arXiv subjects

H. Zheng

Publications and source records attributed to H. Zheng.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Dynamical Pair Production at Sub-Barrier Energies for Light Nuclei

In the collision of two heavy ions, the strong repulsion coming from the Coulomb field is enough to produce $e^+e^-$ pair(s) from vacuum fluctuations. The energy is provided by the kinetic energy of the ions and the Coulomb interaction at the production point. If, for instance, the electron is located at the center of mass (C.M.) of the two ions moving along the \emph{z}-axis, and the positron is at a distance \emph{x} from the electron, the ions can be accelerated towards each other since the Coulomb barrier is lowered by the presence of the electron. This screening results in an increase in the kinetic energy of the colliding ions and may result in an increase in the fusion probability of light ions above the adiabatic limit.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Bootstrapped Dimensional Crossover of a Spin Density Wave

Quantum materials display rich and myriad types of magnetic, electronic, and structural ordering, often with these ordering modes either competing with one another or 'intertwining', that is, reinforcing one another. Low dimensional quantum materials, influenced strongly by competing interactions and/or geometric frustration, are particularly susceptible to such ordering phenomena and thus offer fertile ground for understanding the consequent emergent collective quantum phenomena. Such is the case of the quasi-2D materials R4Ni3O10(R=La, Pr), in which intertwined charge-and spin-density waves (CDW and SDW) on the Ni sublattice have been identified and characterized. Not unexpectedly, these density waves are largely 2D as a result of weak coupling between planes, compounded with magnetic frustration. In the case of R=Pr, however, we show here that exchange coupling between the transition metal and rare earth sublattices upon cooling overcomes both obstacles, leading to a dimensional crossover into a fully 3D ordered and coupled SDW state on both sublattices, as an induced moment on notionally nonmagnetic Pr3+ opens exchange pathways in the third dimension. In the process, the structure of the SDW on the Ni sublattice is irreversibly altered, an effect that survives reheating of the material until the underlying CDW melts. This 'bootstrapping' mechanism linking incommensurate SDWs on the two sublattices illustrates a new member of the multitude of quantum states that low-dimensional magnets can express, driven by coupled orders and modulated by frustrated exchange pathways.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

The Geometrically Frustrated Spin Glass (Fe1-pGap)2TiO5

The unusual anisotropy of the spin glass transition in the pseudobrookite system Fe$_2$TiO$_5$ has been interpreted as arising from an induced, van der Waals-like, interaction among magnetic clusters. Here we present susceptibility ($χ$) and specific heat data (C) for Fe2TiO5 diluted with non-magnetic Ga, (Fe$_{1-p}$Ga$_p$)$_2$TiO$_5$, for disorder parameter p = 0, 0.11, and 0.42, and elastic neutron scattering data for p = 0.20. A uniform suppression of T{_g} is observed upon increasing p, along with a value of $χ(T_g)$ that increases as T$_g$ decreases, i.e. $dχ(T_g)/dT_g< 0$. We also observe C(T) $\propto$ T$^2$ in the low temperature limit. The observed behavior places (Fe$_{1-p}$Ga$_p$)$_2$TiO$_5$ in the category of a strongly geometrically frustrated spin glass.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2022

The Novel Scaling of Tsallis Parameters from the Transverse Momentum Spectra of Charged Particles in Heavy-Ion Collisions

The transverse momentum $(p_T)$ spectra of charged particles measured in Au + Au collisions from the beam energy scan (BES) program, Cu + Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=62.4$, 200 GeV at the RHIC and Pb + Pb, Xe + Xe collisions at the LHC are investigated in the framework of Tsallis thermodynamics. The theory can describe the experimental data well for all the collision systems, energies and centralities investigated. The collision energy and centrality dependence of the Tsallis distribution parameters, i.e., the temperature $T$ and the nonextensive parameter $q$, for the \mbox{A + A} collisions are also studied and discussed. A novel scaling between the temperature divided by the natural logarithm of collision energy $(T/\ln\sqrt{s})$ and the nonextensive parameter $q$ is presented.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Collective expansion in pp collisions using the Tsallis statistics

