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Published work

53 published item(s)

preprint2026arXiv

Beyond Shortcuts: Mitigating Visual Illusions in Frozen VLMs via Qualitative Reasoning

While Vision-Language Models (VLMs) have achieved state-of-the-art performance in general visual tasks, their perceptual robustness remains remarkably brittle when confronted with optical illusions. These failures are often attributed to shortcut heuristics, where models prioritize linguistic priors and memorized prototypes over direct visual evidence. In this work, we propose Structured Qualitative Inference (SQI), a training-free, data-centric framework designed to fortify visual grounding in frozen VLMs. SQI addresses perceptual anomalies through three systematic modules: (1) Axiomatic Constraint Injection, which suppresses erroneous metric estimations and quantitative hallucinations; (2) Hierarchical Scene Decomposition, which decouples target visual manifolds from complex background distractors; and (3) Counterfactual Self-Verification, an adversarial reasoning step that mitigates confirmation bias. By orchestrating these qualitative constraints at inference time, SQI effectively aligns high-level linguistic reasoning with low-level visual perception. Our framework was evaluated on the DataCV 2026 Challenge (Task I: Classic Illusion Understanding), where it ranked 2nd place overall. Experimental results demonstrate that SQI not only significantly enhances accuracy across diverse illusion categories but also provides superior diagnostic interpretability without any model fine-tuning. Our success underscores the potential of structured qualitative grounding as a robust paradigm for developing next-generation, illusion-resistant vision-language systems.

preprint2022arXiv

ATTRITION: Attacking Static Hardware Trojan Detection Techniques Using Reinforcement Learning

Stealthy hardware Trojans (HTs) inserted during the fabrication of integrated circuits can bypass the security of critical infrastructures. Although researchers have proposed many techniques to detect HTs, several limitations exist, including: (i) a low success rate, (ii) high algorithmic complexity, and (iii) a large number of test patterns. Furthermore, the most pertinent drawback of prior detection techniques stems from an incorrect evaluation methodology, i.e., they assume that an adversary inserts HTs randomly. Such inappropriate adversarial assumptions enable detection techniques to claim high HT detection accuracy, leading to a "false sense of security." Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, despite more than a decade of research on detecting HTs inserted during fabrication, there have been no concerted efforts to perform a systematic evaluation of HT detection techniques. In this paper, we play the role of a realistic adversary and question the efficacy of HT detection techniques by developing an automated, scalable, and practical attack framework, ATTRITION, using reinforcement learning (RL). ATTRITION evades eight detection techniques across two HT detection categories, showcasing its agnostic behavior. ATTRITION achieves average attack success rates of $47\times$ and $211\times$ compared to randomly inserted HTs against state-of-the-art HT detection techniques. We demonstrate ATTRITION's ability to evade detection techniques by evaluating designs ranging from the widely-used academic suites to larger designs such as the open-source MIPS and mor1kx processors to AES and a GPS module. Additionally, we showcase the impact of ATTRITION-generated HTs through two case studies (privilege escalation and kill switch) on the mor1kx processor. We envision that our work, along with our released HT benchmarks and models, fosters the development of better HT detection techniques.

preprint2022arXiv

BCS-BEC crossover of atomic Fermi superfluid in a spherical bubble trap

We present a theory of a two-component atomic Fermi gas with tunable attractive contact interactions on a spherical shell going through the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) - Bose Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover, inspired by the realizations of spherical bubble traps for ultracold atoms in microgravity. The derivation follows the BCS-Leggett theory to obtain the gap and number equations. The BCS-BEC crossover can be induced by tuning the interaction, and the properly normalized gap and chemical potential exhibit universal behavior regardless of the planar or spherical geometry. Nevertheless, the spherical-shell geometry introduces another way of inducing the crossover by the curvature. The curvature-induced BCS-BEC crossover is made possible by fixing the particle number and interaction strength while shrinking the sphere, causing a reduction to the ratio of the pairing and kinetic energies and pushing the system towards the BCS limit. The saturation of the superfluid density further confirms the ground state is a Fermi superfluid.

preprint2022arXiv

DETERRENT: Detecting Trojans using Reinforcement Learning

Insertion of hardware Trojans (HTs) in integrated circuits is a pernicious threat. Since HTs are activated under rare trigger conditions, detecting them using random logic simulations is infeasible. In this work, we design a reinforcement learning (RL) agent that circumvents the exponential search space and returns a minimal set of patterns that is most likely to detect HTs. Experimental results on a variety of benchmarks demonstrate the efficacy and scalability of our RL agent, which obtains a significant reduction ($169\times$) in the number of test patterns required while maintaining or improving coverage ($95.75\%$) compared to the state-of-the-art techniques.

preprint2022arXiv

Fully Attentional Network for Semantic Segmentation

Recent non-local self-attention methods have proven to be effective in capturing long-range dependencies for semantic segmentation. These methods usually form a similarity map of RC*C (by compressing spatial dimensions) or RHW*HW (by compressing channels) to describe the feature relations along either channel or spatial dimensions, where C is the number of channels, H and W are the spatial dimensions of the input feature map. However, such practices tend to condense feature dependencies along the other dimensions,hence causing attention missing, which might lead to inferior results for small/thin categories or inconsistent segmentation inside large objects. To address this problem, we propose anew approach, namely Fully Attentional Network (FLANet),to encode both spatial and channel attentions in a single similarity map while maintaining high computational efficiency. Specifically, for each channel map, our FLANet can harvest feature responses from all other channel maps, and the associated spatial positions as well, through a novel fully attentional module. Our new method has achieved state-of-the-art performance on three challenging semantic segmentation datasets,i.e., 83.6%, 46.99%, and 88.5% on the Cityscapes test set,the ADE20K validation set, and the PASCAL VOC test set,respectively.

preprint2022arXiv

GReS: Graphical Cross-domain Recommendation for Supply Chain Platform

Supply Chain Platforms (SCPs) provide downstream industries with numerous raw materials. Compared with traditional e-commerce platforms, data in SCPs is more sparse due to limited user interests. To tackle the data sparsity problem, one can apply Cross-Domain Recommendation (CDR) which improves the recommendation performance of the target domain with the source domain information. However, applying CDR to SCPs directly ignores the hierarchical structure of commodities in SCPs, which reduce the recommendation performance. To leverage this feature, in this paper, we take the catering platform as an example and propose GReS, a graphical cross-domain recommendation model. The model first constructs a tree-shaped graph to represent the hierarchy of different nodes of dishes and ingredients, and then applies our proposed Tree2vec method combining GCN and BERT models to embed the graph for recommendations. Experimental results on a commercial dataset show that GReS significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods in Cross-Domain Recommendation for Supply Chain Platforms.

