Video Library

Large zero point motion of light atoms in solid Helium 4 leads to several anomalous properties, including a supersolid type behavior. We suggest an `anisotropic quantum melted' atom density wave model for solid He4 with hcp symmetry. Here, atoms preferentially quantum melt along the c-axis and maintain self organized crystallinity and confined dynamics along ab-plane.

We investigate possible quantum spin liquid phases in the presence of a variety of spin-rotational-symmetry breaking perturbations. Projective symmetry group analysis on slave-particle representations is used to understand possible spin liquid phases on the Kagome lattice. The results of this analysis are used to  make connections to the exiting and future experiments on  Herbertsmithites. Applications to other systems are also discussed.

I will discuss recent work on 3d Symmetry Protected Topological (SPT) phases of bosonic systems, and their implications for understanding the more exotic quantum spin liquid phases. First I will describe various characterizations of these 3d SPT phases, in particular their surface effective theories and (when applicable)  bulk electromagnetic response. Next I will show how this understanding leads to several new insights into the theory of both 2d and 3d quantum spin liquids. Finally I will provide an explicit construction of several 3d SPT phases in a system of `coupled layers'.

We show that the recent AMS02
positron fraction measurement is perfectly consistent with a secondary origin for positrons, and does not require additional primary sources such as pulsars or dark matter. Within the secondary model the AMS02 data imply a cosmic ray propagation time in the

Galaxy of about one Myr and an average traversed interstellar matter density of about 1/cc at a rigidity of 300 GV. These results may hint that high energy cosmic rays are confined to a thin halo of scale height similar to the gaseous disk.