We investigate the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of identified hadrons in minimum-bias proton-proton (pp) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) of 0.9, 2.76, 5.02, 7 and 13 TeV in the framework of Tsallis-blast wave (TBW) model. It is found that the model describes well the particle spectra up to 10 GeV/c. The radial flow ($\langle β\rangle$) increases with the collision energy. The degrees of non-equilibrium ($q$) and the Tsallis temperature parameter ($T$) show a similar behaviour, but with a much weaker trend. With this dependence of the freeze-out parameters on the collision energy, we evaluate $\langle β\rangle$, $T$ and $q$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 and 14 TeV and predict the particle spectra at these two energies. Moreover, in order to investigate the multiplicity dependence of the freeze-out parameters, the TBW model is extended to the spectra at different charged-particle multiplicity classes in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 7 and 13 TeV. It is observed that at both energies the radial flow increases with the multiplicity while the degree of non-equilibrium shows an opposite behaviour, which is similar to that observed in proton-nucleus (pA) and nucleus-nucleus (AA) collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies. However, the Tsallis temperature parameter increases with the multiplicity, which is opposite to the trend in pA and AA collisions. At similar multiplicities, the radial flow in pp collisions is stronger than those in pA and AA collisions, indicating that the size of the colliding system has significant effects on the final state particle dynamics. Finally, we apply an additional flow correction to the Tsallis temperature parameter and find that the doppler-corrected temperature parameter almost scales with the multiplicity in a uniform way, despite the difference in the colliding system and collision energy.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Superconducting properties of the spin Hall candidate Ta3Sb with eightfold degeneracy

We report the synthesis and characterization of phase pure Ta3Sb, a material predicted to be topological with eightfold degenerate fermionic states [Science 353, aaf5037 (2016)] and to exhibit a large spin Hall effect [Sci. Adv. 5, eaav8575 (2019]. We observe superconductivity in Ta3Sb with Tc~ 0.67 K in both electrical resistivity \r{ho}(T) and specific heat C(T) measurements. Field dependent measurements yield the superconducting phase diagram with an upper critical field of Hc2(0) ~ 0.95 T, corresponding to a superconducting coherence length of ξ ~18.6 nm. The gap ratio deduced from specific heat anomaly, 2Δ0/kBTc is 3.46, a value close to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) value of 3.53. From a detailed analysis of both the transport and thermodynamic data within the Ginsburg-Landau (GL) framework, a GL parameter of \k{appa} ~90 is obtained identifying Ta3Sb as an extreme type-II superconductor. The observation of superconductivity in an eightfold degenerate fermionic compound with topological surface states and predicted large spin Hall conductance positions Ta3Sb as an appealing platform to further explore exotic quantum states in multifold degenerate systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Number-of-constituent-quark scaling of elliptic flow: a quantitative study

The number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling behavior of the elliptic flow of identified particles produced in A+A collisions is studied quantitatively using an empirical function that fits the experimental $v_2$ data available from the RHIC and LHC. The most common approach for NCQ scaling involves (1) doing a scaling of the experimental $v_2$ data of an identified particle with its NCQ, (2) doing the same to its transverse momentum or energy, then (3) combining all the scaled data and identifying the NCQ behavior by intuitively looking (since the measured experimental data are discrete). We define two variables $(d_1, d_2)$ to describe NCQ scaling quantitatively and simultaneously, and identify the approximate region where the NCQ scaling holds. This approach could be applied to study NCQ or other scaling phenomena in future experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Determining impact parameters of heavy-ion collisions at low-intermediate incident energies using deep learning with convolutional neural network

A deep learning based method with the convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithm for determining the impact parameters is developed using the constrained molecular dynamics model simulations, focusing on the heavy-ion collisions at the low-intermediate incident energies from several ten to one hundred MeV/nucleon in which the emissions of heavy fragments with the charge numbers larger than 3 become crucial. To make the CNN applicable in the task of the impact parameter determination at the present energy range, specific improvements are made in the input selection, the CNN construction and the CNN training. It is demonstrated from the comparisons of the deep CNN method and the conventional methods with the impact parameter-sensitive observables, that the deep CNN method shows better performance for determining the impact parameters, especially leading to the capability of providing better recognition of the central collision events. With a proper consideration of the experimental filter effect in both training and testing processes to keep consistency with the actual experiments, the good performance of the deep CNN method holds, and shows significantly better in terms of predicting the impact parameters and recognizing the central collision events, compared to that of the conventional methods, demonstrating the superiority of the present deep CNN method. The deep CNN method with the consideration of the filter effect is applied in the deduction of nuclear stopping power. Higher accuracy for the stopping power deduction is achieved benefitting from the better impact parameter determination using the deep CNN method, compared to using the the conventional methods. This result reveals the importance to select a reliable impact parameter determination method in the experimental deduction of the nuclear stopping power as well as other observables.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Theoretical analysis of a Polarized Two-Photon Michelson Interferometer with Broadband Chaotic Light

In this paper, we study two-photon interference of broadband chaotic light in a Michelson interferometer with two-photon-absorption detector. The theoretical analysis is based on two-photon interference and Feynman path integral theory. The two-photon coherence matrix is introduced to calculate the second-order interference pattern with polarizations being taken into account. Our study shows that the polarization is another dimension, as well as time and space, to tune the interference pattern in the two-photon interference process. It can act as a switch to manipulate the interference process and open the gate to many new experimental schemes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Identified particle spectra in Pb-Pb, Xe-Xe and p-Pb collisions with Tsallis blast-wave model

