Abstract: Starting from Feynmans Lagrangian description of quantum mechanics, we propose a method to construct explicitly the propagator for the Wigner distribution function of a single system. For general quadratic Lagrangians, only the classical phase space trajectory is found to contribute to the propagator. Inspired by Feynmans and Vernons influence functional theory we extend the method to calculate the propagator for the reduced Wigner function of a system of interest coupled to an external system. Explicit expressions are obtained when the external system consists of a set of independent harmonic oscillators. As an example we calculate the propagator for the reduced Wigner function associated with the CaldeiraLegett model.

Abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most frequent agent of acute lower respiratory diseases and creates a significant burden of disease in children under 5 years all over the world. RSV causes severe lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) that require hospitalization, especially in children <= 2 years. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of RSV in children <= 2 years of age hospitalized for LRTI. Children <= 2 years of age hospitalized for one year for LRTI in the three largest hospitals of Bursa City Center, Turkey were evaluated. These three hospitals comprise 67.5% of all child beds in central Bursa, so this study allows us to evaluate the total disease burden and hospitalization incidence in central Bursa. Nasal swabs of the children were evaluated with RSV RespiStrip (Coris Bioconcept Organization). A total of 671 children were hospitalized for LRTI, and 254 (37.9%) had at least one hospitalization that was positive for RSV. Of all patients with LRTI, 54.8% (368/671) were hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis, while 45.2% (303/671) were hospitalized for pneumonia. Of patients with acute bronchiolitis or pneumonia, 41% (151/368) and 34% (103/303) were RSV+, respectively. Of RSV+ hospitalized children, 59.5% (151/254) were diagnosed as acute bronchiolitis and 40.5% (103/254) as pneumonia. The annual incidences of hospitalization due to LRTI, acute bronchiolitis and pneumonia were 20.5/1000, 11.2/1000 and 9.3/1000, respectively, in children <= 2 years of age. The annual incidences of hospitalization due to RSV+ LRTI, acute bronchiolitis and pneumonia were found as 7.8/1000, 4.6/1000 and 3.2/1000, respectively, in children <= 2 years of age. More than one-third of all children hospitalized with LRTI (38.3%, n=257) were in the 0-3 months age group. Compared to other age groups, RSV positivity was highest in that age group for acute bronchiolitis (57%), pneumonia (39.5%) and also total children with LRTI (47.9%). RSV is a very important cause of lower respiratory infections in children <= 2 years of age and occurred most frequently in those 0-3 months of age in our study. Since there is no other study assessing the annual hospitalization incidence of RSV+ LRTIs in one city in Turkey, our study has unique importance for providing valuable statistical data about RSV+ LRTIs.

Abstract: We show numerically that a harmonically trapped and coherently Rabi-coupled three-component Bose-Einstein condensate can host unconventional vortex lattices in its rotating ground state. The discovered lattices incorporate square and zig-zag patterns, vortex dimers and chains, and doubly quantized vortices, and they can be quantitatively classified in terms of a skyrmionic topological index, which takes into account the multicomponent nature of the system. The exotic ground-state lattices arise due to the intricate interplay of the repulsive density-density interactions and the Rabi couplings as well as the ubiquitous phase frustration between the components. In the frustrated state, domain walls in the relative phases can persist between some components even at strong Rabi coupling, while vanishing between others. Consequently, in this limit the three-component condensate effectively approaches a two-component condensate with only density-density interactions. At intermediate Rabi coupling strengths, however, we face unique vortex physics that occurs neither in the two-component counterpart nor in the purely density-density-coupled three-component system.

Abstract: Using the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism, we study carrier transport through imperfect two-dimensional (2D) topological insulator (TI) ribbons. In particular, we investigate the effect of vacancy defects on the carrier transport in 2D TI ribbons with hexagonal lattice structure. To account for the random distribution of the vacancy defects, we present a statistical study of varying defect densities by stochastically sampling different defect configurations. We demonstrate that the topological edge states of TI ribbons are fairly robust against a high concentration (up to 2%) of defects. At very high defect densities, we observe an increased inter-edge interaction, mediated by the localisation of the edge states within the bulk region. This effect causes significant back-scattering of the, otherwise protected, edge-states at very high defect concentrations (>2%), resulting in a loss of conduction through the TI ribbon. We discuss how this coherent vacancy scattering can be used to our advantage for the development of TI-based transistors. We find that there is an optimal concentration of vacancies yielding an ON-OFF current ratio of up to two orders of magnitude. Finally, we investigate the importance of spin-orbit coupling on the robustness of the edge states in the TI ribbon and show that increased spin-orbit coupling could further increase the ON-OFF ratio.

