arXiv subjects

C. -X. Liu

Publications and source records attributed to C. -X. Liu.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Massive stars exploding in a He-rich circumstellar medium XII. SN 2024acyl: A fast, linearly declining Type Ibn supernova with early flash-ionisation features

We present a photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the Type Ibn supernova (SN) 2024acyl. It rises to an absolute magnitude peak of about -17.58 mag in 10.6 days, and displays a rapid linear post-peak light-curve decline in all bands, similar to most SNe Ibn. The optical pseudobolometric light curve peaks at $(3.5\pm0.8) \times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$, with a total radiated energy of $(5.0\pm0.4) \times 10^{48}$ erg. The spectra are dominated by a blue continuum at early stages, with narrow P Cygni He I lines and flash-ionisation emission lines of C III, N III, and He II. The P Cygni He I features gradually evolve and become emission-dominated in late-time spectra. Our multi-band light-curve modelling yields estimates of the ejecta mass of $M_{\rm ej} = 0.49^{+0.11}_{-0.09}$ M$_\odot$ with a kinetic energy of $E_{\rm k} = 0.06^{+0.01}_{-0.01} \times 10^{51}$ erg, and a $^{56}$Ni mass of $M_{\rm Ni} = 0.018$ M$_\odot$. The inferred CSM properties are characterised by a mass of $M_{\rm CSM} = 0.51^{+0.05}_{-0.04}$ M$_\odot$, an inner radius of $R_0 = 17.8^{+3.6}_{-3.0}$ AU, and a density of $ρ_{\rm CSM} =(8.3_{-1.2}^{+2.7})\times10^{-12}$ g cm$^{-3}$. The multi-epoch spectra are well reproduced by the CMFGEN/he4p0 model, corresponding to a He-ZAMS mass of 4 M$_\odot$ (H-ZAMS mass 18.11 M$_\odot$, pre-SN mass 3.16 M$_\odot$). These findings are consistent with a scenario of an SN powered by ejecta-CSM interaction, originating from a low-mass helium star that evolved within an interacting binary system where the CSM with some residual hydrogen may originate from the mass-transfer process. In addition, a channel of core-collapse explosion of a late-type Wolf-Rayet star with H, or an Ofpe/WN9 star with fallback accretion, cannot be entirely ruled out.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

BCS Stripe Phase in Coupled Bilayer Superconductors

As a signature of competing correlations, stripes occur in a variety of strongly correlated systems, such as high temperature superconductors (SCs) and quantum Hall effect. We study a double layer SC in the presence of a parallel magnetic field $B$ within the Bogoliubov-de Gennes framework. We find that for low $B$ the system remains in the ``Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) phase" with a spatially uniform gap, but with increasing $B$, a transition occurs into a phase which contains stripes of the BCS phase separated by regions where the interlayer phase difference rotates by $2π$ due to the presence of inter-layer vortices. This stripe phase is predicted to manifest through oscillations in the amplitude of the SC gap and an alternating pattern of supercurrents. We will comment on the relation to previous works based on the Landau-Ginzburg formalism as well as on the possible experimental realization and signature of this phase.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Topological superconductivity induced by spin-orbit coupling, perpendicular magnetic field and superlattice potential

Topological superconductors support Majorana modes, which are quasiparticles that are their own antiparticles and which obey non-Abelian statistics in which successive exchanges of particles do not always commute. Here we investigate whether a two-dimensional superconductor with ordinary s-wave pairing can be rendered topological by the application of a strong magnetic field. To address this, we obtain the self-consistent solutions to the mean field Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, which are a large set of nonlinearly coupled equations, for electrons moving on a lattice. We find that the topological "quantum Hall superconductivity" is facilitated by a combination of spin-orbit coupling, which locks an electron's spin to its momentum as it moves through a material, and a coupling to an external periodic potential which gives a dispersion to the Landau levels and also distorts the Abrikosov lattice. We find that, for a range of parameters, the Landau levels broadened by the external periodic potential support topological superconductivity, which is typically accompanied by a lattice of "giant" $h/e$ vortices as opposed to the familiar lattice of $h/2e$ Abrikosov vortices. In the presence of a periodic potential, we find it necessary to use an ansatz for the pairing potential of the form $Δ(\vec{r})e^{i2\vec{Q}\cdot\vec{r}}$ where $Δ(\vec{r})$ has a periodicity commensurate with the periodic potential. However, despite this form of the pairing potential, the current in the ground state is zero. In the region of ordinary superconductivity, we typically find a lattice of dimers of $h/2e$ vortices. Our work suggests a realistic proposal for achieving topological superconductivity, as well as a helical order parameter and unusual Abrikosov lattices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Phase diagram of superconductivity in the integer quantum Hall regime