We investigate the identified hadrons transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra in Pb-Pb (Pb-Pb, Xe-Xe, p-Pb) collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 2.76 (5.02, 5.44, 5.02) TeV in the framework of Tsallis-blast wave (TBW) model with a linear transverse velocity profile and with a constant velocity profile. In this model, the Tsallis temperature ($T$), the average radial flow velocity ($\langle β\rangle$) and the degree of non-equilibrium ($q$) of the system are common for all hadrons when a combined fit is performed to the $p_{\rm T}$ spectra of different particles at a given centrality. It is found that the model can describe the particle spectra well up to 3 GeV/c. For both profiles, the transverse flow velocity decreases from central to peripheral collisions while the non-extensive parameter $q$ exhibits the opposite behavior, indicating a more rapid expansion and less off-equilibrium of the system in more central collisions. Moreover, we observe that in central collisions $\langle β\rangle$ and $q$ ($T$) from the fit with the linear profile are smaller (is slightly larger) than those (that) with the constant profile, while in peripheral collisions $\langle β\rangle$, $T$ and $q$ from the former are compatible with those from the latter. We also derived and discussed the relation between the Tsallis temperature and the thermal temperature. In addition, to check whether a scenario of an early freeze-out of strange particles at the LHC exists, the particle spectra are investigated by grouping them into strange and non-strange hadrons. The combined fit gives an insight on the degree of non-equilibrium, the radial flow and the Tsallis temperature of the system at the kinetic decoupling. It provides a comparison between the results at different energies in the same collision system and the results in different collision systems at the same or similar energy.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

Investigation of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition in the static AMD

Nuclear liquid-gas phase transitions are investigated in the framework of static antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (static AMD) model under either a constant volume or a constant pressure. A deuteron quadrupole momentum fluctuation thermometer is applied to extract the temperature of fragmenting systems of $^{36}$Ar and $^{100}$Sn. A plateau structure of caloric curves is observed under a constant volume for those system with a density $ρ\leq$ 0.03 fm$^{-3}$. A clear backbending in the caloric curves, which indicates a first order phase transition, is observed under a constant pressure with all pressures studied. The similar behavior of caloric curves of $^{36}$Ar and $^{100}$Sn systems indicates that there is no strong system size effect under a constant volume or a constant pressure. Both the mass distributions and the light particle multiplicities show a strong $α$ clusterization at low excitation energies in the static AMD simulations. The liquid-gas phase transition measures of the multiplicity derivative (dM/dT) and the normalized variance of $Z_{max}$ (NVZ) are applied. The experimental caloric curves are also compared with those of $^{100}$Sn of the static AMD simulations under both the constant volume and the constant pressure conditions. Discussions are presented with the available experimental results and those from the static AMD simulations. Large errors in the experimental temperature measurements and those in the reconstruction technique for the primary fragmenting source hinder to draw a conclusion whether the phase transition occurs under either a constant volume or a constant pressure. This study suggests that different measures for the liquid-gas phase transitions should be examined besides the caloric curves in order to draw a conclusion.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

The essential role of magnetic frustration in the phase diagrams of doped cobaltites

Doped perovskite cobaltites (e.g., La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$CoO$_3$) have been extensively studied for their spin-state physics, electronic inhomogeneity, and insulator-metal transitions. Ferromagnetically-interacting spin-state polarons emerge at low $x$ in the phase diagram of these compounds, eventually yielding long-range ferromagnetism. The onset of long-range ferromagnetism ($x \approx 0.18$) is substantially delayed relative to polaron percolation ($x \approx 0.05$), however, generating a troubling inconsistency. Here, Monte-Carlo simulations of a disordered classical spin model are used to establish that previously ignored magnetic frustration is responsible for this effect, enabling faithful reproduction of the magnetic phase diagram.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles in pp($\rm\overline{p}$), p(d)A and AA collisions using Tsallis thermodynamics

The pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles measured in p+p($\rm \overline{p}$) collisions for energies ranging from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=23.6$ GeV to 13 TeV, d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV, p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}= 5.02$ TeV and A+A collisions at RHIC and LHC are investigated in the fireball model with Tsallis thermodynamics. We assume that the rapidity axis is populated with fireballs following q-Gaussian distribution and the charged particles follow the Tsallis distribution in the fireball. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental data for all the collision systems and centralities investigated. The collision energy and centrality dependence of the central position $y_0$ and its width $σ$ of the fireball distribution are also investigated. A possible application of the model to predict the charged particle pseudorapidity distributions for the system size scan program proposed recently for the STAR experiment at RHIC is proposed.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Search for millicharged particles in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