preprint2022arXiv

High-Rate Uninterrupted Internet-of-Vehicle Communications in Highways: Dynamic Blockage Avoidance and CSIT Acquisition

In future wireless networks, one of the use-cases of interest is Internet-of-vehicles (IoV). Here, IoV refers to two different functionalities, namely, serving the in-vehicle users and supporting the connected-vehicle functionalities, where both can be well provided by the transceivers installed on top of vehicles. Such dual functionality of on-vehicle transceivers implies strict rate and reliability requirements, for which one may need to communicate at millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies. However, IoV communication at mmW requires up-to-date channel state information (CSI) and blockage avoidance. In this article, we incorporate the recently proposed concept of predictor antennas (PAs) into a large-scale cooperative PA (LSCPA) setup where both temporal blockages and CSI out-dating are avoided via base stations (BSs)/vehicles cooperation. Summarizing the ongoing standardization progress enabling IoV communications, we present the potentials and challenges of the LSCPA setup, and compare the effect of cooperative and non-cooperative schemes on the performance of IoV links. As we show, BSs cooperation and blockage/CSI prediction can boost the performance of IoV links remarkably.

preprint2022arXiv

Higher localised $\hat{A}$-genera for proper actions and applications

For a finitely generated discrete group $Γ$ acting properly on a spin manifold $M$, we formulate new topological obstructions to $Γ$-invariant metrics of positive scalar curvature on $M$ that take into account the cohomology of the classifying space $\underline{B}Γ$ for proper actions. In the cocompact case, this leads to a natural generalisation of Gromov-Lawson's notion of higher $\hat{A}$-genera to the setting of proper actions by groups with torsion. It is conjectured that these invariants obstruct the existence of $Γ$-invariant positive scalar curvature on $M$. For classes arising from the subring of $H^*(\underline{B}Γ,\mathbb{R})$ generated by elements of degree at most $2$, we are able to prove this, under suitable assumptions, using index-theoretic methods for projectively invariant Dirac operators and a twisted $L^2$-Lefschetz fixed-point theorem involving a weighted trace on conjugacy classes. The latter generalises a result of Wang-Wang to the projective setting. In the special case of free actions and the trivial conjugacy class, this reduces to a theorem of Mathai, which provided a partial answer to a conjecture of Gromov-Lawson on higher $\hat{A}$-genera. If $M$ is non-cocompact, we obtain obstructions to $M$ being a partitioning hypersurface inside a non-cocompact $Γ$-manifold with non-negative scalar curvature that is positive in a neighbourhood of the hypersurface. Finally, we define a quantitative version of the twisted higher index and use it to prove a parameterised vanishing theorem in terms of the lower bound of the total curvature term in the square of the twisted Dirac operator.

preprint2022arXiv

Metamorphic dynamical quantum phase transition in double-quench processes at finite temperatures

By deriving a general framework and analyzing concrete examples, we demonstrate a class of dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) in one-dimensional two-band systems going through double-quench processes. When this type of DQPT occurs, the Loschmidt amplitude vanishes and the rate function remains singular after the second quench, meaning the final state continually has no overlap with the initial state. This type of DQPT is named metamorphic DQPT to differentiate it from ordinary DQPTs that only exhibit zero Loschmidt amplitude and singular rate function at discrete time points. The metamorphic DQPTs occur at zero as well as finite temperatures. Our examples of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model and Kitaev chain illustrate the conditions and behavior of the metamorphic DQPT. Since ordinary DQPTs have been experimentally realized in many systems, similar setups with double quenches will demonstrate the metamorphic DQPT. Our findings thus provide additional controls of dynamical evolution of quantum systems.

preprint2022arXiv

Reinforcement Learning for Hardware Security: Opportunities, Developments, and Challenges

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a machine learning paradigm where an autonomous agent learns to make an optimal sequence of decisions by interacting with the underlying environment. The promise demonstrated by RL-guided workflows in unraveling electronic design automation problems has encouraged hardware security researchers to utilize autonomous RL agents in solving domain-specific problems. From the perspective of hardware security, such autonomous agents are appealing as they can generate optimal actions in an unknown adversarial environment. On the other hand, the continued globalization of the integrated circuit supply chain has forced chip fabrication to off-shore, untrustworthy entities, leading to increased concerns about the security of the hardware. Furthermore, the unknown adversarial environment and increasing design complexity make it challenging for defenders to detect subtle modifications made by attackers (a.k.a. hardware Trojans). In this brief, we outline the development of RL agents in detecting hardware Trojans, one of the most challenging hardware security problems. Additionally, we outline potential opportunities and enlist the challenges of applying RL to solve hardware security problems.

preprint2021arXiv

Generating Informative CVE Description From ExploitDB Posts by Extractive Summarization

ExploitDB is one of the important public websites, which contributes a large number of vulnerabilities to official CVE database. Over 60\% of these vulnerabilities have high- or critical-security risks. Unfortunately, over 73\% of exploits appear publicly earlier than the corresponding CVEs, and about 40\% of exploits do not even have CVEs. To assist in documenting CVEs for the ExploitDB posts, we propose an open information method to extract 9 key vulnerability aspects (vulnerable product/version/component, vulnerability type, vendor, attacker type, root cause, attack vector and impact) from the verbose and noisy ExploitDB posts. The extracted aspects from an ExploitDB post are then composed into a CVE description according to the suggested CVE description templates, which is must-provided information for requesting new CVEs. Through the evaluation on 13,017 manually labeled sentences and the statistically sampling of 3,456 extracted aspects, we confirm the high accuracy of our extraction method. Compared with 27,230 reference CVE descriptions. Our composed CVE descriptions achieve high ROUGH-L (0.38), a longest common subsequence based metric for evaluating text summarization methods.

preprint2021arXiv

Invariable mobility edge in a quasiperiodic lattice

In this paper, we study a one-dimensional tight-binding model with tunable incommensurate potentials. Through the analysis of the inverse participation rate, we uncover that the wave functions corresponding to the energies of the system exhibit different properties. There exists a critical energy under which the wave functions corresponding to all energies are extended. On the contrary, the wave functions corresponding to all energies above the critical energy are localized. However, we are surprised to find that the critical energy is a constant independent of the potentials. We use the self-dual relation to solve the critical energy, namely the mobility edge, and then we verify the analytical results again by analyzing the spatial distributions of the wave functions. Finally, we give a brief discussion on the possible experimental observation of the invariable mobility edge in the system of ultracold atoms in optical lattices.

