Cd 3 As 2 is a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal with separated Dirac points in momentum space. In spite of extensive transport and spectroscopic studies on its exotic properties, the evidence of superconductivity in its surface states remains elusive. Here, we report the observation of proximity-induced surface superconductivity in Nb/Cd 3 As 2 hybrid structures. Our four-terminal transport measurement identifies a pronounced proximity-induced pairing gap (gap size comparable to Nb) on the surfaces, which exhibits a flat conductance plateau in differential conductance spectra, consistent with our theoretical simulations. The surface supercurrent from Nb/Cd 3 As 2 /Nb junctions is also achieved with a Fraunhofer/SQUID-like pattern under out-of-plane/in-plane magnetic fields, respectively. The resultant mapping shows a predominant distribution on the top and bottom surfaces as the bulk carriers are depleted, which can be regarded as a higher dimensional analog of edge supercurrent in two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulators. Our study provides the evidence of surface superconductivity in Dirac semimetals.

The band inversions that generate the topologically non-trivial band gaps of topological insulators and the isolated Dirac touching points of three-dimensional Dirac semimetals generally arise from the crossings of electronic states derived from different orbital manifolds. Recently, the concept of single orbital-manifold band inversions occurring along high-symmetry lines has been demonstrated, stabilising multiple bulk and surface Dirac fermions. Here, we discuss the underlying ingredients necessary to achieve such phases, and discuss their existence within the family of transition metal dichalcogenides. We show how their three-dimensional band structures naturally produce only small kz projected band gaps, and demonstrate how these play a significant role in shaping the surface electronic structure of these materials. We demonstrate, through spin-and angle-resolved photoemission and density functional theory calculations, how the surface electronic structures of the group-X TMDs PtSe2 and PdTe2 are host to up to five distinct surface states, each with complex band dispersions and spin textures. Finally, we discuss how the origin of several recentlyrealised instances of topological phenomena in systems outside of the TMDs, including the iron-based superconductors, can be understood as a consequence of the same underlying mechanism driving kz-mediated band inversions in the TMDs.

We study second order consensus dynamics with random additive disturbances. We investigate three different performance measures: the steady-state variance of pairwise differences between vertex states, the steady-state variance of the deviation of each vertex state from the average, and the total steady-state variance of the system. We show that these performance measures are closely related to the biharmonic distance; the square of the biharmonic distance plays similar role in the system performance as resistance distances plays in the performance of first-order noisy consensus dynamics. We further define the new concepts of biharmonic Kirchhoff index and vertex centrality based on the biharmonic distance. Finally, we derive analytical results for the performance measures and concepts for complete graphs, star graphs, cycles, and paths, and we use this analysis to compare the asymptotic behavior of the steady-variance in first-and second-order systems.

We studied the thermodynamic behaviors of non-interacting bosons and fermions trapped by a scale-invariant branching structure of adjustable degree of heterogeneity. The full energy spectrum in tight-binding approximation was analytically solved . We found that the log-periodic oscillation of the specific heat for Fermi gas depended on the heterogeneity of hopping. Also, low dimensional Bose-Einstein condensation occurred only for non-homogeneous setup.

A nearest-neighbor tight-binding model on a tree structure is investigated. The full energy spectrum of the normalized Hamiltonian can be expressed in terms of successively increasing number of contributions at any finite step of construction of the tree, resulting in a causal chain. The degree of quantum localization of any eigenstate, measured by the inverse participation ratio (IPR), is also analytically expressed by means of terms in corresponding eigenvalue chain. The resulting IPR scaling behavior is expressed by the tails of eigenvalue chains as well.