Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The experimental observation of the quantum Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas posed an intriguing question to theorists: Why is the quantization of conductance so precise, given the imperfections of the measured samples? The question was answered a few years later, when a connection was uncovered between the quantum Hall effect and topological quantities associated with the band structure of the material in which it is observed. The Hall conductance was revealed to be an integer topological invariant, implying its robustness to certain perturbations. The topological theory went further than explaining only the usual integer quantum Hall effect in a perpendicular magnetic field. Soon it was realized that it also applies to certain systems in which the total magnetic flux is zero. Thus it is possible to have a quantized Hall effect without Landau levels. We study a carbon nanotube in a magnetic field perpendicular to its axial direction. Recent studies suggest that the application of an electric field parallel to the magnetic field would induce a gap in the electronic spectrum of a previously metallic carbon nanotube. Despite the quasi onedimensional nature of the carbon nanotube, the gapped state supports a quantum Hall effect and is associated with a non zero topological invariant. This result is revealed when an additional magnetic field is applied parallel to the axis of the carbon nanotube. If the flux due to this magnetic field is varied by one flux quantum, exactly one electron is transported between the ends of the carbon nanotube. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die eksperimentele waarneming van die kwantum Hall effek in ’n twee-dimensionele elektron gas laat ’n interessante vraag aan teoretiese fisikuste: Waarom sou die kwantisasie van die geleiding so presies wees al bevat die monsters, waarop die meetings gedoen word, onsuiwerhede? Hierdie vraag word ’n paar jaar later geantwoord toe ’n konneksie tussen die kwantum Hall effek en topologiese waardes, wat verband hou met die bandstruktuur van die monster, gemaak is. Dit is aan die lig gebring dat die Hall geleiding ’n heeltallige topologiese invariante is wat die robuustheid teen sekere steurings impliseer. Die topologiese teorie verduidelik nie net die gewone kwantum Hall effek wat in ’n loodregte magneetveld waargeneem word nie. Dit is ook moontlik om ’n kwantum Hall effek waar te neem in sekere sisteme waar die totale magneetvloed nul is. Dit is dus moontlik om ’n gekwantiseerde Hall effek sonder Landau levels te hˆe. Ons bestudeer ’n koolstofnanobuis in ’n magneetveld loodreg tot die aksiale rigting. Onlangse studies dui daarop dat die toepassing van ’n elektriese veld parallel aan die magneetveld ’n gaping in die elektroniese spektrum van ’n metaliese koolstofnanobuis induseer. Ten spyte van die een-dimensionele aard van die koolstofnanobuis ondersteun die gapings-toestand steeds ’n kwantum Hall effek en hou dit verband met ’n nie-nul topologiese invariante. Hierdie resultaat word openbaar wanneer ’n bykomende magneetveld parallel tot die as van die koolstofnanobuis toegedien word. Indien die vloed as gevolg van hierdie magneetveld met een vloedkwantum verander word, word presies een elektron tussen die twee kante van die koolstofnanobuis vervoer.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第21551号 / 理博第4458号 / 新制||理||1640(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 佐々 真一, 准教授 藤 定義, 准教授 荒木 武昭 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第18816号 / 理博第4074号 / 新制||理||1586(附属図書館) / 31767 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科化学専攻 / (主査)教授 長谷川 健, 准教授 安藤 耕司, 教授 林 重彦 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

In dieser Arbeit wird ein Modell für das Eu-reiche EuO formuliert. Es besteht in einer Erweiterung des Kondo-Gitter-Modells (KGM). Für das KGM existieren nur einige exakte Aussagen. In dieser Arbeit kommt eine neue hinzu, nämlich die exakte Abbildung des periodischen Anderson-Modells auf das antiferromagnetische KGM für beliebige Kopplungsstärke J. Reines EuO ist ein ferromagnetischer Halbleiter. Eu-reiches EuO zeigt einen gewaltigen Metall-Isolator-Übergang in der Nähe der Curie-Temperatur mit einem Sprung im Widerstand von bis zu 13 Größenordnungen. Das ist der größte Sprung im Widerstand, der jemals in der Natur beobachtet wurde. Wir reproduzieren diesen Sprung theoretisch mit der Kubo-Formel. Wir erzielen sehr gute Fits bereits in einer nicht vollständig selbstkonsistenten Theorie, bei der die Magnetisierung der Eu-Spins einer Brillouin-Funktion entnommen ist. In einer vollständig selbstkonsistenten Theorie bestimmen wir die Magnetisierung, die Curie-Temperatur, den spezifischen Widerstand und andere Transporteigenschaften. Wir berechnen Größen wie die elektronische Wärmeleitfähigkeit und die Thermokraft, für die weniger experimentelle Daten zum Vergleich vorhanden sind. Nichtsdestoweniger erscheinen z.B. die Rechnungen für die thermische Leitfähigkeit vertrauenswürdig, da das Wiedemann-Franz-Verhältnis mit der elektrischen Leitfähigkeit einen vernünftigen Wert liefert. Die Leitungselektronenzahl des Eu-reichen EuO kommt aus der Theorie unabhängig von der Leitfähigkeit heraus. Daher können wir aus der Leitfähigkeit und der Leitungselektronenzahl die durchschnittliche Drude-Mobilität (oder Streuzeit) berechnen. Diese Größe hat für höhere Impurity-(Sauerstoff-Leerstellen)-Konzentrationen einen Sprung in der Nähe der Curie-Temperatur von bis zu zwei Größenordnungen in Übereinstimmung mit dem Experiment. / In this thesis a model is formulated for Eu-rich EuO. It consists in an extension of the Kondo lattice model (KLM). For the KLM only a few exact statements exist. To those we add a new one, namely the exact mapping of the periodic Anderson model on the antiferromagnetic KLM for arbitrary coupling constant J. Pure EuO is a ferromagnetic semiconductor. Eu-rich EuO exhibits a huge metal--insulator transition near the Curie temperature with a jump in resistivity of up to 13 orders of magnitude. It is the biggest jump in resistivity ever observed in nature. We theoretically reproduce this jump. We achieve very good fits already within a not fully self-consistent theory where the magnetization of the Eu spins is taken from a Brillouin function. In a fully self-consistent theory we determine the magnetization, the Curie temperature, the resistivity and other transport properties. We calculate quantities like the electronic thermal conductivity and the thermopower, for which there are less experimental data to compare with. Nevertheless, e.g. the calculations for the thermal conductivity seem reliable since the Wiedemann-Franz ratio with the electrical conductivity gives a reasonable result. The conduction-electron number of Eu-rich EuO comes out of the theory independently of the conductivity. So we can calculate from the conductivity and the conduction-electron number the average Drude mobility (or scattering time). This quantitiy has a jump near the Curie temperature of up to two orders of magnitude for higher impurity (oxygen vacancy) concentrations in agreement with the experiment.

