Conserved Quantities and Conformal Mechanico-Electrical Systems

The conformal meehanico-electrical systems are presented by infinitesimal point transformations of time and generalized coordinates. The necessary and suflleient conditions that the eonformal meehanieo-eleetrieal systems possess Lie symmetry are given. The Noether conserved quantities of the eonformal meehanieo-eleetrieal systems are obtained from Lie symmetries.     

Charge fractionalization in nonchiral Luttinger systems

One-dimensional metals, such as quantum wires or carbon nanotubes, can carry charge in arbitrary units, smaller or larger than a single electron charge. However, according to Luttinger theory, which describes the low-energy excitations of such systems, when a single electron is injected by tunneling into the middle of such a wire, it will tend to break up into separate charge pulses, moving in opposite directions, which carry definite fractions f and (1-f) of the electron charge, determined by a parameter g that measures the strength of charge interactions in the wire. (The injected electron will also produce a spin excitation, which will travel at a different velocity than the charge excitations.) Observing charge fractionalization physics in an experiment is a challenge in those (nonchiral) low-dimensional systems which are adiabatically coupled to Fermi liquid leads. We theoretically discuss a first important step towards the observation of charge fractionalization in quantum wires based on momentum-resolved tunneling and multi-terminal geometries, and explain the recent experimental results of Steinberg et al. [H. Steinberg, G. Barak, A. Yacoby, L.N. Pfeiffer, K.W. West, B.I. Halperin, K. Le Hur, Nature Physics 4 (2008) 116].     

Supersymmetry in the non-commutative plane

The supersymmetric extension of a model introduced by Lukierski, Stichel, and Zakrewski in the non-commutative plane is studied. The Noether charges associated to the symmetries are determined. Their Poisson algebra is investigated in the Ostrogradski-Dirac formalism for constrained Hamiltonian systems. It is shown to provide a supersymmetric generalization of the Galilei algebra with a two-dimensional central extension.     

Dynamical symmetries of two-dimensional systems in relativistic quantum mechanics

The two-dimensional Dirac Hamiltonian with equal scalar and vector potentials has been proved commuting with the deformed orbital angular momentum L. When the potential takes the Coulomb form, the system has an SO(3) symmetry, and similarly the harmonic oscillator potential possesses an SU(2) symmetry. The generators of the symmetric groups are derived for these two systems separately. The corresponding energy spectra are yielded naturally from the Casimir operators. Their non-relativistic limits are also discussed.     

Quantum hall conductivity in a Landau type model with a realistic geometry II

We use a mathematical framework that we introduced in a previous paper to study geometrical and quantum mechanical aspects of a Hall system with finite size and general boundary conditions. Geometrical structures control possibly the integral or fractional quantization of the Hall conductivity depending on the value of NB/2π (N is the number of charge carriers and B is the magnetic field). When NB/2π is irrational, we show that monovaluated wave functions can be constructed only on the graph of a free group with two generators. When NB/2π is rational, the relevant space becomes a punctured Riemann surface. We finally discuss our results from a phenomenological viewpoint.     

The model of ultrafast light-induced insulator-metal phase transition in VO2

Ultrafast light-induced insulator-metal phase transitions (PT) in VO₂ thin films was studied with use of a pump-probe technique. The theoretical and experimental study of PT kinetics shows that the PT could be realized via an intermediate state. The relaxation processes after optical pumping are dependent on pump energy. The excitonic controlled model for such type of PT is proposed. The main channel for the ultrafast light-induced PT is the resonant transition between excited states of correlated vibronic Wannier-Mott excitons (WME) in insulator phase and the unoccupied excited states in metallic phase. During this process an equilibrium local distortion occurred. According to the proposed model the experimental observation of the drastic temperature- and pump power- dependent relaxation processes could be interpreted.     

