arXiv subjects

G. Catelani

Publications and source records attributed to G. Catelani.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Measurement of Conduction Electron Polarization Via the Pairing Resonance

We show that the pairing resonance in the Pauli-limited normal state of ultra-thin superconducting Al films provides a spin-resolved probe of conduction electron polarization in thin magnetic films. A superconductor-insulator-ferromagnet tunneling junction is used to measure the density of states in supercritical parallel magnetic fields that are well beyond the Clogston-Chandresekhar limit, thus greatly extending the field range of the tunneling density of states technique. The applicability and limitations of using the pairing resonance as a spin probe are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2008

Temperature dependence of the superheating field for superconductors in the high-k London limit

We study the metastability of the superheated Meissner state in type II superconductors with k >> 1 beyond Ginzburg-Landau theory, which is applicable only in the vicinity of the critical temperature. Within Eilenberger's semiclassical approximation, we use the local electrodynamic response of the superconductor to derive a generalized thermodynamic potential valid at any temperature. The stability analysis of this functional yields the temperature dependence of the superheating field. Finally, we comment on the implications of our results for superconducting cavities in particle accelerators.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2008

Phase diagram, extended domain walls, and soft collective modes in a three component fermionic superfluid

We study the phase diagram of a three-component Fermi gas with weak attractive interactions, which shows three superfluid and one normal phases. At weak symmetry breaking between the components the existence of domain walls interpolating between two superfluids introduces a new length scale much larger than the coherence length of each superfluid. This, in particular, limits the applicability of the local density approximation in the trapped case, which we also discuss. In the same regime the system hosts soft collective modes with a mass much smaller than the energy gaps of individual superfluids. We derive their dispersion relations at zero and finite temperatures and demonstrate that their presence leads to a significant enhancement of fluctuations near the superfluid-normal transitions.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Fermi-liquid effects in the gapless state of marginally thin superconducting films

We present low temperature tunneling density-of-states measurements in Al films in high parallel magnetic fields. The thickness range of the films, t=6-9 nm, was chosen so that the orbital and Zeeman contributions to their parallel critical fields were comparable. In this quasi-spin paramagnetically limited configuration, the field produces a significant suppression of the gap, and at high fields the gapless state is reached. By comparing measured and calculated tunneling spectra we are able to extract the value of the antisymmetric Fermi-liquid parameter G^0 and thereby deduce the quasiparticle density dependence of the effective parameter G^0_{eff} across the gapless state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Effect of Coulomb interaction on current noise in open quantum dots

We analyze the effect of Coulomb interaction on the noise of electric current through an open quantum dot. We demonstrate that the ensemble average value of the noise power acquires an interaction correction even for a dot coupled to the leads by reflectionless point contacts, when the ensemble average conductance is known to have no interaction corrections. To leading order, the correction to the noise originates from the formation of a nonequilibrium state of the Coulomb field describing the interaction between electrons. We find the dependence of the current noise power on the electron temperature, the applied voltage bias, and the strength of the Coulomb interaction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Interaction corrections: temperature and parallel field dependencies of the Lorentz number in two-dimensional disordered metals

The electron-electron interaction corrections to the transport coefficients are calculated for a two-dimensional disordered metal in a parallel magnetic field via the quantum kinetic equation approach. For the thermal transport, three regimes (diffusive, quasiballistic and truly ballistic) can be identified as the temperature increases. For the diffusive and quasiballistic regimes, the Lorentz number dependence on the temperature and on the magnetic field is studied. The electron-electron interactions induce deviations from the Wiedemann-Franz law, whose sign depend on the temperature: at low temperatures the long-range part of the Coulomb interaction gives a positive correction, while at higher temperature the inelastic collisions dominate the negative correction. By applying a parallel field, the Lorentz number becomes a non-monotonic function of field and temperature for all values of the Fermi-liquid interaction parameter in the diffusive regime, while in the quasiballistic case this is true only sufficiently far from the Stoner instability.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2006

Density of States, Entropy, and the Superconducting Pomeranchuk Effect in Pauli-Limited Al Films

We present low temperature tunneling density of states measurements of Pauli-limited Al films in which the Zeeman and orbital contributions to the critical field are comparable. We show that films in the thickness range of 6-7 nm exhibit a reentrant parallel critical field transition which is associated with a high entropy superconducting phase, similar to the high entropy solid phase of 3He responsible for the Pomeranchuk effect. This phase is characterized by an excess of states near the Fermi energy so long as the parallel critical field transition remains second order. Theoretical fits to the zero bias tunneling conductance are in good agreement with the data well below the transition but theory deviates significantly near the transition. The discrepancy is a consequence of the emergence of e-e interaction correlations as one enters the normal state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Tunneling anomaly of superconducting films in strong magnetic fields

