arXiv subjects

H. Xu

Publications and source records attributed to H. Xu.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Symmetry-Protected Ideal Type-II Weyl Phonons in CdTe

Nontrivial low-energy excitations of crystalline solids have insightfully strengthened understanding of elementary particles in quantum field theory. Usually, topological quasiparticles are mainly focused on fermions in topological semimetals. In this work, we alternatively show by first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis that ideal type-II Weyl phonons are present in zinc-blende cadmium telluride (CdTe), a well-known II-VI semiconductor. Importantly, these type-II Weyl phonons originate from the inversion between the longitudinal acoustic and transverse optical branches. Symmetry guarantees the type-II Weyl points to lie along the high-symmetry lines at the boundaries of Brillouin zone even with breaking the inversion symmetry, exhibiting the robustness of protected phonon features. The nontrivial phonon surface states and surface arcs projected on the semi-finite (001) and (111) surfaces are investigated. The phonon surface arcs connecting the Weyl points with opposite chirality, guaranteed to be very long, are clearly visible. This work not only offers a promising candidate for studying type-II Weyl phonons, but also provides a route to realize symmetry-protected nontrivial phonons and related applications in realistic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

In-orbit demonstration of X-ray pulsar navigation with the Insight-HXMT satellite

In this work, we report the in-orbit demonstration of X-ray pulsar navigation with Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), which was launched on Jun. 15th, 2017. The new pulsar navigation method 'Significance Enhancement of Pulse-profile with Orbit-dynamics' (SEPO) is adopted to determine the orbit with observations of only one pulsar. In this test, the Crab pulsar is chosen and observed by Insight-HXMT from Aug. 31th to Sept. 5th in 2017. Using the 5-day-long observation data, the orbit of Insight-HXMT is determined successfully with the three telescopes onboard - High Energy X-ray Telescope (HE), Medium Energy X-ray Telescope (ME) and Low Energy X-ray Telescope (LE) - respectively. Combining all the data, the position and velocity of the Insight-HXMT are pinpointed to within 10 km (3 sigma) and 10 m/s (3 sigma), respectively.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Ideal Intersecting Nodal Ring Phonons in a Body-Centered Cubic C$_{8}$

Carbon, a basic versatile element in our universe, exhibits rich varieties of allotropic phases, most of which possess promising nontrivial topological fermions. In this work, we identify a distinct topological phonon phase in a realistic carbon allotrope with a body-centered cubic structure, termed bcc-C$_{8}$. We show by symmetry arguments and effective model analysis that there are three intersecting phonon nodal rings perpendicular to each other in different planes. The intersecting phonon nodal rings are protected by time-reversal and inversion symmetries, which quantize the corresponding Berry phase into integer multiples of $π$. Unlike the electron systems, the phonon nodal rings in bcc-C$_{8}$ are guaranteed to remain gapless due to the lack of spin-orbital coupling. The nearly flat drumhead surface states projected on semi-infinite (001) and (110) surfaces of bcc-C$_{8}$ are clearly visible. Our findings not only discover promising nodal ring phonons in a carbon allotrope, but also provide emergent avenues for exploring topological phonons beyond fermionic electrons in carbon-allotropic structures with attractive features.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Control of fast electron propagation in foam target by high-Z doping

The influence of high-Z dopant (Bromine) in low-Z foam (polystyrene) target on laser-driven fast electron propagation is studied by the 3D hybrid particle-in-cell (PIC)/fluid code HEETS.It is found that the fast electrons are better confined in doped targets due to the increasing resistivity of the target, which induces a stronger resistive magnetic field which acts to collimate the fast electron propagation.The energy deposition of fast electrons into the background target is increased slightly in the doped target, which is beneficial for applications requiring long distance propagation of fast electrons, such as fast ignition.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Insight-HXMT observations of the New Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1535-571: timing analysis

We present the X-ray timing results of the new black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI J1535-571 during its 2017 outburst from Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (\emph{Insight}-HXMT) observations taken from 2017 September 6 to 23. Following the definitions given by \citet{Belloni2010}, we find that the source exhibits state transitions from Low/Hard state (LHS) to Hard Intermediate state (HIMS) and eventually to Soft Intermediate state (SIMS). Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are found in the intermediate states, which suggest different types of QPOs. With the large effective area of \emph{Insight}-HXMT at high energies, we are able to present the energy dependence of the QPO amplitude and centroid frequency up to 100 keV which is rarely explored by previous satellites. We also find that the phase lag at the type-C QPOs centroid frequency is negative (soft lags) and strongly correlated with the centroid frequency. By assuming a geometrical origin of type-C QPOs, the source is consistent with being a high inclination system.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Three-Dimensional Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in Ferromagnetic Insulators

