Tunneling conductance oscillations in spin–orbit coupled metal–insulator–superconductor junctions

The tunneling conductance for a device consisting of a metal–insulator–superconductor (MIS) junction is studied in presence of Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC) via an extended Blonder–Tinkham–Klapwijk formalism. We find that the tunneling conductance as a function of an effective barrier potential that defines the insulating layer and lies intermediate to the metallic and superconducting electrodes, displays an oscillatory behavior. The tunneling conductance shows high sensitivity to the RSOC for certain ranges of this potential, while it is insensitive to the RSOC for others. Additionally, when the period of oscillations is an odd multiple of a certain value of the effective potential, the conductance spectrum as a function of the biasing energy demonstrates a contrasting trend with RSOC, compared to when it is not an odd multiple. The explanations for the observation can be found in terms of a competition between the normal and Andreev reflections. Similar oscillatory behavior of the conductance spectrum is also seen for other superconducting pairing symmetries, thereby emphasizing that the insulating layer plays a decisive role in the conductance oscillations of a MIS junction. For a tunable Rashba coupling, the current flowing through the junction can be controlled with precision.     

Inhomogeneous Heisenberg spin chain and quantum vortex filament as non-holonomically deformed NLS systems

Through the Hasimoto map, various dynamical systems can be mapped to different integrodifferential generalizations of Nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) family of equations some of which are known to be integrable. Two such continuum limits, corresponding to the inhomogeneous XXX Heisenberg spin chain [J. Phys. C 15, L1305 (1982)] and that of a thin vortex filament moving in a superfluid with drag [Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 275 (2013) 86; Phys. Rev. E 91, 053201 (2015)], are shown to be particular non-holonomic deformations (NHDs) of the standard NLS system involving generalized parameterizations. Crucially, such NHDs of the NLS system are restricted to specific spectral orders that exactly complements NHDs of the original physical systems. The specific non-holonomic constraints associated with these integrodifferential generalizations additionally posses distinct semi-classical signature.     

Thermoelectric efficiency enhanced in a quantum dot with polarization leads,spin-flip and external magnetic field

We theoretically study the thermoelectric transport properties in a quantum dot system with two ferromagnetic leads, the spin-flip scattering and the external magnetic field. The results show that the spin polarization of the leads strongly influences thermoelectric coefficients of the device. For the parallel configuration the peak of figure of merit increases with the increase of polarization strength and non-collinear configuration trends to destroy the improvement of figure of merit induced by lead polarization. While the modulation of the spin-flip scattering on the figure of merit is effective only in the absence of external magnetic field or small magnetic field. In terms of improving the thermoelectric efficiency, the external magnetic field plays a more important role than spin-flip scattering. The thermoelectric efficiency can be significantly enhanced by the magnetic field for a given spin-flip scattering strength.     

Interaction of longitudinal phonons with discrete breather in strained graphene

We numerically analyze the interaction of small-amplitude phonon waves with standing gap discrete breather (DB) in strained graphene. To make the system support gap DB, strain is applied to create a gap in the phonon spectrum. We only focus on the in-plane phonons and DB, so the issue is investigated under a quasi-one-dimensional setup. It is found that, for the longitudinal sound waves having frequencies below 6 THz, DB is transparent and thus no radiation of energy from DB takes place; whereas for those sound waves with higher frequencies within the acoustic (optical) phonon band, phonon is mainly transmitted (reflected) by DB, and concomitantly, DB radiates its energy when interacting with phonons. The latter case is supported by the fact that, the sum of the transmitted and reflected phonon energy densities is noticeably higher than that of the incident wave. Our results here may provide insight into energy transport in graphene when the spatially localized nonlinear vibration modes are presented.     

Holography of massive M2-brane theory: non-linear extension

We investigate the gauge/gravity duality between the \(\mathcal{N} = 6\) mass-deformed ABJM theory with \(\hbox {U}_k(N)\times \hbox {U}_{-k}(N)\) gauge symmetry and the 11-dimensional supergravity on LLM geometries with SO(2,1)\(\times \)SO(4)/\({\mathbb {Z}}_k\) \(\times \)SO(4)/\({\mathbb {Z}}_k\) isometry, in terms of a KK holography, which involves quadratic order field redefinitions. We establish the quadratic order KK mappings for various gauge invariant fields in order to obtain the canonical 4-dimensional gravity equations of motion and to reduce the LLM solutions to an asymptotically AdS\(_4\) gravity solutions. The non-linearity of the KK maps indicates that we can observe the true purpose of the non-linear KK holography of the LLM solutions. We read the vacuum expectation value of conformal dimension two operator from the asymptotically AdS\(_4\) gravity solutions. For the LLM solutions which are represented by square-shaped Young diagrams, we compare the vacuum expectation value obtained from the holographic procedure with the result obtained from the field theory, which is given by \(\langle \mathcal{O}^{(\Delta =2)}\rangle =\sqrt{k}N^{\frac{3}{2}}f_{(\Delta =2)}+\mathcal{O}(N)\), where \(f_{\Delta }\) is independent of N. Based on this result, we examine the gauge/gravity duality in the large N limit and finite k. We also show that the vacuum expectation values of the massive KK graviton modes are vanishing as expected by the supersymmetry.     

