arXiv subjects

Lei Feng

Publications and source records attributed to Lei Feng.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Ultimate confinement of phonon propagation in silicon nano-crystalline structure

Temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of epitaxial silicon nano-crystalline (SiNC) structures composed of nanometer-sized grains separated by ultra-thin silicon-oxide (SiO2) films is measured by the time domain thermoreflectance technique in the range from 50 to 300 K. Thermal conductivity of SiNC structures with grain size of 3 nm and 5 nm is anomalously low at the entire temperature range, significantly below the values of bulk amorphous Si and SiO2. Phonon gas kinetics model, with intrinsic transport properties obtained by first-principles-based anharmonic lattice dynamics and phonon transmittance across ultra-thin SiO2 films obtained by atomistic Green's function, reproduces the measured thermal conductivity without any fitting parameters. The analysis reveals that mean free paths of acoustic phonons in the SiNC structures are equivalent or even below half the phonon wavelength, i.e. the minimum thermal conductivity scenario. The result demonstrates that the nanostructures with extremely small length scales and controlled interface can give rise to ultimate classical confinement of thermal phonon propagation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Scalar dark matter interpretation of the DAMPE data with U(1) gauge interactions

Recently, DAMPE experiment released the new measurement of the total cosmic $e^+e^-$ flux between 25 GeV and 4.6 TeV which indicates a spectral softening at around 0.9 TeV and a tentative peak at around 1.4 TeV. We utilize the scalar dark matter (DM) annihilation scenario to explain the DAMPE peak by extending $G_{SM}\equiv SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ with additional $U(1)$ gauge symmetries while keeping anomaly free to generate $χχ\to Z^\prime Z^\prime \to \ell\bar{\ell}\ell^\prime\overline{\ell^\prime}$, where $χ, Z^\prime, \ell^{(^\prime)}$ denote the scalar DM, the new gauge boson and $\ell^{(^\prime)}=e,μ,τ$, respectively, with $m_χ\sim m_{Z^\prime} \sim 2 \times 1.5$ (TeV). We first illustrate that the minimal framework $G_{SM} \times U(1)_{Y^\prime}$ with the above mass choices can explain the DAMPE excess but has been excluded by LHC constraints from the $Z^\prime$ searches. Then we study a non-minimal framework $G_{SM} \times U(1)_{Y^\prime} \times U(1)_{Y^{\prime \prime}}$ in which $U(1)_{Y^{\prime \prime}}$ mixes with $U(1)_{Y^\prime}$. We show that such a framework can interpret the DAMPE data while passing other constraints including the DM relic abundance, DM direct detection and collider bounds. We also investigate the predicted $e^+e^-$ spectrum in this framework and find that the mass splitting $Δm = m_χ- m_{Z'}$ should be less than about 17 GeV to produce the peak-like structure.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Phonon-interference resonance effects in nanoparticles embedded in a matrix

We report an unambiguous phonon resonance effect originating from germanium nanoparticles embedded in silicon matrix. Our approach features the combination of phonon wave-packet method with atomistic dynamics and finite element method rooted in continuum theory. We find that multimodal phonon resonance, caused by destructive interference of coherent lattice waves propagating through and around the nanoparticle, gives rise to sharp and significant transmittance dips, blocking the lower-end frequency range of phonon transport that is hardly diminished by other nanostructures. The resonance is sensitive to the phonon coherent length, where the finiteness of the wave packet width weakens the transmittance dip even when coherent length is longer than the particle diameter. Further strengthening of transmittance dips are possible by arraying multiple nanoparticles that gives rise to the collective vibrational mode. Finally, it is demonstrated that these resonance effects can significantly reduce thermal conductance in the lower-end frequency range.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2017

Interpretations of the DAMPE electron data

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), a high energy cosmic ray and $γ$-ray detector in space, has recently reported the new measurement of the total electron plus positron flux between 25 GeV and 4.6 TeV. A spectral softening at $\sim0.9$ TeV and a tentative peak at $\sim1.4$ TeV have been reported. We study the physical implications of the DAMPE data in this work. The presence of the spectral break significantly tightens the constraints on the model parameters to explain the electron/positron excesses. The spectral softening can either be explained by the maximum acceleration limits of electrons by astrophysical sources, or a breakdown of the common assumption of continuous distribution of electron sources at TeV energies in space and time. The tentive peak at $\sim1.4$ TeV implies local sources of electrons/positrons with quasi-monochromatic injection spectrum. We find that the cold, ultra-relativistic $e^+e^-$ winds from pulsars may give rise to such a structure. The pulsar is requird to be middle-aged, relatively slowly-rotated, mildly magnetized, and isolated in a density cavity. The annihilation of DM particles ($m_χ\sim1.5$ TeV) into $e^+e^-$ pairs in a nearby clump or an over-density region may also explain the data. In the DM scenario, the inferred clump mass (or density enhancement) is about $10^7-10^8$ M$_\odot$ (or $17-35$ times of the canonical local density) assuming a thermal production cross section, which is relatively extreme compared with the expectation from numerical simulations. A moderate enhancement of the annihilation cross section via, e.g., the Sommerfeld mechanism or non-thermal production, is thus needed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Light Bending in the Infinite Derivative Theories of Gravity

