119183324
ON EXOTIC SPHERE FIBRATIONS, TOPOLOGICAL PHASES, AND EDGE STATES IN PHYSICAL SYSTEMS
We suggest that exotic sphere fibrations can be mapped to band topologies in condensed matter systems. These fibrations can correspond to geometric phases of two double bands or state vector bases with second Chern numbers m+n and -n, respectively. They can be related to topological insulators, magnetoelectric effects, and photonic crystals with special edge states. We also consider time-reversal symmetry breaking perturbations of topological insulator, and heterostructures of topological insulators with normal insulators and with superconductors. We consider periodic TI/NI/TI/NI′ heterostructures, and periodic TI/SC/TI/SC′ heterostructures. They also give rise to models of Weyl semimetals which have thermal and electrical transports.
117989993
Magnetically induced spin reorientation on the surface of a topological insulator (a surface magnetic topological insulator MBE film)
The surface of topological insulators is proposed as a promising platform for spintronics and quantum information applications. In particular, when time- reversal symmetry is broken, topological surface states are expected to exhibit a wide range of exotic spin phenomena for potential implementation in electronics. Such devices need to be fabricated using nanoscale artificial thin films. It is of critical importance to study the spin behavior of artificial topological MBE thin films associated with magnetic dopants, and with regards to quantum size effects related to surface-to-surface tunneling as well as experimentally isolate time-reversal breaking from non-intrinsic surface electronic gaps. Here we present observation of the first (and thorough) study of magnetically induced spin reorientation phenomena on the surface of a topological insulator. Our results reveal dramatic rearrangements of the spin configuration upon magnetic doping contrasted with chemically similar nonmagnetic doping as well as with quantum tunneling phenomena in ultra-thin high quality MBE films. While we observe that the spin rearrangement induced by quantum tunneling occurs in a time-reversal invariant fashion, we present critical and systematic observation of an out-of-plane spin texture evolution correlated with magnetic interactions, which breaks time-reversal symmetry, demonstrating microscopic TRB at a Kramers' point on the surface.
118305489
Observation of a large-gap topological-insulator class with a single Dirac cone on the surface
Recent experiments and theories have suggested that strong spin–orbit coupling effects in certain band insulators can give rise to a new phase of quantum matter, the so-called topological insulator, which can show macroscopic quantum-entanglement effects. Such systems feature two-dimensional surface states whose electrodynamic properties are described not by the conventional Maxwell equations but rather by an attached axion field, originally proposed to describe interacting quarks. It has been proposed that a topological insulator with a single Dirac cone interfaced with a superconductor can form the most elementary unit for performing fault-tolerant quantum computation. Here we present an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study that reveals the first observation of such a topological state of matter featuring a single surface Dirac cone realized in the naturally occurring Bi_2Se_3 class of materials. Our results, supported by our theoretical calculations, demonstrate that undoped Bi_2Se_3 can serve as the parent matrix compound for the long-sought topological device where in-plane carrier transport would have a purely quantum topological origin. Our study further suggests that the undoped compound reached via n-to-p doping should show topological transport phenomena even at room temperature.
55602833
A new platform for topological quantum phenomena : Topological Insulator states in thermoelectric Heusler-related ternary compounds
Topological insulators (TI) realize a novel state of quantum matter that are distinguished by topological invariants of bulk band structure rather than spontaneously broken symmetries. A number of exotic quantum phenomena have been predicted to exist in multiply-connected geometries which require an enormous amount of materials flexibility. We have extended our previous search for TI materials from binary (Bi2X3 series) to the thermoelectric ternary compounds. We discover that the distorted LuPtSb is the first ternary compound harboring a 3D topological insulator state. We also show that the half-Heusler LuPtSb-type series is a natural platform that hosts a range of candidate compounds, alloys and artificial heterostructures (quantum-wells). We also discovered several different paradigms of trivial and non-trivial topological ordering in this class, including a metallic nontrivial topological state in YAuPb. Some of these materials are grown (results will be reported separately).
