The one-band Hubbard model on the pyrochlore lattice contains an extended quantum spin-liquid phase formed from the manifold of singlet dimer coverings. We demonstrate that the massive and deconfined spinon excitations of this system have fermionic s
tatistics. Holonic quasiparticles introduced by doping are also fermions and we explain the origin of this counterintuitive result.
We survey the application of a relatively new branch of statistical physics--community detection-- to data mining. In particular, we focus on the diagnosis of materials and automated image segmentation. Community detection describes the quest of part
itioning a complex system involving many elements into optimally decoupled subsets or communities of such elements. We review a multiresolution variant which is used to ascertain structures at different spatial and temporal scales. Significant patterns are obtained by examining the correlations between different independent solvers. Similar to other combinatorial optimization problems in the NP complexity class, community detection exhibits several phases. Typically, illuminating orders are revealed by choosing parameters that lead to extremal information theory correlations.
Quantum effects in material systems are often pronounced at low energies and become insignificant at high temperatures. We find that, perhaps counterintuitively, certain quantum effects may follow the opposite route and become sharp when extrapolated
to high temperature within a classical liquid phase. In the current work, we suggest basic quantum bounds on relaxation (and thermalization) times, examine kinetic theory by taking into account such possible fundamental quantum time scales, find new general equalities connecting semi-classical dynamics and thermodynamics to Plancks constant, and compute current correlation functions. Our analysis suggests that, on average, the extrapolated high temperature dynamical viscosity of general liquids may tend to a value set by the product of the particle number density ${sf n}$ and Plancks constant $h$. We compare this theoretical result with experimental measurements of an ensemble of 23 metallic fluids where this seems to indeed be the case. The extrapolated high temperature viscosity of each of these liquids $eta$ divided (for each respective fluid by its value of ${sf n} h$) veers towards a Gaussian with an ensemble average value that is close to unity up to an error of size $0.6 %$. Inspired by the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis, we suggest a relation between the lowest equilibration temperature to the melting or liquidus temperature and discuss a possible corollary concerning the absence of finite temperature ideal glass transitions. We suggest a general quantum mechanical derivation for the viscosity of glasses at general temperatures. We invoke similar ideas to discuss other transport properties and demonstrate how simple behaviors including resistivity saturation and linear $T$ resistivity may appear very naturally. Our approach suggests that minimal time lags may be present in fluid dynamics.
The range of the magnitude of the liquid viscosity as a function of the temperature (T) is one of the most impressive of any physical property, changing by approximately 17 orders of magnitude from its extrapolated value at infinite temperature to th
at at the glass transition. We present experimental measurements of containerlessly processed metallic liquids that reveal that the ratio of the viscosity to its extrapolated infinite temperature value follows a universal function of Tcoop/T. The temperature Tcoop corresponds to the onset of cooperative motion and is strongly correlated with the glass transition temperature. On average the extrapolated infinite temperature viscosity is found to be nh, where h is Plancks constant and n is the particle number density. A surprising universality in the viscosity of metallic liquids and its relation to the glass transition is demonstrated.
Decoherence effects at finite temperature (T) are examined for two manifestly quantum systems: (i) Casimir forces between parallel plates that conduct along different directions, and (ii) a topological Aharonov-Bohm (AB) type force between fluxons in
a superconductor. As we illustrate, standard path integral calculations suggest that thermal effects may remove the angular dependence of the Casimir force in case (i) with a decoherence time set by h/(k_{B} T) where h is Planks constant and k_{B} is the Boltzmann constant. This prediction may be tested. The effect in case (ii) is due a phase shift picked by unpaired electrons upon encircling an odd number of fluxons. In principle, this effect may lead to small modifications in Abrikosov lattices. While the AB forces exist at extremely low temperatures, we find that thermal decoherence may strongly suppress the topological force at experimentally pertinent finite temperatures. It is suggested that both cases (i) and (ii) (as well as other examples briefly sketched) are related to a quantum version of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem.
We demonstrate that the insulating one-band Hubbard model on the pyrochlore lattice contains, for realistic parameters, an extended quantum spin-liquid phase. This is a three-dimensional spin liquid formed from a highly degenerate manifold of dimer-b
ased states, which is a subset of the classical dimer coverings obeying the ice rules. It possesses spinon excitations, which are both massive and deconfined, and on doping it exhibits spin-charge separation. We discuss the realization of this state in effective S = 1/2 pyrochlore materials with and without spin-orbit coupling.
We review the anomalous behavior of solid He-4 at low temperatures with particular attention to the role of structural defects present in solid. The discussion centers around the possible role of two level systems and structural glassy components for
inducing the observed anomalies. We propose that the origin of glassy behavior is due to the dynamics of defects like dislocations formed in He-4. Within the developed framework of glassy components in a solid, we give a summary of the results and predictions for the effects that cover the mechanical, thermodynamic, viscoelastic, and electro-elastic contributions of the glassy response of solid He-4. Our proposed glass model for solid He-4 has several implications: (1) The anomalous properties of He-4 can be accounted for by allowing defects to freeze out at lowest temperatures. The dynamics of solid He-4 is governed by glasslike (glassy) relaxation processes and the distribution of relaxation times varies significantly between different torsional oscillator, shear modulus, and dielectric function experiments. (2) Any defect freeze-out will be accompanied by thermodynamic signatures consistent with entropy contributions from defects. It follows that such entropy contribution is much smaller than the required superfluid fraction, yet it is sufficient to account for excess entropy at lowest temperatures. (3) We predict a Cole-Cole type relation between the real and imaginary part of the response functions for rotational and planar shear that is occurring due to the dynamics of defects. Similar results apply for other response functions. (4) Using the framework of glassy dynamics, we predict low-frequency yet to be measured electro-elastic features in defect rich He-4 crystals. These predictions allow one to directly test the ideas and very presence of glassy contributions in He-4.
Solid He-4 is viewed as a nearly perfect Debye solid. Yet, recent calorimetry measurements by the PSU group (J. Low Temp. Phys. 138, 853 (2005) and Nature 449, 1025 (2007)) indicate that at low temperatures the specific heat has both cubic and linear
contributions. These features appear in the same temperature range where measurements of the torsional oscillator period suggest a supersolid transition. We analyze the specific heat and compare the measured with the estimated entropy for a proposed supersolid transition with 1% superfluid fraction and find that the observed entropy is too small. We suggest that the low-temperature linear term in the specific heat is due to a glassy state that develops at low temperatures and is caused by a distribution of tunneling systems in the crystal. We propose that dislocation related defects produce those tunneling systems. Further, we argue that the reported putative mass decoupling, that means an increase in the oscillator frequency, is consistent with a glass-like transition. The glass scenario offers an alternative interpretation of the torsional oscillator experiments in contrast to the supersolid scenario of nonclassical rotational inertia.
