339 research outputs found
Symmetry of boundary conditions of the Dirac equation for electrons in carbon nanotubes.
We consider the effective mass model of spinless electrons in single wall carbon nanotubes that is equivalent to the Dirac equation for massless fermions. Within this framework we derive all possible energy independent hard wall boundary conditions that are applicable to metallic tubes. The boundary conditions are classified in terms of their symmetry properties and we demonstrate that the use of different boundary conditions will result in varying degrees of valley degeneracy breaking of the single particle energy spectrum
Tunneling of correlated electrons in ultra high magnetic field
Effects of the electron-electron interaction on tunneling into a metal in
ultra-high magnetic field (ultra-quantum limit) are studied. The range of the
interaction is found to have a decisive effect both on the nature of the
field-induced instability of the ground state and on the properties of the
system at energies above the corresponding gap. For a short-range repulsive
interaction, tunneling is dominated by the renormalization of the coupling
constant, which leads eventually to the charge-density wave instability. For a
long-range interaction, there exists an intermediate energy range in which the
conductance obeys a power-law scaling form, similar to that of a 1D Luttinger
liquid. The exponent is magnetic-field dependent, and more surprisingly, may be
positive or negative, i. e., interactions may either suppress or enhance the
tunneling conductance compared to its non-interacting value. At energies near
the gap, scaling breaks down and tunneling is again dominated by the
instability, which in this case is an (anisotropic) Wigner crystal instability.Comment: 4 pages, 2 .eps figure
Tunnelling spectroscopy of the interface between Sr2RuO4 and a single Ru micro-inclusion in eutectic crystals
The understanding of the zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in the tunnelling
spectra of S/N junctions involving d-wave cuprate superconductors has been
important in the determination of the phase structure of the superconducting
order parameter. In this context, the involvement of a p-wave superconductor
such as Sr2RuO4 in tunnelling studies is indeed of great importance. We have
recently succeeded in fabricating devices that enable S/N junctions forming at
interfaces between Sr2RuO4 and Ru micro-inclusions in eutectic crystals to be
investigated.3 We have observed a ZBCP and have interpreted it as due to the
Andreev bound state, commonly seen in unconventional superconductors. Also we
have proposed that the onset of the ZBCP may be used to delineate the phase
boundary for the onset of a time reversal symmetry broken (TRSB) state within
the superconducting state, which does not always coincide with the onset of the
superconducting state. However, these measurements always involved two
interfaces between Sr2RuO4 and Ru. In the present study, we have extended the
previous measurements to obtain a deeper insight into the properties of a
single interface between Sr2RuO4 and Ru.Comment: To appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol. 75 No.12 issu
Gap Structure of the Spin-Triplet Superconductor Sr2RuO4 Determined from the Field-Orientation Dependence of Specific Heat
We report the field-orientation dependent specific heat of the spin-triplet
superconductor Sr2RuO4 under the magnetic field aligned parallel to the RuO2
planes with high accuracy. Below about 0.3 K, striking 4-fold oscillations of
the density of states reflecting the superconducting gap structure have been
resolved for the first time. We also obtained strong evidence of multi-band
superconductivity and concluded that the superconducting gap in the active
band, responsible for the superconducting instability, is modulated with a
minimum along the [100] direction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Interface superconductivity in the eutectic Sr2RuO4-Ru: 3-K phase of Sr2RuO4
The eutectic system Sr2RuO4-Ru is referred to as the 3-K phase of the
spin-triplet supeconductor Sr2RuO4 because of its enhanced superconducting
transition temperature Tc of ~3 K. We have investigated the field-temperature
(H-T) phase diagram of the 3-K phase for fields parallel and perpendicular to
the ab-plane of Sr2RuO4, using out-of-plane resistivity measurements. We have
found an upturn curvature in the Hc2(T) curve for H // c, and a rather gradual
temperature dependence of Hc2 close to Tc for both H // ab and H // c. We have
also investigated the dependence of Hc2 on the angle between the field and the
ab-plane at several temperatures. Fitting the Ginzburg-Landau effective-mass
model apparently fails to reproduce the angle dependence, particularly near H
// c and at low temperatures. We propose that all of these charecteric features
can be explained, at least in a qualitative fashion, on the basis of a theory
by Sigrist and Monien that assumes surface superconductivity with a
two-component order parameter occurring at the interface between Sr2RuO4 and Ru
