Recent scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments on graphene reported an unexpected gap of about +/-60 meV around the Fermi level [V. W. Brar, Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 122102 (2007); 10.1063/1.2771084Y. Zhang, Nature Phys. 4, 627 (2008)10.1038/nphys1022]. Here we give a theoretical investigation explaining the experimentally observed spectra and confirming the phonon-mediated tunneling as the reason for the gap: We study the real space properties of the wave functions involved in the tunneling process by means of ab initio theory and present a model for the electron-phonon interaction, which couples the graphene's Dirac electrons with quasifree-electron states at the Brillouin zone center. The self-energy associated with this electron-phonon interaction is calculated, and its effects on tunneling into graphene are discussed. Good agreement of the tunneling density of states within our model and the experimental dI/dU spectra is found.

High-k dielectric materials are important as gate oxides in microelectronics and as potential dielectrics for capacitors. In order to enable computational discovery of novel high-k dielectric materials, we propose a fitness model (energy storage density) that includes the dielectric constant, bandgap, and intrinsic breakdown field. This model, used as fitness function in conjunction with first-principles calculations and global optimization evolutionary algorithm USPEX, efficiently leads to practically important results. We found a number of high-fitness structures of SiO 2 and HfO 2 , some of which correspond to known phases and some are new. The results allow us to propose characteristics (genes) common to high-fitness structures -these are the coordination polyhedra and their degree of distortion. Our variable-composition searches in the HfO 2 -SiO 2 system uncovered several high-fitness states. This hybrid algorithm opens up a new avenue of discovering novel high-k dielectrics with both fixed and variable compositions, and will speed up the process of materials discovery.

A microscopic, nonlocal response theory is developed to model the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with inhomogeneous nanoscale clusters. The breakdown of classical continuum-field Mie theory is demonstrated at a critical coarse-graining threshold, below which macroscopic plasmon resonances are replaced by molecular excitations with suppressed spectral intensity.

Superconducting excitations -Bogoliubov quasiparticles -are the quantum mechanical mixture of negatively charged electron (-e) and positively charged hole (+e). Depending on the applied voltage bias in STM one can sample the particle and hole content of such a superconducting excitation. Recent Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) experiments offer a unique insight into the inner workings of the superconducting state of superconductors. We propose a new observable quantity for STM studies that is the manifestation of the particle-hole dualism of the quasiparticles. We call it a Bogoliubov angle. This angle measures the relative weight of particle and hole amplitude in the superconducting (Bogoliubov) quasiparticle. We argue that this quantity can be measured locally by comparing the ratio of tunneling currents at positive and negative biases. This Bogoliubov angle allows one to measure directly the energy and position dependent particle-hole admixture and therefore visualize robustness of superconducting state locally. It may also allow one to measure the particle-hole admixture of excitations in normal state above critical temperature and thus may be used to measure superconducting correlations in pseudogap state.