L'équation de la chaleur est un phénomène macroscopique, émergeant après une limite d’échelle diffusive (en espace et en temps) d’un système d'oscillateurs couplés. Lorsque les interactions entre oscillateurs sont linéaires, l'énergie évolue de manière balistique, et la conductivité thermique est infinie. Certaines non-linéarités doivent donc apparaître au niveau microscopique, si l’on espère observer une diffusion normale. Pour apporter de l'ergodicité, on ajoute à la dynamique déterministe une perturbation stochastique qui conserve l'énergie. En premier lieu nous étudions la dynamique Hamiltonienne d'un système d'oscillateurs linéaires, perturbé par un bruit stochastique dégénéré conservatif. Ce dernier transforme à des temps aléatoires les vitesses en leurs opposées. On montre que l'évolution macroscopique du système est caractérisée par un système parabolique non-linéaire couplé pour les deux lois de conservation du modèle. Ensuite, nous supposons que les oscillateurs évoluent en environnement aléatoire. La perturbation stochastique est très dégénérée, et on prouve que le champ de fluctuations de l'énergie à l'équilibre converge vers un processus d'Ornstein-Uhlenbeck généralisé dirigé par l’équation de la chaleur.Il est désormais connu que les systèmes unidimensionnels présentent une diffusion anormale lorsque le moment total est conservé en plus de l'énergie. Dans une troisième partie, on considère deux perturbations, l'une préservant le moment, l'autre détruisant cette conservation. En faisant décroître l'intensité de la seconde perturbation, on observe une transition de phase entre un régime de diffusion normale et un régime de superdiffusion. / The heat equation is known to be a macroscopic phenomenon, emerging after a diffusive rescaling of space and time. In linear systems of interacting oscillators, the energy ballistically disperses and the thermal conductivity is infinite. Since the Fourier law is not valid for linear interactions, non-linearities in the microscopic dynamics are needed. In order to bring ergodicity to the system, we superpose a stochastic energy conserving perturbation to the underlying deterministic dynamics.In the first part we study the Hamiltonian dynamics of linear coupled oscillators, which are perturbed by a degenerate conservative stochastic noise. The latter flips the sign of the velocities at random times. The evolution yields two conservation laws (the energy and the length of the chain), and the macroscopic behavior is given by a non-linear parabolic system.Then, we suppose the harmonic oscillators to evolve in a random environment, in addition to be stochastically perturbed. The noise is very degenerate, and we prove a macroscopic behavior that holds at equilibrium: precisely, energy fluctuations at equilibrium evolve according to an infinite dimensional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process driven by the linearized heat equation.Finally, anomalous behaviors have been observed for one-dimensional systems which preserve momentum in addition to the energy. In the third part, we consider two different perturbations, the first one preserving the momentum, and the second one destroying that new conservation law. When the intensity of the second noise is decreasing, we observe (in a suitable time scale) a phase transition between a regime of normal diffusion and a regime of super-diffusion.

The work at hand presents a novel approach to transport in closed quantum systems. To this end a method is introduced which is essentially based on projection operator techniques, in particular on the time-convolutionless (TCL) technique. The projection onto local densities of quantities such as energy, magnetization, particles, etc. yields the reduced dynamics of the respective quantities in terms of a systematic perturbation expansion. Especially, the lowest order contribution of this expansion is used as a strategy for the analysis of transport in "modular" quantum systems. The term modular basically corresponds to (quasi-) one-dimensional structures consisting of identical or at least similar many-level subunits. Modular quantum systems are demonstrated to represent many physical situations and several examples are given. In the context of these quantum systems lowest order TCL is shown as an efficient tool which also allows to investigate the dependence of transport on the considered length scale. In addition an estimation for the validity range of lowest order TCL is derived. As a first application a "design" model is considered for which a complete characterization of all available transport types as well as the transitions to each other is possible. For this model the relationship to quantum chaos and the validity of the Kubo formula is further discussed. As an example for a "real" system the Anderson model is finally analyzed. The results are partially verified by the numerical solution of the full time-dependent Schroedinger equation which is obtained by exact diagonalization or approximative integrators.