Boundary States Research Articles

Bootstrapping boundaries and branes

The study of conformal boundary conditions for two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) has a long history, ranging from the description of impurities in one-dimensional quantum chains to the formulation of D-branes in string theory. Nevertheless, the landscape of conformal boundaries is largely unknown, including in rational CFTs, where the local operator data is completely determined. We initiate a systematic bootstrap study of conformal boundaries in 2d CFTs by investigating the bootstrap equation that arises from the open-closed consistency condition of the annulus partition function with identical boundaries. We find that this deceivingly simple bootstrap equation, when combined with unitarity, leads to surprisingly strong constraints on admissible boundary states. In particular, we derive universal bounds on the tension (boundary entropy) of stable boundary conditions, which provide a rigorous diagnostic for potential D-brane decays. We also find unique solutions to the bootstrap problem of stable branes in a number of rational CFTs. Along the way, we observe a curious connection between the annulus bootstrap and the sphere packing problem, which is a natural extension of previous work on the modular bootstrap. We also derive bounds on the boundary entropy at large central charge. These potentially have implications for end-of-the-world branes in pure gravity on AdS3.

Optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a quantum spin Hall insulator

The bulk-boundary correspondence is a critical concept in topological quantum materials. For instance, a quantum spin Hall insulator features a bulk insulating gap with gapless helical boundary states protected by the underlying Z2 topology. However, the bulk-boundary dichotomy and distinction are rarely explored in optical experiments, which can provide unique information about topological charge carriers beyond transport and electronic spectroscopy techniques. Here, we utilize mid-infrared absorption micro-spectroscopy and pump–probe micro-spectroscopy to elucidate the bulk-boundary optical responses of Bi4Br4, a recently discovered room-temperature quantum spin Hall insulator. Benefiting from the low energy of infrared photons and the high spatial resolution, we unambiguously resolve a strong absorption from the boundary states while the bulk absorption is suppressed by its insulating gap. Moreover, the boundary absorption exhibits strong polarization anisotropy, consistent with the one-dimensional nature of the topological boundary states. Our infrared pump–probe microscopy further measures a substantially increased carrier lifetime for the boundary states, which reaches one nanosecond scale. The nanosecond lifetime is about one to two orders longer than that of most topological materials and can be attributed to the linear dispersion nature of the helical boundary states. Our findings demonstrate the optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a topological material and provide a proof-of-principal methodology for studying topological optoelectronics.

Electrical Reliability of Flexible Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide Thin-Film Transistors Under Mechanical Stress

Electronic devices based on flexible displays have been developed for use in various applications. Upon bending such devices, the applied mechanical force deteriorates the reliability of the devices. Therefore, a high bending reliability that is influenced by tensile and compressive forces that vary depending on the bending radius of curvature must be secured to ensure a reliable device operation. In this study, we investigated the electrical characteristics of flexible low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) and amorphous indium–gallium–zinc–oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) on polyimide (PI) substrate and subsequently conducted reliability evaluation of the devices under mechanical stress by applying negative bias temperature illumination stress (NBTIS). The degradations in the electrical properties, such as threshold voltage ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) shift, OFF-state current ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{\text {off}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ), and subthreshold slope (SS), and reliability, increased, and the reliability worsened, as the tensile force increased under decreasing radius of curvature, whereas relatively low degradation occurred under compressive force. A tensile stress-induced increase in grain boundary state density in polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) and oxygen vacancy in a-IGZO were verified by density of state (DOS) extraction; the cracks occurring due to tensile stress were optically analyzed; the external moisture penetration along the cracks further degrades the device characteristics. This study provides an analysis of device design for ensuring reliability under the application of mechanical stress, thereby contributing to the development of reliable flexible technology.

Pair creation of open strings between the unstable-dressed Dp-branes

In this paper, we study the open string pair production via the interaction of two parallel D[Formula: see text]-branes. The branes have been dressed by the Kalb–Ramond field, a specific [Formula: see text] gauge potential and a tachyon field of the open string spectrum. We shall apply the boundary state formalism, in the context of the bosonic string theory.

