arXiv subjects

Xuefeng Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Xuefeng Zhang.

66 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Interface induced Zeeman-protected superconductivity in ultrathin crystalline lead films

Two dimensional (2D) superconducting systems are of great importance to exploring exotic quantum physics. Recent development of fabrication techniques stimulates the studies of high quality single crystalline 2D superconductors, where intrinsic properties give rise to unprecedented physical phenomena. Here we report the observation of Zeeman-type spin-orbit interaction protected superconductivity (Zeeman-protected superconductivity) in 4 monolayer (ML) to 6 ML crystalline Pb films grown on striped incommensurate (SIC) Pb layers on Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Anomalous large in-plane critical field far beyond the Pauli limit is detected, which can be attributed to the Zeeman-protected superconductivity due to the in-plane inversion symmetry breaking at the interface. Our work demonstrates that in superconducting heterostructures the interface can induce Zeeman-type spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and modulate the superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Examples of naked singularity formation in higher-dimensional Einstein-vacuum spacetimes

The vacuum Einstein equations in 5+1 dimensions are shown to admit solutions describing naked singularity formation in gravitational collapse from nonsingular asymptotically locally flat initial data that contain no trapped surface. We present a class of specific examples with topology $\mathbb{R}^{3+1} \times S^2$. Thanks to the Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction, these examples are constructed by lifting continuously self-similar solutions of the 4-dimensional Einstein-scalar field system with a negative exponential potential. The latter solutions are obtained by solving a 3-dimensional autonomous system of first-order ordinary differential equations with a combined analytic and numerical approach. Their existence provides a new test-bed for weak cosmic censorship in higher-dimensional gravity. In addition, we point out that a similar attempt of lifting Christodoulou's naked singularity solutions of massless scalar fields fails to capture formation of naked singularities in 4+1 dimensions, due to a diverging Kretschmann scalar in the initial data.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Long-Term Postmerger Simulations of Binary Neutron Star Coalescence: Formation of Toroidal Remnants and Gravitational Wave Afterglow

It has been estimated that a significant proportion of binary neutron star merger events produce long-lived massive remnants supported by differential rotation and subject to rotational instabilities. To examine formation and oscillation of rapidly rotating neutron stars (NS) after merger, we present an exploratory study of fully general-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations using the public code Einstein Toolkit. The attention is focused on qualitative aspects of long-term postmerger evolution. As simplified test models, we use a moderately stiff Gamma=2 ideal-fluid equation of state and unmagnetized irrotational equal-mass binaries with three masses well below the threshold for prompt collapse. Our high resolution simulations generate postmerger "ringdown" gravitational wave (GW) signals of 170 ms, sustained by rotating massive NS remnants without collapsing to black holes. We observe that the high-density double-core structure inside the remnants gradually turns into a quasi-axisymmetric toroidal shape. It oscillates in a quasi-periodic manner and shrinks in size due to gravitational radiation. In the GW spectrograms, dominant double peaks persist throughout the postmerger simulations and slowly drift to higher frequencies. A new low-frequency peak emerges at about 100 ms after merger, owing to the growth of GW-driven unstable oscillation modes. The long-term effect of grid resolution is also investigated using the same initial model. Moreover, we comment on physical conditions that are favorable for the transient toroidal configuration to form, and discuss implication of our findings on future GW observation targeting rapidly rotating NSs.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