The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) hosts the dissipationless chiral edge states associated with the nonzero Chern number, providing potentially significant applications in future spintronics. The QAHE usually occurs in a two-dimensional (2D) system with time-reversal symmetry breaking. In this work, we propose that the QAHE can exist in three-dimensional (3D) ferromagnetic insulators. By imposing inversion symmetry, we develop the topological constraints dictating the appearance of 3D QAHE based on the parity analysis at the time-reversal invariant points in reciprocal space. Moreover, using first-principles calculations, we identify that 3D QAHE can be realized in a family of intrinsic ferromagnetic insulating oxides, including layered and non-layered compounds that share a centrosymmetric structure with space group $R\bar{3}m$ (No. 166). The Hall conductivity is quantized to be $-\frac{3e^2}{hc}$ with the lattice constant $c$ along $c$-axis. The chiral surface sheet states are clearly visible and uniquely distributed on the surfaces that are parallel to the magnetic moment. Our findings open a promising pathway to realize the QAHE in 3D ferromagnetic insulators.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2018

Nonreciprocal control and cooling of phonon modes in an optomechanical system

Phononic resonators play important roles in settings that range from gravitational wave detectors to cellular telephones. They serve as high-performance transducers, sensors, and filters by offering low dissipation, tunable coupling to diverse physical systems, and compatibility with a wide range of frequencies, materials, and fabrication processes. Systems of phononic resonators typically obey reciprocity, which ensures that the phonon transmission coefficient between any two resonators is independent of the direction of transmission. Reciprocity must be broken to realize devices (such as isolators and circulators) that provide one-way propagation of acoustic energy between resonators. Such devices are crucial for protecting active elements, mitigating noise, and operating full-duplex transceivers. To date, nonreciprocal phononic devices have not combined the features necessary for robust operation: strong nonreciprocity, in situ tunability, compact integration, and continuous operation. Furthermore, they have been applied only to coherent signals (rather than fluctuations or noise), and have been realized exclusively in travelling-wave systems (rather than resonators). Here we describe a cavity optomechanical scheme that produces robust nonreciprocal coupling between phononic resonators. This scheme provides ~ 30 dB of isolation and can be tuned in situ simply via the phases of the drive tones applied to the cavity. In addition, by directly monitoring the resonators' dynamics we show that this nonreciprocity can be used to control thermal fluctuations, and that this control represents a new resource for cooling phononic resonators.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Quasar Survey: Quasar Properties from Data Release Two and Three

This is the second installment for the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Quasar Survey, which includes quasars observed from September 2013 to June 2015. There are 9024 confirmed quasars in DR2 and 10911 in DR3. After cross-match with the SDSS quasar catalogs and NED, 12126 quasars are discovered independently. Among them 2225 quasars were released by SDSS DR12 QSO catalogue in 2014 after we finalised the survey candidates. 1801 sources were identified by SDSS DR14 as QSOs. The remaining 8100 quasars are considered as newly founded, and among them 6887 quasars can be given reliable emission line measurements and the estimated black hole masses. Quasars found in LAMOST are mostly located at low-to-moderate redshifts, with a mean value of 1.5. The highest redshift observed in DR2 and DR3 is 5. We applied emission line measurements to H$α$, H$β$, Mg{\sc ii} and C{\sc iv}. We deduced the monochromatic continuum luminosities using photometry data, and estimated the virial black hole masses for the newly discovered quasars. Results are compiled into a quasar catalog, which will be available online.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

A Unifying Perspective: Solitary Traveling Waves As Discrete Breathers And Energy Criteria For Their Stability

In this work, we provide two complementary perspectives for the (spectral) stability of solitary traveling waves in Hamiltonian nonlinear dynamical lattices, of which the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam and the Toda lattice are prototypical examples. One is as an eigenvalue problem for a stationary solution in a co-traveling frame, while the other is as a periodic orbit modulo shifts. We connect the eigenvalues of the former with the Floquet multipliers of the latter and based on this formulation derive an energy-based spectral stability criterion. It states that a sufficient (but not necessary) condition for a change in the wave stability occurs when the functional dependence of the energy (Hamiltonian) $H$ of the model on the wave velocity $c$ changes its monotonicity. Moreover, near the critical velocity where the change of stability occurs, we provide explicit leading-order computation of the unstable eigenvalues, based on the second derivative of the Hamiltonian $H"(c_0)$ evaluated at the critical velocity $c_0$. We corroborate this conclusion with a series of analytically and numerically tractable examples and discuss its parallels with a recent energy-based criterion for the stability of discrete breathers.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2017

