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We derive a general criterion for determining the onset of superradiant phase transition in electronic bands coupled to a cavity field, with possibly electron-electron interactions. For longitudinal superradiance in 2D or genuine 1D systems, we prove that it is always prevented, thereby extending existing no-go theorems. Instead, a superradiant phase transition can occur to a nonuniform transverse cavity field and we give specific examples in noninteracting models, either through Fermi surface nesting or parabolic band touching. Investigating the resulting time-reversal symmetry breaking superradiant states, we find in the former case Fermi surface lifting down to four Dirac points on a square lattice model, with topologically protected zero modes, and in the latter case topological bands with nonzero Chern number on an hexagonal lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a consistent formulation of the phase-field approach to model the behavior of nonmiscible alloys under irradiation which includes elastic strain fields, an example of a long-range interaction. Simulations show that the spatial isotropy that is characteristic of radiation-induced patterns breaks down as a result of the elastic strain energy. The consequence of this is the emergence of superlattice structures under irradiation liable to modify macroscopic material properties. This approach is assessed against the experimental study of a AgCu alloy under irradiation: we compare our simulation results to measured solubility limits and Young moduli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss general features of charge transport in nonrelativistic classical field theories invariant under non-Abelian unitary Lie groups by examining the full structure of two-point dynamical correlation functions in grand-canonical ensembles at finite charge densities (polarized ensembles). Upon explicit breaking of non-Abelian symmetry, two distinct transport laws characterized by dynamical exponent z=2 arise. While in the unbroken symmetry sector, the Cartan fields exhibit normal diffusion, the transversal sectors governed by the nonlinear analogs of Goldstone modes disclose an unconventional law of diffusion, characterized by a complex diffusion constant and undulating patterns in the spatiotemporal correlation profiles. In the limit of strong polarization, one retrieves the imaginary-time diffusion for uncoupled linear Goldstone modes, whereas for weak polarizations the imaginary component of the diffusion constant becomes small. In models of higher rank symmetry, we prove absence of dynamical correlations among distinct transversal sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symmetry-breaking transitions are a well-understood phenomenon of closed quantum systems in quantum optics, condensed matter, and high energy physics. However, symmetry breaking in open systems is less thoroughly understood, in part due to the richer steady-state and symmetry structure that such systems possess. For the prototypical open system--a Lindbladian--a unitary symmetry can be imposed in a "weak" or a "strong" way. We characterize the possible Zn symmetry-breaking transitions for both cases. In the case of Z2, a weak-symmetry-broken phase guarantees at most a classical bit steady-state structure, while a strong-symmetry-broken phase admits a partially protected steady-state qubit. Viewing photonic cat qubits through the lens of strong-symmetry breaking, we show how to dynamically recover the logical information after any gap-preserving strong-symmetric error; such recovery becomes perfect exponentially quickly in the number of photons. Our study forges a connection between driven-dissipative phase transitions and error correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum many-body systems out of equilibrium can host intriguing phenomena such as transitions to exotic dynamical states. Although this emergent behaviour can be observed in experiments, its potential for technological applications is largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the impact of collective effects on quantum engines that extract mechanical work from a many-body system. Using an optomechanical cavity setup with an interacting atomic gas as a working fluid, we demonstrate theoretically that such engines produce work under periodic driving. The stationary cycle of the working fluid features nonequilibrium phase transitions, resulting in abrupt changes of the work output. Remarkably, we find that our many-body quantum engine operates even without periodic driving. This phenomenon occurs when its working fluid enters a phase that breaks continuous time-translation symmetry: The emergent time-crystalline phase can sustain the motion of a load generating mechanical work. Our findings pave the way for designing novel nonequilibrium quantum machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractional kinetic equations employ noninteger calculus to model anomalous relaxation and diffusion in many systems. While this approach is well explored, it so far failed to describe an important class of transport in disordered systems. Motivated by work on contaminant spreading in geological formations, we propose and investigate a fractional advection-diffusion equation describing the biased spreading packet. While usual transport is described by diffusion and drift, we find a third term describing symmetry breaking which is omnipresent for transport in disordered systems. Our work is based on continuous time random walks with a finite mean waiting time and a diverging variance, a case that on the one hand is very common and on the other was missing in the kaleidoscope