We propose a method to prepare Majorana pairs at the corners of imprinted defects on a two-dimensional cold atom optical lattice with $s$-wave superfluid pairing. Different from previous proposals that manipulate the effective Dirac masses, our schem
e relies on the sign flip of the spin-orbit coupling at the corners, which can be tuned in experiments by adjusting the angle of incident Raman lasers. The Majorana corner pairs are found to be located at the interface between two regimes with opposite spin orbit coupling strengths in an anticlockwise direction and are robust against certain symmetry-persevered perturbations. Our work provides a new way for implementing and manipulating Majorana pairs with existing cold-atom techniques.
Photonic crystals have provided a controllable platform to examine excitingly new topological states in open systems. In this work, we reveal photonic topological corner states in a photonic graphene with mirror-symmetrically patterned gain and loss.
Such a nontrivial Wannier-type higher-order topological phase is achieved through solely tuning on-site gain/loss strengths, which leads to annihilation of the two valley Dirac cones at a time-reversal-symmetric point, as the gain and loss change the effective tunneling between adjacent sites. We find that the symmetry-protected photonic corner modes exhibit purely imaginary energies and the role of the Wannier center as the topological invariant is illustrated. For experimental considerations, we also examine the topological interface states near a domain wall. Our work introduces an interesting platform for non-Hermiticity-induced photonic higher-order topological insulators, which, with current experimental technologies, can be readily accessed.
The interplay between non-Hermiticity and topology opens an exciting avenue for engineering novel topological matter with unprecedented properties. While previous studies have mainly focused on one-dimensional systems or Chern insulators, here we inv
estigate topological phase transitions to/from quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulators driven by non-Hermiticity. We show that a trivial to QSH insulator phase transition can be induced by solely varying non-Hermitian terms, and there exists exceptional edge arcs in QSH phases. We establish two topological invariants for characterizing the non-Hermitian phase transitions: i) with time-reversal symmetry, the biorthogonal $mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant based on non-Hermitian Wilson loops, and ii) without time-reversal symmetry, a biorthogonal spin Chern number through biorthogonal decompositions of the Bloch bundle of the occupied bands. These topological invariants can be applied to a wide class of non-Hermitian topological phases beyond Chern classes, and provides a powerful tool for exploring novel non-Hermitian topological matter and their device applications.
Non-Hermitian systems can host topological states with novel topological invariants and bulk-edge correspondences that are distinct from conventional Hermitian systems. Here we show that two unique classes of non-Hermitian 2D topological phases, a 2$
mathbb{Z}$ non-Hermitian Chern insulator and a $mathbb{Z}_{2}$ topological semimetal, can be realized by tuning staggered asymmetric hopping strengths in a 1D superlattice. These non-Hermitian topological phases support real edge modes due to robust $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric-like spectra and can coexist in certain parameter regime. The proposed phases can be experimentally realized in photonic or atomic systems and may open an avenue for exploring novel classes of non-Hermitian topological phases with 1D superlattices.
Understanding how local potentials affect system eigenmodes is crucial for experimental studies of nontrivial bulk topology. Recent studies have discovered many exotic and highly non-trivial topological states in non-Hermitian systems. As such, it wo
uld be interesting to see how non-Hermitian systems respond to local perturbations. In this work, we consider chiral and particle-hole -symmetric non-Hermitian systems on a bipartite lattice, including SSH model and photonic graphene, and find that a disordered local potential could induce bound states evolving from the bulk. When the local potential on a single site becomes infinite, which renders a lattice vacancy, chiral-symmetry-protected zero-energy mode and particle-hole symmetry-protected bound states with purely imaginary eigenvalues emerge near the vacancy. These modes are robust against any symmetry-preserved perturbations. Our work generalizes the symmetry-protected localized states to non-Hermitian systems.
Second-order topological superconductors host Majorana corner and hingemodes in contrast to conventional edge and surface modes in two and three dimensions. However, the realization of such second-order corner modes usually demands unconventional sup
erconducting pairing or complicated junctions or layered structures. Here we show that Majorana corner modes could be realized using a 2D quantum spin Hall insulator in proximity contact with an $s$-wave superconductor and subject to an in-plane Zeeman field. Beyond a critical value, the in-plane Zeeman field induces opposite effective Dirac masses between adjacent boundaries, leading to one Majorana mode at each corner. A similar paradigm also applies to 3D topological insulators with the emergence of Majorana hinge states. Avoiding complex superconductor pairing and material structure, our scheme provides an experimentally realistic platform for implementing Majorana corner and hinge states.
In this paper we discuss the N$acute{e}$el and Kekul$acute{e}$ valence bond solids quantum criticality in graphene Dirac semimetal. Considering the quartic four-fermion interaction $g(bar{psi}_iGamma_{ij}psi_j)^2$ that contains spin,valley, and subla
ttice degrees of freedom in the continuum field theory, we find the microscopic symmetry is spontaneously broken when the coupling $g$ is greater than a critical value $g_c$. The symmetry breaking gaps out the fermion and leads to semimetal-insulator transition. All possible quartic fermion-bilinear interactions give rise to the uniform critical coupling, which exhibits the multicritical point for various orders and the Landau-forbidden quantum critical point. We also investigate the typical critical point between N$acute{e}$el and Kekul$acute{e}$ valence bond solid transition when the symmetry is broken. The quantum criticality is captured by the Wess-Zumino-Witten term and there exist a mutual-duality for N$acute{e}$el-Kekul$acute{e}$ VBS order. We show the emergent spinon in the N$acute{e}$el-Kekul$acute{e}$ VBS transition , from which we conclude the phase transition is a deconfined quantum critical point. Additionally, the connection between the index theorem and zero energy mode bounded by the topological defect in the Kekul$acute{e}$ VBS phase is studied to reveal the N$acute{e}$el-Kekul$acute{e}$ VBS duality.
We have established the relations between the baryon-baryon scattering phase shifts and the two-particle energy spectrum in the elongated box. We have studied the cases with both the periodic boundary condition and twisted boundary condition in the c
enter of mass frame. The framework is also extended to the system of nonzero total momentum with periodic boundary condition in the moving frame. This will be helpful to extract the phase shifts in the continuum from lattice QCD data using asymmetric volumes.
In this paper, a Bose-Hubbard extension of a Weyl semimetal is proposed that can be realized for ultracold atoms using laser assisted tunneling and Feshbach resonance technique in three dimensional optical lattices. The global phase diagram is obtain
ed consisting of a superfluid phase and various Mott insulator phases by using Landau theory. The Bogoliubov excitation modes for the weakly interacting case have nontrivial properties (Weyl nodes, bosonic surface arc, etc.) analogs of those in Weyl semimetals of electronic systems, which are smoothly carried over to that of Bloch bands for the noninteracting case. The properties of the insulating phases for the strongly interacting case are explored by calculating both the quasiparticle and quasihole dispersion relation, which shows two quasiparticle spectra touch at Weyl nodes.
In this paper, we study the quantum properties of a bilayer graphene with (asymmetry) line defects. The localized states are found around the line defects. Thus, the line defects on one certain layer of the bilayer graphene can lead to an electric tr
ansport channel. By adding a bias potential along the direction of the line defects, we calculate the electric conductivity of bilayer graphene with line defects using Landauer-B{u}ttiker theory, and show that the channel affects the electric conductivity remarkably by comparing the results with those in a perfect bilayer graphene. This one-dimensional line electric channel has the potential to be applied in the nanotechnology engineering.
