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At least 55 records · Page 3

Effect of stress and temperature on zero group velocity Lamb modes

Zero group velocity (ZGV) Lamb wave resonances are highly localized and sensitive to changes in material properties, making them a viable option for probing residual stresses and elastic nonlinearity through acoustoelastic effects. Temperature changes also influence ZGV modes and need to be accounted for, particularly when measuring the small frequency shifts associated with acoustoelastic effects. We use a laser-based ultrasonic system to measure the third-order elastic constants of several materials. A temperature compensation scheme is devised to remove the effects of temperature fluctuations from the measurements. Furthermore, the measured third-order elastic constants are used to predict the temperature dependence of the ZGV resonances using thermo-acoustoelasticity theory, and these predictions are compared to experimental measurements. We find that thermo-acoustoelasticity theory was unable to reliably predict the shift in ZGV resonances with temperature. These results could have important implications in understanding the limitations of thermo-acoustoelasticity theory and in developing precision ZGV resonance-based systems to detect and quantify residual stress in parts, a particularly relevant problem in additive manufacturing techniques including powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition.

Engineering↗

Zero wavenumber modes of a compressible supersonic mixing layer

It is shown that there exists a family of supersonic neutral modes for a compressible mixing layer in an unbounded domain. These modes have zero wavenumber and frequency with nonzero phase speed. They are analogous to the supersonic neutral modes of the compressible vortex sheet found by Miles. The results presented give a more complete picture of the spectrum of the disturbances in this flow.

Jackson, T. L.↗

Stability of superconducting strings

We investigate the stability of superconducting strings as bound states of strings and fermion zero modes at both the classical and quantum levels. The dynamics of these superconducting strings can result in a stable configuration, known as a vorton . We mainly focus on global strings, but the majority of the discussion can be applied to local strings. Using lattice simulations, we study the classical dynamics of superconducting strings and confirm that they relax to the vorton configuration through Nambu-Goldstone boson radiation, with no evidence of over-shooting that would destabilize the vorton. We explore the tunneling of fermion zero modes out of the strings. Both our classical analysis and quantum calculations yield consistent results: the maximum energy of the zero mode significantly exceeds the fermion mass, in contrast to previous literature. Additionally, we introduce a world-sheet formalism to evaluate the decay rate of zero modes into other particles, which constitute the dominant decay channel. We also identify additional processes that trigger zero-mode decay due to non-adiabatic changes of the string configuration. In these decay processes, the rates are suppressed by the curvature of string loops, with exponential suppression for large masses of the final states. We further study the scattering with light charged particles surrounding the string core produced by the zero-mode current and find that a wide zero-mode wavefunction can enhance vorton stability.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Observation of magnetic adatom-induced Majorana vortex and its hybridization with field-induced Majorana vortex in an iron-based superconductor

Braiding Majorana zero modes is essential for fault-tolerant topological quantum computing. Iron-based superconductors with nontrivial band topology have recently emerged as a surprisingly promising platform for creating distinct Majorana zero modes in magnetic vortices in a single material and at relatively high temperatures. The magnetic field-induced Abrikosov vortex lattice makes it difficult to braid a set of Majorana zero modes or to study the coupling of a Majorana doublet due to overlapping wave functions. Here we report the observation of the proposed quantum anomalous vortex with integer quantized vortex core states and the Majorana zero mode induced by magnetic Fe adatoms deposited on the surface. We observe its hybridization with a nearby field-induced Majorana vortex in iron-based superconductor FeTe 0.55 Se 0.45 . We also observe vortex-free Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states at the Fe adatoms with a weaker coupling to the substrate, and discover a reversible transition between Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states and Majorana zero mode by manipulating the exchange coupling strength. The dual origin of the Majorana zero modes, from magnetic adatoms and external magnetic field, provides a new single-material platform for studying their interactions and braiding in superconductors bearing topological band structures.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Higher-Order Approximations for Stabilizing Zero-Energy Modes in Peridynamics Crystal Plasticity Models with Large Horizon Interactions

The non-ordinary state-based peridynamics theory combines non-local dynamic techniques with a desirable correspondence material principle, allowing for the use of continuum mechanics constitutive models. Such an approach presents a unique capability for solving problems involving discontinuities (e.g., strain localization, fracture, and fragmentation). However, the correspondence-based peridynamics models often suffer from zero-energy mode instabilities in numerical implementation, primarily due to the approximations of the non-local deformation gradient tensor. This paper focuses on a computational scheme for eliminating the zero-energy mode oscillations using a choice of influence functions that improve the truncation error in a higher-order Taylor series expansion of the deformation gradient. The novelty here is a tensor-based derivation of the linear constraint equations, which can be used to systematically identify the particle interaction weight functions for various user-specified horizon radii. In this paper, the proposed higher-order stabilization scheme is demonstrated for multi-dimensional examples involving polycrystalline and composite microstructures, along with comparisons against conventional finite element methods. The proposed stabilization scheme is shown to be highly effective in suppressing the spurious zero-energy mode oscillations in all numerical examples while enabling efficient simulations of strain localizations across material interfaces.