A symmetry principle for topological quantum order

We present a unifying framework to study physical systems which exhibit topological quantum order (TQO). The major guiding principle behind our approach is that of symmetries and entanglement. These symmetries may be actual symmetries of the Hamiltonian characterizing the system, or emergent symmetries. To this end, we introduce the concept of low-dimensional Gauge-like symmetries (GLSs), and the physical conservation laws (including topological terms, fractionalization, and the absence of quasi-particle excitations) which emerge from them. We prove then sufficient conditions for TQO at both zero and finite temperatures. The physical engine for TQO are topological defects associated with the restoration of GLSs. These defects propagate freely through the system and enforce TQO. Our results are strongest for gapped systems with continuous GLSs. At zero temperature, selection rules associated with the GLSs enable us to systematically construct general states with TQO; these selection rules do not rely on the existence of a finite gap between the ground states to all other excited states. Indices associated with these symmetries correspond to different topological sectors. All currently known examples of TQO display GLSs. Other systems exhibiting such symmetries include Hamiltonians depicting orbital-dependent spin-exchange and Jahn-Teller effects in transition metal orbital compounds, short-range frustrated Klein spin models, and p+ip superconducting arrays. The symmetry based framework discussed herein allows us to go beyond standard topological field theories and systematically engineer new physical models with finite temperature TQO (both Abelian and non-Abelian). Furthermore, we analyze the insufficiency of entanglement entropy (we introduce SU(N) Klein models on small world networks to make the argument even sharper), spectral structures, maximal string correlators, and fractionalization in establishing TQO. We show that Kitaev’s Toric code model and Wen’s plaquette model are equivalent and reduce, by a duality mapping, to an Ising chain, demonstrating that despite the spectral gap in these systems the toric operator expectation values may vanish once thermal fluctuations are present. This illustrates the fact that the quantum states themselves in a particular (operator language) representation encode TQO and that the duality mappings, being non-local in the original representation, disentangle the order. We present a general algorithm for the construction of long-range string and brane orders in general systems with entangled ground states; this algorithm relies on general ground states selection rules and becomes of the broadest applicability in gapped systems in arbitrary dimensions. We exactly recast some known non-local string correlators in terms of local correlation functions. We discuss relations to problems in graph theory.     

Superconductivity close to the Mott state: From condensed-matter systems to superfluidity in optical lattices

Since the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in 1986 by Bednorz and Müller, great efforts have been devoted to finding out how and why it works. From the d-wave symmetry of the order parameter, the importance of antiferromagnetic fluctuations, and the presence of a mysterious pseudogap phase close to the Mott state, one can conclude that high-T_c superconductors are clearly distinguishable from the well-understood BCS superconductors. The d-wave superconducting state can be understood through a Gutzwiller-type projected BCS wavefunction. In this review article, we revisit the Hubbard model at half-filling and focus on the emergence of exotic superconductivity with d-wave symmetry in the vicinity of the Mott state, starting from ladder systems and then studying the dimensional crossovers to higher dimensions. This allows to confirm that short-range antiferromagnetic fluctuations can mediate superconductivity with d-wave symmetry. Ladders are also nice prototype systems allowing to demonstrate the truncation of the Fermi surface and the emergence of a Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) state with preformed pairs in the vicinity of the Mott state. In two dimensions, a similar scenario emerges from renormalization group arguments. We also discuss theoretical predictions for the d-wave superconducting phase as well as the pseudogap phase, and address the crossover to the overdoped regime. Finally, cold atomic systems with tunable parameters also provide a complementary insight into this outstanding problem.     

Electron correlation in two-dimensional systems: CHNC approach to finite-temperature and spin-polarization effects

Applying the classical-map hypernetted-chain method (CHNC) developed recently by Dharma-wardana and Perrot, we have studied the temperature and spin-polarization effects on electron correlation in the uniform quantum two-dimensional gas (2DEG) over a wide range of temperature T and spin-polarization ζ. The quantum fluid at the temperature T is mapped to a classical fluid at the temperature T_cf given by T_cf²=T²+T_q², where the quantum temperature T_q is determined by comparing the calculated correlation energy to that of Monte Carlo results for the fully spin-polarized quantum system at zero temperature. By the iterative solution of the modified HNC equation and the Ornstein-Zernike equation, we have obtained the pair distribution function (PDF) and correlation energy for the two-component classical 2DEG with a classical fluid temperature T_cf. The anti-parallel bridge function B₁₂(r) appearing in the modified HNC equation is determined by using the Monte Carlo correlation energy at T=0 or STLS (Singwi-Tosi-Land-Sjölander) result at T>0 and the numerical solution to the Percus-Yevick (PY) equation for the system of hard disks. By calculating the Pauli potential, the bridge function, PDFs, structure factors and correlation energy, we have shown that in some cases, the properties of the uniform quantum 2DEG depend remarkably on the temperature and spin-polarization.     

Kostka matrices at the level of bases and the complete set of commuting Jucys-Murphy operators

A method for evaluation of Kostka matrices at the level of bases, and determination of related irreducible basis of the Weyl duality is proposed. The method bases on Jucys-Murphy operators which constitute a complete set of commuting Hermitian operators along the general Dirac formalism of quantum mechanics, applied to the algebra of a symmetric group. The way of construction of appropriate projection operators is pointed out, and the combinatorial meaning of the path on the Young graph, corresponding to a standard Young tableau, is made transparent.     

Secondary peak in the optical absorption spectra: A possible criterion for Bose condensation of excitons

By solving the BCS and Bethe-Salpeter equations, we confirm the result by Chu and Chang that a secondary peak appears in the optical absorption spectrum immediately after the 1S-exciton peak in the presence of a condensed phase. The observation of the secondary peak indicates the presence of exciton condensate.     