inclusions. This provides evidence of the chiral state postulated for the 1.5-K
phase by several experiments.Comment: 7 pages and 5 figs; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Upper Critical Field of the 3 Kelvin Phase in Sr2RuO4
The inhomogeneous 3 Kelvin phase is most likely a superconducting state
nucleating at the interface between micrometer-sized Ru-metal inclusions and
Sr2RuO4 above the bulk onset of superconductivity. This filamentary
superconducting state yields a characteristic temperature dependence of the
upper critical field which is sublinear, i.e., H_{c2} (T) \propto (T^* -
T)^{\gamma} with 0.5 \leq \gamma < 1 (T^*: nucleation temperature). The
Ginzburg-Landau theory is used to analyze the behavior of the nucleated
spin-triplet phase in a field and the characteristic features of H_{c2}
observed in the experiment are explained based on a two-component order
parameter in the presence of a filament of enhanced superconductivity with a
finite width.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Field-Orientation Dependent Heat Capacity Measurements at Low Temperatures with a Vector Magnet System
We describe a heat capacity measurement system for the study of the
field-orientation dependence for temperatures down to 50 mK. A "Vector Magnet"
combined with a mechanical rotator for the dewar enables the rotation of the
magnetic field without mechanical heating in the cryostat by friction. High
reproducibility of the field direction, as well as an angular resolution of
better than 0.01 degree, is obtained. This system is applicable to other kinds
of measurements which require a large sample space or an adiabatic sample
environment, and can also be used with multiple refrigerator inserts
interchangeably.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Influence of gap structures to specific heat in oriented magnetic fields: Application to the orbital dependent superconductor, SrRuO
We discuss influence of modulation of gap function and anisotropy of Fermi
velocity to field angle dependences of upper critical field, , and
specific heat, , on the basis of the approximate analytic solution in the
quasiclassical formalism. Using 4-fold modulation of the gap function and the
Fermi velocity in the single-band model, we demonstrate field and temperature
dependence of oscillatory amplitude of and . We apply the method to
the effective two-band model to discuss the gap structure of SrRuO,
focusing on recent field angle-resolved experiments. It is shown that the gap
structures with the intermediate magnitude of minima in direction for
band, and tiny minima of gaps in directions for and
bands give consistent behaviors with experiments. The interplay of the
above two gaps also explains the anomalous temperature dependence of in-plane
anisotropy, where the opposite contribution from the passive
band is pronounced near .Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures in JPSJ forma
Early asymmetric cues triggering the Dorsal/Ventral Gene Regulatory Network of the sea urchin embryo
Dorsal/ventral (DV) patterning of the sea urchin embryo relies on a ventrally-localized organizer expressing Nodal, a pivotal regulator of the DV gene regulatory network. However, the inceptive mechanisms imposing the symmetry-breaking are incompletely understood. In Paracentrotus lividus, the Hbox12 homeodomain-containing repressor is expressed by prospective dorsal cells, spatially facing and preceding the onset of nodal transcription. We report that Hbox12 misexpression provokes DV abnormalities, attenuating nodal and nodal-dependent transcription. Reciprocally, impairing hbox12 function disrupts DV polarity by allowing ectopic expression of nodal. Clonal loss-of-function, inflicted by blastomere transplantation or gene-transfer assays, highlights that DV polarization requires Hbox12 action in dorsal cells. Remarkably, the localized knock-down of nodal restores DV polarity of embryos lacking hbox12 function. Finally, we show that hbox12 is a dorsal-specific negative modulator of the p38-MAPK activity, which is required for nodal expression. Altogether, our results suggest that Hbox12 function is essential for proper positioning of the DV organizer.
Detailed study of the ac susceptibility of Sr2RuO4 in oriented magnetic fields
We have investigated the ac susceptibility of the spin triplet superconductor
SrRuO as a function of magnetic field in various directions at
temperatures down to 60 mK. We have focused on the in-plane field configuration
(polar angle ), which is a prerequisite for inducing
multiple superconducting phases in SrRuO. We have found that the
previous attribution of a pronounced feature in the ac susceptibility to the
second superconducting transition itself is not in accord with recent
measurements of the thermal conductivity or of the specific heat. We propose
that the pronounced feature is a consequence of additional involvement of
vortex pinning originating from the second superconducting transition.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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