literature of fractional equations. The fractional space derivatives stem from long trapping times, while previously they were interpreted as a consequence of spatial Lévy flights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that when the time reversal symmetry is broken in a multicomponent superconducting condensate without inversion symmetry the resulting Bogoliubov quasiparticles generically exhibit mini-Bogoliubov-Fermi (BF) surfaces, for small superconducting order parameter. The absence of inversion symmetry makes the BF surfaces stable with respect to weak perturbations. With sufficient increase of the order parameter, however, the Bogoliubov-Fermi surface may disappear through a Lifshitz transition, and the spectrum this way become fully gapped. Our demonstration is based on the computation of the effective Hamiltonian for the bands near the normal Fermi surface by the integration over high-energy states. Exceptions to the rule, and experimental consequences are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the quantum-phase-estimate (QPE) algorithm, a method is proposed to construct entangled states that describe correlated many-body systems on quantum computers. Using operators for which the discrete set of eigenvalues is known, the QPE approach is followed by measurements that serve as projectors on the entangled states. These states can then be used as inputs for further quantum or hybrid quantum-classical processing. When the operator is associated with a symmetry of the Hamiltonian, the approach can be seen as a quantum-computer formulation of symmetry breaking followed by symmetry restoration. The method, called discrete spectra assisted, is applied to superfluid systems. By using the blocking technique adapted to qubits, the full spectra of a pairing Hamiltonian is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though no local order parameter in the sense of the Landau theory exists for topological quantum phase transitions in Chern insulators, the highly nonlocal Berry curvature exhibits critical behavior near a quantum critical point. We investigate the critical properties of its real space analog, the local Chern marker, in weakly disordered Chern insulators. Because of disorder, inhomogeneities appear in the spatial distribution of the local Chern marker. Their size exhibits power-law scaling with the critical exponent matching the one extracted from the Berry curvature of a clean system. We drive the system slowly through such a quantum phase transition. The characteristic size of inhomogeneities in the nonequilibrium postquench state obeys the Kibble-Zurek scaling. In this setting, the local Chern marker thus does behave in a similar way as a local order parameter for a symmetry breaking second order phase transition. The Kibble-Zurek scaling also holds for the inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution of excitations and of the orbital polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-particle spectroscopy with correlated electron pairs is used to establish the causal link between the secondary electron spectrum, the (π + σ) plasmon peak, and the unoccupied band structure of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. The plasmon spectrum is resolved with respect to the involved interband transitions and clearly exhibits final state effects, in particular due to the energy gap between the interlayer resonances along the Γ A direction. The corresponding final state effects can also be identified in the secondary electron spectrum. Interpretation of the results is performed on the basis of density-functional theory and tight-binding calculations. Excitation of the plasmon perturbs the symmetry of the system and leads to hybridization of the interlayer resonances with atomlike σ ∗ bands along the Γ A direction. These hybrid states have a high density of states as well as sufficient mobility along the graphite c axis leading to the sharp ∼ 3     eV resonance in the spectrum of emitted secondary electrons reported throughout the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrons in 2D systems with broken inversion symmetry are spin-polarized due to spin-orbit coupling and provide perfect targets for observing exotic spin-related fundamental phenomena. We observe a Fermi surface with a novel spin texture in the 2D metallic system formed by indium double layers on Si(111) and find that the primary origin of the spin-polarized electronic states of this system is the orbital angular momentum and not the so-called Rashba effect. The present results deepen the understanding of the physics arising from spin-orbit coupling in atomic-layered materials with consequences for spintronic devices and the physics of the superconducting state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been proposed that doping a chiral spin liquid (CSL) or fractional quantum Hall state can give rise to topological superconductivity. Despite intensive effort, definitive evidences still remain lacking. We address this problem by studying the t-J model supplemented by time-reversal symmetry breaking chiral interaction Jχ on the triangular lattice using density-matrix renormalization group with a finite concentration δ of doped holes. It has been established that the undoped, i.e., δ=0, system has a CSL ground state in the parameter region 0.32≤Jχ/J≤0.56. Upon light doping, we find that the ground state of the system is consistent with a Luther-Emery liquid with power-law superconducting and charge-density-wave correlations but short-range spin-spin correlations. In particular, the superconducting correlations, whose pairing symmetry is consistent with d±id wave, are dominant at all hole doping concentrations. Our results