Electronic band gaps and transport in aperiodic graphene superlattices of Thue-Morse sequence

We have studied the electronic properties in aperiodic graphene superlattices of Thue-Morse sequence. Although the structure is aperiodic, an unusual Dirac point (DP) does exist and its location is exactly at the position of the zero-averaged wave number (zero-$\bar{k})$. Furthermore, the zero-$\bar{k}$ gap associated with the DP is robust against the lattice constants and the incident angles, and multi-DPs can appear under the suitable conditions. A resultant controllability of electron transport in Thue-Morse sequence is predicted, which may facilitate the development of many graphene-based electronics.Comment: Accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letters; 4 pagese, 5 figure

The singular continuous diffraction measure of the Thue-Morse chain

The paradigm for singular continuous spectra in symbolic dynamics and in mathematical diffraction is provided by the Thue-Morse chain, in its realisation as a binary sequence with values in $\{\pm 1\}$. We revisit this example and derive a functional equation together with an explicit form of the corresponding singular continuous diffraction measure, which is related to the known representation as a Riesz product.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; revised and improved versio

Aperiodic Ising model on the Bethe lattice: Exact results

We consider the Ising model on the Bethe lattice with aperiodic modulation of the couplings, which has been studied numerically in Phys. Rev. E 77, 041113 (2008). Here we present a relevance-irrelevance criterion and solve the critical behavior exactly for marginal aperiodic sequences. We present analytical formulae for the continuously varying critical exponents and discuss a relationship with the (surface) critical behavior of the aperiodic quantum Ising chain.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, minor correction

Critical properties of an aperiodic model for interacting polymers

We investigate the effects of aperiodic interactions on the critical behavior of an interacting two-polymer model on hierarchical lattices (equivalent to the Migadal-Kadanoff approximation for the model on Bravais lattices), via renormalization-group and tranfer-matrix calculations. The exact renormalization-group recursion relations always present a symmetric fixed point, associated with the critical behavior of the underlying uniform model. If the aperiodic interactions, defined by s ubstitution rules, lead to relevant geometric fluctuations, this fixed point becomes fully unstable, giving rise to novel attractors of different nature. We present an explicit example in which this new attractor is a two-cycle, with critical indices different from the uniform model. In case of the four-letter Rudin-Shapiro substitution rule, we find a surprising closed curve whose points are attractors of period two, associated with a marginal operator. Nevertheless, a scaling analysis indicates that this attractor may lead to a new critical universality class. In order to provide an independent confirmation of the scaling results, we turn to a direct thermodynamic calculation of the specific-heat exponent. The thermodynamic free energy is obtained from a transfer matrix formalism, which had been previously introduced for spin systems, and is now extended to the two-polymer model with aperiodic interactions.Comment: 19 pages, 6 eps figures, to appear in J. Phys A: Math. Ge

Log-periodic corrections to scaling: exact results for aperiodic Ising quantum chains

Log-periodic amplitudes of the surface magnetization are calculated analytically for two Ising quantum chains with aperiodic modulations of the couplings. The oscillating behaviour is linked to the discrete scale invariance of the perturbations. For the Fredholm sequence, the aperiodic modulation is marginal and the amplitudes are obtained as functions of the deviation from the critical point. For the other sequence, the perturbation is relevant and the critical surface magnetization is studied.Comment: 12 pages, TeX file, epsf, iopppt.tex, xref.tex which are joined. 4 postcript figure

Repetitions in beta-integers

Classical crystals are solid materials containing arbitrarily long periodic repetitions of a single motif. In this paper, we study the maximal possible repetition of the same motif occurring in beta-integers -- one dimensional models of quasicrystals. We are interested in beta-integers realizing only a finite number of distinct distances between neighboring elements. In such a case, the problem may be reformulated in terms of combinatorics on words as a study of the index of infinite words coding beta-integers. We will solve a particular case for beta being a quadratic non-simple Parry number.Comment: 11 page

Symbolic approach and induction in the Heisenberg group

We associate a homomorphism in the Heisenberg group to each hyperbolic unimodular automorphism of the free group on two generators. We show that the first return-time of some flows in "good" sections, are conjugate to niltranslations, which have the property of being self-induced.Comment: 18 page

Pure point diffraction and cut and project schemes for measures: The smooth case

We present cut and project formalism based on measures and continuous weight functions of sufficiently fast decay. The emerging measures are strongly almost periodic. The corresponding dynamical systems are compact groups and homomorphic images of the underlying torus. In particular, they are strictly ergodic with pure point spectrum and continuous eigenfunctions. Their diffraction can be calculated explicitly. Our results cover and extend corresponding earlier results on dense Dirac combs and continuous weight functions with compact support. They also mark a clear difference in terms of factor maps between the case of continuous and non-continuous weight functions.Comment: 30 page

Anisotropic Scaling in Layered Aperiodic Ising Systems

The influence of a layered aperiodic modulation of the couplings on the critical behaviour of the two-dimensional Ising model is studied in the case of marginal perturbations. The aperiodicity is found to induce anisotropic scaling. The anisotropy exponent z, given by the sum of the surface magnetization scaling dimensions, depends continuously on the modulation amplitude. Thus these systems are scale invariant but not conformally invariant at the critical point.Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps-figures, Plain TeX and epsf, minor correction