Coulomb-driven broken-symmetry states in doubly gated suspended bilayer graphene

The non-interacting energy spectrum of graphene and its bilayer counterpart consists of multiple degeneracies owing to the inherent spin, valley and layer symmetries. Interactions among charge carriers are expected to spontaneously break these symmetries, leading to gapped ordered states. In the quantum Hall regime these states are predicted to be ferromagnetic in nature whereby the system becomes spin polarized, layer polarized or both. In bilayer graphene, due to its parabolic dispersion, interaction-induced symmetry breaking is already expected at zero magnetic field. In this work, the underlying order of the various broken-symmetry states is investigated in bilayer graphene that is suspended between top and bottom gate electrodes. By controllably breaking the spin and sublattice symmetries we are able to deduce the order parameter of the various quantum Hall ferromagnetic states. At small carrier densities, we identify for the first time three distinct broken symmetry states, one of which is consistent with either spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry or spontaneously broken rotational symmetry

Suppression of static stripe formation by next-neighbor hopping

We show from real-space Hartree-Fock calculations within the extended Hubbard model that next-nearest neighbor (t') hopping processes act to suppress the formation of static charge stripes. This result is confirmed by investigating the evolution of charge-inhomogeneous corral and stripe phases with increasing t' of both signs. We propose that large t' values in YBCO prevent static stripe formation, while anomalously small t' in LSCO provides an additional reason for the appearance of static stripes only in these systems.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The rotational broadening and the mass of the donor star of GRS 1915+105

The binary parameters of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 have been determined by the detection of Doppler-shifted 12CO and 13CO lines in its K-band spectrum (Greiner et al., 2001, Nature, 414, 522). Here, we present further analysis of the same K-band VLT spectra and we derive a rotational broadening of the donor star of V sin i=26+-3 km/s from the 12CO/13CO lines. Assuming that the K-type star is tidally locked to the black hole and is filling its Roche-lobe surface, then the implied mass ratio is q = M_d/M_x = 0.058+-0.033. This result, combined with (P, K, i)=(33.5 d, 140 km/s, 66 deg) gives a more refined mass estimate for the black hole, $M_x=14.0+-4.4 M_{\odot}$, than previously estimated, using an inclination of i=66+-2 deg (Fender et al. 1999) as derived from the orientation of the radio jets and a more accurate distance. The mass for the early K-type giant star is $M_d=0.81\pm0.53 M_{\odot}$, consistent with a more evolved stripped-giant donor star in GRS 1915+105 than, for example, the donor star of the prototype black-hole X-ray transient, V404 Cyg which has the longest binary period after GRS 1915+105.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, A&A Lette

Superconducting phase coherence in striped cuprates

We study the problem of phase coherence in doped striped cuprates. We assume the stripes to form a network of one-dimensional Luttinger liquids which are dominated by superconducting fluctuations and pinned by impurities. The problem of phase coherence is discussed. We study the dynamics of the superconducting phase using a model of resistively shunted junctions which leads to a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. We show that our results are consistent with recent experiments in Zn-doped cuprates. We also explain the scaling of the superconducting critical temperature $T_c$ with the incommensurability as seen in recent neutron scattering experiments and predict the behavior of $H_{c2}$ in the underdoped region.Comment: Final version to appear in Physical Review Letters with a new reference to an earlier work of F.Guinea and G.Zymanyi on Luttinger network

Quantum effective potential for U(1) fields on S^2_L X S^2_L

We compute the one-loop effective potential for noncommutative U(1) gauge fields on S^2_L X S^2_L. We show the existence of a novel phase transition in the model from the 4-dimensional space S^2_L X S^2_L to a matrix phase where the spheres collapse under the effect of quantum fluctuations. It is also shown that the transition to the matrix phase occurs at infinite value of the gauge coupling constant when the mass of the two normal components of the gauge field on S^2_L X S^2_L is sent to infinity.Comment: 13 pages. one figur

Effect of Coulomb interactions on the physical observables of graphene

We give an update of the situation concerning the effect of electron-electron interactions on the physics of a neutral graphene system at low energies. We revise old renormalization group results and the use of 1/N expansion to address questions of the possible opening of a low-energy gap, and the magnitude of the graphene fine structure constant. We emphasize the role of Fermi velocity as the only free parameter determining the transport and electronic properties of the graphene system and revise its renormalization by Coulomb interactions in the light of recent experimental evidence.Comment: Proceedings of the Nobel Symposium on graphene 2010, to appear as a special issue in Physica Script

Transport Spectroscopy of Symmetry-Broken Insulating States in Bilayer Graphene

The flat bands in bilayer graphene(BLG) are sensitive to electric fields E\bot directed between the layers, and magnify the electron-electron interaction effects, thus making BLG an attractive platform for new two-dimensional (2D) electron physics[1-5]. Theories[6-16] have suggested the possibility of a variety of interesting broken symmetry states, some characterized by spontaneous mass gaps, when the electron-density is at the carrier neutrality point (CNP). The theoretically proposed gaps[6,7,10] in bilayer graphene are analogous[17,18] to the masses generated by broken symmetries in particle physics and give rise to large momentum-space Berry curvatures[8,19] accompanied by spontaneous quantum Hall effects[7-9]. Though recent experiments[20-23] have provided convincing evidence of strong electronic correlations near the CNP in BLG, the presence of gaps is difficult to establish because of the lack of direct spectroscopic measurements. Here we present transport measurements in ultra-clean double-gated BLG, using source-drain bias as a spectroscopic tool to resolve a gap of ~2 meV at the CNP. The gap can be closed by an electric field E\bot \sim13 mV/nm but increases monotonically with a magnetic field B, with an apparent particle-hole asymmetry above the gap, thus providing the first mapping of the ground states in BLG.Comment: 4 figure

Evidence for Fermi surface reconstruction in the static stripe phase of La1.8−x_{1.8-x}Eu0.2_{0.2}Srx_xCuO4_{4}, x=1/8x=1/8

We present a photoemission study of La$_{0.8-x}$Eu$_{0.2}$Sr$_x$CuO$_{4}$ with doping level $x$=1/8, where the charge carriers are expected to order forming static stripes. Though the local probes in direct space seem to be consistent with this idea, there has been little evidence found for such ordering in quasiparticle dispersions. We show that the Fermi surface topology of the 1/8 compound develops notable deviations from that observed for La$_{2- x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_{4}$ in a way consistent with the FS reconstruction expected for the scattering on the antiphase stripe order

Semiclassical theory of potential scattering for massless Dirac fermions

In this paper we study scattering of two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions by a potential that depends on a single Cartesian variable. Depending on the energy of the incoming particle and its angle of incidence, there are three different regimes of scattering. To find the reflection and transmission coefficients in these regimes, we apply the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB), also called semiclassical, approximation. We use the method of comparison equations to extend our prediction to nearly normal incidence, where the conventional WKB method should be modified due to the degeneracy of turning points. We compare our results to numerical calculations and find good agreement.Comment: Minor revision; several references have been adde

Open Luttinger liquids

We study the problem of Luttinger liquids interacting with an active environment. We are particularly interested in how dissipation affects the response and correlation functions of non-isolated Luttinger liquids. We show that the exchange of particles, energy, and momentum lead to changes in the exponents characterizing the various correlations functions. We discuss the importance of the zero mode physics in this context.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages. Final version published in PR