Calibration of planetary brightness temperature spectra at near-millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths with a Fourier-transform spectrometer

A medium-resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer for ground-based observation of astronomical sources at near-millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths is described. The steps involved in measuring and calibrating astronomical spectra are elaborated. The spectrometer is well suited to planetary spectroscopy, and initial measurements of the intrinsic brightness temperature spectra of Uranus and Neptune at wavelengths of 1.0 to 1.5 mm are presented

Reexamination of Hagen-Poiseuille flow: shape-dependence of the hydraulic resistance in microchannels

We consider pressure-driven, steady state Poiseuille flow in straight channels with various cross-sectional shapes: elliptic, rectangular, triangular, and harmonic-perturbed circles. A given shape is characterized by its perimeter P and area A which are combined into the dimensionless compactness number C = P^2/A, while the hydraulic resistance is characterized by the well-known dimensionless geometrical correction factor alpha. We find that alpha depends linearly on C, which points out C as a single dimensionless measure characterizing flow properties as well as the strength and effectiveness of surface-related phenomena central to lab-on-a-chip applications. This measure also provides a simple way to evaluate the hydraulic resistance for the various shapes.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures. Revised title, as publishe

A statistical model with a standard Gamma distribution

We study a statistical model consisting of $N$ basic units which interact with each other by exchanging a physical entity, according to a given microscopic random law, depending on a parameter $\lambda$. We focus on the equilibrium or stationary distribution of the entity exchanged and verify through numerical fitting of the simulation data that the final form of the equilibrium distribution is that of a standard Gamma distribution. The model can be interpreted as a simple closed economy in which economic agents trade money and a saving criterion is fixed by the saving propensity $\lambda$. Alternatively, from the nature of the equilibrium distribution, we show that the model can also be interpreted as a perfect gas at an effective temperature $T(\lambda)$, where particles exchange energy in a space with an effective dimension $D(\lambda)$.Comment: 5 pages, including 4 figures. Uses REVTeX styl

Edge states in graphene quantum dots: Fractional quantum Hall effect analogies and differences at zero magnetic field

We investigate the way that the degenerate manifold of midgap edge states in quasicircular graphene quantum dots with zig-zag boundaries supports, under free-magnetic-field conditions, strongly correlated many-body behavior analogous to the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), familiar from the case of semiconductor heterostructures in high magnetic fields. Systematic exact-diagonalization (EXD) numerical studies are presented for the first time for 5 <= N <= 8 fully spin-polarized electrons and for total angular momenta in the range of N(N-1)/2 <= L <= 150. We present a derivation of a rotating-electron-molecule (REM) type wave function based on the methodology introduced earlier [C. Yannouleas and U. Landman, Phys. Rev. B 66, 115315 (2002)] in the context of the FQHE in two-dimensional semiconductor quantum dots. The EXD wave functions are compared with FQHE trial functions of the Laughlin and the derived REM types. It is found that a variational extension of the REM offers a better description for all fractional fillings compared with that of the Laughlin functions (including total energies and overlaps), a fact that reflects the strong azimuthal localization of the edge electrons. In contrast with the multiring arrangements of electrons in circular semiconductor quantum dots, the graphene REMs exhibit in all instances a single (0,N) polygonal-ring molecular (crystalline) structure, with all the electrons localized on the edge. Disruptions in the zig-zag boundary condition along the circular edge act effectively as impurities that pin the electron molecule, yielding single-particle densities with broken rotational symmetry that portray directly the azimuthal localization of the edge electrons.Comment: Revtex. 14 pages with 13 figures and 2 tables. Physical Review B, in press. For related papers, see http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~ph274cy

The Electric Double Layer Structure Around Charged Spherical Interfaces

We derive a formally simple approximate analytical solution to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation for the spherical system via a geometric mapping. Its regime of applicability in the parameter space of the spherical radius and the surface potential is determined, and its superiority over the linearized solution is demonstrated.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

An Algorithmic Test for Diagonalizability of Finite-Dimensional PT-Invariant Systems

A non-Hermitean operator does not necessarily have a complete set of eigenstates, contrary to a Hermitean one. An algorithm is presented which allows one to decide whether the eigenstates of a given PT-invariant operator on a finite-dimensional space are complete or not. In other words, the algorithm checks whether a given PT-symmetric matrix is diagonalizable. The procedure neither requires to calculate any single eigenvalue nor any numerical approximation.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur

Two-dimensional random walk in a bounded domain

In a recent Letter Ciftci and Cakmak [EPL 87, 60003 (2009)] showed that the two dimensional random walk in a bounded domain, where walkers which cross the boundary return to a base curve near origin with deterministic rules, can produce regular patterns. Our numerical calculations suggest that the cumulative probability distribution function of the returning walkers along the base curve is a Devil's staircase, which can be explained from the mapping of these walks to a non-linear stochastic map. The non-trivial probability distribution function(PDF) is a universal feature of CCRW characterized by the fractal dimension d=1.75(0) of the PDF bounding curve.Comment: 4 pages, 7 eps figures, revtex

Visualizing the logistic map with a microcontroller

The logistic map is one of the simplest nonlinear dynamical systems that clearly exhibit the route to chaos. In this paper, we explored the evolution of the logistic map using an open-source microcontroller connected to an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs). We divided the one-dimensional interval $[0,1]$ into ten equal parts, and associated and LED to each segment. Every time an iteration took place a corresponding LED turned on indicating the value returned by the logistic map. By changing some initial conditions of the system, we observed the transition from order to chaos exhibited by the map.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 listin

Form factors of descendant operators: Free field construction and reflection relations

The free field representation for form factors in the sinh-Gordon model and the sine-Gordon model in the breather sector is modified to describe the form factors of descendant operators, which are obtained from the exponential ones, \e^{\i\alpha\phi}, by means of the action of the Heisenberg algebra associated to the field $\phi(x)$. As a check of the validity of the construction we count the numbers of operators defined by the form factors at each level in each chiral sector. Another check is related to the so called reflection relations, which identify in the breather sector the descendants of the exponential fields \e^{\i\alpha\phi} and \e^{\i(2\alpha_0-\alpha)\phi} for generic values of $\alpha$. We prove the operators defined by the obtained families of form factors to satisfy such reflection relations. A generalization of the construction for form factors to the kink sector is also proposed.Comment: 29 pages; v2: minor corrections, some references added; v3: minor corrections; v4,v5: misprints corrected; v6: minor mistake correcte