Number Of Domain Walls Research Articles

The quality/cosmology tension for a post-inflation QCD axion

It is difficult to construct a post-inflation QCD axion model that solves the axion quality problem (and hence the Strong CP problem) without introducing a cosmological disaster. In a post-inflation axion model, the axion field value is randomized during the Peccei-Quinn phase transition, and axion domain walls form at the QCD phase transition. We emphasize that the gauge equivalence of all minima of the axion potential (i.e., domain wall number equals one) is insufficient to solve the cosmological domain wall problem. The axion string on which a domain wall ends must exist as an individual object (as opposed to a multi-string state), and it must be produced in the early universe. These conditions are often not satisfied in concrete models. Post-inflation axion models also face a potential problem from fractionally charged relics; solving this problem often leads to low-energy Landau poles for Standard Model gauge couplings, reintroducing the quality problem. We study several examples, finding that models that solve the quality problem face cosmological problems, and vice versa. This is not a no-go theorem; nonetheless, we argue that it is much more difficult than generally appreciated to find a viable post-inflation QCD axion model. Successful examples may have a nonstandard cosmological history (e.g., multiple types of cosmic axion strings of different tensions), undermining the widespread expectation that the post-inflation QCD axion scenario predicts a unique mass for axion dark matter.

Thermal transitions in a one-dimensional, finite-size Ising model

We revisit the one-dimensional ferromagnetic Ising spin chain with a finite number of spins and periodic boundaries, deriving analytically and verifying numerically its various stationary and dynamical properties at different temperatures. In particular, we determine the probability distributions of magnetization, the number of domain walls, and the corresponding residence times for different chain lengths and magnetic fields. While we study finite systems at thermal equilibrium, we identify several temperatures similar to the critical temperatures for first-order phase transitions in the thermodynamic limit. We illustrate the utility of our results by their application to structural transitions in biopolymers having non-trivial intermediate equilibrium states.

Current-Controllable and Reversible Multi-Resistance-State Based on Domain Wall Number Transition in 2D Ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2.

Controlling the multi-state switching is significantly essential for the extensive utilization of 2D ferromagnet in magnetic racetrack memories, topological devices, and neuromorphic computing devices. The development of all-electric functional nanodevices with multi-state switching and a rapid reset remains challenging. Herein, to imitate the potentiation and depression process of biological synapses, a full-current strategy is unprecedently established by the controllable resistance-state switching originating from the spin configuration rearrangement by domain wall number modulation in Fe3GeTe2. In particular, a strong correlation is uncovered in the reduction of domain wall number with the corresponding resistance decreasing by in-situ Lorentz transmission electron microscopy. Interestingly, the magnetic state is reversed instantly to the multi-domain wall state under a single pulse current with a higher amplitude, attributed to the rapid thermal demagnetization by simulation. Based on the neuromorphic computing system with full-current-driven artificial Fe3GeTe2 synapses with multi-state switching, a high accuracy of ≈91% is achieved in the handwriting image recognition pattern. The results identify 2D ferromagnet as an intriguing candidate for future advanced neuromorphic spintronics.

Analysis on Iron Loss of Sendust Dust Cores Based on Magnetization Reversal Processes

Iron loss of soft magnetic materials has been a major part of energy loss in modern power-electronics systems. Iron loss has been usually analyzed phenomenologically, but its physical mechanism has not been well understood yet. In this study, the iron loss of Sendust dust cores were investigated by means of models based on magnetization reversal processes. Broad-band iron loss and permeability measurements were performed by combining conventional two-coil and capacitive cancellation methods. As a result, irreversible and reversible magnetization processes are dominant for the lower and higher frequency regions, respectively, and the large increment of iron loss for the frequency higher than 1 MHz is attributed to the change in the magnetization reversal mode. Furthermore, this change in the magnetization reversal mode is well consistent with the change in the effective domain wall number with the frequency.

