sirven para explicar la relación causal, ya que su valor se adaptará para cumplir la identidad. Como ejemplo ilustrativo se presenta el modelo de la sensibilidad de la inversión al cash-flow.Sensibilidad de la inversión al cash flow, identidades contables, semi-identidades contables Investment-cash flow sensitivities, Accounting identities, Accounting semi-identities

Tensor network states and algorithms in the presence of a global SU(2) symmetry

The benefits of exploiting the presence of symmetries in tensor network algorithms have been extensively demonstrated in the context of matrix product states (MPSs). These include the ability to select a specific symmetry sector (e.g. with a given particle number or spin), to ensure the exact preservation of total charge, and to significantly reduce computational costs. Compared to the case of a generic tensor network, the practical implementation of symmetries in the MPS is simplified by the fact that tensors only have three indices (they are trivalent, just as the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of the symmetry group) and are organized as a one-dimensional array of tensors, without closed loops. Instead, a more complex tensor network, one where tensors have a larger number of indices and/or a more elaborate network structure, requires a more general treatment. In two recent papers, namely (i) [Phys. Rev. A 82, 050301 (2010)] and (ii) [Phys. Rev. B 83, 115125 (2011)], we described how to incorporate a global internal symmetry into a generic tensor network algorithm based on decomposing and manipulating tensors that are invariant under the symmetry. In (i) we considered a generic symmetry group G that is compact, completely reducible and multiplicity free, acting as a global internal symmetry. Then in (ii) we described the practical implementation of Abelian group symmetries. In this paper we describe the implementation of non-Abelian group symmetries in great detail and for concreteness consider an SU(2) symmetry. Our formalism can be readily extended to more exotic symmetries associated with conservation of total fermionic or anyonic charge. As a practical demonstration, we describe the SU(2)-invariant version of the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz and apply it to study the low energy spectrum of a quantum spin chain with a global SU(2) symmetry.Comment: 32 pages, 37 figure

Comment on ''Field-Enhanced Diamagnetism in the Pseudogap State of the Cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+\delta Superconductor in an Intense Magnetic Field''

In the above mentioned letter by Wang et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett, 95, 247002 (2005)], magnetization measurements on two Bi_2Sr_2caCu_2O_8+delta samples are reported. They claim that these experimental results support the vortex scenario for the loss of phase coherence at Tc. On the contrary, we show in this comment that they can be explained by means of the Ginzburg Landau theory (under a total-enery cutoff) for the superconducting fluctuations above Tc.Comment: Final versio