Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• Spatial separation of spin currents in transition metal dichalcogenides

  Antonio L. R. Manesco, Artem Pulkin

  SciPost Phys. Core 6, 036 (2023) · published 1 May 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We theoretically predict spatial separation of spin-polarized ballistic currents in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) due to trigonal warping. We quantify the effect in terms of spin polarization of charge carrier currents in a prototypical 3-terminal ballistic device where spin-up and spin-down charge carriers are collected by different leads. We show that the magnitude of the current spin polarization depends strongly on the charge carrier energy and the direction with respect to crystallographic orientations in the device. We study the (negative) effect of lattice imperfections and disorder on the observed spin polarization. Our investigation provides an avenue towards observing spin discrimination in a defect-free time reversal-invariant material.

• Phonon pumping by modulating the ultrastrong vacuum

  Fabrizio Minganti, Alberto Mercurio, Fabio Mauceri, Marco Scigliuzzo, Salvatore Savasta, Vincenzo Savona

  SciPost Phys. 17, 027 (2024) · published 30 July 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The vacuum (i.e., the ground state) of a system in ultrastrong light-matter coupling contains particles that cannot be emitted without any dynamical perturbation and is thus called virtual. We propose a protocol for inducing and observing real mechanical excitations of a mirror enabled by the virtual photons in the ground state of a tripartite system, where a resonant optical cavity is ultrastrongly coupled to a two-level system (qubit) and, at the same time, optomechanically coupled to a mechanical resonator. Real phonons are coherently emitted when the frequency of the two-level system is modulated at a frequency comparable to that of the mechanical resonator and, therefore much lower than the optical frequency. We demonstrate that this hybrid effect is a direct consequence of the virtual photon population in the ground state. Within a classical physics analogy, attaching a weight to a spring only changes its resting position, whereas dynamically modulating the weight makes the system oscillate. In our case, however, the weight is the vacuum itself. We propose and accurately characterize a hybrid superconducting-optomechanical setup based on available state-of-the-art technology, where this effect can be experimentally observed.

• Tchavdar Dimitrov Palev - In memoriam

  N. I. Stoilova

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 14, 011 (2023) · published 23 November 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Tchavdar Dimitrov Palev – In memoriam

• Transport of orbital currents in systems with strong intervalley coupling: The case of Kekulé distorted graphene

  Tarik P. Cysne, R. B. Muniz, Tatiana G. Rappoport

  SciPost Phys. Core 7, 046 (2024) · published 30 July 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We show that orbital currents can describe the transport of orbital magnetic moments of Bloch states in models where the formalism based on valley current is not applicable. As a case study, we consider Kekulé-$O$ distorted graphene. We begin by analyzing the band structure in detail and obtain the intrinsic orbital magnetic moment operator of Bloch states for this model. Despite the simultaneous presence of time-reversal and spatial-inversion symmetries, such operator may be defined, although its expectation value at a given energy is zero. Nevertheless, its presence can be exposed by the application of an external magnetic field. We then proceed to study the transport of these quantities. In the Kekulé-$O$ distorted graphene model, the strong coupling between different valleys prevents the definition of a bulk valley current. However, the formalism of the orbital Hall effect together with the non-Abelian description of the magnetic moment operator can be directly applied to describe its transport in these types of models. We show that the Kekulé-$O$ distorted graphene model exhibits an orbital Hall insulating plateau whose height is inversely proportional to the energy band gap produced by intervalley coupling. Our results strengthen the perspective of using the orbital Hall effect formalism as a preferable alternative to the valley Hall effect approach.

• Critical loop models are exactly solvable

  Rongvoram Nivesvivat, Sylvain Ribault, Jesper Lykke Jacobsen

  SciPost Phys. 17, 029 (2024) · published 1 August 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In two-dimensional critical loop models, including the O(n) and Potts models, the spectrum is exactly known, as are a few structure constants or ratios thereof. Using numerical conformal bootstrap methods, we study 235 of the simplest 4-point structure constants. For each structure constant, we find an analytic expression as a product of two factors: 1) a universal function of conformal dimensions, built from Barnes' double Gamma function, and 2) a polynomial function of loop weights, whose degree obeys a simple upper bound. We conjecture that all structure constants are of this form. For a few 4-point functions, we build corresponding observables in a lattice loop model. From numerical lattice results, we extract amplitude ratios that depend neither on the lattice size nor on the lattice coupling. These ratios agree with the corresponding ratios of 4-point structure constants.