Influence of excited Landau levels on a two-dimensional electron-hole system in a strong perpendicular magnetic field

The study of the quantum states of a two-dimensional electron-hole system in a strong perpendicular magnetic field is carried out with special attention to the influence of virtual quantum transitions of interacting particles between the Landau levels. These virtual quantum transitions from the lowest Landau levels to excited Landau levels with arbitrary quantum numbers n and m and their reversion to the lowest Landau levels in second order perturbation theory result in an indirect attraction between the particles. The influence of the indirect interaction on the magnetoexciton ground state, on the chemical potential of the Bose-Einstein condensed magnetoexcitons, and on the ground state energy of the metallic-type electron-hole liquid is investigated in the Hartree-Fock approximation. The coexistence of different phases is suggested.     

Lie Symmetries, Perturbation to Symmetries and Adiabatic Invariants of a Generalized Birkhoff System

We study the perturbation to symmetries and adiabatic invariants of a generalized Birkhoff system. Based on the invariance of differential equations under infinitesimal transformations, Lie symmetries, laws of conservations, perturbation to the symmetries and adiabatic invariants of the generalized Birkhoff system are presented. First, the concepts of Lie symmetries and higher order adiabatic invariants of the generalized Birkhoff system are proposed. Then, the conditions for the existence of the exact invariants and adiabatic invariants are proved, and their forms are given. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the method and results.     

Stable and resonant Cooper pairs

A Bethe-Salpeter treatment of Cooper pairs (CPs) based on an ideal Fermi gas (IFG) ‘sea’ yields the familiar stable negative-energy, infinite-lifetime two-particle bound-state if two-hole CPs are ignored. Otherwise, it gives purely imaginary energies and thus unphysical solutions. However, a Bogoliubov transformation to the BCS ground state yields the trivial sound solution plus a nontrivial one. The latter are two-fermion ‘moving CPs’ as positive-energy stable objects for zero center-of-mass momentum (CMM), and finite-lifetime resonant ones for nonzero CMM with a linear dispersion leading term. Hence, Bose-Einstein condensation of such pairs may occur in exactly two dimensions as it cannot with quadratic dispersion.     

Transport equations for chiral fermions to order ? and electroweak baryogenesis: Part I

This is the first in a series of two papers. In this first part, we use the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism to derive semiclassical Boltzmann transport equations, accurate to order ?, for massive chiral fermions, scalar particles, and for the corresponding CP-conjugate states. Our considerations include complex mass terms and mixing fermion and scalar fields, such that CP-violation is naturally included, rendering the equations particularly suitable for studies of baryogenesis at a first order electroweak phase transition. We provide a quantitative criterion in which case the reduction to the diagonal kinetic equations in the mass eigenbasis is justified, leading to a quasiparticle picture even in the case of mixing scalar or fermionic particles. Within the approximations we make, it is possible to first study the Boltzmann equations without the collision term. In a second paper [Ann. Phys. xxx (2004) xxx] we discuss the collision terms and reduce the Boltzmann equations to fluid equations.     

Transport equations for chiral fermions to order ? and electroweak baryogenesis: Part II

This is the second in a series of two papers. While in Paper I [Ann. Phys. 314 (2004) 208] we derive semiclassical Boltzmann transport equations and study their flow terms, here we make use of the results from that paper and address the collision terms. We use a model Lagrangean, in which fermions couple to scalars through Yukawa interactions and approximate the self-energies by the one-loop expressions. This approximation already contains important aspects of thermalization and scatterings required for quantitative studies of transport in plasmas. We compute the CP-violating contributions to both the scalar and the fermionic collision term. CP-violating sources appear at order ? in gradient and in a weak coupling expansion, as a consequence of a CP-violating split in the fermionic dispersion relation. This represents the first controlled calculation of CP-violating collisional sources, thus establishing the existence of `spontaneous' baryogenesis sources in the collision term. The calculation is performed by the use of the spin quasiparticle states established in Paper I. Next, we present the relevant leading order calculation of the relaxation rates for the spin states and relate them to the more standard relaxation rates for the helicity states. We also analyze the associated fluid equations, make a comparison between the source arising from the semiclassical force in the flow term and the collisional source, and observe that the semiclassical source tends to be more important in the limit of inefficient diffusion/transport.     

Effect of electron-phonon interaction on optical response in one-dimensional cuprates

We examine the single-particle excitation and linear optical absorption spectra in the one-dimensional (1D) extended Hubbard-Holstein model. We perform dynamical density matrix renormalization group calculations with use of pseudo-site representation of phonons. We focus on the interplay among phonons and elementary excitations in 1D Mott insulators. The excitations in the Mott insulators are easily modified by the phonons. We discuss implications of the present results in light of spectroscopic measurements in 1D cuprates.