Probing the Hofstadter butterfly with the quantum oscillation of magnetization

We have developed a different quantum transfer matrix method to accurately determine thermodynamic properties of the Hofstadter model. This method resolves a technical problem which is intractable by other methods and makes the calculation of physical quantities of the Hofstadter model in the thermodynamic limit at finite temperatures feasible. It is shown that the quantum correction to the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillation of magnetization bears the energy structure of Hofstadter butterfly. The measurement of this quantum correction, which can be materialized on the superlattice or cold atom systems, can reveal unambiguously the Hofstadter fractal energy spectrum.

Depinning phase transition in two-dimensional clock model with quenched randomness

With Monte Carlo simulations, we systematically investigate the depinning phase transition in the two-dimensional driven random-field clock model. Based on the short-time dynamic approach, we determine the transition field and critical exponents. The results show that the critical exponents vary with the form of the random-field distribution and the strength of the random fields, and the roughening dynamics of the domain interface belongs to the new subclass with $zeta eq zeta_{loc} eq zeta_s$ and $zeta_{loc} eq 1$. More importantly, we find that the transition field and critical exponents change with the initial orientations of the magnetization of the two ordered domains.

Universality class of the depinning transition in the two-dimensional Ising model with quenched disorder

With Monte Carlo methods, we investigate the universality class of the depinning transition in the two-dimensional Ising model with quenched random fields. Based on the short-time dynamic approach, we accurately determine the depinning transition field and both static and dynamic critical exponents. The critical exponents vary significantly with the form and strength of the random fields, but exhibit independence on the updating schemes of the Monte Carlo algorithm. From the roughness exponents $zeta, zeta_{loc}$ and $zeta_s$, one may judge that the depinning transition of the random-field Ising model belongs to the new dynamic universality class with $zeta eq zeta_{loc} eq zeta_s$ and $zeta_{loc} eq 1$. The crossover from the second-order phase transition to the first-order one is observed for the uniform distribution of the random fields, but it is not present for the Gaussian distribution.

Dynamic relaxation of topological defect at Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition

With Monte Carlo methods we study the dynamic relaxation of a vortex state at the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition of the two-dimensional XY model. A local pseudo-magnetization is introduced to characterize the symmetric structure of the dynamic systems. The dynamic scaling behavior of the pseudo-magnetization and Binder cumulant is carefully analyzed, and the critical exponents are determined. To illustrate the dynamic effect of the topological defect, similar analysis for the the dynamic relaxation with a spin-wave initial state is also performed for comparison. We demonstrate that a limited amount of quenched disorder in the core of the vortex state may alter the dynamic universality class. Further, theoretical calculations based on the long-wave approximation are presented.

Optimizing Hartree-Fock orbitals by the density-matrix renormalization group

We have proposed a density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) scheme to optimize the one-electron basis states of molecules. It improves significantly the accuracy and efficiency of the DMRG in the study of quantum chemistry or other many-fermion system with nonlocal interactions. For a water molecule, we find that the ground state energy obtained by the DMRG with only 61 optimized orbitals already reaches the accuracy of best quantum Monte Carlo calculation with 92 orbitals.

Two types of softening detected in X-ray afterglows of Swift bursts: internal and external shock origins?

The softening process observed in the steep decay phase of early X-ray afterglows of Swift bursts has remained a puzzle since its discovery. The softening process can also be observed in the later phase of the bursts and its cause has also been unknown. Recently, it was suggested that, influenced by the curvature effect, emission from high latitudes would shift the Band function spectrum from higher energy band to lower band, and this would give rise to the observed softening process accompanied by a steep decay of the flux density. The curvature effect scenario predicts that the terminating time of the softening process would be correlated with the duration of the process. In this paper, based on the data from the UNLV GRB group web-site, we found an obvious correlation between the two quantities. In addition, we found that the softening process can be divided into two classes: the early type softening ($t_{s,max}leq 4000s$) and the late type softening ($t_{s,max} > 4000s$). The two types of softening show different behaviors in the duration vs. terminating time plot. In the relation between the variation rates of the flux density and spectral index during the softening process, a discrepancy between the two types of softening is also observed. According to their time scales and the discrepancy between them, we propose that the two types are of different origins: the early type is of internal shock origin and the late type is of external shock origin. The early softening is referred to the steep decay just following the prompt emission, whereas the late decay typically conceives the transition from flat decay to late afterglow decay. We suspect that there might be a great difference of the Lorentz factor in two classes which is responsible for the observed discrepancy.