preprint2021arXiv

LSENet: Location and Seasonality Enhanced Network for Multi-Class Ocean Front Detection

Ocean fronts can cause the accumulation of nutrients and affect the propagation of underwater sound, so high-precision ocean front detection is of great significance to the marine fishery and national defense fields. However, the current ocean front detection methods either have low detection accuracy or most can only detect the occurrence of ocean front by binary classification, rarely considering the differences of the characteristics of multiple ocean fronts in different sea areas. In order to solve the above problems, we propose a semantic segmentation network called location and seasonality enhanced network (LSENet) for multi-class ocean fronts detection at pixel level. In this network, we first design a channel supervision unit structure, which integrates the seasonal characteristics of the ocean front itself and the contextual information to improve the detection accuracy. We also introduce a location attention mechanism to adaptively assign attention weights to the fronts according to their frequently occurred sea area, which can further improve the accuracy of multi-class ocean front detection. Compared with other semantic segmentation methods and current representative ocean front detection method, the experimental results demonstrate convincingly that our method is more effective.

preprint2020arXiv

A Hierarchical User Intention-Habit Extract Network for Credit Loan Overdue Risk Detection

More personal consumer loan products are emerging in mobile banking APP. For ease of use, application process is always simple, which means that few application information is requested for user to fill when applying for a loan, which is not conducive to construct users' credit profile. Thus, the simple application process brings huge challenges to the overdue risk detection, as higher overdue rate will result in greater economic losses to the bank. In this paper, we propose a model named HUIHEN (Hierarchical User Intention-Habit Extract Network) that leverages the users' behavior information in mobile banking APP. Due to the diversity of users' behaviors, we divide behavior sequences into sessions according to the time interval, and use the field-aware method to extract the intra-field information of behaviors. Then, we propose a hierarchical network composed of time-aware GRU and user-item-aware GRU to capture users' short-term intentions and users' long-term habits, which can be regarded as a supplement to user profile. The proposed model can improve the accuracy without increasing the complexity of the original online application process. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of HUIHEN and show that HUIHEN outperforms other state-of-art models on all datasets.

preprint2020arXiv

A novel route to cyclic dominance in voluntary social dilemmas

Cooperation is the backbone of modern human societies, making it a priority to understand how successful cooperation-sustaining mechanisms operate. Cyclic dominance, a non-transitive setup comprising at least three strategies wherein the first strategy overrules the second which overrules the third which, in turn, overrules the first strategy, is known to maintain bio-diversity, drive competition between bacterial strains, and preserve cooperation in social dilemmas. Here, we present a novel route to cyclic dominance in voluntary social dilemmas by adding to the traditional mix of cooperators, defectors, and loners, a fourth player type, risk-averse hedgers, who enact tit-for-tat upon paying a hedging cost to avoid being exploited. When this cost is sufficiently small, cooperators, defectors, and hedgers enter a loop of cyclic dominance that preserves cooperation even under the most adverse conditions. In contrast, when the hedging cost is large, hedgers disappear, consequently reverting to the traditional interplay of cooperators, defectors, and loners. In the interim region of hedging costs, complex evolutionary dynamics ensues, prompting transitions between states with two, three, or four competing strategies. Our results thus reveal that voluntary participation is but one pathway to sustained cooperation via cyclic dominance.

preprint2020arXiv

Attribute-based Multi-Signature and Encryption for EHR Management: A Blockchain-based Solution

The global Electronic Health Record (EHR) market is growing dramatically and has already hit $31.5 billion in 2018. To safeguard the security of EHR data and privacy of patients, fine-grained information access and sharing mechanisms are essential for EHR management. This paper proposes a hybrid architecture of blockchain and edge nodes to facilitate EHR management. In this architecture, we utilize attribute-based multi-signature (ABMS) scheme to authenticate user's signatures without revealing the sensitive information and multi-authority attribute-based encryption (ABE) scheme to encrypt EHR data which is stored on the edge node. We develop the blockchain module on Hyperledger Fabric platform and the ABMS module on Hyperledger Ursa library. We measure the signing and verifying time of the ABMS scheme under different settings, and experiment with the authentication events and access activities which are logged as transactions in blockchain.

preprint2020arXiv

Coarse geometry and Callias quantisation

Consider a proper, isometric action by a unimodular, locally compact group $G$ on a complete Riemannian manifold $M$. For equivariant elliptic operators that are invertible outside a cocompact subset of $M$, we show that a localised index in the $K$-theory of the maximal group $C^*$-algebra of $G$ is well-defined. The approach is based on the use of maximal versions of equivariant localised Roe algebras, and many of the technical arguments in this paper are used to handle the ways in which they differ from their reduced versions. By using the maximal group $C^*$-algebra instead of its reduced counterpart, we can apply the trace given by integration over $G$ to recover an index defined earlier by the last two authors, and developed further by Braverman, in terms of sections invariant under the group action. As a very special case, this allows one to refine numerical obstructions to positive scalar curvature on a noncompact $\operatorname{Spin}$ manifold $X$ defined via Callias index theory, to obstructions in the $K$-theory of the maximal $C^*$-algebra of the fundamental group $π_1(X)$. As a motivating application in another direction, we prove a version of Guillemin and Sternberg's quantisation commutes with reduction principle for equivariant indices of $\operatorname{Spin}^c$ Callias-type operators.

preprint2020arXiv

Collusion Attacks on Decentralized Attributed-Based Encryption: Analyses and a Solution

Attribute-based Encryption (ABE) is an information centric security solution that moves beyond traditional restrictions of point-to-point encryption by allowing for flexible, fine-grain policy-based and content-based access control that is cryptographically enforced. As the original ABE systems are managed by a single authority, several efforts have decentralized different ABE schemes to address the key escrow problem, where the authority can issue secret keys to itself to decrypt all the ciphertext. However, decentralized ABE (DABE) schemes raise the issue of collusion attacks. In this paper, we review two existing types of collusion attacks on DABE systems, and introduce a new type of collusion among authorities and data users. We show that six existing DABE systems are vulnerable to the newly introduced collusion and propose a model to secure one of the DABE schemes.