Abstract: We investigate the diffusive electron-transport properties of charge-doped graphene ribbons and nanoribbons with imperfect edges. We consider different regimes of edge scattering, ranging from wide graphene ribbons with (partially) diffusive edge scattering to ribbons with large width variations and nanoribbons with atomistic edge roughness. For the latter, we introduce an approach based on pseudopotentials, allowing for an atomistic treatment of the band structure and the scattering potential, on the self-consistent solution of the Boltzmann transport equation within the relaxation-time approximation and taking into account the edge-roughness properties and statistics. The resulting resistivity depends strongly on the ribbon orientation, with zigzag (armchair) ribbons showing the smallest (largest) resistivity and intermediate ribbon orientations exhibiting intermediate resistivity values. The results also show clear resistivity peaks, corresponding to peaks in the density of states due to the confinement-induced subband quantization, except for armchair-edge ribbons that show a very strong width dependence because of their claromatic behavior. Furthermore, we identify a strong interplay between the relative position of the two valleys of graphene along the transport direction, the correlation profile of the atomistic edge roughness, and the chiral valley modes, leading to a peculiar strongly suppressed resistivity regime, most pronounced for the zigzag orientation.

Abstract: Using first-principles calculations we systematically investigate the atomic, electronic and magnetic properties of novel two-dimensional materials (2DM) with a stoichiometry C3N which has recently been synthesized. We investigate how the number of layers affect the electronic properties by considering monolayer, bilayer and trilayer structures, with different stacking of the layers. We find that a transition from semiconducting to metallic character occurs which could offer potential applications in future nanoelectronic devices. We also study the affect of width of C3N nanoribbons, as well as the radius and length of C3N nanotubes, on the atomic, electronic and magnetic properties. Our results show that these properties can be modified depending on these dimensions, and depend markedly on the nature of the edge states. Functionalization of the nanostructures by the adsorption of H adatoms is found induce metallic, half-metallic, semiconducting and ferromagnetic behavior, which offers an approach to tailor the properties, as can the application of strain. Our calculations give insight into this new family of C3N nanostructures, which reveal unusual electronic and magnetic properties, and may have great potential in applications such as sensors, electronics and optoelectronic at the nanoscale.

Abstract: Motivated by the recent synthesis of two-dimensional alpha-Fe2O3 (Balan et al 2018 Nat. Nanotechnol. 13 602), we analyze the structural, vibrational, electronic and magnetic properties of single- and few-layer alpha-Fe2O3 compared to bulk, by ab initio and Monte-Carlo simulations. We reveal how monolayer alpha-Fe2O3 (hematene) can be distinguished from the few-layer structures, and how they all differ from bulk through observable Raman spectra. The optical spectra exhibit gradual shift of the prominent peak to higher energy, as well as additional features at lower energy when alpha-Fe2O3 is thinned down to a monolayer. Both optical and electronic properties have strong spin asymmetry, meaning that lower-energy optical and electronic activities are allowed for the single-spin state. Finally, our considerations of magnetic properties reveal that 2D hematite has anti-ferromagnetic ground state for all thicknesses, but the critical temperature for Morin transition increases with decreasing sample thickness. On all accounts, the link to available experimental data is made, and further measurements are prompted.

Abstract: The dielectric properties of confined water is of fundamental interest and is still controversial. For water confined in channels with height smaller than h = 8 angstrom, we found a commensurability effect and an extraordinary decrease in the out-of-plane dielectric constant down to the limit of the dielectric constant of optical water. Spatial resolved polarization density data obtained from molecular dynamics simulations are found to be antisymmetric across the channel and are used as input in a mean-field model for the dielectric constant as a function of the height of the channel for h > 15 angstrom. Our results are in excellent agreement with a recent experiment [L. Fumagalli et al., Science 360, 1339 (2018)].

Abstract: Transition metal dichalcogenides, intercalated with transition metals, are studied for their potential applications as dilute magnetic semiconductors. We investigate the magnetic properties of WSe2 doped with third-row transition metals (Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ti and V). Using density functional theory in combination with Monte Carlo simulations, we obtain an estimate of the Curie or Neel temperature. We find that the magnetic ordering is highly dependent on the dopant type. While Ti and Cr-doped WSe2 have a ferromagnetic ground state, V, Mn, Fe and Co-doped WSe2 are antiferromagnetic in their ground state. For Fe doped WSe2, we find a high Curie-temperature of 327 K. In the case of V-doped WSe2, we find that there are two distinct magnetic phase transitions, originating from a frustrated in-plane antiferromagnetic exchange interaction and a ferromagnetic out-of-plane interaction. We calculate the formation energy and reveal that, in contrast to earlier reports, the formation energy is positive for the intercalated systems studied here. We also show that in the presence of W-vacancies, it becomes favorable for Ti, Fe, and Co to intercalate in WSe2.