Effects of magnetic domain morphology on the magnetic spectrum and high‐frequency core losses of MnZn ferrites

AbstractMnZn ferrites that exhibit low core losses at high frequencies are suitable for the integration and miniaturization of power conversion devices. To obtain low core losses at high frequencies, it is important to understand the underlying mechanism. In this work, MnZn ferrites with various grain sizes were produced by changing the sintering temperature. The relationship between domain morphology, dynamic magnetization behavior, and core losses at high frequencies was carefully investigated. As the average grain size approached the critical size of single‐domain state, the contribution of domain wall displacement to complex permeability decreased, while domain wall resonant frequency improved significantly, resulting in the suppression of residual loss at 3 MHz. As the average grain size increased, the domain morphology changed from a single‐domain state to a multidomain state, which increased the initial permeability and decreased hysteresis loss. However, the number of domain walls increased, causing a significant decrease in the domain wall resonant frequency, and resulting in a sharp increase in residual loss. These results provide valuable insights into reducing high‐frequency core losses in MnZn ferrites by domain engineering.

Lepto-axiogenesis and the scale of supersymmetry

If the Peccei-Quinn field containing the QCD axion undergoes rotations in the early universe, the dimension-five operator responsible for neutrino masses can generate a lepton asymmetry that ultimately gives rise to the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe. This lepto-axiogenesis scenario requires a flat potential for the radial direction of the Peccei-Quinn field, naturally realized in supersymmetric models. We carefully compute the efficiency of this mechanism for the Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky (DFSZ) and Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov (KSVZ) axion models and place lower bounds on the masses of scalar superpartners required to reproduce the observed baryon asymmetry. For the KSVZ model, we find an efficiency for generation of the asymmetry six times larger than the previously extant computation after including scattering channels involving superpartners. In this case, the superpartner scale should be above 30 TeV for a domain wall number of one; the lower bound weakens for larger domain wall numbers. We find that the superpartner mass scale may also be as low as ~ 30 TeV for the DFSZ model. In all cases, the lower bound on the superpartner masses is inversely proportional to the sum of the squares of the neutrino masses and so can strengthen as the upper bound on the neutrino mass improves. We identify the parameter space where the axion rotation can simultaneously produce axion dark matter via kinetic misalignment; in this case it is possible to put an upper bound of order PeV on the masses of scalar superpartners.

Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky-type axions and where to find them

We systematically calculate the axion-photon coupling for non-minimal DFSZ models. Thereby we can classify every calculated model and study the resulting distributions, relevant for axion experiments like haloscopes, helioscopes or light-shining-through-a-wall experiments. By adding more than one additional Higgs doublet, these non-minimal DFSZ models extend the viable axion parameter space and lead to a large range of axion-photon couplings. We find couplings almost three orders of magnitude larger than the ones of the minimal models. Most of the possible axion-photon couplings, however, lie in the vicinity of the values dictated by the minimal models. We quantify this by introducing a theoretical prior probability distribution for DFSZ-type axions and giving $68\%$ and $95\%$ lower bounds as well as two-sided bands. We compare our results for the DFSZ axion-photon coupling distributions with the KSVZ case, for which a similar analysis has been conducted. Both display similar values as well as a very specific pattern. In order to identify preferred models, we discuss the role of flavour changing neutral currents and the domain wall problem as possible selection criteria. It is possible to construct a large number of non-minimal DFSZ models with a domain wall number of unity and thereby avoiding the domain wall problem. This subset also has a significantly enhanced axion-photon coupling compared to the minimal DFSZ models.

Post-inflationary axions: a minimal target for axion haloscopes

An axion-like-particle (ALP) in the post-inflationary scenario with domain wall number N > 1 can be dark matter if the residual ℤN symmetry has a small explicit breaking. Although we cannot determine the full dynamics of the system reliably, we provide evidence that such an ALP can account for the observed dark matter abundance while having a relatively small decay constant and consequently a possibly large coupling to photons. In particular, we determine the number of domain walls per Hubble patch around the time when they form using numerical simulations and combine this with analytic expectations about the subsequent dynamics. We show that the strongest constraint on the decay constant is likely to come from the dark matter ALPs being produced with large isocurvature fluctuations at small spatial scales. We also comment on the uncertainties on the dark matter small-scale structure that might form from these overdensities, in particular pointing out the importance of quantum pressure in the N = 1 case.