preprint2020arXiv

Data User-Based Attribute-Based Encryption

Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) has emerged as an information-centric public-key cryptographic system which allows a data owner to share data, according to access policy, with multiple data users based on the attributes they possess, without knowing their identities. In the original ABE schemes, a central authority administrates the system and issues secret keys to data users based on their attributes and both the owner and users need to trust a specific CA. However, in certain real-world applications, the data users would not trust anyone but themselves. For such situations, we introduce a new decentralization model of ABE, termed Data User-based ABE (DU-ABE), which is managed jointly by the data users. DU-ABE is the first decentralized ABE scheme that replaces the authorities with the data users without employing any other extra entities.

preprint2020arXiv

Dynamic process and Uhlmann process: Incompatibility and dynamic phase of mixed quantum states

While a pure quantum state may accumulate both the Berry phase and dynamic phase as it undergoes a cyclic path in the parameter space, the situation is more complicated when mixed quantum states are considered. From the Ulhmann bundle, a mixed quantum state can accumulate the Ulhmann phase if the parallel-transport condition is satisfied. However, we show that the Ulhmann process is in general not compatible with the evolution equation of the density matrix governed by the Hamiltonian. Thus, a mixed quantum state usually accumulates a dynamic phase during its time evolution. We present the expression of the dynamic phase for mixed quantum states. In examples of quasi-static one-dimensional two-band models and simple harmonic oscillator, the dynamic phase can take multiple discrete values at infinitely high temperature due to the resonant points. However, the behavior differs if the energy spectrum is continuous without a band gap. Moreover, there is no natural analog of the dynamic phase in classical systems.

preprint2020arXiv

Generalized Aubry-André self-duality and Mobility edges in non-Hermitian quasi-periodic lattices

We demonstrate the existence of generalized Aubry-André self-duality in a class of non-Hermitian quasi-periodic lattices with complex potentials. From the self-duality relations, the analytical expression of mobility edges is derived. Compared to Hermitian systems, mobility edges in non-Hermitian ones not only separate localized from extended states, but also indicate the coexistence of complex and real eigenenergies, making it possible a topological characterization of mobility edges. An experimental scheme, based on optical pulse propagation in synthetic photonic mesh lattices, is suggested to implement a non-Hermitian quasi-crystal displaying mobility edges.

preprint2020arXiv

Nonsymmorphic nodal-line metals in the two-dimensional rare earth monochalcogenides MX (M = Sc, Y; X = S, Se, Te)

We predict a new family of two-dimensional (2D) rare earth monochalcogenide materials MX (M = Sc, Y; X = S, Se, Te). Based on first-principles calculations, we confirm their stability and systematically investigate their mechanical properties. We find that these materials are metallic and interestingly, they possess nodal lines in the low-energy band structure surrounding the whole Brillouin zone, protected by nonsymmorphic crystal symmetries in the absence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). SOC opens small energy gaps at the nodal line, except for two high-symmetry points, at which fourfold degenerate 2D spin-orbit Dirac points are obtained. We show that these topological band features are robust under uniaxial and biaxial strains, but can be lifted by the shear strain. We also investigate the optical conductivities of these materials, and show that the transformation of the band structure under strain can be inferred from the optical absorption spectrum. Our work reveals a new family of 2D topological metal materials with interesting mechanical and electronic properties, which will facilitate the study of nonsymmorphic symmetry enabled nodal features in 2D.

preprint2020arXiv

Power Allocation in HARQ-based Predictor Antenna Systems

In this work, we study the performance of predictor antenna (PA) systems using hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). Here, the PA system is referred to as a system with two sets of antennas on the roof of a vehicle. In this setup, the PA positioned in the front of the vehicle can be used to predict the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) for data transmission to the receive antenna (RA) that is aligned behind the PA. Considering spatial mismatch, due to the vehicle mobility, we derive closed-form expressions for the optimal power allocation and the minimum average power of the PA systems under different outage probability constraints. The results are presented for different types of HARQ protocols and we study the effect of different parameters on the performance of PA systems. As we show, our proposed approximation scheme enables us to analyze PA systems with high accuracy. Moreover, for different vehicle speeds, we show that HARQ-based feedback can reduce the outage-limited power consumption of PA systems by orders of magnitude.

preprint2020arXiv

Predicting Missing Information of Key Aspects in Vulnerability Reports

Software vulnerabilities have been continually disclosed and documented. An important practice in documenting vulnerabilities is to describe the key vulnerability aspects, such as vulnerability type, root cause, affected product, impact, attacker type and attack vector, for the effective search and management of fast-growing vulnerabilities. We investigate 120,103 vulnerability reports in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) over the past 20 years. We find that 56%, 85%, 38% and 28% of CVEs miss vulnerability type, root causes, attack vector and attacker type respectively. To help to complete the missing information of these vulnerability aspects, we propose a neural-network based approach for predicting the missing information of a key aspect of a vulnerability based on the known aspects of the vulnerability. We explore the design space of the neural network models and empirically identify the most effective model design. Using a large-scale vulnerability datas\-et from CVE, we show that we can effectively train a neural-network based classifier with less than 20% of historical CVEs. Our model achieves the prediction accuracy 94%, 79%, 89%and 70% for vulnerability type, root cause, attacker type and attack vector, respectively. Our ablation study reveals the prominent correlations among vulnerability aspects and further confirms the practicality of our approach.

preprint2020arXiv

Predictor Antenna Systems: Exploiting Channel State Information for Vehicle Communications

Vehicle communication is one of the most important use cases in the fifth generation of wireless networks (5G). The growing demand for quality of service (QoS) characterized by performance metrics, such as spectrum efficiency, peak data rate, and outage probability, is mainly limited by inaccurate prediction/estimation of channel state information (CSI) of the rapidly changing environment around moving vehicles. One way to increase the prediction horizon of CSI in order to improve the QoS is deploying predictor antennas (PAs). A PA system consists of two sets of antennas typically mounted on the roof of a vehicle, where the PAs positioned at the front of the vehicle are used to predict the CSI observed by the receive antennas (RAs) that are aligned behind the PAs. In realistic PA systems, however, the actual benefit is affected by a variety of factors, including spatial mismatch, antenna utilization, temporal correlation of scattering environment, and CSI estimation error. This thesis investigates different resource allocation schemes for the PA systems under practical constraints.

