No Arabic abstract
We provide numerical evidence that the Onsager symmetry remains valid for systems subject to a spatially dependent magnetic field, in spite of the broken time-reversal symmetry. In addition, for the simplest case in which the field strength varies only in one direction, we analytically derive the result. For the generic case, a qualitative explanation is provided.
Fluctuation theorems establish deep relations between observables away from thermal equilibrium. Until recently, the research on fluctuation theorems was focused on time-reversal-invariant systems. In this review we address some newly discovered fluctuation relations that hold without time-reversal symmetry, in particular, in the presence of an external magnetic field. One family of relations connects non-linear transport coefficients in the opposite magnetic fields. Another family relates currents and noises at a fixed direction of the magnetic field in chiral systems, such as the edges of some quantum Hall liquids. We review the recent experimental and theoretical research, including the controversy on the microreversibility without time-reversal symmetry, consider the applications of fluctuation theorems to the physics of topological states of matter, and discuss open problems.
For ordinary hermitian Hamiltonians, the states show the Kramers degeneracy when the system has a half-odd-integer spin and the time reversal operator obeys Theta^2=-1, but no such a degeneracy exists when Theta^2=+1. Here we point out that for non-hermitian systems, there exists a degeneracy similar to Kramers even when Theta^2=+1. It is found that the new degeneracy follows from the mathematical structure of split-quaternion, instead of quaternion from which the Kramers degeneracy follows in the usual hermitian cases. Furthermore, we also show that particle/hole symmetry gives rise to a pair of states with opposite energies on the basis of the split quaternion in a class of non-hermitian Hamiltonians. As concrete examples, we examine in detail NxN Hamiltonians with N=2 and 4 which are non-hermitian generalizations of spin 1/2 Hamiltonian and quadrupole Hamiltonian of spin 3/2, respectively.
The behavior of a dc SQUID, based on a dirty point contacts between a single-band and three-band superconductor with broken time-reversal symmetry is investigated. Using earlier obtained results for Josephson effects in such systems new features in characteristics of a dc SQUID are revealed. It is shown that in the case of a BTRS (broken time-reversal symmetry) three-band superconductor for the applied external magnetic flux, which is divisible by the half-integer flux, strong degeneracy of ground states of a dc SQUID is taken place. This can lead to the appearance of possible multi-hysteresis loops on a dependence of a total flux in the dc SQUID from the externally applied flux. The number of these loops depends on the position of ground states of a three-band superconductor. Also it is found that dependencies of a critical current on applied magnetic flux can have complicated multi-periodic forms, which are differ from strictly periodic characteristics for conventional dc SQUIDs and Fraunhofer patterns for Josephson contacts in the external magnetic field.
Near-infrared magneto-optical spectroscopy of single-walled carbon nanotubes reveals two absorption peaks with an equal strength at high magnetic fields ($>$ 55 T). We show that the peak separation is determined by the Aharonov-Bohm phase due to the tube-threading magnetic flux, which breaks the time-reversal symmetry and lifts the valley degeneracy. This field-induced symmetry breaking thus overcomes the Coulomb-induced intervalley mixing which is predicted to make the lowest exciton state optically inactive (or ``dark).
We present results of numerical studies of spin quantum Hall transitions in disordered superconductors, in which the pairing order parameter breaks time-reversal symmetry. We focus mainly on p-wave superconductors in which one of the spin components is conserved. The transport properties of the system are studied by numerically diagonalizing pairing Hamiltonians on a lattice, and by calculating the Chern and Thouless numbers of the quasiparticle states. We find that in the presence of disorder, (spin-)current carrying states exist only at discrete critical energies in the thermodynamic limit, and the spin-quantum Hall transition driven by an external Zeeman field has the same critical behavior as the usual integer quantum Hall transition of non-interacting electrons. These critical energies merge and disappear as disorder strength increases, in a manner similar to those in lattice models for integer quantum Hall transition.