Stop coannihilation in the CMSSM and SubGUT models

Stop coannihilation may bring the relic density of heavy supersymmetric dark matter particles into the range allowed by cosmology. The efficiency of this process is enhanced by stop-antistop annihilations into the longitudinal (Goldstone) modes of the W and Z bosons, as well as by Sommerfeld enhancement of stop annihilations and the effects of bound states. Since the couplings of the stops to the Goldstone modes are proportional to the trilinear soft supersymmetry-breaking A-terms, these annihilations are enhanced when the A-terms are large. However, the Higgs mass may be reduced below the measured value if the A-terms are too large. Unfortunately, the interpretation of this constraint on the stop coannihilation strip is clouded by differences between the available Higgs mass calculators. For our study, we use as our default calculator FeynHiggs 2.13.0, the most recent publicly available version of this code. Exploring the CMSSM parameter space, we find that along the stop coannihilation strip the masses of the stops are severely split by the large A-terms. This suppresses the Higgs mass drastically for \(\mu \) and \(A_0 > 0\), whilst the extent of the stop coannihilation strip is limited for \(A_0 < 0\) and either sign of \(\mu \). However, in sub-GUT models, reduced renormalization-group running mitigates the effect of the large A-terms, allowing larger LSP masses to be consistent with the Higgs mass calculation. We give examples where the dark matter particle mass may reach \(\gtrsim 8\) TeV.     

Majorana flipping of quarkonium spin states in transient magnetic field

We demonstrate that spin flipping transitions occur between various quarkonium spin states due to transient magnetic field produced in non central heavy ion collisions (HICs). The inhomogeneous nature of the magnetic field results in non adiabatic evolution of (spin)states of quarkonia moving inside the transient magnetic environment. Our calculations explicitly show that the consideration of azimuthal inhomogeneity gives rise to dynamical mixing between different spin states owing to Majorana spin flipping. Notably, this effect of non-adiabaticity is novel and distinct from previously predicted mixing of the singlet and one of the triplet states of quarkonia in the presence of a static and homogeneous magnetic field.     

Delimiting the Unconceived

It has been argued in Dawid (String theory and the scientific method, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, [4]) that physicists at times generate substantial trust in an empirically unconfirmed theory based on observations that lie beyond the theory’s intended domain. A crucial role in the reconstruction of this argument of “non-empirical confirmation” is played by limitations to scientific underdetermination. The present paper discusses the question as to how generic the role of limitations to scientific underdetermination really is. It is argued that assessing such limitations is essential for generating trust in any theory’s predictions, be it empirically confirmed or not. The emerging view suggests that empirical and non-empirical confirmation are more closely related to each other than one may expect at first glance.     

Equivalent Theories and Changing Hamiltonian Observables in General Relativity

Change and local spatial variation are missing in Hamiltonian general relativity according to the most common definition of observables as having 0 Poisson bracket with all first-class constraints. But other definitions of observables have been proposed. In pursuit of Hamiltonian–Lagrangian equivalence, Pons, Salisbury and Sundermeyer use the Anderson–Bergmann–Castellani gauge generator G, a tuned sum of first-class constraints. Kucha? waived the 0 Poisson bracket condition for the Hamiltonian constraint to achieve changing observables. A systematic combination of the two reforms might use the gauge generator but permit non-zero Lie derivative Poisson brackets for the external gauge symmetry of General Relativity. Fortunately one can test definitions of observables by calculation using two formulations of a theory, one without gauge freedom and one with gauge freedom. The formulations, being empirically equivalent, must have equivalent observables. For de Broglie-Proca non-gauge massive electromagnetism, all constraints are second-class, so everything is observable. Demanding equivalent observables from gauge Stueckelberg–Utiyama electromagnetism, one finds that the usual definition fails while the Pons–Salisbury–Sundermeyer definition with G succeeds. This definition does not readily yield change in GR, however. Should GR’s external gauge freedom of general relativity share with internal gauge symmetries the 0 Poisson bracket (invariance), or is covariance (a transformation rule) sufficient? A graviton mass breaks the gauge symmetry (general covariance), but it can be restored by parametrization with clock fields. By requiring equivalent observables, one can test whether observables should have 0 or the Lie derivative as the Poisson bracket with the gauge generator G. The latter definition is vindicated by calculation. While this conclusion has been reported previously, here the calculation is given in some detail.     

Pulsation of black holes

The Hawking–Penrose singularity theorem states that a singularity forms inside a black hole in general relativity. To remove this singularity one must resort to a more fundamental theory. Using a corrected dynamical equation arising in loop quantum cosmology and braneworld models, we study the gravitational collapse of a perfect fluid sphere with a rather general equation of state. In the frame of an observer comoving with this fluid, the sphere pulsates between a maximum and a minimum size, avoiding the singularity. The exterior geometry is also constructed. There are usually an outer and an inner apparent horizon, resembling the Reissner–Nordström situation. For a distant observer the horizon crossing occurs in an infinite time and the pulsations of the black hole quantum “beating heart” are completely unobservable. However, it may be observable if the black hole is not spherical symmetric and radiates gravitational wave due to the quadrupole moment, if any.