On the quantum spin Hall gap of monolayer 1T'-WTe2

Quantum spin Hall (QSH) materials are two-dimensional systems exhibiting insulating bulk and helical edge states simultaneously. A QSH insulator processes topologically non-trivial edge states protected by time-reversal symmetry, so that electrons can propagate unscattered. Realization of such topological phases enables promising applications in spintronics, dissipationless transport and quantum computations. Presently, realization of such QSH-based devices are limited to complicated heterostructures. Monolayer 1T'-WTe2 was predicted to be semimetallic QSH materials, though with a negative band gap. The quasi-particle spectrum obtained using hybrid functional approach shows directly that the quantum spin Hall gap is positive for monolayer 1T'-WTe2. Optical measurement shows a systematic increase in the interband relaxation time with decreasing number of layers, whereas transport measurement reveals Schottcky barrier in ultrathin samples, which is absent for thicker samples. These three independent pieces of evidence indicate that monolayer 1T'-WTe2 is likely a truly 2-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulator.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Naked singularity and black hole formation in self-similar Einstein-scalar fields with exponential potentials

Motivated by cosmic censorship in general relativity and string theory, we extend Christodoulou's celebrated examples of naked singularity formation in the Einstein-massless scalar field system to include a positive or negative scalar potential of exponential forms, i.e., $V(ϕ)=\pm\exp(2ϕ/κ)$ with a parameter $κ$. Under spherical symmetry and a self-similar ansatz depending on $κ$, we derive a 3-dimensional autonomous system of first-order ordinary differential equations, which incorporates the equations for massless scalar fields as a special case. Local behavior of the phase space is studied analytically with global solutions constructed numerically. Within the 3-dimensional solution manifold, we observe, for the negative potentials, naked singularity formation from nonsingular initial data for $κ^2<1$. Meanwhile, transitions between solutions containing naked singularities and black holes are also identified. However, when the potential is taken positive, numerical evolutions result in formation of black holes, but not naked singularities.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Gigahertz Dielectric Polarization of Single-atom Niobium Substituted in Graphitic layers

We have synthesized two Nb@C composites with an order of magnitude difference in the density of single-atom niobium substituted into graphitic layers. The concentration and sites of single-atom Nb are identified using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory. Comparing the complex permittivity spectra show that the representative dielectric resonance at ~16 GHz originates from the intrinsic polarization of single-atom Nb sites, confirmed by theoretical simulations. The single-atom dielectric resonance represents the physical limit of the electromagnetic response of condensed matter, and thus might open up a new avenue for designing electromagnetic wave absorption materials. Single-atom resonance also has important implications in understanding the correlation between the macroscopic dielectric behaviors and the atomic-scale structural origin.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Critical Behavior in a Massless Scalar Field Collapse with Self-interaction Potential

We examine a one-parameter family of analytical solutions representing spherically symmetric collapse of a nonlinear massless scalar field with self-interaction in an asymptotically flat spacetime. The time evolution exhibits a type of critical behavior. Depending on the scalar charge parameter $q$ as compared to a critical value $q^*$, the incoming scalar wave collapses either to a globally naked central singularity if $q q^*$ (strong field), both having finite asymptotic masses. Near the critical evolution, the black hole mass follows a product-logarithmic scaling law: $-M^2\ln M \sim q-q^*$ with $0 q^*$. The solution admits no self-similarity and satisfies the null and the strong energy conditions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Exact Collapse Solutions in D=4, N=4 Gauged Supergravity and Their Generalizations

We construct an exact time-dependent solution in $D=4$, ${\cal N}=4$ gauged supergravity, where the gauge fields of the $U(1)\times U(1)$ subgroup of the $SO(4)$ carry independent conserved charges. The solution describes a decaying white hole that settles down to the final state as a static charged black hole. We analyze the global structure and lift the solution back to $D=11$ supergravity. We further extend the theory by adding an extra term in the scalar potential and obtain a more general class of collapse solutions. The result constitutes a charged generalization of the Roberts solution and the dynamical scalar-hairy black hole solutions that have been very recently found by us. The generalized Roberts solutions demonstrate that a scalar coupled to gravity can be unstable even when it is confined by a scalar potential with a fixed point.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Exact Black Hole Formation in Asymptotically (A)dS and Flat Spacetimes