Light bending is one of the significant predictions of general relativity (GR) and it has been confirmed with great accuracy during the last one hundred years. In this paper, we semiclassically calculate the deflection angle for the photons that just grazing the Sun in the infinite derivative theories of gravity (IDG) which is a ghost and singularity free theory of gravity. From our calculations, we find that the deflection angle $θ$ only depends on $Λ/E$. $θ\rightarrow θ_E$ when $Λ/E \rightarrow \infty$ and decrease to zero when $Λ/E \rightarrow 0$. The transition interval occurs at $10^{4}< E/Λ< 10^{7}$. It should be pointed out that this model can be tested by the Chandra X-ray Observatory if $0.01 eV < Λ< 0.1 eV$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Collective emission of matter-wave jets from driven Bose-Einstein condensates

Scattering is an elementary probe for matter and its interactions in all areas of physics. Ultracold atomic gases provide a powerful platform in which control over pair-wise interactions empowers us to investigate scattering in quantum many-body systems. Past experiments on colliding Bose-Einstein condensates have revealed many important features, including matter-wave interference, halos of scattered atoms, four-wave mixing, and correlations between counter-propagating pairs. However, a regime with strong stimulation of spontaneous collisions analogous to superradiance has proven elusive. Here we access that regime, finding that runaway stimulated collisions in condensates with modulated interaction strength cause the emission of matter-wave jets which resemble fireworks. Jets appear only above a threshold modulation amplitude and their correlations are invariant even as the ejected atom number grows exponentially. Hence, we show that the structures and occupations of the jets stem from the quantum fluctuations of the condensate. Our findings demonstrate the conditions for runaway stimulated collisions and reveal the quantum nature of the matter-wave emission.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Coherent inflationary dynamics for Bose-Einstein condensates crossing a quantum critical point

Quantum phase transitions, transitions between many-body ground states, are of extensive interest in research ranging from condensed matter physics to cosmology. Key features of the phase transitions include a stage with rapidly growing new order, called inflation in cosmology, followed by the formation of topological defects. How inflation is initiated and evolves into topological defects remains a hot debate topic. Ultracold atomic gas offers a pristine and tunable platform to investigate quantum critical dynamics. We report the observation of coherent inflationary dynamics across a quantum critical point in driven Bose-Einstein condensates. The inflation manifests in the exponential growth of density waves and populations in well-resolved momentum states. After the inflation stage, extended coherent dynamics is evident in both real and momentum space. We present an intuitive description of the quantum critical dynamics in our system and demonstrate the essential role of phase fluctuations in the formation of topological defects.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

$γ$-ray emission signals in the massive graviton mediated dark matter model

Dark matter may interact with Standard Model (SM) particle through the exchange of a massive spin-2 graviton producing signals that can be detected. In this work we examine the $γ$-ray emission signals, including the line emission and the continuous spectrum component in such a massive graviton-mediated dark matter model. The constraints of LHC data, dark matter relic density as well as the dark matter indirect detection data have been applied to narrow down the parameter space. We focus on the vector dark matter model which could produce detectable $γ$-ray line signal. It is found that the $γ$-ray line data is effective on constraining the model parameters and the ongoing and upcoming space or ground-based $γ$-ray experiments can constrain the model further. As for the continuous $γ$-ray emission, the total effective annihilation cross section is $\sim 10^{-26} {\rm cm^{3}~s^{-1}}$ except at the region where dark matter mass is around the graviton mass or half of it, which is consistent with current observational data and will be reliably probed by the upcoming CTA.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Floquet-Band Engineering of Shaken Bosonic Condensates