We report on a search for elementary particles with charges much smaller than the electron charge using a data sample of proton-proton collisions provided by the CERN Large Hadron Collider in 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37.5 fb$^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. A prototype scintillator-based detector is deployed to conduct the first search at a hadron collider sensitive to particles with charges ${\leq}0.1e$. The existence of new particles with masses between 20 and 4700 MeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for charges between $0.006e$ and $0.3e$, depending on their mass. New sensitivity is achieved for masses larger than $700$ MeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Intertwined density waves in a metallic nickelate

Nickelates are a rich class of materials, ranging from insulating magnets to superconductors. But for stoichiometric materials, insulating behavior is the norm, as for most late transition metal oxides. Notable exceptions are the 3D perovskite LaNiO$_3$, an unconventional paramagnetic metal, and the layered Ruddlesden-Popper phases R$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$, (R=La, Pr, Nd). The latter are particularly intriguing because they exhibit an unusual metal-to-metal transition. Here, we demonstrate that this transition results from an incommensurate density wave with both charge and magnetic character that lies intermediate in behavior between the metallic density wave seen in chromium metal and the insulating stripes typically found in layered nickelates. As such, R$_4$Ni$_3$O$_{10}$, which appears to be the first known example of an itinerant spin density wave in a 3d transition metal oxide, represents an important bridge between the paramagnetism of 3D metallic LaNiO$_3$ at higher nickel valence and the polaronic behavior of quasi-2D R$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$NiO$_4$ at lower nickel valence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2020

Nuclear modification factor in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions using Boltzmann transport equation

We investigate the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of identified particles as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV, as well as p-Pb collision at 5.02 TeV in the framework of Boltzmann transport equation with relaxation time approximation. In this framework, the initial distribution of particles is chosen as the Tsallis distribution and the local equilibrium distribution as the Boltzmann-Gibbs blast-wave distribution. The non-extensive parameter $q_{pp}$, the Tsallis temperature $T_{pp}$ and the equilibrium temperature $T_{eq}$ are set to be in common for all particles, while the ratio of kinetic freeze-out time to relaxation time $t_{f}/τ$ is different for different particles when we performed a combined fit to the $R_{AA}$ spectra of different particles at a given centrality. We observe that the fitted curves describe the spectra well up to $p_{\rm T}\approx$ 3 GeV/c. $q_{pp}$ and $T_{eq}$ ($t_{f}/τ$) decrease (increases) with centrality nonlinearly, while $T_{pp}$ is almost independent of centrality. The dependence of the rate at which $q_{pp}$, $T_{eq}$ or $t_{f}/τ$ changes with centrality on the energy and the size of the colliding system is discussed.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Nuclear probes of an out-of-equilibrium plasma at the highest compression

We report the highest compression reached in laboratory plasmas using eight laser beams, E$_{laser}$$\approx$12 kJ, $τ_{laser}$=2 ns in third harmonic on a CD$_2$ target at the ShenGuang-II Upgrade (SGII-Up) facility in Shanghai, China. We estimate the deuterium density $ρ_D$= 2.0 $\pm$ 0.9 kg/cm$^{3}$, and the average kinetic energy of the plasma ions less than 1 keV. The highest reached areal density $Λρ_{D}$=4.8 $\pm$ 1.5 g/cm$^{2}$ was obtained from the measured ratio of the sequential ternary fusion reactions (dd$\rightarrow$t+p and t+d$\rightarrow$$α$+n) and the two body reaction fusions (dd$\rightarrow$$^3$He+n). At such high densities, sequential ternary and also quaternary nuclear reactions become important as well (i.e. n(14.1 MeV) + $^{12}$C $\rightarrow$ n'+$^{12}$C* etc.) resulting in a shift of the neutron (and proton) kinetic energies from their birth values. The Down Scatter Ratio (DSR-quaternary nuclear reactions) method, i.e. the ratio of the 10-12MeV neutrons divided by the total number of 14.1MeV neutrons produced, confirms the high densities reported above. The estimated lifetime of the highly compressed plasma is 52 $\pm$ 9 ps, much smaller than the lasers pulse duration.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Local orbital degeneracy lifting as a precursor to an orbital-selective Peierls transition

Fundamental electronic principles underlying all transition metal compounds are the symmetry and filling of the $d$-electron orbitals and the influence of this filling on structural configurations and responses. Here we use a sensitive local structural technique, x-ray atomic pair distribution function analysis, to reveal the presence of fluctuating local-structural distortions at high temperature of one such compound, \cis . We show that this hitherto overlooked fluctuating symmetry lowering is electronic in origin and will significantly modify the energy-level spectrum and electronic and magnetic properties. The explanation is a local, fluctuating, orbital-degeneracy-lifted state. The natural extension of our result would be that this phenomenon is likely to be widespread amongst diverse classes of partially filled nominally degenerate d-electron systems, with potentially broad implications for our understanding of their properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