Effect of surface free energy on critical field <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis>3</Subscript>

The emergence of surface superconductivity in a type I superconductor is considered taking into account the surface free energy of the superconducting phase. It is shown that the disregard of the surface energy leads to a substantial error in determining the Ginzburg-Landau parameter from the measurements of the H _c3 field.     

Anion height dependence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> and the density of states in iron-based superconductors

Systematic ab initio LDA calculations were performed for all the typical representatives of recently discovered class of iron-based high-temperature superconductors: REOFe(As,P) (RE = La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Tb), Ba₂Fe₂As, (Sr,Ca)FFeAs, Sr₄Sc₂O₆Fe₂P₂, LiFeAs and Fe(Se,Te). Non-monotonic behavior of total density of states at the Fermi level is observed as a function of anion height relative to Fe layer with maximum at about Δz _a ～ 1.37 Å, attributed to changing Fe-As (P, Se, Te) hybridization. This leads to a similar dependence of superconducting transition temperature T _c as observed in the experiments. The fit of this dependence to elementary BCS theory produces semiquantitative agreement with experimental data for T _c for the whole class of iron-based superconductors. The similar fit to Allen-Dynes formula underestimates T _c in the vicinity of the maximum, signifying the possible importance of non-phonon pairing in this region. These results unambiguously demonstrate that the main effect of T _c variation between different types of iron-based superconductors is due to the corresponding variation of the density of states at the Fermi level.     

1/<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> countings in baryons

The 1/N _c -power countings for baryon decays and configuration mixings are determined by means of a nonrelativistic quark picture. Such countings are expected to be robust under changes in the quark masses and, therefore, valid as these become light. It is shown that excited baryons have natural widths of \(\mathcal{O}(N_c^0 )\). These dominant widths are due to the decays that proceed directly to the ground-state baryons, with cascade decays being suppressed to \(\mathcal{O}(1/N_c )\). Configuration mixings, defined as mixings between states belonging to different O(3) × SU(2N _f ) multiplets, are shown to be subleading in an expansion in \(1/\sqrt {N_c }\) when they involve the ground-state baryons, while the mixings between excited states can be \(\mathcal{O}(N_c^0 )\).     

Five-fold way to new high <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript>c</Subscript> superconductors

Discovery of high T _c superconductivity in La_2?x Ba _x CuO₄ by Bednorz and Muller in 1986 was a breakthrough in the 75-year long search for new superconductors. Since then new high T _c superconductors, not involving copper, have also been discovered. Superconductivity in cuprates also inspired resonating valence bond (RVB) mechanism of superconductivity. In turn, RVB theory provided a new hope for finding new superconductors through a novel electronic mechanism. This article first reviews an electron correlation-based RVB mechanism and our own application of these ideas to some new noncuprate superconducting families. In the process we abstract, using available phenomenology and RVB theory, that there are five directions to search for new high T _c superconductors. We call them five-fold way. As the paths are reasonably exclusive and well-defined, they provide more guided opportunities, than before, for discovering new superconductors. The five-fold ways are (i) copper route, (ii) pressure route, (iii) diamond route, (iv) graphene route and (v) double RVB route. Copper route is the doped spin-½ Mott insulator route. In this route one synthesizes new spin-½ Mott insulators and dopes them chemically. In pressure route, doping is not external, but internal, a (chemical or external) pressure-induced self-doping suggested by organic ET-salts. In the diamond route we are inspired by superconductivity in boron-doped diamond and our theory. Here one creates impurity band Mott insulators in a band insulator template that enables superconductivity. Graphene route follows from our recent suggestion of superconductivity in doped graphene, a two-dimensional broadband metal with moderate electron correlations, compared to cuprates. Double RVB route follows from our recent theory of doped spin-1 Mott insulator for superconductivity in iron pnictide family.     

Magnetism of gadolinium nanoparticles near <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript>

Influence of temperature and magnetic field H on magnetism of spherical Gd nanoparticles of different sizes (89, 63, 47, 28, and 18 nm) was studied in the temperature range 250 K < T < 325 K. The particles were obtained by metal vapor condensation in the flow of helium. The particles with d = 18 nm did not show a magnetic transition; their structure is a combination of two cubic phases (FCC1 and FCC2). Large particles remained in the HCP phase and had an admixture of the FCC1 phase, the amount of which decreased as the particle sizes increased; magnetic transition took place at T _c = 293 K. The admixture of O₂ did not alter the structure but decreased the magnetization σ and magnetic permeability μ. An orientation transition in polycrystalline gadolinium initiated by the magnetic field H was proved in an experiment. The orientation transition in Gd particles smaller than 63 nm, the magnetic structure of which is close to the single-domain structure, occurred near T _c without the influence of H.     

