Possible competing order-induced Fermi arcs in cuprate superconductors

We investigate the scenario of competing order (CO) induced Fermi arcs and pseudogap in cuprate superconductors. For hole-type cuprates, both phenomena as functions of temperature and doping level can be accounted for if the CO vanishes at $T^1$ above the superconducting transition $T_c$ and the CO wave-vector Q is parallel to the antinodal direction. In contrast, the absence of these phenomena and the non-monotonic $d$-wave gap in electron-type cuprates may be attributed to $T^1<T_c$ and a CO wave-vector Q parallel to the nodal direction.     

Reprint of : Flux sensitivity of quantum spin Hall rings

We analyze the periodicity of persistent currents in quantum spin Hall loops, partly covered with an s-wave superconductor, in the presence of a flux tube. Much like in normal (non-helical) metals, the periodicity of the single-particle spectrum goes from ${\Phi }_0=h/e$ to ${\Phi }_0/2$ as the length of the superconductor is increased past the coherence length of the superconductor. We further analyze the periodicity of the persistent current, which is a many-body effect. Interestingly, time reversal symmetry and parity conservation can significantly change the period. We find a 2Φ₀-periodic persistent current in two distinct regimes, where one corresponds to a Josephson junction and the other one to an Aharonov–Bohm setup.     

Quantum point contact conductance in normal metal/insulator/ metal/dx2−y2+idxy mixed wave superconductor junctions

The tunneling conductance in a normal metal/insulator/metal/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ mixed wave superconductor (N/I/N/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$) junction is calculated, where the N/I/N region is a quantum wire. It is found in the single-mode case that the magnitude of the tunneling conductance near zero voltage is enhanced due to the Andreev bound state by quasiparticles with perpendicular and horizontal injection, and the zero-bias conductance varies with $L$ ($L$ is the distance from insulating layer to the interface of N/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ mixed wave superconductor). Splitting of the zero-bias conductance peak appears in the quantum point contact tunneling spectra for an N/I/N/$d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ junction, and several subgap peaks can split at the same time. On increasing both $L$ and the magnitude ratio of the two components for the $d_{x^2?y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ mixed wave, the subgap resonances exhibit an alternately high and low behavior inside the energy gap. These results are different from those in d-wave and p-wave superconductor junctions.     

Correlation among the effective mass (m⁎), λab and Tc of superconducting cuprates in a Casimir energy scenario

The relevance of the Casimir effect, discovered in 1948, has recently been pointed out in studies on materials such as graphene and high-temperature superconducting cuprates. In particular, the relationship between Casimir energy and the energy of a superconducting condensate with anisotropy characterized by high bidimensionality has already been discussed in certain theoretical scenarios. Using this proposal, this work describes the relationship between the effective mass of the charge carriers ($m^{?}=\alpha m_e$) and the macroscopic parameters characteristic of several families of high-$T_c$ superconducting cuprates (Cu-HTSC) that have copper and oxygen superconducting planes (Cu-O). We have verified that an expression exists that correlates the effective mass, the London penetration length in the plane ${\lambda }_{ab}$, the critical temperature $T_c$ and the distance d between the equivalent superconducting planes of Cu-HTSC. This study revealed that the intersection between the asymptotic behavior of α as a function of $T_c$ and the line describing the optimal value of $\alpha ?2$ ($m^{?}?2m_e$) indicates that a nonadiabatic region exists, which implies a carrier-lattice interaction and where the critical temperature can have its highest value in Cu-HTSC.     

Topological phases in Bi/Sb planar and buckled honeycomb monolayers

We investigate topological phases in two-dimensional Bi/Sb honeycomb crystals considering planar and buckled structures, both freestanding and deposited on a substrate. We use the multi-orbital tight-binding model and compare results with density functional theory calculations. We distinguish topological phases by calculating topological invariants, analyzing edge states properties of systems in a ribbon geometry and studying their entanglement spectra. We show that coupling to the substrate induces transition to the $Z_2$ topological insulator phase. It is observed that topological crystalline insulator (TCI) phase, found in planar crystals, exhibits an additional pair of edge states in both energy spectrum and entanglement spectrum. Transport calculations for TCI phase suggest robust quantized conductance even in the presence of crystal symmetry-breaking disorder.     

