Quasiparticle Momentum Research Articles

Observing high-k magnons with Mie-resonance-enhanced Brillouin light scattering

Local probing of dynamic excitations such as magnons and phonons in materials and nanostructures can bring new insights into their properties and functionalities. For example, in magnonics, many concepts and devices recently demonstrated at the macro- and microscale now need to be realized at the nanoscale. Brillouin light scattering (BLS) spectroscopy and microscopy has become a standard technique for spin wave characterization, and enabled many pioneering magnonic experiments. However, the conventional BLS cannot detect nanoscale waves due to its fundamental limit in maximum detectable quasiparticle momentum. Here we show that optically induced Mie resonances in nanoparticles can be used to extend the range of accessible quasiparticle’s wavevectors beyond the BLS fundamental limit. These experiments involve the measurement of thermally excited as well as coherently excited high momentum magnons. Our findings demonstrate the capability of Mie-enhanced BLS and significantly extend the usability of BLS microscopy for magnonic and phononic research.

Resilience of topological superconductivity under particle current

We investigate the robustness of topological superconductors under the perturbing influence of a finite charge current. To this aim, we introduce a modified Kitaev Hamiltonian parametrically dependent on the quasiparticle momentum induced by the current. Using different quantifiers of the topological phase, such as the Majorana polarization and the edge state quantum conditional mutual information, we prove the existence of a finite critical value of the quasiparticle momentum below which edge modes and topological superconductivity survive. We also discuss how a finite current breaks time reversal symmetry and changes the topological class in the Altland-Zirnbauer classification scheme compared to the case of isolated systems. Our findings provide a nontrivial example of the interplay between topology and the nonequilibrium physics of open quantum systems, a relation of crucial importance in the quest to a viable topological quantum electronics.

Formation of an Electron-Phonon Bifluid in Bulk Antimony

The flow of charge and entropy in solids usually depends on collisions decaying quasiparticle momentum. Hydrodynamic corrections can emerge, however, if most collisions among quasiparticles conserve momentum and the mean-free path approaches the sample dimensions. Here, through a study of electrical and thermal transport in antimony (Sb) crystals of various sizes, we document the emergence of a two-component fluid of electrons and phonons. Lattice thermal conductivity is dominated by electron scattering down to 0.1 K and displays prominent quantum oscillations. The Dingle mobility does not vary despite an order-of-magnitude change in transport mobility. The Bloch-Grüneisen behavior of electrical resistivity is suddenly aborted below 15 K and replaced by a quadratic temperature dependence. At the Kelvin temperature range, the phonon scattering time and the electron-electron scattering time display a similar amplitude and temperature dependence. Taken together, the results draw a consistent picture of a bifluid where frequent momentum-conserving collisions between electrons and phonons dominate the transport properties.Received 11 January 2022Revised 1 April 2022Accepted 7 June 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.12.031023Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasThermal conductivityTransport phenomenaCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Dynamics of Langmuir Wave Spectra in Randomly Inhomogeneous Solar Wind Plasmas

Abstract Solar coronal and wind plasmas often contain density fluctuations of various scales and amplitudes. The scattering of Langmuir wave turbulence on these inhomogeneities modifies the properties of the radiated electromagnetic emissions traveling from the Sun to the Earth. This paper shows the similarities between the physical results obtained by (i) a model based on the Zakharov equations, describing the self-consistent dynamics of Langmuir wave turbulence spectra in a plasma with external density fluctuations, and (ii) a modeling, within the framework of geometric optics approximation, of quasi-particles (representing plasmon quanta) moving in a fluctuating potential. It is shown that the dynamics of the Langmuir spectra is governed by anomalous diffusion processes, as a result of multiple scattering of waves on the density fluctuations; the same dynamics are observed in the momenta distributions of quasi-particles moving in potential structures with random inhomogeneities. These spectra and distributions are both characterized by a fast broadening during which energy is transported to larger wavevectors and momenta, exhibiting nonlinear time dependence of the average squares of wavevectors and quasi-particle momenta as well as non-Gaussian tails in the asymptotic stage. The corresponding diffusion coefficients depend on the time and are proportional to the square of the average level of density (or potential) fluctuations. It appears that anomalous transport and superdiffusion phenomena are responsible for the spectral broadening.