We consider four-dimensional Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a dilaton scalar field with a supergravity-inspired scalar potential. We obtain an exact time-dependent spherically symmetric solution describing gravitational collapse to a static scalar-hairy black hole. The solution can be asymptotically AdS, flat or dS depending on the value of the cosmological constant parameter $Λ$ in the potential. As the advanced time $u$ increases, the spacetime reaches equilibrium in an exponential fashion, i.e., $e^{-u/u_0}$ with $u_0\sim1/(α^4 M_0)^{1/3}$, where $M_0$ is the mass of the final black hole and $α$ is the second parameter in the potential. Similar to the Vaidya solution, at $u=0$, the spacetime can be matched to an (A)dS or flat vacuum except that at the origin a naked singularity may occur. Moreover, a limiting case of our solution with $α=0$ gives rise to an (A)dS generalization of the Roberts solution, thereby making it relevant to critical phenomena. Our results provide a new model for investigating formation of real life black holes with $Λ\geq 0$. For $Λ<0$, it can be instead used to study non-equilibrium thermalization of certain strongly-coupled field theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Interpretation of twisting type N vacuum solutions with cosmological constant

We investigate a new class of twisting type N vacuum solutions with nonzero (positive) cosmological constant Lambda by studying the equations of geodesic deviations along the privileged radial timelike geodesics, generalizing J. Bicak and J. Podolsky's results on non-twisting type N solutions. It is shown that these twisting radiative spacetimes can be interpreted as exact transverse gravitational waves propagating in the de-Sitter universe, with a distinctive feature that all the wave amplitudes are proportional to Lambda (dark energy/matter source coupling). Moveover, we demonstrate the cosmic no-hair conjecture in these spacetimes and discuss their Killing horizons.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

CR Structures and Twisting Vacuum Spacetimes with Two Killing Vectors and Cosmological Constant: Type II and More Special

Based on the CR formalism of algebraically special spacetimes by Hill, Lewandowski and Nurowski, we derive a nonlinear system of two real ODEs, of which the general solution determines a twisting type II (or more special) vacuum spacetime with two Killing vectors (commuting or not) and at most seven real parameters in addition to the cosmological constant Lambda. To demonstrate a broad range of interesting spacetimes that these ODEs can capture, special solutions of various Petrov types are presented and described as they appear in this approach. They include Kerr-NUT, Kerr and Debney/Demiański's type II, Lun's type II and III (subclasses of Held-Robinson), MacCallum and Siklos' type III (Lambda<0), and the type N solutions (Lambda<>0) we found in an earlier paper, along with a new class of type II solutions as a nontrivial limit of Kerr and Debney's type II solutions. Also, we discuss a situation in which the two ODEs can be reduced to one. However, constructing the general solution still remains an open problem.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Lower-order ODEs to determine new twisting type N Einstein spaces via CR geometry

In the search for vacuum solutions, with or without a cosmological constant, of the Einstein field equations of Petrov type N with twisting principal null directions, the CR structures to describe the parameter space for a congruence of such null vectors provide a very useful tool. A work of Hill, Lewandowski and Nurowski has given a good foundation for this, reducing the field equations to a set of differential equations for two functions, one real, one complex, of three variables. Under the assumption of the existence of one Killing vector, the (infinite-dimensional) classical symmetries of those equations are determined and group-invariant solutions are considered. This results in a single ODE of the third order which may easily be reduced to one of the second order. A one-parameter class of power series solutions, g(w), of this second-order equation is realized, holomorphic in a neighborhood of the origin and behaving asymptotically as a simple quadratic function plus lower-order terms for large values of w, which constitutes new solutions of the twisting type N problem. The solution found by Leroy, and also by Nurowski, is shown to be a special case in this class. Cartan's method for determining equivalence of CR manifolds is used to show that this class is indeed much more general. In addition, for a special choice of a parameter, this ODE may be integrated once, to provide a first-order Abel equation. It can also determine new solutions to the field equations although no general solution has yet been found for it.

math-ph↗