provide direct evidences that doping the CSL on the triangular lattice can naturally give rise to topological superconductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power exhaust from the bulk plasma is significantly altered by symmetry breaking magnetic perturbation fields, because these create direct connections (perturbed field lines) from the confined high temperature plasma to solid surfaces. The same amount of power is distributed among those new exhaust channels as for a symmetric magnetic configuration, which reduces the local upstream heat flux flowing down the perturbed field lines, thereby making access to detachment easier (i.e., at lower upstream density) for the divertor plasma near the location corresponding to the symmetric magnetic separatrix. However, the divertor plasma regions with connection to the bulk plasma are extended nonaxisymmetrically further outside, where significant heat loads occur, unlike in the symmetric configuration. The temperature remains high at those locations, which reduces the divertor plasma dissipation capacity, making the mitigation of heat loads more difficult to achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the existence of conformal field theories that persistently break a global symmetry at finite temperature. We identify vector models in (3-ε) spatial dimensions that have internal symmetries broken at any temperature. We study these systems in the small ε regime and in the large rank limit. The latter displays a conformal manifold and a moduli space of vacua deformed at finite temperature. We touch upon a candidate in d=2 dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping a topological insulator (TI) film with transition metal ions can break its time-reversal symmetry and lead to the realization of the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect. Prior studies have shown that the longitudinal resistance of the QAH samples usually does not vanish when the Hall resistance shows a good quantization. This has been interpreted as a result of the presence of possible dissipative conducting channels in magnetic TI samples. By studying the temperature- and magnetic-field-dependence of the magnetoresistance of a magnetic TI sandwich heterostructure device, we demonstrate that the predominant dissipation mechanism in thick QAH insulators can switch between nonchiral edge states and residual bulk states in different magnetic-field regimes. The interactions between bulk states, chiral edge states, and nonchiral edge states are also investigated. Our Letter provides a way to distinguish between the dissipation arising from the residual bulk states and nonchiral edge states, which is crucial for achieving true dissipationless transport in QAH insulators and for providing deeper insights into QAH-related phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical nonreciprocity is an essential property for a wide range of applications, such as building nonreciprocal optical devices that include isolators and circulators. The realization of optical nonreciprocity relies on breaking the symmetry associated with Lorentz reciprocity, which typically requires stringent conditions such as introducing a strong magnetic field or a high-finesse cavity with nonreciprocal coupling geometry. Here we discover that the collision effect of thermal atoms, which is undesirable for most studies, can induce broadband optical nonreciprocity. By exploiting the thermal atomic collision, we experimentally observe magnet-free and cavity-free optical nonreciprocity, which possesses a high isolation ratio, ultrabroad bandwidth, and low insertion loss simultaneously. The maximum isolation ratio is close to 40 dB, while the insertion loss is less than 1 dB. The bandwidth for an isolation ratio exceeding 20 dB is over 1.2 GHz, which is 2 orders of magnitude broader than typical resonance-enhanced optical isolators. Our work paves the way for the realization of high-performance optical nonreciprocal devices and provides opportunities for applications in integrated optics and quantum networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical response of naturally abundant amorphous solids such as gels, jammed grains, and biological tissues are not described by the conventional paradigm of broken symmetry that defines crystalline elasticity. In contrast, the response of such athermal solids are governed by local conditions of mechanical equilibrium, i.e., force and torque balance of its constituents. Here we show that these constraints have the mathematical structure of a generalized electromagnetism, where the electrostatic limit successfully captures the anisotropic elasticity of amorphous solids. The emergence of elasticity from local mechanical constraints offers a new paradigm for systems with no broken symmetry, analogous to emergent gauge theories of quantum spin liquids. Specifically, our U(1) rank-2 symmetric tensor gauge theory of elasticity translates to the electromagnetism of fractonic phases of matter with the stress mapped to electric displacement and forces to vector charges. We corroborate our theoretical results with numerical simulations of soft frictionless disks in both two and three dimensions, and experiments on frictional disks in two dimensions. We also present experimental evidence indicating that force chains in granular media are subdimensional excitations of amorphous elasticity similar to fractons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present numerical evidence for the crystallization of magnons below the saturation field at nonzero temperatures for the highly frustrated spin-half kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet. This phenomenon can be traced