Universal Rényi entanglement entropy of quasiparticle excitations

The Rényi entanglement entropies of quasiparticle excitations in the many-body gapped systems show a remarkable universal picture which is independent of the model, the quasiparticle momenta, and the connectedness of the subsystem. In this letter we calculate exactly the single-interval and double-interval Rényi entanglement entropies of quasiparticle excitations in the many-body gapped fermions, bosons, and XY chains and find additional contributions to the universal Rényi entanglement entropy in the excited states with quasiparticles of different momenta. The additional terms are different in different models, depend on the momentum differences of the quasiparticles, and are different for the single interval and the double interval. We derive the analytical Rényi entanglement entropy in the extremely gapped limit, matching perfectly the numerical results as long as either the intrinsic correlation length of the model or all the de Broglie wavelengths of the quasiparticles are small. When the momentum difference of any pair of distinct quasiparticles is small, the additional terms are non-negligible. We argue that the derived formulas can be applied to a wider range of models than those discussed here.

Corrections to universal Rényi entropy in quasiparticle excited states of quantum chains

We investigate the energy eigenstate Rényi entropy of generic bipartition in the fermionic, bosonic, and spin-1/2 XY chains. When the gap of the theory is large or all the momenta of the excited quasiparticles are large, the Rényi entropy takes a universal form, which is independent of the model, the quasiparticle momenta, and the subsystem connectedness. We calculate analytically the Rényi entropy in the extremely gapped limit and find different additional contributions to the universal Rényi entropy in various models. The corrections to the universal Rényi entropy cannot be neglected when the momentum differences of the excited quasiparticles are small. The Rényi entropy derived in the extremely gapped limit is still valid in the slightly gapped and even critical chains as long as all the momenta of the excited quasiparticles are large. In the case of double interval in the XY chain we find new universal results and their corrections. We call the result universal even though it is only valid for double interval in the spin-1/2 XY chain. In the case of the bosonic chain in the extremely massive limit we find analytically a novel formula for the Rényi entropy written as the permanent of a certain matrix. We support all of our analytical results with numerical calculations.

Topological disorder triggered by interaction-induced flattening of electron spectra in solids

We address the intervention of classical-like behavior, well documented in experimental studies of strongly correlated electron systems of solids that emerges at temperatures $T$ far below the Debye temperature $T_D$. We attribute this unexpected phenomenon to spontaneous rearrangement of the conventional Landau state beyond a critical point at which the topological stability of this state breaks down, leading to the formation of an interaction-induced flat band adjacent to the nominal Fermi surface. We demonstrate that beyond the critical point, the quasiparticle picture of such correlated Fermi systems still holds, since the damping of single-particle excitations remains small compared with the Fermi energy $T_F=p^2_F/2m_e$. A Pitaevskii-style equation for determination of the rearranged quasiparticle momentum distribution $n_*({\bf p})$ is derived, which applies to explanation of the linear-in-$T$ behavior of the resistivity $\rho(T)$ found experimentally.

Quasinormal modes and dispersion relations for quarkonium in a plasma

Recent investigations show that the thermal spectral function of heavy boverline{b} and coverline{c} vector mesons can be described using holography. These studies consider a bottom up model that captures the heavy flavour spectroscopy of masses and decay constants in the vacuum and is consistently extended to finite temperature. The corresponding spectral functions provide a picture of the dissociation process in terms of the decrease of the quasi-state peaks with temperature.Another related tool that provides important information about the thermal behaviour is the analysis of the quasinormal modes. They are field solutions in a curved background assumed to represent, in gauge/gravity duality, quasi-particle states in a thermal medium. The associated complex frequencies are related to the thermal mass and width. We present here the calculation of quasinormal modes for charmonium and bottomonium using the holographic approach. The temperature dependence of mass and thermal width are investigated. Solutions corresponding to heavy mesons moving into the plasma are also studied. They provide the dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the frequency with the quasi-particle momenta, the so called dispersion relations.

