Dirac fermions on graphite cones

The electronic structure of graphitic cones is investigated within the self-consistent field-theory model. The local and total density of states near the apex are found for cones of different opening angles. For extended electronic states, the total density of states is found to vanish at the Fermi level at any opening angles more than 60° In turn, for power-law localized states, normalized zero-energy modes are shown to emerge.     

Chiral orbital-angular momentum in the surface states of Bi2Se3

We performed angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments with circularly polarized light and first-principles density functional calculation with spin-orbit coupling to study surface states of a topological insulator Bi2Se3. We observed circular dichroism (CD) as large as 30% in the ARPES data with upper and lower Dirac cones showing opposite signs in CD. The observed CD is attributed to the existence of local orbital-angular momentum (OAM). First-principles calculation shows that OAM in the surface states is significant and is locked to the electron momentum in the opposite direction to the spin, forming chiral OAM states. Our finding opens a new possibility for strong light-induced spin-polarized current in surface states. We also provide a proof for local OAM origin of the CD in ARPES.     

KrF pulsed laser ablation of polyimide

In the present paper, polyimide surfaces were processed with pulsed KrF laser radiation at fluences near the ablation threshold. The morphology of the processed surfaces was studied by scanning electron microscopy and chemical analyses performed by electron dispersive spectroscopy. The formation of conical structures was observed for radiation fluences lower than 0.5 J/cm². The areal density of cones increases with the number of pulses and decreases with the radiation fluence. At low fluences (<150 J/cm²), cones are formed due to shadowing by calcium phosphate impurities while for higher fluences the main mechanism of cones formation is believed to be radiation hardening.     

Preparation and characterization of the amorphous tungsten cone field emitter arrays by Ar etching

Uniform amorphous tungsten cone arrays in high density were fabricated by Ar⁺ reduction etching of WO₃ nanowire film. The etching process was performed in the analysis chamber of an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) system. SEM and TEM results revealed that the tip radius of the etched cones was 10 nm, and the cones were amorphous with a high aspect ratio of over 250. XPS analysis proved the cones to be metallic tungsten. In the aspect of field-emission property, the tungsten cone arrays had a lower turn-on field of 3 MV m⁻¹ compared with 5 MV m⁻¹ of the as-grown original WO₃ nanowire film.     

Chiral magnetic effect without chirality source in asymmetric Weyl semimetals

We describe a new type of the chiral magnetic effect (CME) that should occur in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) with an asymmetry in the dispersion relations of the left- and right-handed (LH and RH) chiral Weyl fermions. In such materials, time-dependent pumping of electrons from a non-chiral external source can generate a non-vanishing chiral chemical potential. This is due to the different capacities of the LH and RH chiral Weyl cones arising from the difference in the density of states in the LH and RH cones. The chiral chemical potential then generates, via the chiral anomaly, a current along the direction of an applied magnetic field even in the absence of an external electric field. The source of chirality imbalance in this new setup is thus due to the band structure of the system and the presence of (non-chiral) electron source, and not due to the parallel electric and magnetic fields. We illustrate the effect by an argument based on the effective field theory, and by the chiral kinetic theory calculation for a rotationally invariant WSM with different Fermi velocities in the left and right chiral Weyl cones; we also consider the case of a WSM with Weyl nodes at different energies. We argue that this effect is generically present in WSMs with different dispersion relations for LH and RH chiral Weyl cones, such as SrSi₂ recently predicted as a WSM with broken inversion and mirror symmetries, as long as the chiral relaxation time is much longer than the transport scattering time.     

Theory of carbon nanocones: mechanical chiral inversion of a micron-scale three-dimensional object

Graphene cones have two degenerate configurations: their original shape and its inverse. When the apex is depressed by an external probe, the simulated mechanical response is highly nonlinear, with a broad constant-force mode appearing after a short initial Hooke's law regime. For chiral cones, the final state is an atomically exact chiral invert of the original system. If the local reflection symmetry of the graphene sheet is broken by the chemisorption of just five hydrogen atoms to the apex, then the maximal yield strength of the cone increases by approximately 40%. The high symmetry of the conical geometry can concentrate micron-scale mechanical work with atomic precision, providing a way to activate specific chemical bonds.     

