Unusual states of vortex matter in mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates on rotating optical lattices.

In a single-component superfluid under rotation a broken symmetry in the order parameter space results in a broken translational symmetry in real space: a vortex lattice. If translational symmetry is restored, the phase of the order parameter disorders and thus the broken symmetry in the order parameter space is also restored. We show that for Bose-Einstein condensate mixtures in optical lattices with negative dissipationless drag, a new situation arises. This state is a modulated vortex liquid which breaks translational symmetry in the direction transverse to the rotation vector.

Dirac fermions and conductance oscillations in s- and d-wave superconductor-graphene junctions.

We investigate quantum transport in a normal-superconductor graphene heterostructure, including the possibility of an anisotropic pairing potential in the superconducting region. We find that under certain circumstances, the conductance displays an undamped, oscillatory behavior as a function of applied bias voltage. Also, we investigate how the conductance spectra are affected by a d-wave pairing symmetry. These results combine unusual features of the electronic structure of graphene with the unconventional pairing symmetry found for instance in high-Tc superconductors.

Interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity in tunneling currents.

We study tunneling currents in a model consisting of two nonunitary ferromagnetic spin-triplet superconductors separated by a thin insulating layer. We find a novel interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity, manifested in the Josephson effect. This offers the possibility of tuning dissipationless currents of charge and spin in a well-defined manner by adjusting the magnetization direction on either side of the junction.

Thermal fluctuations of vortex matter in trapped bose-einstein condensates.

We perform Monte Carlo studies of vortices in three dimensions in a cylindrical confinement, with uniform and nonuniform density. The former is relevant to rotating 4He; the latter is relevant to a rotating trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. In the former case, we find dominant angular thermal vortex fluctuations close to the cylinder wall. For the latter case, a novel effect is that at low temperatures the vortex solid close to the center of the trap crosses directly over to a tensionless vortex tangle near the edge of the trap. At higher temperatures an intermediate tensionful vortex liquid located between the vortex solid and the vortex tangle may exist.

First-order phase transition in easy-plane quantum antiferromagnets.

Quantum phase transitions in Mott insulators do not fit easily into the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm. A recently proposed alternative to it is the so-called deconfined quantum criticality scenario, providing a new paradigm for quantum phase transitions. In this context it has recently been proposed that a second-order phase transition would occur in a two-dimensional spin 1/2 quantum antiferromagnet in the deep easy-plane limit. A check of this conjecture is important for understanding the phase structure of Mott insulators. To this end we have performed large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on an effective gauge theory for this system, including a Berry-phase term that projects out the S=1/2 sector. The result is a first-order phase transition, thus contradicting the conjecture.

Observability of a projected new state of matter: a metallic superfluid.

Dissipationless quantum states, such as superconductivity and superfluidity, have attracted interest for almost a century. A variety of systems exhibit these macroscopic quantum phenomena, ranging from superconducting electrons in metals to superfluid liquids, atomic vapors, and even large nuclei. It was recently suggested that liquid metallic hydrogen could form two new and unusual dissipationless quantum states, namely, the metallic superfluid and the superconducting superfluid. Liquid metallic hydrogen is projected to occur only at an extremely high pressure of about 400 GPa, with pressures on hydrogen of 320 GPa having already been reported. The issue to be addressed is whether this state could be experimentally observable in principle. We propose four experimental probes for detecting it.

Observation of a metallic superfluid in a numerical experiment.

We report the observation, in Monte Carlo simulations, of a novel type of quantum ordered state: the metallic superfluid. The metallic superfluid features Ohmic resistance to counterflows of protons and electrons, while featuring dissipationless coflows of electrons and protons. One of the candidates for a physical realization of this remarkable state of matter is hydrogen or its isotopes under high compression. This adds another potential candidate to the presently known quantum dissipationless states, namely, superconductors, superfluid liquids and vapors, and supersolids.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the risk of oral cancer: a nested case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) seem to prevent several types of cancer, but could increase the risk of cardiovascular complications. We investigated whether use of NSAIDs was associated with a change in the incidence of oral cancer or overall or cardiovascular mortality. METHODS: We undertook a nested case-control study to analyse data from a population-based database (Cohort of Norway; CONOR), which consisted of prospectively obtained health data from all regions of Norway. People with oral cancer were identified from the 9241 individuals in CONOR who were at increased risk of oral cancer because of heavy smoking (15 pack-years), and matched controls were selected from the remaining heavy smokers (who did not have cancer). FINDINGS: We identified and analysed 454 (5%) people with oral cancer (279 men, 175 women, mean [SD] age at diagnosis 63.3 [13.2] years) and 454 matched controls (n=908); 263 (29%) had used NSAIDs, 83 (9%) had used paracetamol (for a minimum of 6 months), and 562 (62%) had used neither drug. NSAID use (but not paracetamol use) was associated with a reduced risk of oral cancer (including in active smokers; hazard ratio 0.47, 95% CI 0.37-0.60, p<0.0001). Smoking cessation also lowered the risk of oral cancer (0.41, 0.32-0.52, p<0.0001). Additionally, long-term use of NSAIDs (but not paracetamol) was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular-disease-related death (2.06, 1.34-3.18, p=0.001). NSAID use did not significantly reduce overall mortality (p=0.17). INTERPRETATION: Long-term use of NSAIDs is associated with a reduced incidence of oral cancer (including in active smokers), but also with an increased risk of death due to cardiovascular disease. These findings highlight the need for a careful risk-benefit analysis when the long-term use of NSAIDs is considered.