Landau Effective Interaction between Quasiparticles in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Landau's description of the excitations in a macroscopic system in terms of quasiparticles stands out as one of the highlights in quantum physics. It provides an accurate description of otherwise prohibitively complex many-body systems, and has led to the development of several key technologies. In this paper, we investigate theoretically the Landau effective interaction between quasiparticles, so-called Bose polarons, formed by impurity particles immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). In the limit of weak interactions between the impurities and the BEC, we derive rigorous results for the effective interaction. They show that it can be strong even for weak impurity-boson interaction, if the transferred momentum/energy between the quasiparticles is resonant with a sound mode in the BEC. We then develop a diagrammatic scheme to calculate the effective interaction for arbitrary coupling strengths, which recovers the correct weak coupling results. Using this, we show that the Landau effective interaction in general is significantly stronger than that between quasiparticles in a Fermi gas, mainly because a BEC is more compressible than a Fermi gas. The interaction is particularly large near the unitarity limit of the impurity-boson scattering, or when the quasiparticle momentum is close to the threshold for momentum relaxation in the BEC. Finally, we show how the Landau effective interaction leads to a sizeable shift of the quasiparticle energy with increasing impurity concentration, which should be detectable with present day experimental techniques.

Color superfluidity of neutral ultracold fermions in the presence of color-flip and color-orbit fields

We describe how color superfluidity is modified in the presence of color-flip and color-orbit fields in the context of ultra-cold atoms, and discuss connections between this problem and that of color superconductivity in quantum chromodynamics. We consider s-wave contact interactions between different colors, and we identify superfluid phases, with five being nodal and one being fully gapped. When our system is described in a mixed color basis, the superfluid order parameter tensor is characterized by six independent components with explicit momentum dependence induced by color-orbit coupling. The nodal superfluid phases are topological in nature, and the low temperature phase diagram of color-flip field versus interaction parameter exhibits a pentacritical point, where all five nodal color superfluid phases converge. These results are in sharp contrast to the case of zero color-flip and color-orbit fields, where the system has perfect U(3) symmetry and possess a superfluid phase that is characterized by fully gapped quasiparticle excitations with a single complex order parameter with no momentum dependence and by inert unpaired fermions representing a non-superfluid component. Furthermore, we analyse the order parameter tensor in a total pseudo-spin basis, investigate its momentum dependence in the singlet, triplet and quintet sectors, and compare the results with the simpler case of spin-1/2 fermions in the presence of spin-flip and spin-orbit fields. Finally, we analyse in detail spectroscopic properties of color superfluids in the presence of color-flip and color-orbit fields, such as the quasiparticle excitation spectrum, momentum distribution, and density of states to help characterize all the encountered topological quantum phases, which can be realized in fermionic isotopes of Lithium, Potassium and Ytterbium atoms with three internal states trapped.

Thermal relaxation, electrical conductivity, and charge diffusion in a hot QCD medium

The response of electromagnetic (EM) fields that are produced in non-central heavy-ion collisions to electromagnetically charged quark gluon plasma can be understood in terms of charge transport and charge diffusion in the hot QCD medium. This article presents a perspective on these processes by investigating the temperature behavior of the related transport coefficients, {\it viz.} electrical conductivity and the charge diffusion coefficients along with charge susceptibility. In the process of estimating them, thermal relaxation times for quarks and gluons have been determined first. These transport coefficients have been studied by solving the relativistic transport equation in the Chapman-Enskog method. For the analysis, $2\rightarrow 2$, quark-quark, quark-gluon and gluon-gluon scattering processes are taken into account along with an effective description of hot QCD Equations of state (EOSs) in terms of temperature dependent effective fugacities of quasi-quarks (anti-quarks) and quasi-gluons. Both improved perturbative hot QCD EOSs at high temperature and a lattice QCD EOS are included for the analysis. The hot QCD medium effects entering through the quasi-particle momentum distributions along with an effective coupling, are seen to have significant impact on the temperature behavior of these transport parameters along with the thermal relaxation times for the quasi-gluons and quasi-quarks

Compton profiles of NiO and TiO2 obtained from first principles GWA spectral function

In this work, we first use momentum density studies to understand strongly correlated electron behavior, which is typically seen in transition metal oxides. We observe that correlated electron behavior as seen in bulk NiO is due to the Fermi break located in the middle of overlapping spectral functions obtained from a GW (G is Green’s function and W is the screened Coulomb interaction) approximation (GWA) calculation while in the case of TiO2 we can see that the origin of the constant momentum distribution in lower momenta is due to a pile up of spectra before the Fermi energy. These observations are then used to compare our calculated Compton profiles with previous experimental studies of Fukamachi and Limandri. Our calculations for NiO are observed to follow the same trend as the experimental profile but it is seen to have a wide difference in the case of TiO2before the Fermi break. The ground state momentum densities differ significantly from the quasiparticle momentum density, thus stressing the importance of the quasiparticle wave function as the input for the study of charge density and the electron localization function. Finally we perform a calculation of the quasiparticle renormalization function, giving a quantitative description of the discontinuity of the GWA momentum density.

