Prediction of phonon-mediated superconductivity in borophene

Superconductivity in two-dimensional compounds is widely concerned, not only due to its application in constructing nano-superconducting devices, but also for the general scientific interests. Very recently, borophene (two-dimensional boron sheet) has been successfully grown on the Ag(111) surface, through direct evaporation of a pure boron source. The experiment unveiled two types of borophene structures, namely $\beta_{12}$ and $\chi_3$. Herein, we employed density-functional first-principles calculations to investigate the electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in both structures of borophene. The band structures of $\beta_{12}$ and $\chi_3$ borophenes exhibit inherent metallicity. We found electron-phonon coupling constants in the two compounds are larger than that in MgB$_2$. The superconducting transition temperatures were determined to be 18.7 K and 24.7 K through McMillian-Allen-Dynes formula. These temperatures are much higher than theoretically predicted 8.1 K and experimentally observed 7.4 K superconductivity in graphene. Our findings will enrich the nano-superconducting device applications and boron-related material science.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in LiB1+x_{1+x}C1−x_{1-x}

By means of the first-principles density-functional theory calculation and Wannier interpolation, electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity are systematically explored for boron-doped LiBC (i.e. LiB$_{1+x}$C$_{1-x}$), with $x$ between 0.1 and 0.9. Hole doping introduced by boron atoms is treated through virtual-crystal approximation. For the investigated doping concentrations, our calculations show the optimal doping concentration corresponds to 0.8. By solving the anisotropic Eliashberg equations, we find that LiB$_{1.8}$C$_{0.2}$ is a two-gap superconductor, whose superconducting transition temperature, T$_c$, may exceed the experimentally observed value of MgB$_2$. Similar to MgB$_2$, the two-dimensional bond-stretching $E_{2g}$ phonon modes along $\Gamma$-$A$ line have the largest contribution to electron-phonon coupling. More importantly, we find that the first two acoustic phonon modes $B_1$ and $A_1$ around the midpoint of $K$-$\Gamma$ line play a vital role for the rise of T$_c$ in LiB$_{1.8}$C$_{0.2}$. The origin of strong couplings in $B_1$ and $A_1$ modes can be attributed to enhanced electron-phonon coupling matrix elements and softened phonons. It is revealed that all these phonon modes couple strongly with $\sigma$-bonding electronic states.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in EP

Analysis of the tensor-tensor type scalar tetraquark states with QCD sum rules

In this article, we study the ground states and the first radial excited states of the tensor-tensor type scalar hidden-charm tetraquark states with the QCD sum rules. We separate the ground state contributions from the first radial excited state contributions unambiguously, and obtain the QCD sum rules for the ground states and the first radial excited states, respectively. Then we search for the Borel parameters and continuum threshold parameters according to four criteria and obtain the masses of the tensor-tensor type scalar hidden-charm tetraquark states, which can be confronted to the experimental data in the future.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1607.0484

The decay width of the Zc(3900)Z_c(3900) as an axialvector tetraquark state in solid quark-hadron duality

In this article, we tentatively assign the $Z_c^\pm(3900)$ to be the diquark-antidiquark type axialvector tetraquark state, study the hadronic coupling constants $G_{Z_cJ/\psi\pi}$, $G_{Z_c\eta_c\rho}$, $G_{Z_cD \bar{D}^{*}}$ with the QCD sum rules in details. We take into account both the connected and disconnected Feynman diagrams in carrying out the operator product expansion, as the connected Feynman diagrams alone cannot do the work. Special attentions are paid to matching the hadron side of the correlation functions with the QCD side of the correlation functions to obtain solid duality, the routine can be applied to study other hadronic couplings directly. We study the two-body strong decays $Z_c^+(3900)\to J/\psi\pi^+$, $\eta_c\rho^+$, $D^+ \bar{D}^{*0}$, $\bar{D}^0 D^{*+}$ and obtain the total width of the $Z_c^\pm(3900)$. The numerical results support assigning the $Z_c^\pm(3900)$ to be the diquark-antidiquark type axialvector tetraquark state, and assigning the $Z_c^\pm(3885)$ to be the meson-meson type axialvector molecular state.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

