Vortex charges in high-temperature superconductors

Based on a model Hamiltonian with competing antiferromagnetic (AF) and d-wave superconductivity interactions, the vortex charge is investigated by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We found that the vortex charge is negative when a sufficient strength of AF order is induced inside the vortex core; otherwise, it is positive. By tuning the on-site Coulomb repulsion U or the doping parameter delta, a transition between the positive and negative vortex charges may occur. The vortex charge at optimal doping has also been studied as a function of magnetic field. Recent NMR and Hall effect experiments may be understood in terms of the present results.     

The effects of nonequilibrium charge distribution in scanning tunneling spectroscopy of semiconductors

Results are presented from a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) investigation of III-V semiconductor surfaces cleaved in situ along a (110) plane. The STM topographic images reveal the presence of surface charge structures. The possibility of their observation depends on the charge state of the apex of the STM tip. Peaks are also observed in the local tunneling conductivity spectra. The energy position of these peaks and the energy position of the edges of the band gap change with distance from the defect. A theoretical model is proposed which demonstrates that the experimental scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) data can be explained by effects due to a nonequilibrium electron distribution in the contact area, which gives rise to localized charges. In this model the on-site Coulomb repulsion of localized charges and their interaction with semiconductor electrons are treated self-consistently. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 4, 299–304 (25 August 1998)     

Unconventional spin-charge phase separation in a model 2D cuprate

In this work, we address a challenging problem of a competition of charge and spin orders for high-T _c cuprates within a simplified 2D spin-pseudospin model which takes into account both conventional Heisenberg Cu²⁺?Cu²⁺ antiferromagnetic spin exchange coupling (J) and the on-site (U) and intersite (V) charge correlations in the CuO₂ planes with the on-site Hilbert space reduced to only three effective charge states (nominally Cu^1+;2+;3+). We performed classical Monte Carlo calculations for large square lattices implying the mobile doped charges and focusing on a case of a small intersite repulsion V ? J. The on-site attraction (U < 0) does suppress the antiferromagnetic ordering and gives rise to a checkerboard charge order with the doped charge distributed randomly over a system in the whole temperature range. However, under the on-site repulsion (U > 0) the homogeneous ground state antiferromagnetic solutions of the doped system found in a mean-field approximation are shown to be unstable with respect to a phase separation with the charge and spin subsystems behaving like immiscible quantum liquids. Puzzlingly, with lowering the temperature one can observe two sequential phase transitions: first, an antiferromagnetic ordering in the spin subsystem diluted by randomly distributed charges, then, a charge condensation in the charge droplets. The effects are illustrated by the Monte Carlo calculations of the specific heat and longitudinal magnetic susceptibility.     

Coulomb screening in graphene with topological defects

We analyze the screening of an external Coulomb charge in gapless graphene cone, which is taken as a prototype of a topological defect. In the subcritical regime, the induced charge is calculated using both the Green’s function and the Friedel sum rule. The dependence of the polarization charge on the Coulomb strength obtained from the Green’s function clearly shows the effect of the conical defect and indicates that the critical charge itself depends on the sample topology. Similar analysis using the Friedel sum rule indicates that the two results agree for low values of the Coulomb charge but differ for the higher strengths, especially in the presence of the conical defect. For a given subcritical charge, the transport cross-section has a higher value in the presence of the conical defect. In the supercritical regime we show that the coefficient of the power law tail of polarization charge density can be expressed as a summation of functions which vary log periodically with the distance from the Coulomb impurity. The period of variation depends on the conical defect. In the presence of the conical defect, the Fano resonances begin to appear in the transport cross-section for a lower value of the Coulomb charge. For both sub and supercritical regime we derive the dependence of LDOS on the conical defect. The effects of generalized boundary condition on the physical observables are also discussed.     

Temperature-dependent Luttinger surfaces

The Luttinger surface of an organic metal (TTF-TCNQ), possessing charge order and spin-charge separated band dispersions, is investigated using temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The Luttinger surface topology, obtained from momentum distribution curves, changes from quasi-2D (dimensional) to quasi-1D with temperature. The high temperature quasi-2D surface exhibits 4kF charge-density-wave (CDW) superstructure in the TCNQ derived holon band, in the absence of 2kF order. Decreasing temperature results in quasi-1D nested 2kF CDW order in the TCNQ spinon band and in the TTF surface. The results establish the link in momentum space between charge order and spin-charge separation in a Luttinger liquid.     

Ground states of the one-dimensional anisotropic extended hubbard model

We investigate a one-dimensional half-filled electron system with on-site and spin-dependent nearest-neighbor-site Coulomb interactions. Non-Tomonaga-Luttinger-type scatterings bring about Gaussian and hidden SU(2) Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in the charge and spin parts. We accurately determine these critical points using the level-spectroscopy method. The boundaries deviate from those given by bosonization prediction with the increase of interactions. In particular, in the easy-plain anisotropy region, we find a crossing point of transition lines in the charge and spin parts, which is a multicritical point of four phases. We also check consistencies among excitation levels.     