Beliaev damping in quasi-two-dimensional dipolar condensates

We study the effects of quasiparticle interactions in a quasi-two dimensional (quasi-2D), zero-temperature Bose-Einstein condensate of dipolar atoms, which can exhibit a roton-maxon feature in its quasiparticle spectrum. Our focus is the Beliaev damping process, in which a quasiparticle collides with the condensate and resonantly decays into a pair of quasiparticles. Remarkably, the rate for this process exhibits a highly non-trivial dependence on the quasiparticle momentum and the dipolar interaction strength. For weak interactions, the low energy phonons experience no damping, and the higher energy quasiparticles undergo anomalously weak damping. In contrast, the Beliaev damping rates become anomalously large for stronger dipolar interactions, as rotons become energetically accessible as final states. Further, we find a qualitative anisotropy in the damping rates when the dipoles are tilted off the axis of symmetry. Our study reveals the unconventional nature of Beliaev damping in dipolar condensates, and has important implications for ongoing studies of equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics in these systems.

The nonlinear Dirac equation in Bose–Einstein condensates: superfluid fluctuations and emergent theories from relativistic linear stability equations

We present the theoretical and mathematical foundations of stability analysis for a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) at Dirac points of a honeycomb optical lattice. The combination of s-wave scattering for bosons and lattice interaction places constraints on the mean-field description, and hence on vortex configurations in the Bloch-envelope function near the Dirac point. A full derivation of the relativistic linear stability equations (RLSE) is presented by two independent methods to ensure veracity of our results. Solutions of the RLSE are used to compute fluctuations and lifetimes of vortex solutions of the nonlinear Dirac equation, which include Anderson–Toulouse skyrmions with lifetime s. Beyond vortex stabilities the RLSE provide insight into the character of collective superfluid excitations, which we find to encode several established theories of physics. In particular, the RLSE reduce to the Andreev equations, in the nonrelativistic and semiclassical limits, the Majorana equation, inside vortex cores, and the Dirac–Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations, when nearest-neighbor interactions are included. Furthermore, by tuning a mass gap, relative strengths of various spinor couplings, for the small and large quasiparticle momentum regimes, we obtain weak-strong Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer superconductivity, as well as fundamental wave equations such as Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein–Gordon, and Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations. Our results apply equally to a strongly spin–orbit coupled BEC in which the Laplacian contribution can be neglected.

Probing vortex Majorana fermions and topology in semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures

We investigate the local density of states, spectral function, and superconducting pair amplitudes for signatures of Majorana fermions in vortex cores in ferromagnetic and spin-orbit coupled semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures. We show that the Majorana fermion quasiparticle momentum distribution is always symmetrically distributed at a finite radius around a high symmetry point, thereby providing a necessary condition for a low-energy state to be a Majorana fermion. In real space profiles of the local density of states through the vortex core the Majorana fermion, together with other finite-energy vortex states, form a characteristic x-shape structure only present at non-trivial topology. Moreover, we find that the Mexican hat band structure property of the topologically non-trivial phase translates into multiple high-intensity band edges and also vortex core states located above the superconducting gap in the local density of states. Finally, we find no strong correlation between odd-frequency pairing and the appearance of Majorana fermions, but odd-frequency pairing exists as soon as ferromagnetism is present. In fact, we find that the only vortex superconducting pair amplitude directly related to any phase transition, is the appearance of certain spin-triplet $p$-wave pairing components in the vortex core at a pre-topological vortex core widening transition.