Universal conductance fluctuations in nanoscale topological insulator devices

Topological materials are promising candidates in fault-tolerant quantum information processing architectures, making it essential to understand the dephasing mechanisms in these materials. Here, we investigate gated, nanoscale mesas fabricated on thin films of cadmium arsenide (Cd3As2), a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal that can be tuned into different topological phases. We observe two independent types of conductance oscillations, one as a function of the applied magnetic field and the other as a function of the gate voltage. Varying the dimensions of the nanostructures allows the discrimination of a variety of scenarios for similar oscillations previously reported in the literature. We conclude that the conductance oscillations are not a signature of topological boundary states per se, but rather are universal conductance fluctuations. These results broadly inform future interpretations of electronic quantum interference in mesoscopic devices made from topological materials.

Closed string radiation from the interaction of the moving D[formula omitted]-branes with background fields

At first, we derive a boundary state, associated with a moving Dp-brane, in the presence of the Kalb-Ramond field and a U(1) gauge potential. Then, from the interaction of such Dp-branes, we obtain the radiation amplitude for a massless closed string. The behavior of the radiation amplitude for the large distance of the branes will be studied. Our calculations is in the framework of the bosonic string theory.

Arbitrary-Oriented Ship Detection Method Based on Long-Edge Decomposition Rotated Bounding Box Encoding in SAR Images

Due to the limitations of the horizontal bounding boxes for locating the oriented ship targets in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, the rotated bounding box (RBB) has received wider attention in recent years. First, the existing RBB encodings suffer from boundary discontinuity problems, which interfere with the convergence of the model, and then lead to some problems, such as the inaccurate location of the ship targets in the boundary state. Thus, from the perspective that the long-edge features of the ships are more representative of their orientation, the long-edge decomposition RBB encoding has been proposed in this paper, which can avoid the boundary discontinuity problem. Second, the problem of the positive and negative samples imbalance is serious for the SAR ship images because only a few ship targets exist in the vast background of these images. Since the ship targets of different sizes are subject to varying degrees of interference caused by this problem, a multiscale elliptical Gaussian sample balancing strategy has been proposed in this paper, which can mitigate the impact of this problem by labeling the loss weights of the negative samples within the target foreground area with multiscale elliptical Gaussian kernels. Finally, experiments based on the CenterNet model were implemented on the benchmark SAR image dataset SSDD (SAR ship detection dataset). The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed long-edge decomposition RBB encoding outperforms other conventional RBB encodings in the task of oriented ship detection in SAR images. In addition, our proposed multiscale elliptical Gaussian sample balancing strategy is effective and can improve the model performance.

Hadamard states on spherically symmetric characteristic surfaces, the semi-classical Einstein equations and the Hawking effect

We investigate quasi-free Hadamard states defined via characteristic initial data on null cones centred at the axis of symmetry in spherically symmetric space-times. We characterize the necessary singular behaviour of null boundary two-point functions such that one can define non-linear observables at this null boundary and give formulas for the calculation of these observables. These results extend earlier characterizations of null boundary states defining Hadamard states in the bulk of the null cone. As an application of our derived formulas, we consider their implications for the semi-classical Einstein equations and calculate the vacuum polarization associated with Hawking radiation near a collapsing body.

Machine Learning-Assisted Volatile Organic Compound Gas Classification Based on Polarized Mixed-Potential Gas Sensors

The performance of electrochemical gas sensors depends on the reactions at the three-phase boundary. In this work, a mixed-potential gas sensor containing a counter electrode, a reference electrode, and a sensitive electrode was constructed. By applying a bias voltage to the counter electrode, the three-phase boundary can be polarized. The polarization state of the three-phase boundary determined the gas-sensitive performance. Taking 100 ppm ethanol vapor as an example, by regulating the polarization state of the three-phase boundary, the response value of the sensor can be adjusted from -170 to 40 mV, and the sensitivity can be controlled from -126.4 to 42.6 mV/decade. The working temperature of the sensor can be reduced after polarizing the three-phase boundary, lowering the power consumption from 1.14 to 0.625 W. The sensor also showed good stability and short response-recovery time (3 s). Based on this sensor, the Random Forest algorithm reached 99% accuracy in identifying the kind of VOC vapors. This accuracy was made possible by the ability to generate several signals concurrently. The above gas-sensitive performance improvements were due to the polarized three-phase boundary.

A holographic inequality for N = 7 regions

In holographic duality, boundary states that have semiclassical bulk duals must obey inequalities, which bound their subsystems’ von Neumann entropies. Hitherto known inequalities constrain entropies of reduced states on up to N = 5 disjoint subsystems. Here we report one new such inequality, which involves N = 7 disjoint regions. Our work supports a recent conjecture on the structure of holographic inequalities, which predicted the existence and schematic form of the new inequality. We explain the logic and educated guesses by which we arrived at the inequality, and comment on the feasibility of employing similar tactics in a more exhaustive search.

