Generalized entropies from first principles

A derivation of power law canonical distributions from first principle statistical mechanics, including the exponential distribution as a particular case is presented. It is shown that these distributions arise naturally, and that the heat capacity of the heat bath is the condition that determines its type. As a consequence, a physical interpretation for the parameter q of the generalized entropy is given.     

CoO under pressure from first principles

Density functional theory and the generalized gradient approximation with correction for Hubbard energy was used to study the behavior of cobaltous oxide (CoO) under pressure. CoO undergoes an insulator-metal transition which is accompanied by a magnetic collapse. The antiferromagnetic phase of CoO transforms to nonmagnetic phase with the 6-7% reduction in the fractional volume. The magnetic collapse and the energy band gap closure are driven by the lost of correlation which results from the delocalization of 3d electrons. Delocalization process is due to the band broadening with compression. The Hubbard energy influences the transitions pressure. The lower Hubbard terms result in the lower values of transition pressure. The evolution of magnetic moment, energy band gap, and the bandwidth versus increasing pressure is analyzed. The results of calculations are compared to the existing theoretical and experimental data.     

Exploring at nanoscale from first principles

Systems at the nanoscale can exhibit distinctive and unexpected properties in electrical, magnetic, mechanical, and chemical aspects. Understanding these properties not only is of importance from the fundamental scientific view but also offers great opportunities for future applications. Theoretical calculations can provide important information to interpret, modify, and predict the novel properties of objects at the nanoscale and therefore play a significant role in the process of exploring the nano world. In this review, six different areas are briefly presented, namely, prediction of new stable structures, modification of properties (especially the electronic structures), design of novel devices for applications, the structures and catalytic effects of clusters, the mechanical and transport properties of gold nanowires, and improvement of materials for hydrogen storage. Based on these examples, we show what can be done and what can be found in the investigations of nanoscale systems with participation of theoretical calculations.      

Effective Hamiltonians for fastly driven tight-binding chains

We consider a single particle tunnelling in a tight-binding model with nearest-neighbour couplings, in the presence of a periodic high-frequency force. An effective Hamiltonian for the particle is derived using an averaging method resembling classical canonical perturbation theory. Three cases are considered: uniform lattice with periodic and open boundary conditions, and lattice with a parabolic potential. We find that in the latter case, interplay of the potential and driving leads to appearance of the effective next-nearest neighbour couplings. In the uniform case with periodic boundary conditions the second- and third-order corrections to the averaged Hamiltonian are completely absent, while in the case with open boundary conditions they have a very simple form, found before in some particular cases by S. Longhi (2008) [10]. These general results may found applications in designing effective Hamiltonian models in experiments with ultracold atoms in optical lattices, e.g. for simulating solid-state phenomena.     

Anisotropic spin Hall effect from first principles

We report on first principles calculations of the anisotropy of the intrinsic spin Hall conductivity (SHC) in nonmagnetic hcp metals and in antiferromagnetic Cr. For most of the metals of this study we find large anisotropies. We derive the general relation between the SHC vector and the direction of spin polarization and discuss its consequences for hcp metals. Especially, it is predicted that for systems where the SHC changes sign due to the anisotropy the spin Hall effect may be tuned such that the spin polarization is parallel either to the electric field or to the spin current.     

Effective Hamiltonians and Phase Diagrams for Tight-Binding Models

We present rigorous results for several variants of the Hubbard model in the strong-coupling regime. We establish a mathematically controlled perturbation expansion which shows how previously proposed effective interactions are, in fact, leading-order terms of well-defined (volume-independent) unitarily equivalent interactions. In addition, in the very asymmetric (Falicov–Kimball) regime, we are able to apply recently developed phase-diagram technology (quantum Pirogov–Sinai theory) to conclude that the zero-temperature phase diagrams obtained for the leading classical part remain valid, except for thin excluded regions and small deformations, for the full-fledged quantum interaction at zero or low temperature. Moreover, the phase diagram is stable against addition of arbitrary, but sufficiently small further quantum terms that do not break the ground-state symmetries. This generalizes and unifies a number of previous results on the subject; in particular, published results on the zero-temperature phase diagram of the Falikov–Kimball model (with and without magnetic flux) are extended to small temperatures and/or small ionic hopping. We give explicit expressions for the first few orders, in the hopping amplitude, of equivalent interactions, and we describe the resulting phase diagram. Our approach yields algorithms to compute equivalent interactions to arbitrarily high order in the hopping amplitude.     

