Swing surfaces and holographic entanglement beyond AdS/CFT

We propose a holographic entanglement entropy prescription for general states and regions in two models of holography beyond AdS/CFT known as flat$_3$/BMSFT and (W)AdS$_3$/WCFT. Flat$_3$/BMSFT is a candidate of holography for asymptotically flat three-dimensional spacetimes, while (W)AdS$_3$/WCFT is relevant in the study of black holes in the real world. In particular, the boundary theories are examples of quantum field theories that feature an infinite dimensional symmetry group but break Lorentz invariance. Our holographic entanglement entropy proposal is given by the area of a swing surface that consists of ropes, which are null geodesics emanating from the entangling surface at the boundary, and a bench, which is a spacelike geodesic connecting the ropes. The proposal is supported by an extension of the Lewkowycz-Maldacena argument, reproduces previous results based on the Rindler method, and satisfies the first law of entanglement entropy.Comment: 45 pages, 4 figures; v2: corrected typos and added comments on strong subadditivity, matches published versio

Modular Hamiltonians in flat holography and (W)AdS/WCFT

We study several aspects of holographic entanglement in two models known as flat$_3$/BMSFT and (W)AdS$_3$/WCFT. These are two examples of holography beyond AdS/CFT where the the boundary field theories are not Lorentz invariant but still feature an infinite set of local symmetries. In the first example, BMS-invariant field theories (BMSFTs) are conjectured to provide a holographic description of quantum gravity in asymptotically flat three-dimensional spacetimes; while in the second example, warped conformal field theories (WCFTs) are proposed to describe quantum gravity in warped AdS$_3$ or AdS$_3$ backgrounds with Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions. In particular, we derive the modular Hamiltonian for single intervals in both BMSFTs and WCFTs and find the holographic duals in the bulk using the covariant formulation of gravitational charges. We also extend the first law of entanglement entropy to these models of non-AdS holography and discuss the bound on "modular chaos" introduced recently in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: 46 pages, 3 figures; v2: corrected typos, matches published versio

Crystal Structure Manipulation of the Exchange Bias in an Antiferromagnetic Film

Exchange bias is one of the most extensively studied phenomena in magnetism, since it exerts a unidirectional anisotropy to a ferromagnet (FM) when coupled to an antiferromagnet (AFM) and the control of the exchange bias is therefore very important for technological applications, such as magnetic random access memory and giant magnetoresistance sensors. In this letter, we report the crystal structure manipulation of the exchange bias in epitaxial hcp Cr2O3 films. By epitaxially growing twined (10-10) oriented Cr2O3 thin films, of which the c axis and spins of the Cr atoms lie in the film plane, we demonstrate that the exchange bias between Cr2O3 and an adjacent permalloy layer is tuned to in-plane from out-of-plane that has been observed in (0001) oriented Cr2O3 films. This is owing to the collinear exchange coupling between the spins of the Cr atoms and the adjacent FM layer. Such a highly anisotropic exchange bias phenomenon is not possible in polycrystalline films.Comment: To be published in Scientific Reports, 12 pages, 6 figure

Probe of Spin Dynamics in Superconducting NbN Thin Films via Spin Pumping

The emerging field of superconductor (SC) spintronics has attracted intensive attentions recently. Many fantastic spin dependent properties in SC have been discovered, including the observation of large magnetoresistance, long spin lifetimes and the giant spin Hall effect in SC, as well as spin supercurrent in Josephson junctions, etc. Regarding the spin dynamic in SC films, few studies has been reported yet. Here, we report the investigation of the spin dynamics in an s-wave superconducting NbN film via spin pumping from an adjacent insulating ferromagnet GdN layer. A profound coherence peak of the Gilbert damping is observed slightly below the superconducting critical temperature of the NbN layer, which is consistent with recent theoretical studies. Our results further indicate that spin pumping could be a powerful tool for investigating the spin dynamics in 2D crystalline superconductors.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, and S