Molecular-dynamics simulations of electron-ion temperature relaxation in a classical Coulomb plasma

Molecular-dynamics simulations are used to investigate temperature relaxation between electrons and ions in a fully ionized, classical Coulomb plasma with minimal assumptions. Recombination is avoided by using like charges. The relaxation rate agrees with theory in the weak coupling limit (g identical with potential/kinetic energy < 1), whereas it saturates at g > 1 due to correlation effects. The "Coulomb log" is found to be independent of the ion charge (at constant g) and mass ratio > 25.     

More comments on asymptotic freedom

The effective Coulomb interaction between sources with SU(2) color charge is reinvestigated at the one-loop order of perturbation theory. This quantity is shown to be formally identical with the effective Coulomb interaction between electric charges in the QED of massless, charged, vector fields with anomalous magnetic moments. This correspondence allows the one-loop Yang-Mills charge renormalization factor to be deduced from a knowledge of the size and origins of this quantity in massless scalar and spinor QED. Careful consideration of the analogy with QED suggests a mechanism for asymptotic freedom in the Feynman gauge.     

Microscopic study of a spin-orbit-induced Mott insulator in Ir oxides

Motivated by recent experiments of a novel 5d Mott insulator in Sr2IrO4, we have studied the two-dimensional three-orbital Hubbard model with a spin-orbit coupling λ. The variational Monte Carlo method is used to obtain the ground state phase diagram with varying an on-site Coulomb interaction U as well as λ. It is found that the transition from a paramagnetic metal to an antiferromagnetic insulator occurs at a finite U=U(MI), which is greatly reduced by a large λ, characteristic of 5d electrons, and leads to the "spin-orbit-induced" Mott insulator. It is also found that the Hund's coupling induces the anisotropic spin exchange and stabilizes the in-plane antiferromagnetic order. We have further studied the one-particle excitations by using the variational cluster approximation and revealed the internal electronic structure of this novel Mott insulator. These findings are in agreement with experimental observations on Sr2IrO4.     

The hydrino and other unlikely states

We discuss the tightly bound (hydrino) solution of the Klein–Gordon equation for the Coulomb potential in 3 dimensions. We show that a similar tightly bound state occurs for the Dirac equation for the Coulomb potential in 2 dimensions. These states are unphysical since they disappear if the nuclear charge distribution is taken to have an arbitrarily small but non-zero radius.     

Bounded Fluctuations and Translation Symmetry Breaking in One-Dimensional Particle Systems

We present general results for one-dimensional systems of point charges (signed point measures) on the line with a translation invariant distribution for which the variance of the total charge in an interval is uniformly bounded (instead of increasing with the interval length). When the charges are restricted to multiples of a common unit, and their average charge density does not vanish, then the boundedness of the variance implies translation-symmetry breaking—in the sense that there exists a function of the charge configuration that is nontrivially periodic under translations—and hence that is not mixing. Analogous results are formulated also for one dimensional lattice systems under some constraints on the values of the charges at the lattice sites and their averages. The general results apply to one-dimensional Coulomb systems, and to certain spin chains, putting on common grounds different instances of symmetry breaking encountered there.     

Long range and temperature-dependent interaction between an alkali atom and a metallic surface; application to surface ionization

For explaining some long range and temperature dependent charge transfer involved in surface processes dealing with particles leaving a surface, we extend the usual chemisorption theory to larger distances. Treating the interaction of an alkali atom (lithium and sodium) on a metal surface (rhenium) in the chemisorption model, we introduce the temperature in the expression for the effective charges of the adsorbed atom. These effective charges are shown to be very sensitive to the temperature for atom-surface distances larger than 5 Bohr radii. The Coulomb repulsion effect between opposite spin electrons on the adsorbed particle allows us to describe the effective charges of both the positive and negative adsorbed ions. We apply our treatment to the positive surface ionization of thermal particles and give a new expression of the degree of ionization which asymptotically tends to the values of the Saha-Langmuir law. We found that the surface ionization process occurs at distances slightly decreasing with increasing temperatures, which are of the order of 13 Bohr radii for lithium on rhenium and of 15 Bohr radii for sodium on rhenium.     