preprint2020arXiv

Predictor Antennas for Moving Relays: Finite Block-length Analysis

In future wireless networks, we anticipate that a large number of devices will connect to mobile networks through moving relays installed on vehicles, in particular in public transport vehicles. To provide high-speed moving relays with accurate channel state information different methods have been proposed, among which predictor antenna (PA) is one of the promising ones. Here, the PA system refers to a setup where two sets of antennas are deployed on top of a vehicle, and the front antenna(s) can be used to predict the channel state information for the antenna(s) behind. In this paper, we study the delay-limited performance of PA systems using adaptive rate allocations. We use the fundamental results on the achievable rate of finite block-length codes to study the system throughput and error probability in the presence of short packets. Particularly, we derive closed-form expressions for the error probability, the average transmit rate as well as the optimal rate allocation, and study the effect of different parameters on the performance of PA systems. The results indicate that rate adaptation under finite block-length codewords can impro

preprint2020arXiv

Rate Adaptation in Predictor Antenna Systems

Predictor antenna (PA) system is referred to as a system with two sets of antennas on the roof of a vehicle, where the PAs positioned in the front of the vehicle are used to predict the channel state observed by the receive antennas (RAs) that are aligned behind the PAs. This letter studies the performance of PA systems in the presence of the mismatching problem, i.e., when the channel observed by the PA is not exactly the same as the channel experienced by the RA. Particularly, we study the effect of spatial mismatching on the accuracy of channel state information estimation and rate adaption. We derive closed-form expressions for instantaneous throughput, outage probability, and the throughput-optimized rate adaptation. Also, we take the temporal evolution of the channel into account and evaluate the system performance in temporally-correlated conditions. The simulation and analytical results show that, while PA-assisted adaptive rate adaptation leads to considerable performance improvement, the throughput and the outage probability are remarkably affected by the spatial mismatch and temporal correlations.

preprint2020arXiv

Stable intense 1 kHz supercontinuum light generation in air

Supercontinuum (SC) light source has advanced ultrafast laser spectroscopy in condensed matter science, biology, physics, and chemistry. Compared to the frequently used photonic crystal fibers and bulk materials, femtosecond laser filamentation in gases is damage-immune for supercontinuum generation. A bottleneck problem is the strong jitters from filament induced self-heating at kHz repetition rate level. We demonstrate stable kHz supercontinuum generation directly in air with multiple mJ level pulse energy. This is achieved by applying an external DC electric field to the air plasma filament through the effects of plasma wave guiding and Coulomb interaction. Both pointing and intensity jitters of 1 kHz air filament induced SC light are reduced by more than 2 fold. This offers the opportunities for stable intense SC generation and other laser filament based applications in air.

preprint2019arXiv

Equivariant Callias index theory via coarse geometry

The equivariant coarse index is well-understood and widely used for actions by discrete groups. We extend the definition of this index to general locally compact groups. We use a suitable notion of admissible modules over $C^*$-algebras of continuous functions to obtain a meaningful index. Inspired by work by Roe, we then develop a localised variant, with values in the $K$-theory of a group $C^*$-algebra. This generalises the Baum-Connes assembly map to non-cocompact actions. We show that an equivariant index for Callias-type operators is a special case of this localised index, obtain results on existence and non-existence of Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature invariant under proper group actions, and show that a localised version of the Baum-Connes conjecture is weaker than the original conjecture, while still giving a conceptual description of the $K$-theory of a group $C^*$-algebra.

preprint2018arXiv

Positive Scalar Curvature and Poincare Duality for Proper Actions

For G an almost-connected Lie group, we study G-equivariant index theory for proper co-compact actions with various applications, including obstructions to and existence of G-invariant Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature. We prove a rigidity result for almost-complex manifolds, generalising Hattori's results, and an analogue of Petrie's conjecture. When G is an almost-connected Lie group or a discrete group, we establish Poincare duality between G-equivariant K-homology and K-theory, observing that Poincare duality does not necessarily hold for general G.

preprint2016arXiv

Berry phase, entanglement entropy, and algebraic properties of ground states of BCS and BEC superfluids

By using Bogoliubov transformations to construct the ground states of fermionic Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluids and weakly-interacting Bose gases supporting Bose Einstein Condensation (BEC), their algebraic structures and implications can be analyzed in detail. Both ground states are generalized squeezed coherent states saturating a generalized Heisenberg uncertainty relation, and they acquire quantized Berry phases when the corresponding systems are transported along a closed path in their parameter spaces. While the Berry phase of the BCS ground state depends on the total particle number, the Berry phase of the BEC ground state depends only on the particles outside the BEC. The Berry phases are associated with magnetic monopoles in the parameter spaces and we found that the Dirac quantization condition is satisfied. Moreover, both ground states are entangled states of the fermion or boson quanta and we found the entanglement entropy quantifying the internal correlations. A fixed particle-number approach of fermionic superfluids does not saturate the generalized uncertainty relation, exhibits internal entanglement, and gives corresponding Berry phase. In addition, the algebraic structures of the ground states can be classified by the $q$-deformed Hopf algebra, $\bigoplus_{\mathbf{k}}h_{q_{\mathbf{k}}}(1)$ for bosons and $q$-deformed Hopf superalgebra $\bigoplus_{\mathbf{k}}h_{q_{\mathbf{k}}}(1|1)$ for fermions, respectively.

preprint2015arXiv

Probe Spin-Velocity Dependent New Interactions by Spin Relaxation Times of Polarized $^{3}He$ Gas

We have constrained possible new interactions which produce nonrelativistic potentials between polarized neutrons and unpolarized matter proportional to $α\vecσ\cdot\vec{v}$ where $\vecσ$ is the neutron spin and $\vec{v}$ is the relative velocity. We use existing data from laboratory measurements on the very long $T_{1}$ and $T_{2}$ spin relaxation times of polarized $^{3}$He gas in glass cells.Using the best available measured $T_{2}$ of polarized $^{3}$He gas atoms as the polarized source and the earth as an unpolarized source, we obtain constraints on two new interactions. We present a new experimental upper bound on possible vector-axial-vector($V_{VA}$) type interactions for ranges between $1\sim10^{8}$m. In combination with previous results, we set the most stringent experiment limits on $g_{V}g_{A}$ ranging from $\simμ$m to $\sim10^{8}$m. We also report what is to our knowledge the first experimental upper limit on the possible torsion fields induced by the earth on its surface. Dedicated experiments could further improve these bounds by a factor of $\sim100$. Our method of analysis also makes it possible to probe many velocity dependent interactions which depend on the spins of both neutrons and other particles which have never been searched for before experimentally.