206531826
Topological Phase Transition and Texture Inversion in a Tunable Topological Insulator
Two types of bulk insulator are realized in the same family of compounds through chemical doping. The recently discovered three-dimensional or bulk topological insulators are expected to exhibit exotic quantum phenomena. It is believed that a trivial insulator can be twisted into a topological state by modulating the spin-orbit interaction or the crystal lattice, driving the system through a topological quantum phase transition. By directly measuring the topological quantum numbers and invariants, we report the observation of a phase transition in a tunable spin-orbit system, BiTl(S1–δSeδ)2, in which the topological state formation is visualized. In the topological state, vortex-like polarization states are observed to exhibit three-dimensional vectorial textures, which collectively feature a chirality transition as the spin momentum–locked electrons on the surface go through the zero carrier density point. Such phase transition and texture inversion can be the physical basis for observing fractional charge (±e/2) and other fractional topological phenomena.
118796950
Studies on 1/4 BPS and 1/8 BPS geometries
We analyze more explicitly four sectors of 1/4 BPS geometries and 1/8 BPS geometries, corresponding to BPS states in N=4 SYM, constructed previously. These include the states with several SO(6) angular momenta as well as those with SO(4) AdS spins. We also discuss their relations to the dual gauge theory.
118985480
Finslerian MOND versus the strong gravitational lensing of the early-type galaxies
The gravitational lensing of Bullet Clusters and early-type galaxies pose serious challenges on the validity of MOND. Recently, Finslerian MOND, a generalization of MOND in the framework of Finsler gravity, has been proposed to explain the mass discrepancy problem of Bullet Cluster 1E0657-558. In this paper, we check the validity of the Finslerian MOND in describing the strong gravitational lensing of early-type galaxies. The investigation on ten strong lenses of the CASTLES samples shows that there is no strong evidence for the existence of dark matter.
119108453
Effects of spacetime anisotropy on the galaxy rotation curves
The observations on galaxy rotation curves show significant discrepancies from the Newtonian theory. This issue could be explained by the effect of the anisotropy of the spacetime. Conversely, the spacetime anisotropy could also be constrained by the galaxy rotation curves. Finsler geometry is a kind of intrinsically anisotropic geometry. In this paper, we study the effect of the spacetime anisotropy at galactic scales in the Finsler spacetime. It is found that the Finslerian model has close relations with the Milgrom’s MOND. By performing the best-fit procedure to the galaxy rotation curves, we find that the anisotropic effects of the spacetime become significant when the Newtonian acceleration GM/r2 is smaller than the critical acceleration a0. Interestingly, the critical acceleration a0, although varies between different galaxies, is in the order of magnitude $cH_{0}/2\pi\sim10^{-10}~\mathrm{m\,s}^{-2}$.
118398823
M2-M5 systems in = 6 Chern-Simons theory
We study two aspects of M5-branes in N = 6 U(N) × U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory. We first examine multiple M2-branes ending on a M5-brane. We study Basu-Harvey type cubic equations, fuzzy funnel configurations, and derive the M5-brane tension from the N = 6 theory. We also find a limit in which the above M2-M5 system reduces to a D2-D4 system and we recover the Nahm equation from the N = 6 theory. We then examine domain wall configurations in mass-deformed N = 6 theory with a manifest SU(2) × SU(2) × U(1) global symmetry. We derive tensions of domain walls connecting between arbitrary M5-brane vacua of the deformed theory and observe their consistency with gravity dual expectations.
119247814
GAMMA-RAY POLARIZATION INDUCED BY COLD ELECTRONS VIA COMPTON PROCESSES
The polarization measurement is an important tool to probe the prompt emission mechanism in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The synchrotron photons can be scattered by cold electrons in the outflow via Compton scattering (CS) processes. The observed polarization depends on both the photon energy and the viewing angle. With the typical bulk Lorentz factor Gamma similar to 200, photons with energy E > 10 MeV tend to have smaller polarization than photons with energy E < 1 MeV. At the right viewing angle, i.e., theta similar to Gamma(-1), the polarization achieves its maximal value, and the polarization angle changes 90 degrees relative to the initial polarization direction. Thus, the synchrotron radiation plus CS model can naturally explain the 90 degrees change of the polarization angle in GRB 100826A.