Dynamical Effective Field Model for Interacting Ferrofluids: II. The proper relaxation time and effects of dynamic correlations

The recently proposed dynamical effective field model (DEFM) is quantitatively accurate for ferrofluid dynamics. It is derived in paper I within the framework of dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) along with a phenomenological description of nonadiabatic effects. However, it remains to clarify how the characteristic rotational relaxation time of a dressed particle, denoted by τr, is quantitatively related to that of a bare particle, denoted by τr0. By building macro-micro connections via two different routes, I reveal that under some gentle assumptions τr can be identified with the mean time characterizing long-time rotational self-diffusion. I further introduce two simple but useful integrated correlation factors, describing the effects of quasi-static (adiabatic) and dynamic (nonadiabatic) inter-particle correlations, respectively. In terms of both the dynamic magnetic susceptibility is expressed in an illuminating and elegant form. Remarkably, it shows that the macro-micro connection is established via two successive steps: a dynamical coarse-graining with nonadiabatic effects accounted for by the dynamic factor, followed by equilibrium ensemble averaging captured by the static factor. By analyzing data from Brownian dynamics simulations on monodisperse interacting ferrofluids, I find τr/τr0 is, somehow unexpectedly, insensitive to changes of particle volume fraction. A physical picture is proposed to explain it. Furthermore, an empirical formula is proposed to characterize the dependence of τr/τr0 on dipole-dipole interaction strength. The DEFM supplemented with this formula leads to parameter-free predictions in good agreement with results from Brownian dynamics simulations. The theoretical developments presented in this paper may have important consequences to studies of ferrofluid dynamics in particular and other systems modelled by DDFTs in general.

Nonadiabatic superconductivity in a Li-intercalated hexagonal boron nitride bilayer

When considering a Li-intercalated hexagonal boron nitride bilayer (Li-hBN), the vertex corrections of electron–phonon interaction cannot be omitted. This is evidenced by the very high value of the ratio λωD/εF ≈ 0.46, where λ is the electron–phonon coupling constant, ωD is the Debye frequency, and εF represents the Fermi energy. Due to nonadiabatic effects, the phonon–induced superconducting state in Li-hBN is characterized by much lower values of the critical temperature (T LOVC C ∈ {19.1, 15.5, 11.8} K, for μ* ∈ {0.1, 0.14, 0.2}, respectively) than would result from calculations not taking this effect into account (T ME C∈ {31.9, 26.9, 21} K). From the technological point of view, the low value of T C limits the possible applications of Li-hBN. The calculations were carried out under the classic Migdal–Eliashberg formalism (ME) and the Eliashberg theory with lowest-order vertex corrections (LOVC). We show that the vertex corrections of higher order (λ3) lower the value of T LOVC C by a few percent.

Nonadiabatic exciton-phonon coupling in Raman spectroscopy of layered materials

We present an ab initio computational approach for the calculation of resonant Raman intensities, including both excitonic and nonadiabatic effects. Our diagrammatic approach, which we apply to two prototype, semiconducting layered materials, allows a detailed analysis of the impact of phonon-mediated exciton-exciton scattering on the intensities. In the case of bulk hexagonal boron nitride, this scattering leads to strong quantum interference between different excitonic resonances, strongly redistributing oscillator strength with respect to optical absorption spectra. In the case of MoS2, we observe that quantum interference effects are suppressed by the spin-orbit splitting of the excitons.