Ferromagnetic Type-II Weyl Semimetal in Pyrite Chromium Dioxide

Magnetic topological materials have recently drawn significant importance and interest, due to their topologically nontrivial electronic structure within spontaneous magnetic moments and band inversion. Based on first-principles calculations, we propose that chromium dioxide, in its ferromagnetic pyrite structure, can realize one pair of type-II Weyl points between the $N$th and $(N+1)$th bands, where $N$ is the total number of valence electrons per unit cell. Other Weyl points between the $(N-1)$th and $N$th bands also appear close to the Fermi level due to the complex topological electronic band structure. The symmetry analysis elucidates that the Weyl points arise from a triply-degenerate point splitting due to the mirror reflection symmetry broken in the presence of spin-orbital coupling, which is equivalent to an applied magnetic field along the direction of magnetization. The Weyl points located on the magnetic axis are protected by the three-fold rotational symmetry. The corresponding Fermi arcs projected on both (001) and (110) surfaces are calculated as well and observed clearly. This finding opens a wide range of possible experimental realizations of type-II Weyl fermions in a system with time-reversal breaking.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Topological Weyl and Node-Line Semimetals in Ferromagnetic Vanadium-Phosphorous-Oxide $β$-V$_2$OPO$_4$ Compound

We propose that the topological semimetal features can co-exist with ferromagnetic ground state in vanadium-phosphorous-oxide $β$-V$_2$OPO$_4$ compound from first-principles calculations. In this magnetic system with inversion symmetry, the direction of magnetization is able to manipulate the symmetric protected band structures from a node-line type to a Weyl one in the presence of spin-orbital-coupling. The node-line semimetal phase is protected by the mirror symmetry with the reflection-invariant plane perpendicular to magnetic order. Within mirror symmetry breaking due to the magnetization along other directions, the gapless node-line loop will degenerate to only one pair of Weyl points protected by the rotational symmetry along the magnetic axis, which are largely separated in momentum space. Such Weyl semimetal phase provides a nice candidate with the minimum number of Weyl points in a condensed matter system. The results of surface band calculations confirm the non-trivial topology of this proposed compound. This findings provide a realistic candidate for the investigation of topological semimetals with time-reversal symmetry breaking, particularly towards the realization of quantum anomalous Hall effect in Weyl semimetals.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Strongly Ideal Robust Weyl Semimetals in Cubic Symmetry with Spatial-Inversion Breaking

We show that compounds in a family that possess time-reversal symmetry and share a non-centrosymmetric cubic structure with the space group F-43m (No. 216) host robust ideal Weyl semi-metal fermions with desirable topologically protected features. The candidates in this family are compounds with different chemical formulas AB2, ABC, ABC2, and ABCD and their Fermi levels are predominantly populated by nontrivial Weyl fermions. Symmetry of the system requires that the Weyl nodes with opposite chirality are well separated in momentum space. Adjacent Weyl points have the same chirality, thus these Weyl nodes would not annihilate each other with respect to lattice perturbations. As Fermi arcs and surface states connect Weyl nodes with opposite chirality, the large separation of the latter in momentum space guarantees the appearance of very long arcs and surface states. This work demonstrates the use of system symmetry by first-principles calculations as a powerful recipe for discovering new Weyl semi-metals with attractive features whose protected fermions may be candidates of many applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Ferromagnetic Dirac-Nodal Semimetal Phase of Stretched Chromium Dioxide

We show by first-principles calculations that the Dirac nodal-line semimetal phase can co-exist with the ferromagnetic order at room temperature in chromium dioxide, a widely used material in magnetic tape applications, under small tensile hydrostatic strains. An ideally flat Dirac nodal ring close to the Fermi energy is placed in the reflection-invariant boundary of the Brillouin zone perpendicular to the magnetic order, and is topologically protected by the unitary mirror symmetry of the magnetic group $D_{4h}(C_{4h})$, which quantizes the corresponding Berry phase into integer multiples of $π$. The symmetry-dependent topological stability is demonstrated through showing that only the topologically protected nodal ring can persistently exist under small anisotropic stains preservingthe symmetry $D_{4h}(C_{4h})$, while the other seeming band touching points are generically gapped. Our work provides a practical platform for the investigation of novel physics and potential applications of the Dirac nodal-line and drumhead fermions, in particular those related to ferromagnetic properties

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Topological dynamics in an optomechanical system with highly non-degenerate modes

Non-Hermitian systems exhibit phenomena that are qualitatively different from those of Hermitian systems and have been exploited to achieve a number of ends, including the generation of exceptional points, nonreciprocal dynamics, non-orthogonal normal modes, and topological operations. However to date these effects have only been accessible with nearly-degenerate modes (i.e., modes with frequency difference comparable to their linewidth and coupling rate). Here we demonstrate an optomechanical scheme that extends topological control to highly non-degenerate modes of a non-Hermitian system. Specifically, we induce a "virtual exceptional point" between two mechanical modes whose frequencies differ by >10^3 times their linewidth and coupling rate, and use adiabatic topological operations to transfer energy between these modes. This scheme can be readily implemented in many physical systems, potentially extending the utility of non-Hermitian dynamics to a much wider range of settings.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2017