Electric field manipulation of multiple nonequivalent Dirac cones in the electronic structures of hexagonal CrB_4 sheet

Two-dimensional materials with Dirac cones have significant applications in photoelectric technology. The origin and manipulation of multiple Dirac cones need to be better understood. By first-principle calculations, we study the influence of external fields on the electronic structure of the hexagonal CrB_4 sheet with double nonequivalent Dirac cones. Our results show that the two cones are not sensitive to tensile strain and out-of-plane electric field, but present obviously different behaviors under the in-plane external electric field(along the B-B direction), i.e., one cone holds while the other vanishes with a gap opening. More interestingly, a new nonequivalent cone emerges under a proper in-plane electric field. We also discuss the origin of the cones in CrB_4 sheet. Our study provides a new method on how to obtain Dirac cones by the external field manipulation, which may motivate potential applications in nanoelectronics.     

Influence of blunt-cone tip temperature on the laminar-turbulent transition in hypersonic boundary layers

In the present paper, we report on the results of a combined experimetal and numerical study of the laminar-turbulent transition at Mach number 5.95 in the boundary layers of 7-deg cones with a small nose-tip bluntness radius (down to 1.5 mm). The tip temperature of the model was varied in the range from 90 to 440 K. It was confirmed that the small nose-tip bluntness substantially shifts the position of the transition in downstream direction. This effect was also retained in testing the models with local heating/cooling of the cone tip. It is shown that for the experimental conditions implemented in the Transit-M wind tunnel, ITAM SB RAS, the local heating of blunt cone tips exerts almost no influence on the position of the transition. The local cooling of the cone tip with R = 1.5 mm leads to a shift of the transition position in upstream direction.     

Low-energy band structure very sensitive to the interlayer distance in Bernal-stacked tetralayer graphene

We have investigated Bernal-stacked tetralayer graphene as a function of interlayer distance and perpendicular electric field by using density functional theory calculations. The low-energy band structure was found to be very sensitive to the interlayer distance, undergoing a metal-insulator transition. It can be attributed to the nearest-layer coupling that is more sensitive to the interlayer distance than are the next-nearest-layer couplings. Under a perpendicular electric field above a critical field, six electric-field-induced Dirac cones with mass gaps predicted in tight-binding models were confirmed, however, our density functional theory calculations demonstrate a phase transition to a quantum valley Hall insulator, contrasting to the tight-binding model prediction of an ordinary insulator.     

A note on conformal field equations

Conformal geometry is more fundamental than a Riemannian one. Whereas Riemannian geometry determines lengths and angles, a conformal one determines only angles and ratios of length. Equivalently, conformal geometry of space-time determines light cones, or causal structure. No length scale isa priori distinguished. It can be distinguished onlya posteriori, given a particular solution of matter field equations. Einstein's field equations of gravitation can be thought of as describing interaction of causal structure with a matter described by a real scalar massless field of weight 1/4. Electromagnetic field equations need precisely a conformal structure. One can also write down field equations for a spin-1/2 Dirac massless field, given information about light cones only. The energy-momentum tensor density is obtained by vierbeim variations.Supported by the Humboldt Foundation.     

An Algebraic Jost-Schroer Theorem for Massive Theories

We consider a purely massive local relativistic quantum theory specified by a family of von Neumann algebras indexed by the space-time regions. We assume that, affiliated with the algebras associated to wedge regions, there are operators which create only single particle states from the vacuum (so-called polarization-free generators) and are well-behaved under the space-time translations. Strengthening a result of Borchers, Buchholz and Schroer, we show that then the theory is unitarily equivalent to that of a free field for the corresponding particle type. We admit particles with any spin and localization of the charge in space-like cones, thereby covering the case of string-localized covariant quantum fields.     

Role of Dirac cones in magnetotransport properties of REFeAsO (RE = rare earth) oxypnictides

In this work we study the effect of the rare earth element in iron oxypnictides of composition REFeAsO (RE = rare earth). On one hand we carry out density functional theory calculations of the band structure, which evidence the multiband character of these compounds and the presence of Dirac cones along the Y-Γ and Z-R directions of the reciprocal space. On the other hand, we explore transport behavior by means of resistivity, Hall resistance and magnetoresistance measurements, which confirm the dominant role of Dirac cones. By combining our theoretical and experimental approaches, we extract information on effective masses, scattering rates and Fermi velocities for different rare earth elements.     

