Quantum-disordered slave-boson theory of underdoped cuprates

We study the stability of the spin gap phase in the U(1) slave-boson theory of the t-J model in connection to the underdoped cuprates. We approach the spin gap phase from the superconducting state and consider the quantum phase transition of the slave-bosons at zero temperature by introducing vortices in the boson superfluid. At finite temperatures, the properties of the bosons are different from those of the strange metal phase and lead to modified gauge field fluctuations. As a result, the spin gap phase can be stabilized in the quantum critical and quantum disordered regime of the boson system. We also show that the regime of quantum disordered bosons with the paired fermions can be regarded as the strong coupling version of the recently proposed nodal liquid theory.Comment: 5 pages, Replaced by the published versio

Cluster aggregation model for discontinuous percolation transition

The evolution of the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi (ER) network by adding edges can be viewed as a cluster aggregation process. Such ER processes can be described by a rate equation for the evolution of the cluster-size distribution with the connection kernel $K_{ij}\sim ij$, where $ij$ is the product of the sizes of two merging clusters. Here, we study more general cases in which $K_{ij}$ is sub-linear as $K_{ij}\sim (ij)^{\omega}$ with $0 \le \omega < 1/2$; we find that the percolation transition (PT) is discontinuous. Moreover, PT is also discontinuous when the ER dynamics evolves from proper initial conditions. The rate equation approach for such discontinuous PTs enables us to uncover the mechanism underlying the explosive PT under the Achlioptas process.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Dominant mobility modulation by the electric field effect at the LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 interface

Caviglia et al. [Nature (London) 456, 624 (2008)] have found that the superconducting LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 interface can be gate modulated. A central issue is to determine the principal effect of the applied electric field. Using magnetotransport studies of a gated structure, we find that the mobility variation is almost five times as large as the sheet carrier density. Furthermore, superconductivity can be suppressed at both positive and negative gate bias. These results indicate that the relative disorder strength strongly increases across the superconductor-insulator transition.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Observation of inhomogeneous domain nucleation in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitors

We investigated domain nucleation process in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitors under a modified piezoresponse force microscope. We obtained domain evolution images during polarization switching process and observed that domain nucleation occurs at particular sites. This inhomogeneous nucleation process should play an important role in an early stage of switching and under a high electric field. We found that the number of nuclei is linearly proportional to log(switching time), suggesting a broad distribution of activation energies for nucleation. The nucleation sites for a positive bias differ from those for a negative bias, indicating that most nucleation sites are located at ferroelectric/electrode interfaces

A note on a hypergeometric transformation formula due to Slater with an application

In this note we state (with minor corrections) and give an alternative proof of a very general hypergeometric transformation formula due to Slater. As an application, we obtain a new hypergeometric transformation formula for a 5F4(−1) series with one pair of parameters differing by unity expressed as a linear combination of two 3F2(1) series