Percolation on infinitely ramified fractal networks

We study how fractal features of an infinitely ramified network affect its percolation properties. The fractal attributes are characterized by the Hausdorff ($D_H$), topological Hausdorff ($D_{tH}$), and spectral ($d_s$) dimensions. Monte Carlo simulations of site percolation were performed on pre-fractal standard Sierpiński carpets with different fractal attributes. Our findings suggest that within the universality class of random percolation the values of critical percolation exponents are determined by the set of dimension numbers ($D_H$, $D_{tH}$, $d_s$), rather than solely by the spatial dimension (d). We also argue that the relevant dimension number for the percolation threshold is the topological Hausdorff dimension $D_{tH}$, whereas the hyperscaling relations between critical exponents are governed by the Hausdorff dimension $D_H$. The effect of the network connectivity on the site percolation threshold is revealed.     

Impact of local coupling on the vulnerability of 2D spatially embedded interdependent networks

Real networks are always interdependent and spatially embedded. Considering the space constraint, dependency links between networks may be established not globally but locally. In this paper, we study how the spatial coupling will impact the robustness of interdependent scale-free networks located in a 2D square plane where dependent nodes are connected within a connecting radius $r_{connect}$. Besides the traditional assortative degree–degree coupling (GD) and random coupling (GR), some novel spatial couplings are also introduced, i.e., spatial assortative degree–degree coupling (SD), spatial random coupling (SR) and nearest neighbor coupling (NN). Simulation results indicate that assortative couplings, GD and SD, can improve the robustness under topological attacks while under localized attacks, NN coupling is the best one. In addition, for SD coupling under topological attacks, we find that the robustness for small $r_{connect}$ decreases with $r_{connect}$ from 0 to the critical value $r_{c1}$, and for larger $r_{connect}$ gradually increases with $r_{connect}$ from $r_{c1}$ to the maximum value ${(r_{connect})}_{max}$. However, opposite results will be obtained under localized attacks. These findings may be helpful to understand and analyze some real interdependent infrastructures.     

Relevance of inter-site Coulomb repulsion on high-Tc superconductivity within t−J−V model

The relevance of inter-site Coulomb repulsion (V) in the hole-doped cuprates is explored within $t?J?V$ model. An exact diagonalization (ED) technique is employed to investigate some ground state and thermodynamic properties of the model for various hole-doping. Results show that electron-electron ($e?e$) correlation is maximum between the next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) sites which decreases sharply at distances longer than √2 times the lattice spacing. Unlike hole-concentration, Coulomb repulsion reduces effective hopping amplitude. Our results suggest that in this hole-doped system, inter-site Coulomb repulsion favors d-wave pairing. Specific heat curves show characteristic single broad peaks where the peak-height decreases with doping concentration. From specific heat and entropy curves, one can expect a superconducting state at $<h>=0.25$.     

Thermoelectric and topological properties of half-Heusler compounds ZrIrX(As,Sb, Bi)

The strain dependent electronic structures, thermoelectric and topological properties of the half-Heusler compounds ZrIrX(X=As, Sb, Bi) are investigated by the first-principle calculations. At the equilibrium lattice constants, all the three compounds are trivial insulators and good thermoelectric materials with the Seebeck coefficient S and the power factor over relaxation time $S^2\sigma /\tau$ as large as 1180 (μV/K) and 4.1 (${10}^{11}W{m}^{?1}{K}^{?2}{s}^{?1}$), respectively. The compressive strain enhances the band gap, while the tensile strain decreases the band gap. At some specific tensile strains, the compounds become Dirac-semimetals, with the s-type band ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_6$ below p-type band ${\mathrm{\Gamma }}_8$, in the cubic phase. When we compress the a(b)-axis and elongate the c-axis of the compounds, they become the type-I Weyl semimetals. For ZrIrAs, the eight Weyl-Points (WPS) locate at (± K_x, 0, ± K_z), (0, ± K_y, ± K_z), ${\mathrm{K}}_x={\mathrm{K}}_y=0.008{\mathrm{\AA }}^{?1}$, ${\mathrm{K}}_z=0.043{\mathrm{\AA }}^{?1}$.     