Optical control and manipulation of cold atoms has become an important topic in condensed matter. Widely employed are optical lattice shaking experiments which allow the introduction of artificial gauge fields, the design of topological bandstructures, and more general probing of quantum critical phenomena. Here we develop new numerical methods to simulate these periodically driven systems by implementing lattice shaking directly. As a result we avoid the usual assumptions associated with a simplified picture based on Floquet dynamics. A demonstrable success of our approach is that it yields quantitative agreement with experiment, including Kibble-Zurek scaling. Importantly, we argue that because their dynamics corresponds to an effective non-linear Schrödinger equation, these particular superfluid studies present a unique opportunity to address how general Floquet band engineering is affected by interactions. In particular, interactions cause instabilities at which the behavior of the system changes dramatically.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Nano-Cross-Junction Effect on Phonon Transport in Silicon-Nanowire-Cages

Wave effects of phonons can give rise to controllability of heat conduction beyond that by particle scattering at surfaces and interfaces. In this work, we propose a new class of 3D nanostructure: a silicon-nanowire-cage (SiNWC) structure consisting of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) connected by nano-cross-junctions (NCJs). We perform equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and find an ultralow value of thermal conductivity of SiNWC, 0.173 Wm-1K-1, which is one order lower than that of SiNWs. By further modal analysis and atomistic Green's function calculations, we identify that the large reduction is due to significant phonon localization induced by the phonon local resonance and hybridization at the junction part in a wide range of phonon modes. This localization effect does not require the cage to be periodic, unlike the phononic crystals, and can be realized in structures that are easier to synthesize, for instance in a form of randomly oriented SiNWs network.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Designing nanostructures for interfacial phonon transport via Bayesian optimization

We demonstrate optimization of thermal conductance across nanostructures by developing a method combining atomistic Green's function and Bayesian optimization. With an aim to minimize and maximize the interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) across Si-Si and Si-Ge interfaces by means of Si/Ge composite interfacial structure, the method identifies the optimal structures from calculations of only a few percent of the entire candidates (over 60,000 structures). The obtained optimal interfacial structures are non-intuitive and impacting: the minimum-ITC structure is an aperiodic superlattice that realizes 50% reduction from the best periodic superlattice. The physical mechanism of the minimum ITC can be understood in terms of crossover of the two effects on phonon transport: as the layer thickness in superlattice increases, the impact of Fabry-Pérot interference increases, and the rate of reflection at the layer-interfaces decreases. Aperiodic superlattice with spatial variation in the layer thickness has a degree of freedom to realize optimal balance between the above two competing mechanism. Furthermore, aperiodicity breaks the constructive phonon interference between the interfaces inhibiting the coherent phonon transport. The present work shows the effectiveness and advantage of material informatics in designing nanostructures to control heat conduction, which can be extended to other interfacial structures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Search for gamma-ray line features from Milky Way satellites with Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data

With 91 months of the publicly available Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data, we analyze the gamma-ray emission from the Milky Way satellites to search for potential line signals due to the annihilation of dark matter particles into double photons. The searched targets include a sample of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). No significant line emission has been found neither in the stacked dwarf galaxy sample nor in the direction of LMC/SMC. The corresponding upper limits on the cross section of DM annihilation into two photons are derived. Compared with results of previous gamma-ray line searches with the Pass 7 data, the current constraints on the line emission from dwarf spheroidal galaxies has been significantly improved in a wide energy range. With the rapid increase of the sample of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (candidates), we expect that the sensitivity of gamma ray line searches will be significantly improved in the near future.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Interpretations of the possible 42.7 GeV $γ$-ray line

Recently Liang et al. found a tentative line signal at about 43 GeV in the directions of sixteen nearby Galaxy Clusters. If arising from dark matter annihilation, the mass of the dark matter particles should be $m_χ\sim 43$ GeV and the annihilation cross section $\langle σv \rangle \sim 5\times10^{-28}(\overline{\rm BF}/10^{3})^{-1}~{\rm cm^3~s^{-1}}$ is needed, where $\overline{\rm BF}$ is the averaged boost factor of the annihilation signal of these Galaxy Clusters. In this work we discuss several models which could interpret these features and estimate the model parameters. Usually sizeable coupling parameter is needed. The $2σ$ upper limits on the cross section of the dark matter annihilation into various final states such as $b\bar{b}$, $μ^+μ^-$ and so on are also presented.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Search for a gamma-ray line feature from a group of nearby Galaxy clusters with Fermi LAT Pass 8 data

Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe and may be suitable targets for indirect dark matter searches. With 85 months of Fermi-LAT Pass 8 publicly available data, we analyze the gamma-ray emission in the directions of 16 nearby Galaxy Clusters with an unbinned likelihood analysis. No globally statistically-significant $γ-$ray line feature is identified and a tentative line signal may be present at $\sim 43$ GeV. The 95\% confidence level upper limits on the velocity-averaged cross section of dark matter particles annihilating into double $γ-$rays (i.e., $\langle σv \rangle_{χχ\rightarrow γγ}$) are derived. Unless very optimistic boost factors of dark matter annihilation in these Galaxy Clusters have been assumed, such constraints are much weaker than the bounds set by the Galactic $γ-$ray data.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Universal space-time scaling symmetry in the dynamics of bosons across a quantum phase transition

The dynamics of many-body systems spanning condensed matter, cosmology, and beyond is hypothesized to be universal when the systems cross continuous phase transitions. The universal dynamics is expected to satisfy a scaling symmetry of space and time with the crossing rate, inspired by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. We test this symmetry based on Bose condensates in a shaken optical lattice. Shaking the lattice drives condensates across an effectively ferromagnetic quantum phase transition. After crossing the critical point, the condensates manifest delayed growth of spin fluctuations and develop anti-ferromagnetic spatial correlations resulting from sub-Poisson generation of topological defects. The characteristic times and lengths scale as power-laws of the crossing rate, yielding the temporal exponent 0.50(2) and the spatial exponent 0.26(2), consistent with theory. Furthermore, the fluctuations and correlations are invariant in scaled space-time coordinates, in support of the scaling symmetry of quantum critical dynamics.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Closing in on singlet scalar dark matter: LUX, invisible Higgs decays and gamma-ray lines

We study the implications of the Higgs discovery and of recent results from dark matter searches on real singlet scalar dark matter. The phenomenology of the model is defined by only two parameters, the singlet scalar mass $m_S$ and the quartic coupling $a_2$ between the SU(2) Higgs and the singlet scalar. We concentrate on the window $5 < m_S/{\rm GeV} < 300$. The most dramatic impact on the viable parameter space of the model comes from direct dark matter searches with LUX, and, for very low masses in the few GeV range, from constraints from the invisible decay width of the Higgs. In the resonant region the best constraints come from gamma-ray line searches. We show that they leave only a small region of viable parameter space, for dark matter masses within a few percent of half the mass of the Higgs. We demonstrate that direct and indirect dark matter searches (especially the search for monochromatic gamma-ray lines) will play a key role in closing the residual parameter space in the near future.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Thermal conductivity spectrum calculation from first-principles-based harmonic phonon theory

In recent years, nanostructuring of dielectric and semiconducting crystals has enhanced controllability of their thermal conductivity. To carry out computational material search for nanostructured materials with desirable thermal conductivity, a key property is the thermal conductivity spectrum of the original single crystal, which determines the appropriate length scale of nanostructures and mutual adaptability of different kinds of nanostructures. Although the first-principles phonon transport calculations have become accessible, the anharmonic lattice dynamics calculations are still heavy to scan many materials. To this end, we have developed an empirical model that describes the thermal conductivity spectrum in terms only of harmonic phonon properties and bulk thermal conductivity. The model was tested for several crystals with different structures and thermal conductivities, and was confirmed to reproduce the overall profiles of thermal conductivity spectra and their anharmonic calculations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Search for gamma-ray emission from eight dwarf spheroidal galaxy candidates discovered in Year Two of Dark Energy Survey with Fermi-LAT data

Very recently the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Collaboration has released their second group of Dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy candidates. With the publicly-available Pass 8 data of Fermi-LAT we search for $γ-$ray emissions from the directions of these eight newly discovered dSph galaxy candidates. No statistically significant $γ-$ray signal has been found in the combined analysis of these sources. With the empirically estimated J-factors of these sources, the constraint on the annihilation channel of $χχ\rightarrow τ^{+}τ^{-}$ is comparable to the bound set by the joint analysis of fifteen previously known dSphs with kinematically constrained J-factors for the dark matter mass $m_χ>250$ GeV. In the direction of Tucana III (DES J2356-5935), one of the nearest dSph galaxy candidates that is $\sim 25$ kpc away, there is a weak $γ-$ray signal and its peak test statistic (TS) value for the dark matter annihilation channel $χχ\rightarrow τ^{+}τ^{-1}$ is $\approx 6.7$ at $m_χ\sim 15$ GeV. The significance of the possible signal likely increases with time. More data is highly needed to pin down the physical origin of such a GeV excess.

astro-ph.HE↗