Irradiation-induced suppression of the critical temperature in high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> superconductors: Pair breaking versus phase fluctuations

Experiments on the irradiation-induced suppression of the critical temperature in high-T _c superconductors are analyzed within the mean-field Abrikosov-Gor’kov-like approach. It is shown that the experimental data for YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ single crystals can be quantitatively explained by the pair-breaking effects under the assumption of the combined effect of potential and spin-flip scattering on the critical temperature and with an accounting for a nonpure d-wave superconducting order parameter.     

Decay Behaviors of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> Hadronic Molecules

In this proceeding, we present our recent work on decay behaviors of the P_c hadronic molecules, which can help to disentangle the nature of the two P_c pentaquark-like structures. The results turn out that the relative ratio of the decays of P _c ⁺ (4380) to \({\bar D *}{\Lambda _c}\) and J/ψp is very different for P_c being a \({\bar D *}{\Sigma _c}\) or \(\bar D\Sigma _c *\) bound state with \({J^P} = \frac{{{3 - }}}{2}\) And from the total decay width, we find that P_c(4380) being a \(\bar D\Sigma _c *\) molecule state with \({J^P} = \frac{{{3 - }}}{2}\) and P_c(4450) being a \({\bar D *}{\Sigma _c}\) molecule state with \({J^P} = \frac{{{5 + }}}{2}\) is more favorable to the experimental data.     

Entropy for <Emphasis Type="Italic">SU</Emphasis>(3)<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> quark states

We discuss the quantum state structure using the standard model for three colored quarks in the fundamental representations of SU(3)_c making up the singlet ground state of the hadrons. This allows us to calculate a finite von Neumann entropy from the quantum reduced density matrix, which we explicitly evaluate for the quarks in a model for the meson and baryon states.Received: 9 December 2003, Revised: 23 January 2004, Published online: 8 April 2004D.E. Miller: om0@psu.eduPermanent address: Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton Campus, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, 18201 USA     

Fermion Localization on the <Emphasis Type="Italic">orbifold</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>

The hierarchical structure of fermion masses of the Standard Model is explained in split fermion models by localizing the fermions at different points in an extra dimension. We consider split fermion models with two bulk scalars compactified on an orbifold. In the static case we find analytical expression for the localizer. We also address the issue of stability of the localizer. We also find exact solutions for the fermion zero modes. We explore the parameter space of the model. We find ample opportunity for construction of phenomenologically viable theories exist.     

Investigations of the interlayer coupling in high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> cuprates

Low-field magnetizationM(H) measurements can be used to probe the nature of the screening currents and the interlayer coupling in high-T _c cuprates. Here we compare theM(H) behaviour of single crystals of Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ and fully oxygenated and oxygen reduced YBa₂Cu₃O_7??. In YBa₂Cu₃O₇, theM(H) behaviour is consistent with anisotropic 3D superconductivity whilst in Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈, the surface screening currents are strongly affected by the presence of vortices, implying that the CuO₂ planes are coupled via a weak Josephson interaction. In oxygen-deficient YBa₂Cu₃O_6.7 (T _c =63K), theM(H) behaviour at low temperatures is similar to that found for Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈, implying that the removal of oxygen from the chains has resulted in a dimensional crossover of the superconducting state in YBa₂Cu₃O_7??. As the temperature approachesT _c , the 3D behaviour is eventually restored as thec-axis coherence length ξ _c becomes comparable with the interlayer spacingd.     

Spectroscopy and Regge trajectories of heavy quarkonia and <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> mesons

The mass spectra of charmonia, bottomonia and B _c mesons are calculated in the framework of the QCD-motivated relativistic quark model based on the quasipotential approach. The dynamics of heavy quarks and antiquarks is treated fully relativistically without application of the nonrelativistic v ²/c ² expansion. The known one-loop radiative corrections to the heavy quark potential are taken into account perturbatively. The heavy quarkonium masses are calculated up to rather high orbital and radial excitations (L=5, n _r =5). On this basis the Regge trajectories are constructed both in the total angular momentum J and radial quantum number n _r . It is found that the daughter trajectories are almost linear and parallel, while parent trajectories exhibit some nonlinearity in the low mass region. Such nonlinearity is most pronounced for bottomonia and is only marginal for charmonia. The obtained results are compared with the available experimental data, and a possible interpretation of the new charmonium-like states above open charm production threshold is discussed.     

Pseudogap behavior of nuclear spin relaxation in high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> superconductors in terms of phase separation

We analyze anew experiments on the NMR in cuprates and find an important information on their phase separation and its strip character hidden in the dependence of 1/⁶³T₁ on the degree of doping. In a broad class of materials, 1/⁶³T₁ is the sum of two terms: the temperature-independent one attributed to “ incommensurate” strips that occur at external doping and a “universal” temperature-dependent term ascribed to moving metallic and antiferromagnetic subphases. We argue that the frustrated first-order phase transition in a broad temperature interval bears a dynamical character.     