Effect of colloidal charge discretization in the primitive model

The effect of fixed discrete colloidal charges in the primitive model is investigated for spherical macroions. Instead of considering a central bare charge, as it is traditionally done, we distribute discrete charges randomly on the sphere. We use molecular dynamics simulations to study this effect on various properties such as overcharging, counterion distribution and diffusion. In the vicinity of the colloid surface the electrostatic potential may considerably differ from the one obtained with a central charge. In the strong Coulomb coupling, we showed that the colloidal charge discretization qualitatively influences the counterion distribution and leads to a strong colloidal charge-counterion pair association. However, we found that charge inversion still persists even if strong pair association is observed. Received 30 June 2000 and Received in final form 28 November 2000     

Correlation induced switching of the local spatial charge distribution in a two-level system

It was found that tunneling current through a nanometer scale structure with strongly coupled localized states causes spatial redistribution of localized charges induced by Coulomb correlations. We present here theoretical investigation of this effect by means of Heisenberg equations for localized states electron filling numbers. This method makes it possible to take into account pair correlations of local electron density exactly. It is shown that inverse occupation of the two-level system caused by Coulomb correlations appears in particular range of applied bias. Described effects can give a possibility of charge manipulation in the proposed system. We also expect that described results can be observed in tunneling structures with impurities or with small quantum dots.     

Charge-orbital ordering and Verwey transition in magnetite

Local density approximation + Hubbard U (LDA + U) band structure calculations reveal that magnetite (Fe3O4) forms an insulating charge-orbital-ordered state below the Verwey transition temperature. The calculated charge ordering is in good agreement with that inferred from recent experiments. We found an associated t(2g) orbital ordering on the octahedral Fe2+ sublattice. Such an orbital ordering results primarily from the on-site Coulomb interaction. This finding unravels such fundamental issues about the Verwey transition as the mechanism for the charge ordering and for the formation of the insulating gap, as well as the nonobedience of the Anderson's criterion for the charge ordering.     

Structural relaxation and aging scaling in the Coulomb and Bose glass models

We employ Monte Carlo simulations to study the relaxation properties of the two-dimensional Coulomb glass in disordered semiconductors and the three-dimensional Bose glass in type-II superconductors in the presence of extended linear defects. We investigate the effects of adding non-zero random on-site energies from different distributions on the properties of the correlation-induced Coulomb gap in the density of states (DOS) and on the non-equilibrium aging kinetics highlighted by the density autocorrelation functions. We also probe the sensitivity of the system’s equilibrium and non-equilibrium relaxation properties to instantaneous changes in the density of charge carriers in the Coulomb glass or flux lines in the Bose glass.     

Space charge effect and mirror charge effect in photoemission spectroscopy

We report the observation and systematic investigation of the space charge effect and mirror charge effect in photoemission spectroscopy. When pulsed light is incident on a sample, the photo-emitted electrons experience energy redistribution after escaping from the surface because of the Coulomb interaction between them (space charge effect) and between photo-emitted electrons and the distribution of mirror charges in the sample (mirror charge effect). These combined Coulomb interaction effects give rise to an energy shift and a broadening which can be on the order of 10 meV for a typical third-generation synchrotron light source. This value is comparable to many fundamental physical parameters actively studied by photoemission spectroscopy and should be taken seriously in interpreting photoemission data and in designing next generation experiments.     

Upper bounds for ground-state correlation functions in the Hubbard model

We present rigorous bounds on the ground-state spin and charge correlation functions of the single-band Hubbard model defined on a bipartite lattice. In the attractive case, the spin correlation function is bounded from above by a quantity depending only on the value of the Coulomb interaction. A similar result is obtained in the half-filled repulsive model when the charge and the on-site pairing correlation functions are considered. The present results imply that the related susceptibilities never diverge and the absence of corresponding long-range orders.     

Magnetic and binding properties of metal-divacancy complexes at MgO (0 0 1) surface: DFT calculations

We have analyzed the magnetic and binding properties of Ni, Cr, Mo, and Pt metals deposited on the defect free and defect containing surfaces of MgO by means of density functional theory calculations and embedded cluster model. Clusters of moderate sizes with no border anions, to avoid artificial polarization effects, were embedded in the simulated Coulomb fields that closely approximate the Madelung fields of the host surfaces. Spin quenching occurs for Cr and Mo complexes at the defect free (terrace) surface, and Cr, Mo, and Pt complexes at the defect containing “pit” divacancy surface. The binding energies of the metals are significantly enhanced on the cationic vacancy end of the divacancy. The adsorption energies of the low spin states of spin quenched complexes are always greater than those of the high spin states. The metal-support interactions stabilize the low spin states of the adsorbed metals with respect to the isolated metals, but the effect is not always enough to quench the spin. The encountered variations in magnetic properties of free metals and of metal complexes are correlated with the energy gaps of the frontier orbitals. Spin contamination affect the adsorbate-substrate distances, Mulliken charges, Mulliken spin densities, natural charge, natural orbital population, and provide rationalization for the reported magnetic and binding properties. The electrostatic potential energy curves provide clearer understanding of the nature of magnetic and binding interactions. The magnetic and binding properties of a single metal atom adsorbed on a particular surface result from a competition between Hund's rule for the adsorbed metal, and the formation of a chemical bond at the interface.