Fluctuation dominated phase ordering in coarse-grained depth models: domain wall structures, extreme values and coarsening

Models of particles driven by a one-dimensional fluctuating surface are known to exhibit fluctuation dominated phase ordering (FDPO), in which both the order and fluctuations appear on macroscopic scales. Highly dynamic and macroscopically broad interfacial regions, each composed of many domain walls, appear between macroscopically ordered regions and consequently the scaled correlation function violates the Porod law. We focus on two essential quantities which together quantify the unique characteristics of FDPO, namely the total number of domain walls and the length of the largest ordered domain. We present results in the context of coarse-grained depth (CD) models, both in steady state and while coarsening. Analytic arguments supported by numerical simulations show that even though domain wall number fluctuations are very strong, the associated variance remains constant in time during coarsening. Further, the length of the largest cluster grows as a power law with significant multiplicative logarithms which involve both the time and system size. In addition, we identify corrections to the leading power law scaling in several quantities in the coarsening regime. We also study a generalisation of the CD model in which the domain wall density is controlled by a fugacity and show that it maps on to the truncated inverse distance squared Ising model. The generalised model shows a mixed order phase transition, with the regular CD model (which exhibits FDPO) corresponding to the critical point.

Persistent modification of magnetotransport properties in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 by gate-induced modification of structural domains

We investigate the influence of large electric fields on the transport properties of nanostructures patterned into the electron gas at the interface between ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_{3}$ and ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ (100). In these nanostructures, the transport is largely dominated by domain walls between structural domains in the ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ appearing below a structural phase transition temperature. We find that both positive and negative gate voltages applied in a side-gate configuration can induce persistent changes in the sample that are only reversed by warming through the phase transition. These changes include a resistance increase and a change in magnetoresistance in magnitude and sign. Furthermore, a resistance anomaly during warm-up that has been observed in the past can be further increased by briefly applying a side-gate voltage. These effects are typically observed in nanostructures below a certain size limit. The electric fields also increase this size limit from a few-hundred nm to more than 1 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$. All these observations can be consistently explained by a field-induced removal of specific domain-wall types accompanied by an increasing domain size and a reduced number of domain walls in the structures. The results not only show that under certain conditions domain walls can dominate the transport properties even of micron-sized structures, but they also provide an additional tuning knob to induce nonvolatile changes in the transport properties of ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_{3}\text{/}{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ interfaces at low temperatures.

Wide-Temperature Tunable Phonon Thermal Switch Based on Ferroelectric Domain Walls of Tetragonal KTN Single Crystal.

Ferroelectric domain walls (DWs) of perovskite oxide materials, which can be written and erased by an external electric field, offer the possibility to dynamically manipulate phonon scattering and thermal flux behavior. Different from previous ferroelectric materials, such as BaTiO3, PbTiO3, etc., with an immutable and low Curie temperature. The Curie temperature of perovskite oxide KTa1-xNbxO3 (KTN) crystal can be tuned by altering the Ta/Nb ratio. In this work, the ferroelectric KTa0.6Nb0.4O3 (KTN) single crystal is obtained by the Czochralski method. To understand the role of ferroelectric domains in thermal transport behavior, we perform a nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) calculation on monodomain and 90° DWs of KTN at room temperature. The calculated thermal conductivity of monodomain KTN is 9.84 W/(m·k), consistent with experimental results of 8.96 W/(m·k), and distinctly decreased with the number of DWs indicating the outstanding performance of the thermal switch. We further evaluate the thermal boundary resistance (TBR) of KTN DWs. An interfacial thermal resistance value of 2.29 × 10-9 K·m2/W and a large thermal switch ratio of 4.76 was obtained for a single DW of KTN. Our study shows that the ferroelectric KTN can provide great potential for the application of thermal switch at room temperature and over a broad temperature range.

Searching for axion-like particles through CMB birefringence from string-wall networks

Axion-like particles (ALPs) can form a network of cosmic strings and domain walls that survives after recombination and leads to anisotropic birefringence of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In addition to studying cosmic strings, we clarify and emphasize how the formation of ALP-field domain walls impacts the cosmic birefringence signal; these observations provide a unique way of probing ALPs with masses in the range 3H 0 ≲ ma ≲ 3H cmb. Using measurements of CMB birefringence from several telescopes, we find no evidence for axion-defect-induced anisotropic birefringence of the CMB. We extract constraints on the model parameters that include the ALP mass ma , ALP-photon coupling \U0001d49c ∝ gaγγ fa , the domain wall number N dw, and parameters characterizing the abundance and size of defects in the string-wall network. Considering also recent evidence for isotropic CMB birefringence, we find it difficult to accommodate this with the non-detection of anisotropic birefringence under the assumption that the signal is generated by an ALP defect network.