Vortex sublattice melting in a two-component superconductor.

We consider the vortices in a superconductor with two individually conserved condensates in a finite magnetic field. The ground state is a lattice of cocentered vortices in both order parameters. We find two phase transitions: (i) a "vortex sublattice melting" transition where vortices in the field with lowest phase stiffness ("light vortices") lose cocentricity with the vortices with large phase stiffness ("heavy vortices"), entering a liquid state (the structure factor of the light vortices vanishes continuously; this transition is in the 3Dxy universality class); (ii) a first-order melting transition of the lattice of heavy vortices, in a liquid of light vortices.

Critical properties of the N-color london model.

The critical properties of the N-color London model are studied in d=2+1 dimensions. The model is dualized to a theory of N vortex fields interacting through a Coulomb and a screened potential. The model with N=2 shows two anomalies in the specific heat. From the critical exponents alpha and nu, the mass of the gauge field, and the vortex correlation functions, we conclude that one anomaly corresponds to an inverted 3Dxy fixed point, while the other corresponds to a 3Dxy fixed point. There are N fixed points, namely, one corresponding to an inverted 3Dxy fixed point, and N-1 corresponding to neutral 3Dxy fixed points. This represents a novel type of quantum fluid, where superfluid modes arise out of charged condensates.

Metal-insulator transition in two- and three-dimensional logarithmic plasmas.

We consider the scaling of the mean square dipole moment in a plasma with logarithmic interactions in a two- and three-dimensional systems. In both cases, we establish the existence of a low-temperature regime where the mean square dipole moment does not scale with system size and a high-temperature regime where it does scale with system size. Thus, there is a nonanalytic change in the polarizability of the system as a function of temperature and hence a metal-insulator transition in both cases. The relevance of this transition in three dimensions to quantum phase transitions in (2+1)-dimensional systems is briefly discussed.

Criticality versus q in the (2+1)-dimensional Zq clock model.

Using Monte Carlo simulations we have studied the d=3 Z(q) clock model in two different representations, the phase representation and the loop-gas/dumbbell-gas representation. We find that for q> or =5 the critical exponents alpha and nu for the specific heat and the correlation length, respectively, take on values corresponding to the case q--> infinity, the XY model. Hence in terms of critical properties the limiting behavior is reached already at q=5.

Criticality in the (2+1)-dimensional compact Higgs model and fractionalized insulators.

We use a novel method of computing the third moment M3 of the action of the (2+1)-dimensional compact Higgs model in the adjoint representation with q=2 to extract correlation length and specific heat exponents nu and alpha without invoking hyperscaling. Finite-size scaling analysis of M3 yields the ratios (1+alpha)/nu and 1/nu separately. We find that alpha and nu vary along the critical line of the theory, which however exhibits a remarkable resilience of Z2 criticality. We propose this novel universality class to be that of the quantum phase transition from a Mott-Hubbard insulator to a charge-fractionalized insulator in two spatial dimensions.

Staggered flux phase in a model of strongly correlated electrons.

We present numerical evidence for the existence of a staggered flux (SF) phase in the half-filled two-leg t-U-V-J ladder, with true long-range order in the countercirculating currents. The density-matrix renormalization-group finite-size scaling approach, generalized to describe complex-valued Hamil-tonians and wave functions, is employed. The SF phase exhibits robust currents at intermediate values of the interaction strength.

Anomalous scaling dimensions and stable charged fixed point of type-II superconductors

The critical properties of a type-II superconductor model are investigated using a dual vortex representation. Computing the propagators of gauge field A and dual gauge field h in terms of a vortex correlation function, we obtain the values eta(A) = 1 and eta(h) = 1 for their anomalous dimensions. This provides support for a dual description of the Ginzburg-Landau theory of type-II superconductors in the continuum limit, as well as for the existence of a stable charged fixed point of the theory, not in the 3D XY universality class.

Hausdorff dimension of critical fluctuations in abelian gauge theories

The geometric properties of the critical fluctuations in Abelian gauge theories such as the Ginzburg-Landau model are analyzed in zero background field. Using a dual description, we obtain scaling relations between exponents of geometric and thermodynamic nature. In particular, we connect the anomalous scaling dimension eta of the dual matter field to the Hausdorff dimension D(H) of the critical fluctuations, which are fractal objects. The connection between the values of eta and D(H), and the possibility of having a thermodynamic transition in finite background field, is discussed.