• Gaussian state approximation of quantum many-body scars

  Wouter Buijsman, Yevgeny Bar Lev

  SciPost Phys. 17, 055 (2024) · published 15 August 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Quantum many-body scars are atypical, highly nonthermal eigenstates embedded in a sea of thermal eigenstates that have been observed in, for example, kinetically constrained quantum many-body models. These special eigenstates are characterized by a bipartite entanglement entropy that scales as most logarithmically with the subsystem size. We use numerical optimization techniques to investigate if quantum many-body scars of the experimentally relevant PXP model can be well approximated by Gaussian states. Gaussian states are described by a number of parameters that scales quadratically with system size, thereby having a much lower complexity than generic quantum many-body states, for which this number scales exponentially. We find that while quantum many-body scars can typically be well approximated by (symmetrized) Gaussian states, this is not the case for ergodic (thermal) eigenstates. This observation suggests that the non-ergodic part of the PXP Hamiltonian is related to certain quadratic parent Hamiltonians, thereby hinting on the origin of the quantum many-body scars.

• On non-canonical degrees of freedom

  Eoin Quinn

  SciPost Phys. 10, 075 (2021) · published 25 March 2021 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Non-canonical degrees of freedom provide one of the most promising routes towards characterising a range of important phenomena in condensed matter physics. Potential candidates include the pseudogap regime of the cuprates, heavy-fermion behaviour, and also indeed magnetically ordered systems. Nevertheless it remains an open question whether non-canonical algebras can in fact provide legitimate quantum degrees of freedom. In this paper we survey progress made on this topic, complementing distinct approaches so as to obtain a unified description. In particular we obtain a novel exact representation for a self-energy-like object for non-canonical degrees of freedom. We further make a resummation of density correlations to obtain analogues of the RPA and GW approximations commonly employed for canonical degrees of freedom. We discuss difficulties related to generating higher-order approximations which are consistent with conservation laws, which represents an outstanding issue. We also discuss how the interplay between canonical and non-canonical degrees of freedom offers a useful paradigm for organising the phase diagram of correlated electronic behaviour.

• Annihilating dark matter search with 12 years of Fermi LAT data in nearby galaxy clusters

  Charles Thorpe-Morgan, D. Malyshev, C.-A. Stegen, Andrea Santangelo, J. Jochum

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 071 (2023) · published 10 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Galaxy clusters contain an abundance of dark matter making them attractive laboratories for indirect DM searches. This work details a search for signals of pair annihilation from WIMP dark matter in the GeV gamma ray regime. We perform this search in five low $z$ and high galactic latitude galaxy clusters (Centaurus, Coma, Virgo, Perseus and Fornax); using nearly 12 years of Fermi/LAT data. Through the non-detection of this characteristic signal, we derive constraints on the annihilation cross-section of DM pair annihilation into the $b\overline{b}$, $W^+W^-$ and $\gamma\gamma$ channels. The limits obtained are of a comparable magnitude to those of recently derived from Fermi/LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

• Beyond universality in repulsive SU(N) Fermi gases

  Jordi Pera, Joaquim Casulleras, Jordi Boronat

  SciPost Phys. 17, 030 (2024) · published 1 August 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Itinerant ferromagnetism in dilute Fermi gases is predicted to emerge at values of the gas parameter where second-order perturbation theory is not accurate enough to properly describe the system. We have revisited perturbation theory for SU(N) fermions and derived its generalization up to third order both in terms of the gas parameter and the polarization. Our results agree satisfactorily with quantum Monte Carlo results for hard-sphere and soft-sphere potentials for $S = 1/2$. Although the nature of the phase transition depends on the interaction potential, we find that for a hard-sphere potential a phase transition is guaranteed to occur. While for $S= 1/2$ we observe a quasi-continuous transition, for spins $3/2$ and $5/2$, a first-order phase transition is found. For larger spins, a double transition (combination of continuous and discontinuous) occurs. The critical density reduces drastically when the spin increases, making the phase transition more accessible to experiments with ultracold dilute Fermi gases. Estimations for Fermi gases of Yb and Sr with spin $5/2$ and $9/2$, respectively, are reported.

• Recent results from LHCb for astroparticle physics

  Hans Dembinski on behalf of the LHCb collaboration

  SciPost Phys. Proc. 13, 016 (2023) · published 28 September 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The LHCb experiment is a general-purpose forward spectrometer designed for the study of heavy flavour physics at the LHC. The acceptance in the pseudorapidity range $2 < \eta < 5$ with full tracking and particle identification capabilities down to very small transverse momentum make LHCb also ideal to study hadron production in the forward region. Measuring and modelling these processes is essential for the simulation of interactions of high-energy cosmic rays with matter, like Earth's atmosphere or the interstellar medium. We present recently published analyses from the LHCb collaboration relevant for this application.