The recently discovered Dirac and Weyl semimetals are new members of topological materials. Starting from them, topological superconductivity may be achieved, e.g. by carrier doping or applying pressure. Here we report high-pressure resistance and X-
ray diffraction study of the three-dimensional topological Dirac semimetal Cd3As2. Superconductivity with Tc ~ 2.0 K is observed at 8.5 GPa. The Tc keeps increasing to about 4.0 K at 21.3 GPa, then shows a nearly constant pressure dependence up to the highest pressure 50.9 GPa. The X-ray diffraction measurements reveal a structure phase transition around 3.5 GPa. Our observation of superconductivity in pressurized topological Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 provides a new candidate for topological superconductor, as argued in a recent point contact study and a theoretical work.
Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) is a novel particle method for mesoscale modeling of complex fluids. DPD particles are often thought to represent packets of real atoms, and the physical scale probed in DPD models are determined by the mapping of
DPD variables to the corresponding physical quantities. However, the non-uniqueness of such mapping has led to difficulties in setting up simulations to mimic real systems and in interpreting results. For modeling transport phenomena where thermal fluctuations are important (e.g., fluctuating hydrodynamics), an area particularly suited for DPD method, we propose that DPD fluid particles should be viewed as only 1) to provide a medium in which the momentum and energy are transferred according to the hydrodynamic laws and 2) to provide objects immersed in the DPD fluids the proper random kicks such that these objects exhibit correct fluctuation behaviors at the macroscopic scale. We show that, in such a case, the choice of system temperature and mapping of DPD scales to physical scales are uniquely determined by the level of coarse-graining and properties of DPD fluids. We also verified that DPD simulation can reproduce the macroscopic effects of thermal fluctuation in particulate suspension by showing that the Brownian diffusion of solid particles can be computed in DPD simulations with good accuracy.
The ac-susceptibility of the electron doped single-layered manganite La$_{1.1}$Sr$_{0.9}$MnO$_4$ is analyzed in detail. A quasi two-dimensional (2$D$) antiferromagnetic (AFM) order with Ising anisotropy is stabilized below $T_N$ $sim$ 80K. We show th
at below $T_N$, a rare 2$D$ spin-glass (SG) correlation develops with the same Ising anisotropy as the AFM state. Using simple scaling arguments of the droplet model, we derive a scaling form for the ac-susceptibility data of a 2$D$ SG, which our experimental data follows fairly well. Due to simplifications in this 2$D$ case, the proposed scaling form only contains two unknown variables $psi u$ and $tau_0$. Hence, the logarithmic growth law of the SG correlation predicted by the droplet model is convincingly evidenced by the scaling of our experimental data. The origin and nature of this 2$D$ SG state is also discussed.
