Complex band structure with non-orthogonal basis set: analytical properties and implementation in the SIESTA code

The complex band structure, although not directly observable, determines many properties of a material where the periodicity is broken, such at surfaces, interfaces and defects. Furthermore, its knowledge helps in the interpretation of electronic transport calculations and in the study of topological materials. Here we extend the transfer matrix method, often used to compute the complex bands, to electronic structures constructed using an atomic non-orthogonal basis set. We demonstrate that when the overlap matrix is not the identity, the non-orthogonal case, spurious features appear in the analytic continuation of the band structure to the complex plane. The properties of these are studied both numerically and analytically and discussed in the context of existing literature. Finally, a numerical implementation to extract the complex band structure from periodic calculations carried out with the density functional theory code SIESTA is presented. This is constructed as a simple post-processing tool, and it is therefore amenable to high-throughput studies of insulators and semiconductors.

The SCI of $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 USp(2Nc) and SO(Nc) SYM as a matrix integral

We study the superconformal index of 4d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 USp(2Nc) and SO(Nc) SYM from a matrix model perspective. We focus on the Cardy-like limit of the index. Both in the symplectic and orthogonal case the index is dominated by a saddle point solution which we identify, reducing the calculation to a matrix integral of a pure Chern-Simons theory on the three-sphere. We further compute the subleading logarithmic corrections, which are of the order of the center of the gauge group. In the USp(2Nc) case we also study other subleading saddles of the matrix integral. Finally we discuss the case of the Leigh-Strassler fixed point with SU(Nc) gauge group, and we compute the entropy of the dual black hole from the Legendre transform of the entropy function.

The Complex Orthogonal Gelfand–Zeitlin System

In this paper, we use the theory of algebraic groups to prove a number of new and fundamental results about the orthogonal Gelfand–Zeitlin system. We show that the moment map (orthogonal Kostant–Wallach map) is surjective and simplify criteria of Kostant and Wallach for an element to be strongly regular. We further prove the integrability of the orthogonal Gelfand–Zeitlin system on regular adjoint orbits and describe the generic flows of the integrable system. We also study the nilfibre of the moment map and show that in contrast to the general linear case it contains no strongly regular elements. This extends results of Kostant, Wallach, and Colarusso from the general linear case to the orthogonal case.

A stratification on the moduli spaces of symplectic and orthogonal bundles over a curve

A symplectic or orthogonal bundle V of rank 2n over a curve has an invariant t(V) which measures the maximal degree of its isotropic subbundles of rank n. This invariant t defines stratifications on moduli spaces of symplectic and orthogonal bundles. We study this stratification by relating it to another one given by secant varieties in certain extension spaces. We give a sharp upper bound on t(V), which generalizes the classical Nagata bound for ruled surfaces and the Hirschowitz bound for vector bundles, and study the structure of the stratifications on the moduli spaces. In particular, we compute the dimension of each stratum. We give a geometric interpretation of the number of maximal Lagrangian subbundles of a general symplectic bundle, when this is finite. We also observe some interesting features of orthogonal bundles which do not arise for symplectic bundles, essentially due to the richer topological structure of the moduli space in the orthogonal case.