preprint2014arXiv

Conserving Approximation of Pairing theories in Fermionic superfluid phase

Respecting the conservation laws of momentum and energy in a many body theory is very important for understanding the transport phenomena. The previous conserving approximation requires that the self-energy of a single particle can be written as a functional derivative of a full dressed Green's function. This condition can not be satisfied in the $G_0G$ t-matrix or pair fluctuation theory which emphasizes the fermion pairing with a stronger than the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) attraction. In the previous work\cite{stressWI}, we have shown that when the temperature is above the superfluid transition temperature $T_c$, the $G_0G$ t-matrix theory can be put into a form that satisfies the stress tensor Ward identity (WI) or local form of conservation laws by introducing a new type of vertex correction. In this paper, we will extend the above conservation approximation to the superfluid phase in the BCS mean field level. To establish the stress tensor WI, we have to include the fluctuation of the order parameter or the contribution from the Goldstone mode. The result will be useful for understanding the transport properties such as the behavior of the viscosity of Fermionic gases in the superfluid phases.

preprint2014arXiv

Gauge Invariant Linear Response Theories for Ultracold Fermi Gases with Pseudogap

Recent experimental progresses allow for exploring some important physical quantities of ultracold Fermi gases, such as the compressibility, spin susceptibility, viscosity, optical conductivity and spin diffusivity. Theoretically, these quantities can be evaluated from suitable linear response theories. For BCS superfluid, it has been found that the gauge invariant linear response theories can be fully consistent with some stringent consistency constraints. When the theory is generalized to stronger-than-BCS regime, one may meet serious difficulties to satisfy the gauge invariance conditions. In this paper, we try to construct density and spin linear response theories which are formally gauge invariant for a Fermi gas undergoing BCS-Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) crossover, especially below the superfluid transition temperature $T_c$. We adapt a particular $t$-matrix approach which is close to the $G_0G$ formalism to incorporate non-condensed pairing in the normal state. We explicitly show that the fundamental constraints imposed by the Ward identities, $Q$-limit Ward identity are indeed satisfied.

preprint2014arXiv

Shear viscosity and imperfect fluidity in bosonic and fermionic superfluids

In this paper we address the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density $η/s$ in bosonic and fermionic superfluids. A small $η/s$ is associated with nearly perfect fluidity, and more general measures of the fluidity perfection/imperfection are of wide interest to a number of communities. We use a Kubo approach to concretely address this ratio via low temperature transport associated with the quasi-particles. Our analysis for bosonic superfluids utilizes the framework of the one-loop Bogoliubov approximation, whereas for fermionic superfluids we apply BCS theory and its BCS-BEC extension. Interestingly, we find that the transport properties of strict BCS and Bogoliubov superfluids have very similar structures, albeit with different quasi-particle dispersion relations. While there is a dramatic contrast between the power law and exponential temperature dependence for $η$ alone, the ratio $η/s$ for both systems is more similar. Specifically we find the same linear dependence (on the ratio of temperature $T$ to inverse lifetime $γ(T)$) with $η/s \propto T/γ(T)$, corresponding to imperfect fluidity. By contrast, near the unitary limit of BCS-BEC superfluids a very different behavior results, which is more consistent with near-perfect fluidity.

preprint2014arXiv

Topological Soliton with Nonzero Hopf Invariant in Yang-Mills-Higgs Model

We propose a topological soliton or instanton solution with nonzero Hopf invariant to the 3+1D non-Abelian gauge theory coupled with scalar fields. This solution, which we call Hopf soliton, represents a spacetime event that makes a $2π$ rotation of the monopole. Although the action of this Hopf soliton is logarithmically divergent, it may still give relevant contributions in a finite-sized system. Since the Chern-Simons term for the unbroken $U(1)$ gauge field may appear in the low energy effective theory, the Hopf soliton may possibly generate fractional statistics for the monopoles.

preprint2013arXiv

Density and Spin Linear Response of Atomic Fermi Superfluids with Population Imbalance in BCS-BEC Crossover

We present a theoretical study of the density and spin (representing the two components) linear response of Fermi superfluids with tunable attractive interactions and population imbalance. In both linear response theories, we find that the fluctuations of the order parameter must be treated on equal footing with the gauge transformations associated with the symmetries of the Hamiltonian so that important constraints including various sum rules can be satisfied. Both theories can be applied to the whole BCS-Bose-Einstein condensation crossover. The spin linear responses are qualitatively different with and without population imbalance because collective-mode effects from the fluctuations of the order parameter survive in the presence of population imbalance, even though the associated symmetry is not broken by the order parameter. Since a polarized superfluid becomes unstable at low temperatures in the weak and intermediate coupling regimes, we found that the density and spin susceptibilities diverge as the system approaches the unstable regime, but the emergence of phase separation preempts the divergence.

preprint2013arXiv

Fundamental Constraints on Linear Response Theories of Fermi Superfluids Above and Below $T_c$

We present fundamental constraints required for a consistent linear response theory of fermionic superfluids and address temperatures both above and below the transition temperature $T_c$. We emphasize two independent constraints, one associated with gauge invariance (and the related Ward identity) and another associated with the compressibility sum rule, both of which are satisfied in strict BCS theory. However, we point out that it is the rare many body theory which satisfies both of these. Indeed, well studied quantum Hall systems and random-phase approximations to the electron gas are found to have difficulties with meeting these constraints. We summarize two distinct theoretical approaches which are, however, demonstrably compatible with gauge invariance and the compressibility sum rule. The first of these involves an extension of BCS theory to a mean field description of the BCS-Bose Einstein condensation crossover. The second is the simplest Nozieres Schmitt- Rink (NSR) treatment of pairing correlations in the normal state. As a point of comparison we focus on the compressibility $κ$ of each and contrast the predictions above $T_c$. We note here that despite the compliance with sum rules, this NSR based scheme leads to an unphysical divergence in $κ$ at the transition. Because of the delicacy of the various consistency requirements, the results of this paper suggest that avoiding this divergence may repair one problem while at the same time introducing others.

preprint2013arXiv

The Compressibility in Strongly Correlated Superconductors and Superfluids: From BCS to BEC