One-Way Deficit of Two Qubit X States

Quantum deficit originates in questions regarding work extraction from quantum systems coupled to a heat bath [Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 180402 (2002)]. It links quantum correlations with quantum thermodynamics and provides a new standpoint for understanding quantum non-locality. In this paper, we propose a new method to evaluate the one-way deficit for a class of two-qubit states. The dynamic behavior of the one-way deficit under decoherence channel is investigated and it is shown that the one-way deficit of the X states with five parameters is more robust against the decoherence than the entanglement.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure

Higher bottomonium zoo

In this work, we study higher bottomonia up to the $nL=8S$, $6P$, $5D$, $4F$, $3G$ multiplets using the modified Godfrey-Isgur (GI) model, which takes account of color screening effects. The calculated mass spectra of bottomonium states are in reasonable agreement with the present experimental data. Based on spectroscopy, partial widths of all allowed radiative transitions, annihilation decays, hadronic transitions, and open-bottom strong decays of each state are also evaluated by applying our numerical wave functions. Comparing our results with the former results, we point out difference among various models and derive new conclusions obtained in this paper. Notably, we find a significant difference between our model and the GI model when we study $D, F$, and $G$ and $n\ge 4$ states. Our theoretical results are valuable to search for more bottomonia in experiments, such as LHCb, and forthcoming Belle II.Comment: 40 pages, 4 figures and 40 tables. Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Polymorphisms of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1 genotypes and lung cancer susceptibility in Mongolian

Aim: To study the genotype of cytochrome P450 1A1(CYP1A1) I462V and glutathions S-transferase M1( GSTM1) and the relationship of the genetic polymorphism of them with the susceptibility of lung cancer in Mongolia of China. 

Methods: Allele-specific PCR and a multiplex PCR were employed to identify the genotypes of I462V of CYP1A1 and GSTM1 in a case-control study of 210 lung cancer patients with bronchoscopy diagnosis and 210 matched controls free of malignancy.

Results: The frequencies of the variant CYP1A1(Val/Val) genotypes and GSTM1(-) in lung cancer groups were higher than that in control groups (15.24% vs 7.4% and 56.67% vs 40.95% ). The individuals who carried with CYP1A1(Val/Val) or GSTM1(-) genotype had a significantly higher risk of lung cancer, the OR is 2.56 and 1.89 respectively. Stratified histologically the relative risk increased to 2.6 - fold when the patients carried with two valine alleles than the ones carried one valine allele in cases of SCC. GSTM1(-) genotype is the risk factor of SCC (OR=2.39) and AC(OR=2.16). The presence of at least one Val allele of CYP1A1 and GSTM1(-), the risk of lung cancer was increased, the OR was 4.15 for one Val allele and GSTM1(-) and 2.67 for two Val alleles and GSTM1 Considering ages and smoking status, the risk of lung cancer increased when the age less than 50 who carried with CYP1A1 valine (one or two) alleles or the age during the 51 to 65 who carried with GSTM1(-) genotype. The light smokers with CYP1A1 valine alleles and GSTM1(-) have a high risk for lung cancer. No association was found between the light and heavy drinkers with the susceptibility of lung cancer and the genetic polymorphisms of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1(-). 

Conclusion: The valine allele of CYP1A1 was the risk factors of lung cancer especially for SCC and GSTM1(-) also was the risk factor of lung cancer and especially for SCC and AC of Mongolian, China. Light smoking has a influence each other with genotype of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1(-) and susceptibility of lung cancer. No relationship was found between the susceptibility of lung cancer and drinkers with genetic polymorphisms of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1(-). The influence of genotypes on the susceptibility of lung cancer may depend on the ages. There may be a synergetic interaction between CYP1A1 valine allele and GSTM1(-) genotypes on the elevated susceptibility of lung cancer. So do those genotypes with light smokers. Key words polymorphism; genotype; lung cancer; cytochrome P450；glutathione S-transferase Abbreviations: SCC, squamous cell carcinoma; AC, adenocarcinoma; SCLC, small cell lung cancer; LCLC, large cell lung cance