Emergence of Hilbert Space Fragmentation in Ising Models with a Weak Transverse Field.

The transverse-field Ising model is one of the fundamental models in quantum many-body systems, yet a full understanding of its dynamics remains elusive in higher than one dimension. Here, we show for the first time the breakdown of ergodicity in d-dimensional Ising models with a weak transverse field in a prethermal regime. We demonstrate that novel Hilbert-space fragmentation occurs in the effective nonintegrable model with d≥2 as a consequence of only one emergent global conservation law of the domain wall number. Our results indicate nontrivial initial-state dependence for nonequilibrium dynamics of the Ising models with a weak transverse field.

Elevation of Domain Wall Velocity Driven by Current Pulses in 2D Ferromagnetic Material Fe3GeTe2

AbstractControlling the domain wall motion in the 2D ferromagnetic materials is significantly critical to the topological spin electronics, non‐volatile magnetic memories, and logic devices. The elevation of the domain wall velocity has become an urgent challenge. Herein, a current‐pulse‐driving strategy is unprecedentedly established to boost the domain wall velocity with an out‐of‐plane magnetic field and a rising temperature in the Fe3GeTe2 by using the in situ Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscopy. Elevation of domain wall velocity depends on the demagnetization energy increase and Zeeman energy reduction, which originates from the magnetic moments tilting by a non‐parallel to the magnetic field. By injecting ≈2000 times of alternative current pulses, a uniform instead of an unsynchronized domain wall velocity is achieved. The key mechanism lies in the decrease of the domain wall number, leading to a reduction in the expansion and compression of the domain areas. Optimized pulse parameters are applied with a critical duration of 60 ns and the density of ≈2 × 1010 A m−2, leading to an elevation of velocity from 0.0308 to 0.39 m s−1. The elevation in magnetic domain wall velocity can be useful for the application of 2D van der Waals ferromagnetic materials in future spintronic devices.

Chiral models of composite axions and accidental Peccei-Quinn symmetry

We introduce a class of composite axion models that provide a natural solution to the strong CP problem, and possibly account for the observed dark matter abundance. The QCD axion arises as a composite Nambu-Goldstone boson (NGB) from the dynamics of a chiral gauge theory with a strongly-interacting and confining SU(N) factor and a weakly-interacting U(1), with no fundamental scalar fields. The Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is accidental and all the mass scales are generated dynamically. We analyze specific models where the PQ symmetry is broken only by operators of dimension 12 or higher. We also classify several other models where the PQ symmetry can be potentially protected up to the dimension 15 or 18 level. Our framework can be easily extended to a scenario where the Standard Model (SM) is unified into a simple gauge group, and we discuss the case of non-supersymmetric SU(5) unification. The GUT models predict the existence of additional pseudo NGBs, parametrically lighter than the GUT and PQ scales, which could have an impact on the cosmological evolution and leave observable signatures. We also clarify the selection rules under which higher-dimensional PQ-violating operators can generate a potential for the axion in the IR, and provide a discussion of the discrete symmetries in composite axion models associated to the number of domain walls. These results can be of general interest for composite axion models based on a QCD-like confining gauge group.

Ferroelectric engineering: Enhanced thermoelectric performance by local structural heterogeneity

Although traditional ferroelectric materials are usually dielectric and nonconductive, GeTe is a typical ferroelectric semiconductor, possessing both ferroelectric and semiconducting properties. GeTe is also a widely studied thermoelectric material, whose performance has been optimized by doping with various elements. However, the impact of the ferroelectric domains on the thermoelectric properties remains unclear due to the difficulty to directly observe the ferroelectric domains and their evolutions under actual working conditions where the material is exposed to high temperatures and electric currents. Herein, based on in-situ investigations of the ferroelectric domains and domain walls in both pure and Sb-doped GeTe crystals, we have been able to analyze the dynamic evolution of the ferroelectric domains and domain walls, exposed to an electric field and temperature. Local structural heterogeneities and nano-sized ferroelectric domains are generated due to the interplay of the Sb3+ dopant and the Ge-vacancies, leading to the increased number of charged domain walls and a much improved thermoelectric performance. This work reveals the fundamental mechanism of ferroelectric thermoelectrics and provides insights into the decoupling of previously interdependent properties such as thermo-power and electrical conductivity.