back to the existence of independent localized magnons or, equivalently, flatband multimagnon states. We present a loop-gas description of these localized magnons and a phase diagram of this transition, thus providing information for which magnetic fields and temperatures magnon crystallization can be observed experimentally. The emergence of a finite-temperature continuous transition to a magnon crystal is expected to be generic for spin models in dimension D>1 where flatband multimagnon ground states break translational symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entropy production rate associated with broken time-reversal symmetry provides an essential characterization of nanosystems out of equilibrium, from driven colloidal particles to molecular motors. Limited access to the dynamical states is generally expected to hinder the correct estimation of this observable. Here we show how memoryless jump processes can be coarse grained, exactly preserving its average and fluctuations at stationarity. This supports univocal applicability of fluctuation theorems for entropy and allows inference of the genuine thermodynamics together with inaccessible process details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear fission plays an important role in fundamental and applied science, from astrophysics to nuclear engineering, yet it remains a major challenge to nuclear theory. Theoretical methods used so far to compute fission observables rely on symmetry-breaking schemes where basic information on the number of particles, angular momentum, and parity of the fissioning nucleus is lost. In this Letter, we analyze the impact of restoring broken symmetries in the benchmark case of 240Pu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many biological systems display intriguing chiral patterns and dynamics. Here, we present an active nematic theory accounting for individual spin to explore the collective handedness in chiral rod-shaped aggregations. We show that coordinated individual spin and motility can engender a vortex-array pattern with chirality and drive ordering of topological defects. During this chiral process, the stationary trefoil-like defects self-organize into a periodic, hexagon-dominated polygonal network, which segregates persistently rotating cometlike defects in pairs within each polygon, leading to a translation symmetry at the global scale while a broken reflection symmetry at the local scale. Such defect ordering agrees exactly with the Voronoi tiling of two-dimensional space and the emergence of the hexagonal symmetry is deciphered in analogy with topological charge neutralization. We calculate energy barriers to the topological transition of the defect ordering and explain the existing metastable states with nonhexagonal polygons. Our findings shed light on the chiral morphodynamics in life processes and also suggest a potential route towards tuning self-organization in active materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used a combination of polarized Raman spectroscopy and spin wave calculations to study magnetic excitations in the strong spin-orbit-coupled bilayer perovskite antiferromagnet Sr3Ir2O7. We observed two broad Raman features at ∼800 and ∼1400 cm-1 arising from magnetic excitations. Unconventionally, the ∼800 cm-1 feature is fully symmetric (A1g) with respect to the underlying tetragonal (D4h) crystal lattice which, together with its broad line shape, definitively rules out the possibility of a single magnon excitation as its origin. In contrast, the ∼1400 cm-1 feature shows up in both the A1g and B2g channels. From spin wave and two-magnon scattering cross-section calculations of a tetragonal bilayer antiferromagnet, we identified the ∼800 cm-1 (1400 cm-1) feature as two-magnon excitations with pairs of magnons from the zone-center Γ point (zone-boundary van Hove singularity X point). We further found that this zone-center two-magnon scattering is unique to bilayer perovskite magnets which host an optical branch in addition to the acoustic branch, as compared to their single layer counterparts. This zone-center two-magnon mode is distinct in symmetry from the time-reversal symmetry broken "spin wave gap" and "phase mode" proposed to explain the ∼92 meV (742 cm-1) gap in resonant inelastic x-ray spectroscopy magnetic excitation spectra of Sr3Ir2O7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulator is the key material to study emergent topological quantum effects, but its ultralow working temperature limits experiments. Here, by first-principles calculations, we find a family of stable two-dimensional (2D) structures generated by lithium decoration of layered iron-based superconductor materials FeX(X=S,Se,Te), and predict room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductors together with large-gap high-Chern-number QAH insulators in the 2D materials. The extremely robust ferromagnetic order is induced by the electron injection from Li to Fe and stabilized by strong ferromagnetic kinetic exchange in the 2D Fe layer. While in the absence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the ferromagnetism polarizes the system into a half Dirac semimetal state protected by mirror symmetry, the SOC effect results in a spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry and introduces a Dirac mass term, which creates QAH states with sizable gaps (several tens of meV) and multiple chiral edge modes. We also find a 3D QAH insulator phase featured by a macroscopic number of chiral conduction channels in bulk LiOH-LiFe?X. The findings open new opportunities to realize novel QAH physics and applications at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lateral optical forces in a