We consider the tunneling Density of States (DoS) of superconducting films driven to the paramagnetic phase by the Zeeman splitting. We show that there is minimum in the DoS whose position depends on the orientation of the applied field. This dependence, not predicted by previous theoretical calculations, is in agreement with a recent experiment.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Orbital Response of Evanescent Cooper Pairs in Paramagnetically Limited Al Films

We report a detailed study of the pairing resonance via tunneling density of states in ultra-thin superconducting Al films in supercritical magnetic fields. Particular emphasis is placed on effects of the perpendicular component of the magnetic field on the resonance energy and magnitude. Though the resonance is broadened and attenuated by $H_\bot$ as expected, its energy is shifted upward linearly with $H_\bot$. Extension of the original theory of the resonance to include strong perpendicular fields shows that at sufficiently large $H_\bot$ the overlap of the broadened resonance tail with the underlying degenerate Fermi sea alters the spectral distribution of the resonance via the exclusion principle. This leads to the shift of the the resonance feature to higher energy.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Spin Related Effects in Transport Properties of "Open" Quantum Dots

We study the interaction corrections to the transport coefficients in open quantum dots (i.e. dots connected to leads of large conductance $G \gg e^2/π\hbar$), via a quantum kinetic equation approach. The effects of all the channels of the universal (in the Random Matrix Theory sense) interaction Hamiltonian are accounted for at one loop approximation. For the electrical conductance we find that even though the magnitude of the triplet channel interaction is smaller than the charging energy, the differential conductance at small bias is greatly affected by this interaction. Furthermore, the application of a magnetic field can significantly change the conductance due to the Zeeman splitting, producing finite bias anomalies. For the thermal conductance we find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is violated by the interaction corrections, and we investigated the effect of magnetic field on the Lorentz ratio for contacts of finite reflection. The charge and triplet channel corrections to the electrical and thermal conductance vanish for reflectionless contacts. In the latter case the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the conductance is determined by the Maki-Thompson correction in the Cooper channel.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2004

Interaction corrections to the thermal transport coefficients in disordered metals: quantum kinetic equation approach

We consider the singular electron-electron interaction corrections to the transport coefficients in disordered metals to test the validity of the Wiedemann-Franz law. We develop a local, quantum kinetic equation approach in which the charge and energy conservation laws are explicitly obeyed. To obtain the local description, we introduce bosonic distribution functions for the neutral, low-energy collective modes (electron-hole pairs). The resulting system of kinetic equations enables us to distinguish between the different physical processes involved in the charge and energy transport: elastic electron scattering affects both, while the inelastic processes influence only the latter. Moreover, the neutral bosons, though incapable of transporting charge, contribute significantly to the energy transport. In our approach we calculate on equal footing the electrical and thermal conductivities and the specific heat in any dimension. We found that the Wiedemann-Franz law is always violated by the interaction corrections; the violation is larger for one- and two-dimensional systems in the diffusive regime $Tτ\ll \hbar$ and it is due to the energy transported by the neutral bosons. For two-dimensional systems in the quasi-ballistic regime $Tτ\gg \hbar$ the inelastic scattering of the electron on the bosons also contributes to the violation.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2000

On the sqrt{2} puzzle in AdS_2/CFT_1

In this letter we analyze the Hamiltonian formulation of the Jackiw-Teitelboim model of 2D gravity and calculate the central charge associated with the asymptotic symmetries, taking care of boundary terms. For black hole solutions, we show that there is no sqrt{2} discrepancy between the thermodynamical entropy and the statistical one obtained via Cardy's formula.

hep-th↗

arXiv2000

Action, Hamiltonian and CFT for 2D black holes

The boundary terms in the Hamiltonian, in the presence of horizons, are carefully analyzed in a simple 2D theory admitting AdS black holes. The agreement between the euclidean approach and Cardy's formula is obtained modulo certain assumptions on the spectrum of the Virasoro's algebra. There is no discrepancy factor "square root of 2" once the appropriate boundary conditions are properly recognized. The peculiar features of gravity, that the on-shell Hamiltonian is determined by boundary terms, is the reason of the mentioned agreement.

hep-th↗