We present a theoretical study of the compressibility, $κ$, in a Fermi gas with attractive contact interactions, providing predictions for the strongly-attractive regime and the superfluid phase. Our work emphasizes the compressibility sum rule and gauge invariance as constraints on $κ$ and we show how within a particular $t$-matrix approach, these can be satisfied in the normal phase when no approximations are made. For tractability, approximations must be introduced, and it is believed that thermodynamical approaches to $κ$ are more reliable, than correlation function based schemes. Contrasting with other studies in the literature, we present thermodynamic calculations of $κ$; these yield semi-quantitative agreement with experiment and provide physical insight into similar results obtained via quantum Monte Carlo simulations.

preprint2013arXiv

Theories of Linear Response in BCS Superfluids and How They Meet Fundamental Constraints

We address the importance of symmetry and symmetry breaking on linear response theories of fermionic BCS superfluids. The linear theory of a noninteracting Fermi gas is reviewed and several consistency constraints are verified. The challenge to formulate linear response theories of BCS superfluids consistent with density and spin conservation laws comes from the presence of a broken U(1)$_{\textrm{EM}}$ symmetry associated with electromagnetism (EM) and we discuss two routes for circumventing this. The first route follows Nambu's integral-equation approach for the EM vertex function, but this method is not specific for BCS superfluids. We focus on the second route based on a consistent-fluctuation-of-the order-parameter (CFOP) approach where the gauge transformation and the fluctuations of the order parameter are treated on equal footing. The CFOP approach allows one to explicitly verify several important constraints: The EM vertex satisfies not only a Ward identity which guarantees charge conservation but also a $Q$-limit Ward identity associated with the compressibility sum rule. In contrast, the spin degrees of freedom associated with another U(1)$_z$ symmetry are not affected by the Cooper-pair condensation that breaks only the U(1)$_{\textrm{EM}}$ symmetry. As a consequence the collective modes from the fluctuations of the order parameter only couple to the density response function but decouple from the spin response function, which reflects the different fates of the two U(1) symmetries in the superfluid phase. Our formulation lays the ground work for application to more general theories of BCS-Bose Einstein Condensation crossover both above and below $T_c$.

preprint2012arXiv

Comment on "Density and Spin response of a strongly-interacting Fermi gas in the attractive and quasi-repulsive regime"

This is a comment on Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 080401 (2012) by Palestini et al. We pointed out that the diagrammatic method in that article violates gauge invariance. As a consequence, there will a Meissner effect in the normal phase and the contribution from collective modes are not mentioned in the symmetry-broken phase.

preprint2012arXiv

Efficiency and Its Bounds for a Quantum Einstein Engine at Maximum Power

We study a quantum thermal engine model for which the heat transfer law is determined by Einstein's theory of radiation. The working substance of the quantum engine is assumed to be a two-level quantum systems of which the constituent particles obey Maxwell-Boltzmann(M.B.), Fermi-Dirac(F.D.) or Bose-einstein(B.E.) distributions respectively at equilibrium. The thermal efficiency and its bounds at maximum power of these models are derived and discussed in the long and short thermal contact time limits. The similarity and difference between these models are discussed. We also compare the efficiency bounds of this quantum thermal engine to those of its classical counterpart.

preprint2012arXiv

Efficiency and Its Bounds for Thermal Engines at Maximum Power using a Newton's Law of Cooling

We study a thermal engine model for which Newton's cooling law is obeyed during heat transfer processes. The thermal efficiency and its bounds at maximum output power are derived and discussed. This model, though quite simple, can be applied not only to Carnot engines but also to four other types of engines. For the long thermal contact time limit, new bounds, tighter than what were known before, are obtained. In this case,this model can simulate Otto, Joule Brayton, Diesel, and Atkinson engines. While in the short contact time limit, which corresponds to the Carnot cycle, the same efficiency bounds as Esposito et al's are derived. In both cases, the thermal efficiency decreases as the ratio between the heat capacities of the working medium during heating and cooling stages increases. This might provide instructions for designing real engines.

preprint2012arXiv

Gauge Invariant Linear Response Theory of Relativistic BCS superfluids

We develop a gauge-invariant linear response theory for relativistic Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluids based on a consistent-fluctuation-of-the order-parameter (CFOP) approach. The response functions from the CFOP approach satisfy important generalized Ward identities. The gauge invariance of the CFOP theory is a consequence of treating the gauge transformation and the fluctuations of the order parameter on equal footing so collective-mode effects are properly included. We demonstrate that the pole of the response functions is associated with the massless Goldstone boson. Important physical quantities such as the compressibility and superfluid density of relativistic BCS superfluids can also be inferred from our approach. We argue that the contribution from the massless Goldstone boson is crucial in obtaining a consistent expression for the compressibility.

preprint2012arXiv

Phase diagrams of Fermi gases in a trap with mass and population imbalances at finite temperature

The pairing and superfluid phenomena in a two-component Fermi gas can be strongly affected by the population and mass imbalances. Here we present phase diagrams of atomic Fermi gases as they undergo BCS--Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover with population and mass imbalances, using a pairing fluctuation theory. We focus on the finite temperature and trap effects, with an emphasis on the mixture of $^{6}$Li and $^{40}$K atoms. We show that there exist exotic types of phase separation in the BEC regime as well as sandwich-like shell structures at low temperature with superfluid or pseudogapped normal state in the central shell in the BCS and unitary regimes, especially when the light species is the majority. Such a sandwich-like shell structure appear when the mass imbalance increases beyond certain threshold. Our result is relevant to future experiments on the $^6$Li--$^{40}$K mixture and possibly other Fermi-Fermi mixtures.

preprint2012arXiv

The Two Component Optical Conductivity in the Cuprates: A Necessary Consequence of Preformed Pairs

We address how the finite frequency real conductivity $σ(ω)$ in the underdoped cuprates is affected by the pseudogap, contrasting the behavior above and below $T_c$. The f-sum rule is analytically shown to hold. Here we presume the pseudogap is associated with non-condensed pairs arising from stronger-than-BCS attraction. This leads to both a Drude and a mid infrared (MIR) peak, the latter associated with the energy needed to break pairs. These general characteristics appear consistent with experiment. Importantly, there is no more theoretical flexibility (phenomenology) here than in BCS theory; the origin of the two component conductivity we find is robust.