An interplay between pairing and topological orders has been predicted to give rise to superconducting states supporting exotic emergent particles, such as Majorana particles obeying non-Abelian braid statistics. We consider a system of spinless electrons on a Hofstadter lattice with nearest neighbor attractive interaction, and solve the mean-field Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations in a self-consistent fashion, leading to gauge invariant solutions that display a rich phase diagram as a function of the chemical potential, magnetic field and the interaction. As the strength of the attractive interaction is increased, the system first makes a transition from a quantum Hall phase to a skyrmion lattice phase that is fully gapped in the bulk but has topological chiral edge current, characterizing a topologically non-trivial state. This is followed by a vortex phase in which the vortices carrying Majorana modes form a lattice; the spectrum contains a low-energy Majorana band arising from the coupling between neighboring vortex-core Majorana modes but does not have chiral edge currents. For some parameters, a dimer vortex lattice occurs with no low energy Majorana band. The experimental feasibility and the observable consequences of skyrmions as well as Majorana fermions are indicated.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Hall Effect for Dirac Electrons in Graphene Exposed to an Abrikosov Flux Lattice

The proposals for realizing exotic particles through coupling of quantum Hall effect to superconductivity involve spatially non-uniform magnetic fields. As a step toward that goal, we study, both theoretically and experimentally, a system of Dirac electrons exposed to an Abrikosov flux lattice. We theoretically find that non-uniform magnetic field causes a carrier-density dependent reduction of the Hall conductivity. Our studies show that this reduction originates from a rather subtle effect: a levitation of the Berry curvature within Landau levels broadened by the non-uniform magnetic field. Experimentally, we measure the magneto-transport in a monolayer graphene-hexagonal boron nitride - niobium diselenide (NbSe$_2$) heterostructure, and find a density-dependent reduction of the Hall resistivity of graphene as the temperature is lowered from above the superconducting critical temperature of NbSe$_2$, when the magnetic field is uniform, to below, where the magnetic field bunches into an Abrikosov flux lattice.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Topological superconductivity in Landau levels

The intense search for topological superconductivity is inspired by the prospect that it hosts Majorana quasiparticles. We explore in this work the optimal design for producing topological superconductivity by combining a quantum Hall state with an ordinary superconductor. To this end, we consider a microscopic model for a topologically trivial two-dimensional p-wave superconductor exposed to a magnetic field, and find that the interplay of superconductivity and Landau level physics yields a rich phase diagram of states as a function of $μ/t$ and $Δ/t$, where $μ$, $t$ and $Δ$ are the chemical potential, hopping strength, and the amplitude of the superconducting gap. In addition to quantum Hall states and topologically trivial p-wave superconductor, the phase diagram also accommodates regions of topological superconductivity. Most importantly, we find that application of a non-uniform, periodic magnetic field produced by a square or a hexagonal lattice of $h/e$ fluxoids greatly facilitates regions of topological superconductivity in the limit of $Δ/t\rightarrow 0$. In contrast, a uniform magnetic field, a hexagonal Abrikosov lattice of $h/2e$ fluxoids, or a one dimensional lattice of stripes produces topological superconductivity only for sufficiently large $Δ/t$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Fingerprint of Different Spin-Orbit Terms for Spin Transport in HgTe Quantum Wells

Using $\vec{k}$$\cdot$$\vec{p}$ theory, we derive an effective four band model describing the physics of the typical two-dimensional topological insulator (HgTe/CdTe quantum well) in the presence of out-of-plane in z-direction inversion breaking and in-plane confining potentials. We find that up to third order in perturbation theory, only the inversion breaking potential generates new elements to the four band Hamiltonian that are off-diagonal in spin space. When this new effective Hamiltonian is folded into an effective two band model for the conduction (electron) or valence (heavy hole) bands, two competing terms appear: (1) a Rashba spin-orbit interaction originating from inversion breaking potential in z-direction and (2) an in-plane Pauli term as a consequence of the in-plane confining potential. Spin transport in the conduction band is further analysed within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism. We find that for asymmetrically doped HgTe quantum wells, the behaviour of the spin-Hall conductance is dominated by the Rashba term.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