Fermionic response in a zero entropy state ofN=4super-Yang-Mills

We analyze fermionic response in the geometry holographically dual to zero-temperature N=4 Super-Yang-Mills theory with two equal nonvanishing chemical potentials, which is characterized by a singular horizon and zero ground state entropy. We show that fermionic fluctuations are completely stable within a gap in energy around a Fermi surface singularity, beyond which non-Fermi liquid behavior returns. This gap disappears abruptly once the final charge is turned on, and is associated to a discontinuity in the corresponding chemical potential. We also show that the singular near-horizon geometry lifts to a smooth AdS_3 x R^3, and interpret the gap as a region where the quasiparticle momentum is spacelike in six dimensions due to the momentum component in the Kaluza-Klein direction, corresponding to the final charge.

Ultracold Fermi gas in a single-mode cavity: Cavity-mediated interaction and BCS-BEC evolution

We propose that the evolution of superfluidity from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) regime to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) regime can be realized using ultracold Fermi gas coupled to a single-mode cavity. By the functional integral formalism, we derive an effective atom-only action, which mimics the two-component Fermi gas with tunable two-body interaction. First, we address the features of the cavity-mediated interaction. We find that the matter-light coupling creates an effective $s$-wave scattering whose sign and amplitude are controlled by parameters of the cavity. Second, we discuss the fermionic superfluidity on the mean-field level, including the order parameter, chemical potential, quasiparticle excitation spectrum, momentum distribution, and dissociation temperature. It is shown that by varying the atom-cavity detuning, a BCS to BEC crossover occurs. In addition, the influences of the atomic collaborative effect and external pumping field on the pairing correlation are also studied.

Different scenarios of topological phase transitions in homogeneous neutron matter

We study different scenarios of topological phase transitions in the vicinity of the \pi^0 condensation point in neutron matter. The transitions occur between the Fermi-liquid state and a topologically different one with two sheets of the Fermi surface. Two possibilities of a rearrangement of quasiparticle degrees of freedom are shown: the first-order topological phase transition and the second-order one. The order of the phase transition is found to be strongly dependent on the value of the critical wave vector of the soft \pi^0 mode. The thermodynamics of the system is also studied. It is shown that the topology of the quasiparticle momentum distribution is mainly determined by the neutron matter density, while the temperature T is essential in a narrow density region. A simple explanation of the first-order topological phase transition at T=0 is given.

Entropy excess in strongly correlated Fermi systems near a quantum critical point

A system of interacting, identical fermions described by standard Landau Fermi-liquid (FL) theory can experience a rearrangement of its Fermi surface if the correlations grow sufficiently strong, as occurs at a quantum critical point where the effective mass diverges. As yet, this phenomenon defies full understanding, but salient aspects of the non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) behavior observed beyond the quantum critical point are still accessible within the general framework of the Landau quasiparticle picture. Self-consistent solutions of the coupled Landau equations for the quasiparticle momentum distribution n(p) and quasiparticle energy spectrum ϵ(p) are shown to exist in two distinct classes, depending on coupling strength and on whether the quasiparticle interaction is regular or singular at zero momentum transfer. One class of solutions maintains the idempotency condition n2(p)=n(p) of standard FL theory at zero temperature T while adding pockets to the Fermi surface. The other solutions are characterized by a swelling of the Fermi surface and a flattening of the spectrum ϵ(p) over a range of momenta in which the quasiparticle occupancies lie between 0 and 1 even at T=0. The latter, non-idempotent solution is revealed by analysis of a Poincaré mapping associated with the fundamental Landau equation connecting n(p) and ϵ(p) and validated by solution of a variational condition that yields the symmetry-preserving ground state. Significantly, this extraordinary solution carries the burden of a large temperature-dependent excess entropy down to very low temperatures, threatening violation of the Nernst Theorem. It is argued that certain low-temperature phase transitions, notably those involving Cooper-pair formation, offer effective mechanisms for shedding the entropy excess. Available measurements in heavy-fermion compounds provide concrete support for such a scenario.

Landau critical velocity in weakly interacting Bose gases

The flow of a uniform Bose gas at speeds greater than the Landau critical velocity, v_c, does not necessarily destroy superfluidity, but rather need only lead to a decrease of the superfluid mass density, {\rho}_s. Analyzing a weakly interacting Bose gas with a finite range interparticle interaction that leads to a Landau critical velocity at non-zero quasiparticle momentum, we explicitly construct the (non-uniform) condensate for fluid flow faster than v_c and calculate the accompanying decrease in {\rho}_s. We briefly comment on the relation of the physics to other problems in superfluids, e.g., solitons, and vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates, and critical currents in superconductors.