Magnon corner states in twisted bilayer honeycomb magnets

Search for higher-order topological insulators, characterized by topologically protected gapless boundary states of codimension higher than one, in bosonic systems has attracted growing interest. Here, we establish twisted bilayer honeycomb magnets as a new platform for hosting second-order topological magnon insulators (SOTMIs) without fine-tuning. We employ a simple, minimal Heisenberg spin model to describe misaligned bilayer sheets of honeycomb ferromagnetic magnets with a large commensurate twist angle. We found that the higher-order topology in this bilayer system shows a significant dependence on the interlayer exchange coupling. The SOTMI, featuring topologically protected magnon corner states, appears for ferromagnetic interlayer couplings, while the twisted bilayer exhibits a nodal phase in the case of antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling.

Charge instability of topological Fermi arcs in chiral crystal CoSi

Topological boundary states emerged at the spatial boundary between topological non-trivial and trivial phases, are usually gapless, or commonly referred as metallic states. For example, the surface state of a topological insulator is a gapless Dirac state. These metallic topological boundary states are typically well described by non-interacting fermions. However, the behavior of topological boundary states with significant electron–electron interactions, which could turn the gapless boundary states into gapped ordered states, e.g., density wave states or superconducting states, is of great interest theoretically, but is still lacking evidence experimentally. Here, we report the observation of incommensurable charge density wave (CDW) formed on the topological boundary states driven by the electron–electron interactions on the (001) surface of CoSi. The wavevector of CDW varies as the temperature changes, which coincides with the evolution of topological surface Fermi arcs with temperature. The orientation of the CDW phase is determined by the chirality of the Fermi arcs, which indicates a direct association between CDW and Fermi arcs. Our finding will stimulate the search of more interactions-driven ordered states, such as superconductivity and magnetism, on the boundaries of topological materials.

Frequency-Domain Based Iterative Learning Control for 2-D Discrete Systems

In the existing of traditional iterative learning control (ILC) results for two-dimensional (2-D) discrete systems with time-domain based analysis approach, fixed boundary states do not affect the complete convergence of P-type ILC law. However, it does affect the ILC convergence properties in the frequency domain. This paper first investigates the frequency-domain ILC tracking problem for 2-D discrete systems with different boundary states. An extended P-type ILC law is designed and a sufficient convergence condition of which can be derived through a rigorous mathematical proof. A simulation example is given to verify the effectiveness and validation of the proposed extended P-type ILC law. Finally, some comparison results on traditional P-type ILC law and D-type ILC law are presented.

A Method of Evaluating the Destruction of a Reinforced Concrete Hollow Core Slab for Ensuring Fire Resistance

Fire tests of reinforced concrete floor slabs do not allow the detection of the onset of the boundary state due to loss of entirety because blocks are installed on the unheated surface to reproduce the design load. This prevents the formation of cracks through which toxic combustion products, smoke, and temperature spread can penetrate. Determining a building structure’s actual fire resistance limit was fixed at the onset of any fire resistance boundary state. It was proven that calculation methods for fire resistance assessment have significant advantages over experimental methods. To reduce the number of finite elements for a rational calculation of the fire resistance assessment of a reinforced concrete hollow core slab, a geometric model of 1/4 of this structure was built. The possibility of visualizing the studied structure at full scale was realized when obtaining the calculation results. The stress-strain state of the studied structure was evaluated based on the thermal and mechanical loading results applied to the reinforced concrete hollow core slab. Thus, the work’s objective was achieved based on the calculation experiments’ results. A methodology was developed for calculating the destruction of a reinforced concrete hollow core slab while assessing its fire resistance. Scientific fundamentals for determining the onset of the boundary state of loss of entirety were developed. The proposed methodology allowed for a reliable assessment of the fire resistance of such structures.