Toward a topological scenario for high-temperature superconductivity of copper oxides

The structure of the joint phase diagram demonstrating high-$T_c$ superconductivity of copper oxides is studied on the basis of the theory of interaction-induced flat bands. Prerequisites for an associated topological rearrangement of the Landau state are established, and related non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) behavior of the normal states of cuprates is investigated. We focus on manifestations of this behavior in the electrical resistivity $\rho (T)$, especially the observed gradual crossover from normal-state T-linear behavior $\rho (T,x)=A_1(x)T$ at doping x below the critical value $x_c^h$ of hole doping for termination of superconductivity, to T-quadratic behavior at $x>x_c^h$, which is incompatible with predictions of the conventional quantum-critical-point scenario. It is demonstrated that the slope of the coefficient $A_1$ is universal, being the same on both boundaries of the joint phase diagram of cuprates, in agreement with available experimental data.     

A physical pathway to understand individual's labeling behavior in signed social networks

In this paper we propose a reshuffling approach to empirical analyze individual's labeling behavior in signed social networks. In our approach, each individual is assumed to have the ability to re-label his/her neighbors randomly with the parameters $p_s$ and $p_{+}$. Many reshuffled networks, which have the same topological structure and different signs' configuration, are built through applying our approach to the given three signed social networks. The entropy $S_{out}$ and the giant component ${\rho }_G$ for each reshuffled networks are calculated and analyzed. We find that there exist two kinds of individual's labeling behavior according to the suppressed effect of $S_{out}$ and the exponent α in the relationship of ${\rho }_G$ and $q_{+}$. Additionally, the suppressed effect of $S_{out}$ shows the non-randomness factor in individual's labeling behavior. These results offer new insights to understand human's behavior in online social networks.     

Heat capacity of the spinel superconductors CuRh2S4 and CuRh2Se4

We report low-temperature heat capacity measurements on CuRh₂S₄ and CuRh₂Se₄. These compounds undergo a superconducting transition at $T_c=4.72$ and 3.38 K, respectively, with a fully opened superconducting gap. With increasing magnetic field $H$, the Sommerfeld coefficient $\gamma \left(H\right)$ shows a crossover from linear to sublinear $H$ dependence that is consistent with the predictions of recent theoretical calculations. Compared to CuRh₂Se₄, CuRh₂S₄ exhibits a smaller region of the linear-$H$ dependence in $\gamma \left(H\right)$ and pronounced positive curvature in the temperature dependence of the upper critical field.     

On spacelike hypersurfaces of constant sectional curvature lorentz manifolds

Let $x:M^n\to {\overline{M}}^{n+1}$ be an n-dimensional spacelike hypersurface of a constant sectional curvature Lorentz manifold $\overline{M}$. Based on previous work of S. Montiel, L. Alías, A. Brasil and G. Colares studied what can be said about the geometry of M when $\overline{M}$ is a conformally stationary spacetime, with timelike conformal vector field K. For example, if $M^n$ has constant higher order mean curvatures $H_r$ and $H_{r+1}$, they concluded that $M^n$ is totally umbilical, provided $H_{r+1}\ne 0$ on it. If div($K$) does not vanish on $M^n$ they also proved that $M^n$ is totally umbilical, provided it has, a priori, just one constant higher order mean curvature.In this paper, we compute $L_r(S_r)$ for such an immersion, and use the resulting formula to study both r-maximal spacelike hypersurfaces of $\overline{M}$, as well as, in the presence of a constant higher order mean curvature, constraints on the sectional curvature of M that also suffice to guarantee the umbilicity of M. Here, by $L_r$ we mean the linearization of the second order differential operator associated to the r-th elementary symmetric function $S_r$ on the eigenvalues of the second fundamental form of x.     

Influence of the deGennes extrapolation parameter on the resistive state of a superconducting strip

We studied the resistive state of a mesoscopic superconducting strip (bridge) at zero external applied magnetic field under a transport electric current, $J_a$, subjected to different types of boundary conditions. The current is applied through a metallic contact (electrode) and the boundary conditions are simulated via the deGennes extrapolation length b. It will be shown that the characteristic current–voltage curve follows a scaling law for different values of b. We also show that the value of $J_a$ at which the first vortex–antivortex (V–Av) pair penetrates the sample, as well as their average velocities and dynamics, strongly depend on the b values. Our investigation was carried out by solving the two-dimensional generalized time dependent Ginzburg–Landau (GTDGL) equation.