preprint2011arXiv

Conductivity in Pseudogapped Superconductors: The Role of the Fermi Arcs

We calculate the dc conductivity $σ$ in a pseudogapped high $T_c$ superconductor within a theory which is consistent with gauge invariance. Our results contain additional terms beyond those identified previously. Although it has been thought that lifetime effects dominate the $T$ dependence of transport, here we show (consistent with growing experimental support) that the temperature dependence of the effective carrier number $(n/m(T))_{\rm{eff}}$ plays a critical role and thereby leads to the contrasting behavior between over and under-doped regimes. The role of Fermi arcs is secondary.

preprint2011arXiv

Perfect Fluids and Bad Metals: Transport Analogies Between Ultracold Fermi Gases and High $T_c$ Superconductors

In this paper, we examine in a unified fashion dissipative transport in strongly correlated systems. We thereby demonstrate the connection between "bad metals" (such as the high temperature superconductors) and "perfect fluids" (such as the ultracold Fermi gases, near unitarity). One motivation of this work is to communicate to the high energy physics community some of the central unsolved problems in high $T_c$ superconductors. Because of interest in the nearly perfect fluidity of the cold gases and because of new tools such as the AdS/CFT correspondence, this better communication may lead to important progress in a variety of different fields. A second motivation is to draw attention to the great power of transport measurements which more directly reflect the excitation spectrum than, say, thermodynamics and thus strongly constrain microscopic theories of correlated fermionic superfluids. Our calculations show that bad metal and perfect fluid behavior is associated with the presence of a normal state excitation gap which suppresses the effective number of carriers leading to anomalously low conductivity and viscosity above the transition temperature $T_c$. Below $T_c$ we demonstrate that the condensate collective modes ("phonons") do not couple to transverse probes such as the shear viscosity. As a result, our calculated shear viscosity at low $T$ becomes arbitrarily small as observed in experiments. In both homogeneous and trap calculations we do not find the upturn in $η$ or $η/s$ (where $s$ is the entropy density) found in most theories. In the process of these studies we demonstrate compatibility with the transverse sum rule and find reasonable agreement with both viscosity and cuprate conductivity experiments.

preprint2011arXiv

Spin Transport in Cold Fermi gases: A Pseudogap Interpretation of Spin Diffusion Experiments at Unitarity

We address recent spin transport experiments in ultracold unitary Fermi gases. We provide a theoretical understanding for how the measured temperature dependence of the spin diffusivity at low $T$ can disagree with the expected behavior of a Fermi liquid (FL) while the spin susceptiblity(following the experimental protocols) is consistent with a Fermi liquid picture. We show that the experimental protocols for extracting $χ_s$ are based on a FL presumption; relaxing this leads to consistency within (but not proof of) a pseudogap-based approach. Our tranport calculations yield insight into the measured strong suppression of the spin diffusion constant at lower $T$.

preprint2010arXiv

Establishing the Presence of Coherence in Atomic Fermi Superfluids: Spin-Flip and Spin-Preserving Bragg Scattering at Finite Temperatures

We show how the difference between the finite temperature T structure factors, called S_-, associated with spin and density, can be used as a indication of superfluidity in ultracold Fermi gases. This observation can be exploited in two photon Bragg scattering experiments on gases which undergo BCS- Bose Einstein condensation crossover. Essential to our calculations is a proper incorporation of spin and particle number conservation laws which lead to compatibility at general T with two f-sum rules. Because it is applicable to general scattering lengths, a measurement of S- can be a useful, direct approach for establishing where superfluidity occurs.

preprint2009arXiv

Comparative Study of BCS-BEC Crossover Theories above $T_c$: the Nature of the Pseudogap in Ultra-Cold Atomic Fermi Gases

This paper presents a comparison of two finite-temperature BCS-Bose Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover theories above the transition temperature: Nozieres Schmitt-Rink (NSR) theory and finite $T$-extended BCS-Leggett theory. The comparison is cast in the form of numerical studies of the behavior of the fermionic spectral function both theoretically and as constrained by (primarily) radio frequency (RF) experiments. Both theories include pair fluctuations and exhibit pseudogap effects, although the nature of this pseudogap is very different. The pseudogap in finite $T$-extended BCS-Leggett theory is found to follow a BCS-like dispersion which, in turn, is associated with a broadened BCS-like self energy, rather more similar to what is observed in high temperature superconductors (albeit, for a d-wave case). The fermionic quasi-particle dispersion is different in NSR theory and the damping is considerably larger. We argue that the two theories are appropriate in different temperature regimes with the BCS-Leggett approach more suitable nearer to condensation. There should, in effect, be little difference at higher $T$ as the pseudogap becomes weaker and where the simplifying approximations used in the BCS-Leggett approach break down. On the basis of momentum-integrated radio frequency studies of unpolarized gases, it would be difficult to distinguish which theory is the better. A full comparison for polarized gases is not possible since there is claimed to be inconsistencies in the NSR approach (not found in the BCS-Leggett scheme). Future experiments along the lines of momentum resolved experiments look to be very promising in distinguishing the two theories.

preprint2009arXiv

Relativistic BCS-BEC crossover of a two-species Fermi gas with number density asymmetry at zero temperature

We systematically study relativistic two-species fermions with tunable attractive interactions and number-density asymmetry at zero temperature. In general, a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) - Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) - relativistic BEC (RBEC) crossover is observed. A generalized BCS ground state and its stability are analyzed. The homogeneous superfluid phase can become unstable and we consider phase separation in real space for neutral systems. In the nonrelativistic limit, our results are consistent with well-known results. In addition to a BCS-BEC crossover similar to that in the nonrelativistic case, in the strongly attractive regime gapless excitations of antifermions and a RBEC state are observed. We address how different phases respond to number density asymmetry and present predictive phase diagrams of BCS-BEC-RBEC crossover.

preprint2008arXiv

Finite-Temperature Behavior of an Inter-species Fermionic Superfluid with Population Imbalance

We determine the superfluid transition temperature $T_c$ and related finite temperature phase diagrams for the entire BCS-Bose Einstein condensation crossover in a homogeneous mixture of $^{6}$Li and $^{40}$K atoms with population imbalance. Our work is motivated by the recent observation of an inter-species Feshbach resonance. Pairing fluctuation effects, which significantly reduce $T_c$ from the onset temperature for pairing ($T^*$), provide reasonable estimates of $T_c$ and indicate that the inter-species superfluid phase should be accessible in future experiments. Although a generalized-Sarma phase is not stable in the ground state near unitarity, our phase diagrams show that it appears as an intermediate-temperature superfluid.