Meje katastrskih občin pod Krimom: po sledeh meje med Bistro in Engelshausi iz leta 1726

The borders of the cadastral municipalities that are still valid today are, in many cases, based on much older landowners’ borders of feudal lordships. Thus, in central Slovenia, in the forests below Mount Krim, we find the old boundary marks representing today’s cadastral municipality of Preserje, based on the former border between the Carthusia Bistra and the Ig estate from 1726. The main purpose of this paper is to present the current state of the preserved boundary marks along this border. The preserved boundary marks are about 80 cm high, have carved sequential letters, the year 1726 and coats of arms of the Carthusia Bistra and the earls Engelshaus (the owners of the Ig estate at that time). In 1748, this boundary was adopted as the boundary between the Notranjska (Inner) and the Gorenjska (Upper) districts of the Carniola region in the Habsburg Monarchy. As part of the Franciscan cadastral survey in 1823, this border was used as the border of cadastral municipalities, and it has retained this role until today. On the Franciscan cadastral maps, we find eleven locations numbered with the year 1726 and the consecutive letter from B to M. Today, at these locations, we can still find two original boundary marks decorated with coats of arms and the year 1726, two destroyed original boundary marks and three probably later replaced boundary marks without inscriptions and coats of arms. We also examined locations on the even older eastern border of the Carthusia Bistra, on which today mainly only post-war trigonometric points of lower orders can be found; only on the Smrekovec hill under Rakitna did we find another older boundary mark without additional inscriptions or coats of arms.

Влияние состояния границ зерен на эффект пластификации в ультрамелкозернистом сплаве Al-0.4Zr

The influence of small additional deformation by cold rolling (CR) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al–0.4Zr alloy structured by high pressure torsion (HPT) has been studied. The results are compared with the application of small additional deformation by HPT, which, after low-temperature annealing, leads to a substantial increase in ductility (plasticization effect) with small decrease in strength. It is shown that, in contrast to the additional deformation of HPT, the deformation of CR after intermediate low-temperature annealing leads to a sharp drop in plasticity to ~2%, while the strength increases to ~275 MPa. The key role of the nonequilibrium state of grain boundaries in the manifestation of the plasticization effect in the UFG Al–0.4Zr alloy is revealed. A new approach is proposed for simultaneously increasing the strength and ductility of the UFG Al–0.4Zr alloy due to a small additional deformation by CR without intermediate annealing. As a result of this approach, a significant increase in strength by ~30% (ultimate tensile strength ~223 MPa) was achieved with a simultaneous increase in ductility up to ~26%, which is associated with an increase in the strain hardening rate due to an increase in the density of lattice dislocations in the UFG structure with nonequilibrium grain boundaries. The strain rate sensitivity and strain hardening coefficients have been determined for the UFG Al–0.4Zr alloy in various states.

Исследование динамической прочности мелкозернистого оксида алюминия, полученного методом электроимпульсного плазменного спекания

The results of dynamic compressive testing of alumina samples with different grain sizes sintered from nano and fine α-Al2O3 powders are presented. The ceramics were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effect of heating rate (Vh), sintering temperature (Ts), holding time (ts), cooling rate (Vc) on hardness, fracture toughness, dynamic strength stress (σY) of Al2O3 has been studied. An amorphous layer of nanometer thickness was present on the surface of nanopowders in the initial state. After sintering, the grain boundaries of the ceramics had a crystalline structure; no inclusions of the amorphous phase were found. It has been suggested that during the SPS process, an amorphous structure containing an excess free volume is transformed into a crystalline phase with the formation of dislocation-type defects at the grain boundaries, which create long-range internal stress fields. It is shown that nanopores less than 50 – 100 nm in size are present at the grain boundaries of sintered ceramics. It is shown that the nonmonotonic nature of the dependence of σY on the temperature and time of the SPS is due to the simultaneous change in the density, the nonequilibrium state of the grain boundaries, and the grain size of the ceramic. It is shown that a decrease in the degree of nonequilibrium of the grain boundaries of alumina due to an increase in the SPS temperature or an increase in the holding time makes it possible to increase the dynamic strength of alumina. It has been established that an increase in the cooling rate leads to the formation of compressive residual stresses and a slight increase in σY of ceramics. The maximum dynamic strength (σY = 1755 MPa) for alumina ceramics with average grain size 1.6 – 2 µm obtained by SPS (Vh = 50 °С/min, Ts = 1520 °С, ts = 50 min).