Non-Ordinary State-Based Peridynamics↗

Majorana pair based qubits for fault tolerant quantum computing architecture using superconducting gold surface states

Under certain conditions, a fermion in a superconductor can separate in space into two parts known as Majorana zero modes, which are immune to decoherence from local noise sources and are attractive building blocks for quantum computers. Here we disclose a metal-based heterostructure platform to produce these Majorana zero modes which utilizes the surface states of certain metals in combination with a ferromagnetic insulator and a superconductor. This platform has the advantage of having a robust energy scale and the possibility of realizing complex circuit designs using lithographic methods. The Majorana zero modes are interrogated using planar tunnel junctions and electrostatic gates to selectively tunnel into designated pairs of Majorana zero modes. We give example of qubit designs and circuits that are particularly suitable for the metal-based heterostructures.

Moodera, Jagadeesh S.↗

A new Majorana platform in an Fe-As bilayer superconductor

Iron-chalcogenide superconductors have emerged as a promising Majorana platform for topological quantum computation. By combining topological band and superconductivity in a single material, they provide significant advantage to realize isolated Majorana zero modes. However, iron-chalcogenide superconductors, especially Fe(Te,Se), suffer from strong inhomogeneity which may hamper their practical application. In addition, some iron-pnictide superconductors have been demonstrated to have topological surface states, yet no Majorana zero mode has been observed inside their vortices, raising a question of universality about this new Majorana platform. In this work, through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy measurement, we identify Dirac surface states and Majorana zero modes, respectively, for the first time in an iron-pnictide superconductor, CaKFe 4 As 4 . More strikingly, the multiple vortex bound states with integer-quantization sequences can be accurately reproduced by our model calculation, firmly establishing Majorana nature of the zero mode.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Separation of infrared and bulk in thermal QCD

A new thermal regime of QCD, featuring decoupled scale-invariant infrared glue, has been proposed to exist both in pure-glue (N f =0) and “real-world” (N f =2+1 at physical quark masses) QCD. In this IR phase, elementary degrees of freedom flood the infrared, forming a distinct component independent from the bulk. This behavior necessitates non-analyticities in the theory. In pure-glue QCD, such non-analyticities have been shown to arise via Anderson-like mobility edges in Dirac spectra (λ IR = 0, ±λ A ≠ 0), as manifested in the dimension function d IR (λ). Here, we present the first evidence, based on lattice QCD calculation at a=0.105 fm, that this mechanism is also at work in real-world QCD, thus supporting the existence of the proposed IR regime in nature. An important aspect of our results is that, while at T = 234 MeV we find a dimensional jump between zero modes and lowest near-zero modes very close to unity (d IR = 3 to d IR ≃ 2), similar to the IR phase of pure-glue QCD, at T = 187 MeV we observe a continuous λ-dependence. This suggests that thermal states just above the chiral crossover are non-analytically (in T) connected to thermal state at T = 234 MeV, supporting the key original proposition that the transition into the IR regime occurs at a temperature strictly above the chiral crossover.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Logarithmic Corrections to Kerr Thermodynamics

Recent work has shown that loop corrections from massless particles generate $\frac{3}{2}$ ⁢log⁡𝑇 Hawking corrections to black hole entropy which dominate the thermodynamics of cold near-extreme charged black holes. Here we adapt this analysis to near-extreme Kerr black holes. Like AdS 2 ×𝑆 2 , the near-horizon extreme Kerr (NHEK) metric has a family of normalizable zero modes corresponding to reparametrizations of boundary time. The path integral over these zero modes leads to an infrared divergence in the one-loop approximation to the Euclidean NHEK partition function. We regulate this divergence by retaining the leading finite temperature correction in the NHEK scaling limit. This “not-NHEK” geometry lifts the eigenvalues of the zero modes, rendering the path integral infrared finite. The quantum-corrected near-extremal entropy exhibits $\frac{3}{2}$ ⁢log⁡𝑇 Hawking behavior characteristic of the Schwarzian model and predicts a lifting of the ground state degeneracy for the extremal Kerr black hole.

General relativity↗