Phononic topological insulators with tunable pseudospin physics

Efficient control of phonons is crucial to energy-information technology, but limited by the lacking of tunable degrees of freedom like charge or spin. Here we suggest to utilize crystalline symmetry-protected pseudospins as new quantum degrees of freedom to manipulate phonons. Remarkably, we reveal a duality between phonon pseudospins and electron spins by presenting Kramers-like degeneracy and pseudospin counterparts of spin-orbit coupling, which lays the foundation for "pseudospin phononics". Furthermore, we report two types of three-dimensional phononic topological insulators, which give topologically protected, gapless surface states with linear and quadratic band degeneracies, respectively. These topological surface states display unconventional phonon transport behaviors attributed to the unique pseudospin-momentum locking, which are useful for phononic circuits, transistors, antennas, etc. The emerging pseudospin physics offers new opportunities to develop future phononics

Thermodynamics of percolation in interacting systems

Interacting systems can be studied as the networks where nodes are system units and edges denote correlated interactions. Although percolation on network is a unified way to model the emergence and propagation of correlated behaviours, it remains unknown how the dynamics characterized by percolation is related to the thermodynamics of phase transitions. It is non-trivial to formalize thermodynamics for most complex systems, not to mention calculating thermodynamic quantities and verifying scaling relations during percolation. In this work, we develop a formalism to quantify the thermodynamics of percolation in interacting systems, which is rooted in a discovery that percolation transition is a process for the system to lose the freedom degrees associated with ground state configurations. We derive asymptotic formulas to accurately calculate entropy and specific heat under our framework, which enables us to detect phase transitions and demonstrate the Rushbrooke equality (i.e., $\alpha+2\beta+\gamma=2$) in six representative complex systems (e.g., Bernoulli and bootstrap percolation, classical and quantum synchronization, non-linear oscillations with damping, and cellular morphogenesis). These results suggest the general applicability of our framework in analyzing diverse interacting systems and percolation processes

Programmatic Dreams: Technographic Inquiry into Censorship of Chinese Chatbots

This project explores the recent censorship of two Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on Tencent’s popular WeChat messaging platform. Specifically, I am advancing a technographic approach in ways that give agency to bots as not just computing units but as interlocutors and informants. I seek to understand these chatbots through their intended design—by chatting with them. I argue that this methodological inquiry of chatbots can potentially points to fissures and deficiencies within the Chinese censorship machine that allows for spaces of subversion. AI chatbot development China presents a rich site of study because it embodies the extremes of surveillance and censorship. This is all the more important as China have elevated disruptive technologies like AI and big data as critical part of state security and a key component to fulfilling the “Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation.” Whether it is the implementation of a national “social credit” system or the ubiquitous use facial recognition systems, much of Western fears about data security and state control have been already realized in China. Yet, this also implies China is at the frontlines of potential points of resistance and fissures against the party–state–corporate machine. In doing so, I not only seek to raise questions dealing with the limits of our humanity in the light of our AI-driven futures but also present methodological concerns related to human–machine interfacing in conceptualizing new modes of resistance

The postmodern aesthetic of Chinese online comment cultures

The traditional configuration of content on top and comments on the bottom on most websites often dismiss comments as of secondary importance to content. This article looks at how comment culture(s) in China operate outside of the top-bottom dichotomy where comments are increasingly supplanting content as the main form of consumable media. Through case studies of two types of Chinese comment cultures—gailou culture and danmu culture—I explore how user-generated comments can work to subvert established hierarchies in a highly visible and public manner. I invoke traditional Chinese aesthetic perspectives to visualize the multiple layers of interactions that enable the reconfiguration of the temporal/spatial order contesting the unitary narrative. In doing so, I seek to shed light on not only these distinct modes of commenting practices but also the creation of a new aesthetic of consumption that is inseparable from the formation of the Chinese postmodern subjectivity