Pomeron loops in the perturbative QCD with large <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript>

The lowest order pomeron loop is calculated for the leading conformal weight with full dependence of the triple-pomeron vertex on intermediate conformal weights. The loop is found to be convergent. Its contribution to the pomeron Green function begins to dominate already at rapidities 10–15. The pomeron pole renormalization is found to be quite small due to a rapid fall of the triple-pomeron vertex with rising conformal weights.     

Superconducting films with <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript>c</Subscript>=39 K prepared from stoichiometric MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript> targets

Oriented films of MgB₂ high-T_c superconductor are synthesized by pulsed laser sputtering of stoichiometric MgB₂ targets with subsequent annealing of the amorphous Mg-B material deposited onto MgO(111) substrates. The critical temperature of the films depends on the purity of the targets sputtered. The purification of boron powder in a vacuum makes it possible to minimize the content of impurities in the targets and to prepare MgB₂ films exhibiting a critical temperature above 39 K and a sharp inductive transition. A high room-temperature to residual resistivity ratio (more than 3) indicates the good quality of the films.     

Surface superconductivity and<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c3</Emphasis></Subscript> in UPt<Subscript>3</Subscript>

Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory is used to study surface superconductivity for UPt₃ for various order parameter symmetries (OPS), andH _c3 is found for all principal directions of the surface normal\(\hat n\) and the field [1]. Assuming specular reflection, and allowing for reorientation of the antiferromagnetic symmetry breaking field in the models withE _1g ,E _2g ,E _1u , orE _2u symmetry, the experiments of Keller et al. [2] with\(\hat n = \hat a\) can be qualitatively explained for all OPS except possiblyA _1u ⊕B _1u . The implied GL parameters then predict qualitatively different and OPS dependent behavior for\(\hat n = \hat a^* \) and\(\hat n = \hat c\). Study ofH _c3 for these surfaces would give strong clues about the OPS of UPt₃.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> meson rare decays in the light-cone quark model

We investigate the rare decays \(B_{c} \rightarrow D_{s}(1968)\ell \overline{\ell}\) and \(B_{c}\rightarrow D_{s}^{*}(2317) \ell \overline{\ell}\) in the framework of the light-cone quark model (LCQM). The transition form factors are calculated in the space-like region and then analytically continued to the time-like region via exponential parametrization. The branching ratios and longitudinal lepton polarization asymmetries (LPAs) for the two decays are given and compared with each other. The results are helpful for investigating the structure of B _c meson and for testing the unitarity of CKM quark mixing matrix. All these results can be tested in the future experiments at the LHC.     

Volume charge density and radial electric field <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis></Subscript>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>) in a moving tokamak plasma

Electric field E _r transverse to the current in a moving quasi-neutral plasma can (and should) be considered using Poisson equations and densities of volume charges emerging in the plasma. In the general case, E _r becomes nonlocal; i.e., remote volume charge densities are not screened but affect the formation of E _r at the points under investigation. This approach is used for describing a phenomenological theory of radial electric field E _r (r) and velocity of toroidal rotation of the plasma in the tokamak. Examples of application of this theory to actual experiments are considered.     

Static anisotropic solutions in <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis>) theory

In previous work, we undertook to study static and anisotropic content in f(T) theory and obtained new spherically symmetric solutions considering a constant torsion and some particular conditions for the pressure. In this paper, still in the framework of f(T) theory, new spherically symmetric solutions are obtained, first considering the general case of an isotropic fluid and later the anisotropic content case in which the generalized conditions for the matter content are considered such that the energy density, the radial and tangential pressures depend on the algebraic f(T) and its derivative f _T (T). Moreover, we obtain the algebraic function f(T) through the reconstruction method for two cases and also study a polytropic model for the stellar structure.     

Possible universal cause of high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> superconductivity in different metals

Using the theory of high-temperature superconductivity based on the idea of the fermion-condensation quantum phase transition (FCQPT), we show that neither the d-wave pairing symmetry, the pseudogap phenomenon, nor the presence of the Cu-O₂ planes is of decisive importance for the existence of high-T _c superconductivity. We analyze recent experimental data on this type of superconductivity in different materials and show that these facts can be understood within the theory of superconductivity based on the FCQPT. The latter can be considered as a universal cause of high-T _c superconductivity. The main features of a room-temperature superconductor are discussed.     

Influence of Al-concentration on the current density in GaAs/Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript>Ga<Subscript>1-</Subscript><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript>As generalized Thue-Morse superlattices

The influence of Al concentration on the current density in GaAs-Al _c Ga_{1- c} As heterostructure is studied for two different classes of the Generalized Thue-Morse superlattice (GTS): (i) width-barrier GTS and (ii) height-barrier GTS. The occurrence of resonances in the transmission is found to be highly dependent on the Al concentration as well as on the degree of quasi-periodicity of the system. Interesting features are noted for the current density profile with the increase in the Al content for the width-barrier case. The use of the height-barrier GTS with small Al content could be suggested to achieve the negative differential conducting regimes at comparatively low applied bias. The effects of the applied field as well as of the quasi-periodicity on the carrier localization are also studied.