direction perpendicular to light propagation have attracted increasing interest in recent years. Up to now, all lateral forces can be attributed to the symmetry breaking in the lateral directions caused by either the morphology of the scatterer geometry or the optical fields impinging on the scatterer. Here we demonstrate, both numerically and analytically, that when an isotropic scatterer breaks the electric-magnetic symmetry, a new type of anomalous lateral force can be induced along the direction of translational invariance where the illumination striking the scatterer has no propagation, field gradient, or spin density vortex (Belinfante's spin momentum). Our analytical results are rigorous for an arbitrary size scatterer, ensuring the universality of our conclusion. Furthermore, the electric-magnetic symmetry-breaking-induced lateral force is comparable in magnitude to other components of the optical force and reversible in direction for different polarizations of the illuminating light, rendering it capable of practical optical manipulation as well as enriching the understanding of light-matter interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a universal practical approach to realize magnetic second-order topological insulator (SOTI) materials, based on properly breaking the time reversal symmetry in conventional (first-order) topological insulators. The approach works for both three dimensions (3D) and two dimensions (2D), and is particularly suitable for 2D, where it can be achieved by coupling a quantum spin Hall insulator with a magnetic substrate. Using first-principles calculations, we predict bismuthene on EuO(111) surface as the first realistic system for a two-dimensional magnetic SOTI. We explicitly demonstrate the existence of the protected corner states. Benefitting from the large spin-orbit coupling and sizable magnetic proximity effect, these corner states are located in a boundary gap ∼83 meV, and hence can be readily probed in experiment. By controlling the magnetic phase transition, a topological phase transition between a first-order TI and a SOTI can be simultaneously achieved in the system. The effect of symmetry breaking, the connection with filling anomaly, and the experimental detection are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate by breaking the C6 symmetry for higher-order at-Γ bound states in the continuum (BICs) with topological charge -2 in photonic crystals (i) deterministic generation of off-Γ BICs from the at-Γ BIC and (ii) a variety of pair-creation and annihilation processes of circularly polarized states with opposite topological charges and the same handedness. To explain these phenomena, we introduce the handedness-wise topological charge quantized to a half-integer. The handedness-wise charge gives a unified picture of various phenomena involving BICs and circularly polarized states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of precision measurements have firmly established the Kobayashi-Maskawa phase as the dominant source of the charge-parity (CP) violation observed in weak quark decays. However, it is still unclear whether CP violation is explicitly encoded in complex Yukawa matrices or instead stems from spontaneous symmetry breaking with underlying CP -conserving Yukawa and Higgs sectors. Here we study the latter possibility for the case of a generic two-Higgs-doublet model. We find that theoretical constraints limit the ratio t β of the vacuum expectation values (vevs) to the range 0.22 ≤ t β ≤ 4.5 and imply the upper bounds M H ± ≤ 435 ≤ GeV, MH02 ≤ 485 ≤ GeV and MH03 ≤ 545 ≤ GeV for the charged and extra neutral Higgs masses. We derive lower bounds on charged-Higgs couplings to bottom quarks which provide a strong motivation to study the nonstandard production and decay signatures p p → q b H ± (→ q ′ b) with all flavors q, q ′ = u, c, t in the search for the charged Higgs boson. We further present a few benchmark scenarios with interesting discovery potential in collider analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is shown that vibrated packings of frictional disks self-organize cooperatively onto a rotational-transport state where the long-time angular velocity ωi of each disk i is nonzero. Steady rotation is mediated by the spontaneous breaking of local reflection symmetry, arising when the cages in which disks are constrained by their neighbors acquire quenched disorder at large packing densities. Experiments and numerical simulation of this unexpected phenomenon show excellent agreement with each other, revealing two rotational phases as a function of excitation intensity, respectively, the low-drive (LDR) and the moderate-drive (MDR) regimes. In the LDR, interdisk contacts are persistent and rotation happens due to frictional sliding. In the MDR, disks bounce against each other, still forming a solid phase. In the LDR, simple energy-dissipation arguments are provided, that support the observed dependence of the typical rotational velocity on excitation strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kohn-Luttinger mechanism for unconventional superconductivity (SC) driven by weak repulsive electron-electron interactions on a periodic lattice is generalized to the quasicrystal (QC) via a real-space perturbative approach. The repulsive Hubbard model on the Penrose lattice is studied as an example, on which a classification of the pairing symmetries is performed and a pairing phase diagram is obtained. Two remarkable properties of these pairing states are revealed, due to the combination of the presence of the point-group symmetry and the lack of translation symmetry on this lattice. First, the spin and spacial angular momenta of a Cooper pair is decorrelated: for each pairing symmetry, both spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairings are possible even in the weak-pairing limit. Second, the pairing states belonging to the 2D irreducible representations of the D5 point group can be time-reversal-symmetry-breaking topological SCs carrying spontaneous bulk super current and spontaneous vortices. These two remarkable properties are general for the SCs on all QCs, and are rare on periodic lattices. Our work starts the new area of unconventional SCs driven by repulsive interactions on the QC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of spin-orbit coupling with interactions results in many exotic phases of matter. In this Letter, we investigate the superconducting pairing instability of the two-dimensional extended Hubbard model with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling within the mean-field level at both zero and finite temperature. We find that both first- and second-order time-reversal symmetry breaking topological gapped phases can be achieved under appropriate parameters and temperature regimes due to the presence of a favored even-parity s+id-wave pairing even in the absence of an external magnetic field or intrinsic magnetism. This results in two branches of chiral Majorana edge states on each edge or a single zero-energy Majorana corner state at each corner of the sample. Interestingly, we also find that not only does tuning the doping level lead to a direct topological phase transition between these two distinct topological gapped phases, but also using the temperature as a highly controllable and reversible tuning knob leads to different direct temperature-driven topological phase transitions between gapped and gapless topological superconducting phases. Our findings suggest new possibilities in interacting spin-orbit coupled systems by unifying both first- and higher-order topological superconductors in a simple but realistic microscopic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating sensory inputs with prior beliefs from past experiences in unsupervised learning is a common and fundamental characteristic of brain or artificial neural computation. However, a quantitative role of prior knowledge in unsupervised learning remains unclear, prohibiting a scientific understanding of unsupervised learning. Here, we propose a statistical physics model of unsupervised learning with prior knowledge, revealing that the sensory inputs drive a series of continuous phase transitions related to spontaneous intrinsic-symmetry breaking. The intrinsic symmetry includes both reverse symmetry and permutation symmetry, commonly observed in most artificial neural networks. Compared to the prior-free scenario, the prior reduces more strongly the minimal data size triggering the reverse-symmetry breaking transition, and moreover, the prior merges, rather than separates, permutation-symmetry breaking phases. We claim that the prior can be learned from data samples, which in physics corresponds to a two-parameter Nishimori constraint. This Letter thus reveals mechanisms about the influence of the prior on unsupervised learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by recent experimental realizations of polar metals with broken inversion symmetry, we explore the emergence of strong correlations driven by criticality when the polar transition temperature is tuned to zero. Overcoming previously discussed challenges, we demonstrate a robust mechanism for coupling between the critical mode and electrons in multiband metals. We identify and characterize several novel interacting phases, including non-Fermi liquids, when band crossings are close to the Fermi level and present their experimental signatures for three generic types of band crossings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report terahertz (THz) light-induced second harmonic generation, in superconductors with inversion symmetry that forbid even-order nonlinearities. The THz second harmonic emission vanishes above the superconductor critical temperature and arises from precession of twisted Anderson pseudospins at a multicycle, THz driving frequency that is not allowed by equilibrium symmetry. We explain the microscopic physics by a dynamical symmetry breaking principle at sub-THz-cycle by using quantum kinetic modeling of the interplay between strong THz-lightwave nonlinearity and pulse propagation. The resulting nonzero integrated pulse area inside the superconductor leads to light-induced nonlinear supercurrents due to subcycle Cooper pair acceleration, in contrast to dc-biased superconductors, which can be controlled by the band structure and THz driving field below the superconducting gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloids dispersed in electrolytes and exposed to an electric field produce a locally polarized cloud of ions around them. Above a critical electric field strength, an instability occurs causing these ion clouds to break symmetry leading to spontaneous rotation of particles about an axis orthogonal to the applied field, a phenomenon named Quincke rotation. In this Letter, we characterize a new mode of electrokinetic transport. If the colloids have a net charge, Quincke rotation couples with electrophoretic motion and propels particles in a direction orthogonal to both the applied field and the axis of rotation. This motion is a spontaneous, electrokinetic analogue to the well-known Magnus effect. Typically, motion orthogonal to a field requires anisotropy in particle shape, dielectric properties, or boundary geometry. Here, the electrokinetic Magnus (EKM) effect occurs for spheres with isotropic properties in an unbounded environment, with the Quincke rotation instability