Linear and nonlinear dynamics of isospectral granular chains

We study the dynamics of isospectral granular chains that are highly tunable due to the nonlinear Hertz contact law interaction between the granular particles. The system dynamics can thus be tuned easily from being linear to strongly nonlinear by adjusting the initial compression applied to the chain. In particular, we introduce both discrete and continuous spectral transformation schemes to generate a family of granular chains that are isospectral in their linear limit. Inspired by the principle of supersymmetry in quantum systems, we also introduce a methodology to add or remove certain eigenfrequencies, and we demonstrate numerically that the corresponding physical system can be constructed in the setting of one-dimensional granular crystals. In the linear regime, we highlight the commonalities and differences in the elastic wave transmission characteristics of such isospectral systems, and emphasize that the presented mathematical framework allows one to suitably tailor the wave transmission through a general class of granular chains. Moreover, we show how the dynamic response of these structures deviates from its linear limit as we introduce Hertzian nonlinearity in the chain and how nonlinearity breaks the notion of linear isospectrality.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2017

Containing intense laser light in circular cavity with magnetic trap door

It is shown by particle-in-cell simulation that intense circularly polarized (CP) laser light can be contained in the cavity of a solid-density circular Al-plasma shell for hundreds of light-wave periods before it is dissipated by laser-plasma interaction. A right-hand CP laser pulse can propagate almost without reflection into the cavity through a highly magnetized overdense H-plasma slab filling the entrance hole. The entrapped laser light is then multiply reflected at the inner surfaces of the slab and shell plasmas, gradually losing energy to the latter. Compared to that of the incident laser, the frequency is only slightly broadened and the wave vector slightly modified by appearance of weak nearly isotropic and homogeneous higher harmonics.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Pressure-induced Topological Node-Line Semimetals in Alkaline-Earth Hexaborides XB6 (X=Ca, Sr, Ba)

Based on first-principles calculations, we reported that external pressure can induce topological phase transition in alkaline-earth hexaborides, XB6 (X=Ca, Sr, Ba). It was revealed that XB6 is transformed from trivial semiconductors to topological node-line semimetals under moderate pressures when spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is ignored. The band inversion between B px (pz) and py orbitals at X point is responsible for the formation of node-line semimetals. Three node-line rings around X point are protected by the combination of the time-reversal and spatial inversion symmetries, and the drumhead surface bands are obtained in the interiors of the projected node-line rings. When SOC is included, tiny gaps (< 4.8 meV) open at the crossing lines, and the XB6 becomes strong topological insulators with Z2 indices (1;111). As the SOC-induced gap opening is negligible, our findings thus suggest ideal real systems for experimental exploration of the fundamental physics of topological node-line semimetals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Empirical Parameterization of Nucleon-Nucleon Elastic Scattering Amplitude at High Beam Momenta for Glauber Calculations and Monte Carlo Simulations

A parameterization of the nucleon-nucleon elastic scattering amplitude is needed for future experiments with nucleon and nuclear beams in the beam momentum range of 2 -- 50 GeV/c/nucleon. There are many parameterizations of the amplitude at $P_{lab} >$ 25--50 GeV/c, and at $P_{lab} \leq$ 5 GeV/c. Our paper is aimed to cover the range between 5 -- 50 GeV/c. The amplitude is used in Glauber calculations of various cross sections and Monte Carlo simulations of nucleon-nucleon scatterings. Usually, the differential nucleon-nucleon elastic scattering cross sections are described by an exponential expression. Corresponding experimental data on $pp$ interactions at $|t|>$ 0.005 (GeV/c)$^2$ and $|t|\leq$ 0.125 (GeV/c)$^2$ have been fit. We propose formulae to approximate the beam momentum dependence of these parameters in the momentum range considered. The same was done for $np$ interactions at $|t|\leq$ 0.5 (GeV/c)$^2$. Expressions for the momentum dependence of the total and elastic cross sections, and the ratio of real to imaginary parts of the amplitude at zero momentum transfer are also given for $pp$ and $np$ collisions. These results are sufficient for a first approximation of the Glauber calculations. For more exact calculations we fit the data at $|t|>$ 0.005 (GeV/c)$^2$ without restrictions on the maximum value of $|t|$ using an expression based on two coherent exponential. The parameters of the fits are found for the beam momentum range 2 -- 50 GeV/c.

hep-ph↗