Collective behavior in a granular jet: emergence of a liquid with zero surface tension

We perform the analog to "water bell" experiments with granular jets. Rebounding from cylindrical targets, wide granular jets produce sheets or cones with shapes that mimic a zero-surface-tension liquid. The jets' particulate nature appears when the number of particles in the cross section is decreased: the emerging structures broaden, gradually disintegrating into diffuse sprays. The experiment has a counterpart in the behavior of quark-gluon plasmas generated by colliding heavy ions. There, a high collision density gives rise to collective behavior also described as a liquid.     

Anisotropic Dirac cones in monoatomic hexagonal lattices: a DFT study

In the last few years, the fascinating properties of graphene have been thoroughly investigated. The existence of Dirac cones is the most important characteristic of the electronic band-structure of graphene. In this theoretical paper, hexagonal monolayers of silicon (h-Si) and germanium (h-Ge) are examined using density functional theory, within the generalized gradient approximation. Our numerical results indicate that both h-Si and h-Ge are chemically stable. The lattice parameters, electronic dispersion relations and densities of states for these systems are reported. The electronic dispersion relations display Dirac cones with the symmetry of an equilateral triangle (the group D₃) in the vicinity of the K-points. Hence, the Fermi velocity depends on the wave vector direction around K-points. Fermi velocities for holes and electrons are significantly different. The maximum and minimum Fermi velocities are also reported.     

On Hot Bangs and the Arrow of Time in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory

 A recently proposed method for the characterization and analysis of local equilibrium states in relativistic quantum field theory is applied to a simple model. Within this model states are identified which are locally (but not globally) in thermal equilibrium and it is shown that their local thermal properties evolve according to macroscopic equations. The largest space–time regions in which local equilibrium states can exist are timelike cones. Thus, although the model does not describe dissipative effects, such states fix in a natural manner a time direction. Moreover, generically they determine a distinguished space–time point where a singularity in the temperature (a hot bang) must have occurred if local equilibrium prevailed thereafter. The results illustrate how the breaking of the time reflection symmetry at macroscopic scales manifests itself in a microscopic setting. Received: 17 January 2003 / Accepted: 5 March 2003 Published online: 17 April 2003 Communicated by H. Araki and K. Fredenhagen     

A new ignition hohlraum design for indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion

In this paper,a six-cylinder-port hohlraum is proposed to provide high symmetry flux on capsule.It is designed to ignite a capsule with 1.2-mm radius in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion(ICF).Flux symmetry and laser energy are calculated by using three-dimensional view factor method and laser energy balance in hohlraum.Plasma conditions are analyzed based on the two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations.There is no Y_(lm)(l≤4) asymmetry in the six-cylinder-port hohlraum when the influences of laser entrance holes(LEHs) and laser spots cancel each other out with suitable target parameters.A radiation drive with 300 eV and good flux symmetry can be achieved by using a laser energy of 2.3 MJ and peak power of 500 TW.According to the simulations,the electron temperature and the electron density on the wall of laser cone are high and low,respectively,which are similar to those of outer cones in the hohlraums on National Ignition Facility(NTF).And the laser intensity is also as low as those of NIF outer cones.So the backscattering due to laser plasma interaction(LPI) is considered to be negligible.The six-cyliner-port hohlraum could be superior to the traditional cylindrical hohlraum and the octahedral hohlraum in both higher symmetry and lower backscattering without supplementary technology at an acceptable laser energy level.It is undoubted that the hohlraum will add to the diversity of ICF approaches.     

一种新的纳米结构--管状石墨锥

文章作者利用微波等离子体辅助化学气相沉积的方法在铁针尖上合成了一种新的纳米结构，并称之为管状石墨锥．管状石墨锥在外形上由多面锥体组成，其内部是同心的圆柱形石墨层，其空心的直径为几个纳米到几十个纳米．这些管状石墨层从内到外地逐渐变短，从而使得它们呈现出锥形外观．锥的顶角一般为6-7度左右，锥的尖端只有几个纳米大小，而锥的底部可达到微米量级．值得注意的是，组成管状锥体的石墨层具有惟一的手性，都表现为锯齿型。     

A study of 3D radial density adapted trajectories for sodium imaging

Sodium imaging typically employs ultrashort echo time radial, density adapted and cones trajectories to capture the rapidly decaying short T2 signal. The present study considers the parameter choices involved in the use of these trajectories in terms of their impact on the resolution and signal to noise ratio. Many parameters have a strong effect on these image properties, particularly the number of spokes which impacts voxel size. The present article develops an understanding of the trade-offs involved and how to choose optimal (or at least reasonable) parameter values. This has a practical role in designing clinical protocols for imaging sodium.