Superconducting properties of MgB2 from first principles

Solid MgB(2) has rather interesting and technologically important properties, such as a very high superconducting transition temperature. Focusing on this compound, we report the first nontrivial application of a novel density-functional-type theory for superconductors, recently proposed by the authors. Without invoking any adjustable parameters, we obtain the transition temperature, the gaps, and the specific heat of MgB(2) in very good agreement with experiment. Moreover, our calculations show how the Coulomb interaction acts differently on sigma and pi states, thereby stabilizing the observed superconducting phase.     

Leptogenesis from first principles in the resonant regime

The lepton asymmetry generated by the out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos with a quasi-degenerate mass spectrum is resonantly enhanced. In this work, we study this scenario within a first-principle approach. The quantum field theoretical treatment is applicable for mass splittings of the order of the width of the Majorana neutrinos, for which the enhancement is maximally large. The non-equilibrium evolution of the mixing Majorana neutrino fields is described by a formal analytical solution of the Kadanoff–Baym equations, that is obtained by neglecting the back-reaction. Based on this solution, we derive approximate analytical expressions for the generated asymmetry and compare them to the Boltzmann result. We find that the resonant enhancement obtained from the Kadanoff–Baym approach is smaller compared to the Boltzmann approach, due to additional contributions that describe coherent transitions between the Majorana neutrino species. We also discuss corrections to the masses and widths of the degenerate pair of Majorana neutrinos that are relevant for very small mass splitting, and compare the approximate analytical result for the lepton asymmetry with numerical results.     

Spin-transfer torques in antiferromagnetic metals from first principles

In spite of the absence of a macroscopic magnetic moment, an antiferromagnet is spin-polarized on an atomic scale. The electric current passing through a conducting antiferromagnet is polarized as well, leading to spin-transfer torques when the order parameter is textured, such as in antiferromagnetic noncollinear spin valves and domain walls. We report a first principles study on the electronic transport properties of antiferromagnetic systems. The current-induced spin torques acting on the magnetic moments are comparable with those in conventional ferromagnetic materials, leading to measurable angular resistances and current-induced magnetization dynamics. In contrast to ferromagnets, spin torques in antiferromagnets are very nonlocal. The torques acting far away from the center of an antiferromagnetic domain wall should facilitate current-induced domain wall motion.     

Dynamical magnetic excitations of nanostructures from first principles

Within time-dependent density functional theory, combined with the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green functions, we devise a real space method to investigate spin dynamics. Our scheme enables one to deduce the Coulomb potential which assures a proper Goldstone mode is present. We illustrate with application to 3d adatoms and dimers on Cu(100).     

Electronic stopping power in LiF from first principles

Using time-dependent density-functional theory we calculate from first principles the rate of energy transfer from a moving proton or antiproton to the electrons of an insulating material, LiF. The behavior of the electronic stopping power versus projectile velocity displays an effective threshold velocity of approximately 0.2 a.u. for the proton, consistent with recent experimental observations, and also for the antiproton. The calculated proton/antiproton stopping-power ratio is approximately 2.4 at velocities slightly above the threshold (v approximately 0.4 a.u.), as compared to the experimental value of 2.1. The projectile energy loss mechanism is observed to be extremely local.     

Understanding correlations in vanadium dioxide from first principles

Vanadium dioxide is a prototype material for the discussion of correlation effects in solids. First-principles density-functional theory does not describe the metal-insulator transition, whereas strongly correlated models reproduce the main features. Here we present a parameter-free GW calculation of VO2 and show that the correlation effects in the band structure of both the metallic and the insulating phases are correctly reproduced, provided that quasiparticle energies and wave functions are calculated self-consistently. Our calculations explain the satellite in the photoemission spectrum of the metal as due to a plasmon resonance in the energy-loss function and show that this feature disappears in the insulator.     

Phonon-assisted optical absorption in silicon from first principles

The phonon-assisted interband optical absorption spectrum of silicon is calculated at the quasiparticle level entirely from first principles. We make use of the Wannier interpolation formalism to determine the quasiparticle energies, as well as the optical transition and electron-phonon coupling matrix elements, on fine grids in the Brillouin zone. The calculated spectrum near the onset of indirect absorption is in very good agreement with experimental measurements for a range of temperatures. Moreover, our method can accurately determine the optical absorption spectrum of silicon in the visible range, an important process for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications that cannot be addressed with simple models. The computational formalism is quite general and can be used to understand the phonon-assisted absorption processes in general.