Деформативність та тріщиностійкість пошкоджених балок з базальтопластиковою арматурою, підсилених вуглепластиковим полотном

The aim of this article is to introduce the results of experimental and theoretical studies on the deformability and crack resistance of damaged concrete beams reinforced with basalt-plastic reinforcement and strengthened with carbon-fiber jackets in the support regions. The paper presents the results of studies of the deformability and crack resistance of basalt-concrete beams, brought to the boundary state (ULS) in previous tests, reinforced with external fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP). These data are presented in the form of experimental statistical relationships of the main parameters of the performance of the prototypes from design factors and levels of low-cycle repeated load. The greatest influence on the deformability of materials and test samples - damaged basalt concrete beams, reinforced with carbon fiber, have: the value of the relative span of the cut (а/h0), then - the class of concrete (C) and, finally, the coefficient of transverse reinforcement ( ) of their supporting areas. The conducted experimental and theoretical studies confirmed the expediency and possibility of using fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) for strengthening external structures damaged by force cracks and brought to limit states according to the first (ULS) and second (SLS) groups of reinforced structures according to the established technology.

Coexistence of quantum spin and valley hall effect in two-dimensional dielectric photonic crystals

The location and transmission of light is the core of modern photonic integrated device, and the proposal of topological photonics provides a new way of implementing optical manipulation. Topological photonic structures based on the quantum spin hall effect or quantum valley hall effect have the properties of immunity to defects and suppress backscattering, so they play a key role in designing novel low-loss photonic devices. In this work, we design a two-dimensional dielectric photonic crystal with time-reversal symmetry to achieve the coexistence of the quantum spin hall effect and the quantum valley hall effect in a photonic crystal. The design can be likened to an electronic system in which two pairs of Kramers simplex pairs are constructed to achieve a quadruple simplex pair in a photonic crystal. First, based on the method of shrinking and expanding the silicon pillars arranged in the honeycomb structure, the quadruple degeneracy point at the &lt;i&gt;Γ&lt;/i&gt; point of the first Brillouin zone is opened, and the corresponding topologically trivial or non-trivial photonic band gap is formed,thereby realizing quantum spin hall effect. The expanded honeycomb lattice evolves into a Kagome structure, and then positive and negative perturbations are added to the Kagome lattice, breaking the spatial inversion symmetry of the Photonic crystal. When mirror symmetry is broken, different chiral photonic crystals can be created,leading the degeneracy point of the non-equivalent valleys &lt;i&gt;K&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;K'&lt;/i&gt; in the Brillouin zone to be opened and a complete band gap to appear, thus realizing the Quantum valley hall effect. In the common band gap, topologically protected edge states are induced by nontrivial valley Chern number at the interface between two photonic crystals with opposite chirality. The numerical calculations show that unidirectional transport and bending-immune topological boundary states can be realized at the interface composed of topologically trivial (non-trivial) and positively (negatively) perturbed photonic crystals. Finally, a four-channel system based on the coexistence of the two effects is designed, The system is a novel electromagnetic wave router that can be selectively controlled by pseudospin degree of freedom or valley degree of freedom. This system provides a potential method for realizing the optical encoding and robust signal transmission, thereby providing greater flexibility for manipulating electromagnetic waves.

Про визначення вантажопідйомності автодорожніх мостів

Information is provided on the methodological recommendations developed and adopted by Ukravtodor for determining the carrying capacity of road bridges. The main provisions of these recommendations are briefly outlined. For practical application, the carrying capacity of the bridge is defined as: – the maximum total mass of the vehicle moving in the column is permissible; – the maximum total mass of a heavy vehicle moving in a single order is permissible; – permissible maximum load on the axle of the vehicle. The initial data for determining the actual carrying capacity of the bridge are the results of its inspection and data from technical documentation. All detected defects and deviations of the structure from the project should be analyzed and taken into account when determining its actual carrying capacity. The carrying capacity of the bridge is defined as the minimum value, which was determined by checking the boundary states for its main structures: supports, span structures and slabs of the carriageway. Inspections of sections of structures are performed by comparing the calculated force from the time load and the limiting force for the cross-section of the structure to be checked, minus the forces from constant and other loads. Recommendations for the selection of sections that are checked and algorithms for these checks are provided. When determining the carrying capacity in the form of an acceptable total mass of the vehicle in the column, the temporary load is taken according to the load schemes H-30 and H-40. These loads are truck columns weighing 30 tons each and weighing 40 tons each. The carrying capacity for the permissible weight of a single heavy vehicle is determined according to the NK-80 scheme (weight parameter 80 tons). The carrying capacity for the permissible axle load is determined by multiplying the load capacity ratio relative to the load according to the A-11 scheme (weight parameter 12 tons). Road signs in front of the bridge, which limit the weight parameters of vehicles, must have the value of the actual carrying capacity of the bridge according to the permissible total mass of the vehicle in the column and the permissible axle load, respectively. Keywords: road bridge, carrying capacity, road signs, technical condition.