Effects of Ni2+ concentration on the composition, structure, magnetic properties, and DC-bias superposition characteristics of NiCuZn ferrites

NixCu0.2ZnyFe1.98O4 (x = 0.16, 0.26, 0.35, 0.43, 0.50; y = 0.8−x) ferrites were prepared via solid-state reaction. The influence of Ni2+ concentration on ferrites composition, microstructure, magnetic properties and DC-bias superposition characteristics was studied by XRD, SEM, XPS, and VSM. Then, the effect of magnetic properties on the DC-bias superposition characteristics was analyzed. The results showed that the ferrites sintered at 900 °C for 3 h were all in pure spinel phase with an average grain size of 7.5 μm and a relative density of about 5.15 g cm−3. With the increase in Ni2+ concentration, the saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of ferrites increased, but the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant (K1) first increased and then decreased. And the Ms, Hc, and K1 of the specimen with x = 0.43 were 63.62 emu·g−1, 27.36 Oe, and 1813.17 Oe·emu·g−1, respectively. In particular, the specimen of x = 0.50 achieved the best DC superposition characteristics, where the H70% was about 220 A m−1. The incremental permeability of the specimens decreased rapidly at a bias magnetic field <400 A m−1. The variation mainly originated from the domain wall displacement, and the rate of decrease was influenced by both Ms and K1. At a bias magnetic field ≥400 A m−1, the incremental permeability of the specimens decreased slowly, mainly because the number of domain walls decreased until disappearing, and the specimens tended to become a single domain structure. And the rate of decrease of incremental permeability was mainly affected by K1.

A classical model correspondence for G-symmetric random tensor networks

We consider the scaling of entanglement entropy in random Projected Entangled Pairs States (PEPS) with an internal symmetry given by a finite group G. We systematically demonstrate a correspondence between this entanglement entropy and the difference of free energies of a classical Ising model with an addition non-local term. This non-local term counts the number of domain walls in a particular configuration of the classical spin model. We then make use of this correspondence to argue for an area law scaling with well-defined topological entanglement entropy when the bond dimensions are sufficiently large. The topological entanglement entropy is shown to be for a simply connected region and results from a difference in the number of domain walls of ground state energies for the two spin models.

Current change due to artificial patterning of the number of ferroelectric domain walls and nonvolatile memory characteristics

Domain walls (DWs) are formed at the boundaries between domains formed in a ferroelectric, and experimental results have been reported on the phenomenon of electrical conductivity in the DW. DW conduction nonvolatile memory applications are possible by forming and removing DWs with the high DW conductivity (DWC). Here, we investigated two-electrode devices and three-electrode DWC nonvolatile devices with current–voltage curves that change according to the number of DWs. When the number of DWs formed in the epitaxial PbTiO3 thin film was changed to 0, 2, and 4, the resistance of DWC was observed to decrease in the two-electrode device. For a three-electrode DWC nonvolatile memory having three electrodes with a structure similar to that of a flash memory structure, the slope of the source-drain current–voltage curve was adjusted by the gate electrode, and showed nonvolatile characteristics that can replace the flash memory.

Discovery and characterization of a new type of domain wall in a row-wise antiferromagnet

Antiferromagnets have recently moved into the focus of application-related research, with the perspective to use them in future spintronics devices. At the same time the experimental determination of the detailed spin texture remains challenging. Here we use spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the spin structure of antiferromagnetic domain walls. Comparison with spin dynamics simulations allows the identification of a new type of domain wall, which is a superposition state of the adjacent domains. We determine the relevant magnetic interactions and derive analytical formulas. Our experiments show a pathway to control the number of domain walls by boundary effects, and demonstrate the possibility to change the position of domain walls by interaction with movable adsorbed atoms. The knowledge about the exact spin structure of the domain walls is crucial for an understanding and theoretical modelling of their properties regarding, for instance, dynamics, response in transport experiments, and manipulation.