providing the broken symmetry needed to drive orthogonal motion. We study the EKM effect using explicit ion, Brownian dynamics simulations and develop a simple, continuum, analytic electrokinetic theory, which are in agreement. We also explain how nonlinearities in the theoretical description of the ions affect Quincke rotation and the EKM effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prime category of superconducting materials in which to look for spin-triplet pairing and topological superconductivity are superconductors without inversion symmetry. It is predicted that the broken parity symmetry gives rise to an admixture of spin-triplet and spin-singlet pairing states. However, experimental confirmation of pairing mixing in any material remains elusive. In this work, we perform a phase-sensitive experiment to examine the pairing state of noncentrosymmetric superconductor α-BiPd. The Little-Parks effect observed in mesoscopic polycrystalline α-BiPd rings reveals the presence of half-integer magnetic flux quantization, which provides a decisive evidence for the spin-triplet pairing state. We find both half-quantum fluxes and integer-quantum fluxes of different proportions, consistent with the scenario of an admixture of singlet-triplet pairing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultracompact dark matter (DM) minihalos at masses at and below 10-12 M⊙ arise in axion DM models where the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is broken after inflation. The minihalos arise from density perturbations that are generated from the nontrivial axion self-interactions during and shortly after the collapse of the axion-string and domain-wall network. We perform high-resolution simulations of this scenario starting at the epoch before the PQ phase transition and ending at matter-radiation equality. We characterize the spectrum of primordial perturbations that are generated and comment on implications for efforts to detect axion DM. We also measure the DM density at different simulated masses and argue that the correct DM density is obtained for ma=25.2±11.0 μeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite extensive experimental and theoretical efforts, the important issue of the effects of surface magnetic impurities on the topological surface state of a topological insulator (TI) remains unresolved. We elucidate the effects of Cr impurities on epitaxial thin films of (Bi0.5Sb0.5)2Te3: Cr adatoms are incrementally deposited onto the TI held in ultrahigh vacuum at low temperatures, and in situ magnetoconductivity and Hall effect measurements are performed at each increment with electrostatic gating. In the experimentally identified surface transport regime, the measured minimum electron density shows a nonmonotonic evolution with the Cr density (nCr): it first increases and then decreases with nCr. This unusual behavior is ascribed to the dual roles of the Cr as ionized impurities and electron donors, having competing effects of enhancing and decreasing the electronic inhomogeneities in the surface state at low and high nCr, respectively. The magnetoconductivity is obtained for different nCr on one and the same sample, which yields clear evidence that the weak antilocalization effect persists and the surface state remains gapless up to the highest nCr, contrary to the expectation that the deposited Cr should break the time-reversal symmetry and induce a gap opening at the Dirac point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) form an extremely unusual magnetic state in which the spins are highly correlated and fluctuate coherently down to the lowest temperatures, but without symmetry breaking and without the formation of any static long-range-ordered magnetism. Such intriguing phenomena are not only of great fundamental relevance in themselves, but also hold promise for quantum computing and quantum information. Among different types of QSLs, the exactly solvable Kitaev model is attracting much attention, with most proposed candidate materials, e.g., RuCl3 and Na2IrO3, having an effective S = 1/2 spin value. Here, via extensive first-principles-based simulations, we report the investigation of the Kitaev physics and possible Kitaev QSL state in epitaxially strained Cr-based monolayers, such as CrSiTe3, that rather possess a S = 3/2 spin value. Our study thus extends the playground of Kitaev physics and QSLs to 3d transition metal compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature dependencies of the lower critical field Hc1(T) of several filled-skutterudite superconductors were investigated by local magnetization measurements. While LaOs4As12 and PrRu4As12 exhibit the Hc1(T) dependencies consistent with the single-band BCS prediction, for LaRu4As12 (the superconducting temperature Tc=10.4 K) with a similar three-dimensional Fermi surface, we observe a sudden increase in Hc1(T) deep in a superconducting state below about 0.32Tc. Remarkably, a rapid rise of Hc1(T) at approximately the same reduced temperature 0.27Tc is also found for the heavy-fermion compound PrOs4Sb12 (Tc 1.78 K), in fair accord with the earlier macroscopic study. We attribute the unusual Hc1(T) dependencies of LaRu4As12 and PrOs4Sb12 to a kink structure in their superfluid densities due to different contributions from two nearly decoupled bands. Whereas LaRu4As12 is established as a two-band isotropic s-wave superconductor, nonsaturating behavior of Hc1(T) is observed for PrOs4Sb12, indicative of an anisotropic structure of a smaller gap. For this superconductor with broken time-reversal symmetry, our findings suggest a superconducting state with multiple symmetries of the order parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]