Abstract: Dumbbell-like structures are recently found to be energetically favored in group IV two-dimensional (2D) materials, exhibiting rich physics and many interesting properties. In this paper, using first-principles calculations, we have investigated the oxidized form of the hexagonal honeycomb (ODB-h) and zigzag dumbbell silicene (ODB-z). We confirm that both oxidization processes are energetically favorable, and their phonon spectra further demonstrate the dynamic stability. Contrary to the pristine dumbbell silicene structures (PDB-h and PDB-z silicene), these oxidized products ODB-h and ODB-z silicene are both semimetals with Dirac cones at the Fermi level. The Dirac cones of ODB-h and ODB-z silicene are at the K point and between Y and Gamma points respectively, possessing high Fermi velocities of 3.1 x 10(5) m s(-1) (ODB-h) and 2.9-3.4 x 10(5) m s(-1) (ODB-z). The origin of the Dirac cones is further explained by tight-binding models. The semimetallic properties of ODB-h and ODB-z are sensitive to compression due to the self-absorption effect, but quite robust against the tensile strain. These outstanding properties make oxidized dumbbell silicene a promising material for quantum computing and high-speed electronic devices.

Abstract: Since the successful synthesis of bulk single crystals MoN2 and ReN2, which have a layered structure, transition-metal dinitrides have attracted considerable attention in recent years. Here, we focus on rare-earth metal (Rem) elements, and propose seven stable Rem dinitride monolayers with a 1T structure, namely, 1T-RemN2. We use first-principles calculations, and find that these monolayers have a ferromagnetic ground state with in-plane magnetization. Without spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the band structures are spin-polarized with Dirac points at the Fermi level. Remarkably, the 1T-LuN2 monolayer exhibits an isotropic magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy in the xy plane with in-plane magnetization, indicating easy tunability of the magnetization direction. When rotating the magnetization vector in the xy plane, we propose a model that accurately describes the variation of the SOC band gap and the two possible topological states (Weyl-like semimetal and Chern insulator states) whose properties are tunable. The Weyl-like semimetal state is a critical point between the two Chern insulator states with opposite sign of the Chern numbers (+/- 1). The nontrivial band gap (up to 60.3 meV) and the Weyl-like semimetal state are promising for applications in spintronic devices.

Abstract: Motivated by the potential of atomically thin magnets towards achieving tunable high-frequency magnonics, we detail the spin-wave dispersion of bilayer CrI3. We demonstrate that the magnonic behavior of the bilayer strongly depends on its stacking configuration and the interlayer magnetic ordering, where a topological band gap opens in the dispersion caused by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and Kitaev interactions, classifying bilayer CrI3 as a topological magnon insulator. We further reveal that both the size and the topology of the band gap in a CrI3 bilayer with an antiferromagnetic interlayer ordering are tunable by an external magnetic field.

Abstract: Electrocatalysts play a pivotal role in advancing the application of water splitting for hydrogen production. This research unveils the potential of defective biphenylenes as high-efficiency catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Using first-principles simulations, we systematically investigated the structure, stability, and catalytic performance of defective biphenylenes. Our findings unveil that defect engineering significantly enhances the electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution. Specifically, biphenylene with a double-vacancy defect exhibits an outstanding Gibbs free energy of -0.08 eV, surpassing that of Pt, accompanied by a remarkable exchange current density of -3.08 A cm(-2), also surpassing that of Pt. Furthermore, we find the preference for the Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism in the hydrogen evolution reaction, with a low energy barrier of 0.80 eV. This research provides a promising avenue for developing novel metal-free electrocatalysts for water splitting with earth-abundant carbon elements, making a significant step toward sustainable hydrogen production.

Abstract: Electronic devices that work in the quantum regime often employ hybrid nanostructures to bring about a nonlinear behaviour. The nonlinearity that these can provide has proven to be useful, in particular, for applications in quantum computation. Here we present a hybrid device that acts as a capacitor with a nonlinear charge-voltage relation. The device consists of a nanowire placed between the plates of a coplanar capacitor, with a co-parallel alignment. At low temperatures, due to the finite density of states on the nanowire, the charge distribution in the capacitor is uneven and energy-dependent, resulting in a charge-dependent effective capacitance. We study this system analytically and numerically, and show that the nonlinearity of the capacitance is significant enough to be utilized in circuit quantum electrodynamics. The resulting nonlinearity can be switched on, modulated, and switched off by an external potential, thus making this capacitive device highly versatile for uses in quantum computation.