Thermal fluctuations and anomalous elasticity of homogeneous nematic elastomers

We present a unified formulation of a rotationally invariant nonlinear elasticity for a variety of spontaneously anisotropic phases, and use it to study thermal fluctuations in nematic elastomers and spontaneously anisotropic gels. We find that in a thermodynamic limit homogeneous nematic elastomers are universally incompressible, are characterized by a universal ratio of shear moduli, and exhibit an anomalous elasticity controlled by a nontrivial low temperature fixed point perturbative in D=3-epsilon dimensions. In three dimensions, we make predictions that are asymptotically exact.Comment: 4 RevTeX pgs,,submitted to Europhysics Letter

Quantum Hall Effect in Thin Films of Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators

We show that a thin film of a three-dimensional topological insulator (3DTI) with an exchange field is a realization of the famous Haldane model for quantum Hall effect (QHE) without Landau levels. The exchange field plays the role of staggered fluxes on the honeycomb lattice, and the hybridization gap of the surface states is equivalent to alternating on-site energies on the AB sublattices. A peculiar phase diagram for the QHE is predicted in 3DTI thin films under an applied magnetic field, which is quite different from that either in traditional QHE systems or in graphene.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A topological look at the quantum spin Hall state

We propose a topological understanding of the quantum spin Hall state without considering any symmetries, and it follows from the gauge invariance that either the energy gap or the spin spectrum gap needs to close on the system edges, the former scenario generally resulting in counterpropagating gapless edge states. Based upon the Kane-Mele model with a uniform exchange field and a sublattice staggered confining potential near the sample boundaries, we demonstrate the existence of such gapless edge states and their robust properties in the presence of impurities. These gapless edge states are protected by the band topology alone, rather than any symmetries.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Can the Lepton Flavor Mixing Matrix Be Symmetric?

Current neutrino oscillation data indicate that the 3x3 lepton flavor mixing matrix V is likely to be symmetric about its V_{e3}-V_{\mu 2}-V_{\tau 1} axis. This off-diagonal symmetry corresponds to three pairs of {\it congruent} unitarity triangles in the complex plane. Terrestrial matter effects can substantially modify the genuine CP-violating parameter and off-diagonal asymmetries of V in realistic long-baseline experiments of neutrino oscillations.Comment: RexTex 14 pages (4 PS figures). More discussions adde

The effect of temperature anisotropy on observations of Doppler dimming and pumping in the inner corona

Recent observations of the spectral line profiles and intensity ratio of the O VI 1032 {\AA} and 1037.6 {\AA} doublet by the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), made in coronal holes below 3.5 $R_s$, provide evidence for Doppler dimming of the O VI 1037.6 {\AA} line and pumping by the chromospheric C II 1037.0182 {\AA} line. Evidence for a significant kinetic temperature anisotropy of O$^{5+}$ ions was also derived from these observations. We show in this Letter how the component of the kinetic temperature in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field, for both isotropic and anisotropic temperature distributions, affects both the amount of Doppler dimming and pumping. Taking this component into account, we further show that the observation that the O VI doublet intensity ratio is less than unity can be accounted for only if pumping by C II 1036.3367 {\AA} in addition to C II 1037.0182 {\AA} is in effect. The inclusion of the C II 1036.3367 {\AA} pumping implies that the speed of the O$^{5+}$ ions can reach 400 km/s around 3 $R_s$ which is significantly higher than the reported UVCS values for atomic hydrogen in polar coronal holes. These results imply that oxygen ions flow much faster than protons at that heliocentric distance.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure