1,874 research outputs found
Highly-tunable formation of nitrogen-vacancy centers via ion implantation
We demonstrate highly-tunable formation of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers
using 20 keV 15N+ ion implantation through arrays of high-resolution apertures
fabricated with electron beam lithography. By varying the aperture diameters
from 80 to 240 nm, as well as the average ion fluences from 5 x 10^10 to 2 x
10^11 ions/cm^2, we can control the number of ions per aperture. We analyze the
photoluminescence on multiple sites with different implantation parameters and
obtain ion-to-NV conversion yields of 6 to 7%, consistent across all ion
fluences. The implanted NV centers have spin dephasing times T2* ~ 3
microseconds, comparable to naturally occurring NV centers in high purity
diamond with natural abundance 13C. With this technique, we can
deterministically control the population distribution of NV centers in each
aperture, allowing for the study of single or coupled NV centers and their
integration into photonic structures.Comment: Related papers at http://pettagroup.princeton.ed
Classical Robustness of Quantum Unravellings
We introduce three measures which quantify the degree to which quantum
systems possess the robustness exhibited by classical systems when subjected to
continuous observation. Using these we show that for a fixed environmental
interaction the level of robustness depends on the measurement strategy, or
unravelling, and that no single strategy is maximally robust in all ways.Comment: 8 Pages, 2 figures, Version 2. Minor changes to wording for
clarification and some references added. Accepted for publication in
Europhysics Letter
Study of Small-Scale Anisotropy of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays Observed in Stereo by HiRes
The High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) experiment is an air fluorescence
detector which, operating in stereo mode, has a typical angular resolution of
0.6 degrees and is sensitive to cosmic rays with energies above 10^18 eV. HiRes
is thus an excellent instrument for the study of the arrival directions of
ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. We present the results of a search for
anisotropies in the distribution of arrival directions on small scales (<5
degrees) and at the highest energies (>10^19 eV). The search is based on data
recorded between 1999 December and 2004 January, with a total of 271 events
above 10^19 eV. No small-scale anisotropy is found, and the strongest
clustering found in the HiRes stereo data is consistent at the 52% level with
the null hypothesis of isotropically distributed arrival directions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Matches accepted ApJL versio
Computational Discovery of Hydrogen Bond Design Rules for Electrochemical Ion Separation
Selective ion separation is a major challenge with far-ranging impact from water desalination to product separation in catalysis. Recently introduced ferrocene (Fc)/ferrocenium (Fcâș) polymer electrode materials have been demonstrated experimentally and theoretically to selectively bind carboxylates over perchlorate through weak CâH···O hydrogen bond (HB) interactions that favor carboxylates, despite the comparable size and charge of the two species. However, practical application of this technology in aqueous environments requires further selectivity enhancement. Using a first-principles discovery approach, we investigate the effect of Fc/Fcâș functional groups (FGs) on the selectivity and reversibility of formateâFcâș adsorption with respect to perchlorate in aqueous solution. Our wide design space of 44 FGs enables identification of FGs with higher selectivity and rationalization of trends through electronic energy decomposition analysis or geometric hydrogen bonding analysis. Overall, we observe weaker, longer HBs for perchlorate as compared to formate with Fcâș. We further identify Fcâș functionalizations that simultaneously increase selectivity for formate in aqueous environments but permit rapid release from neutral Fc. We introduce the materiaphore, a 3D abstraction of these design rules, to help guide next-generation material optimization for selective ion sorption. This approach is expected to have broad relevance in computational discovery for molecular recognition, sensing, separations, and catalysis.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ECCS-1449291
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The Stardust â a successful encounter with the remarkable comet Wild 2
On January 2, 2004 the Stardust spacecraft completed a close flyby of comet Wild2 (P81). Flying at a relative speed of 6.1 km/s within 237km of the 5 km nucleus, the spacecraft took 72 close-in images, measured the flux of impacting particles and did TOF mass spectrometry
An integrated computational-experimental approach reveals Yersinia pestis genes essential across a narrow or a broad range of environmental conditions
Background
The World Health Organization has categorized plague as a re-emerging disease and the potential for Yersinia pestis to also be used as a bioweapon makes the identification of new drug targets against this pathogen a priority. Environmental temperature is a key signal which regulates virulence of the bacterium. The bacterium normally grows outside the human host at 28 °C. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that the bacterium used to adapt to a mammalian host at 37 °C is central to the development of vaccines or drugs for the prevention or treatment of human disease.
Results
Using a library of over 1 million Y. pestis CO92 random mutants and transposon-directed insertion site sequencing, we identified 530 essential genes when the bacteria were cultured at 28 °C. When the library of mutants was subsequently cultured at 37 °C we identified 19 genes that were essential at 37 °C but not at 28 °C, including genes which encode proteins that play a role in enabling functioning of the type III secretion and in DNA replication and maintenance. Using genome-scale metabolic network reconstruction we showed that growth conditions profoundly influence the physiology of the bacterium, and by combining computational and experimental approaches we were able to identify 54 genes that are essential under a broad range of conditions.
Conclusions
Using an integrated computational-experimental approach we identify genes which are required for growth at 37 °C and under a broad range of environments may be the best targets for the development of new interventions to prevent or treat plague in humans
Searches for Long Lived Neutral Particles
An intriguing possibility for TeV scale physics is the existence of neutral
long lived particles (LOLIPs) that subsequently decay into SM states. Such
particles are many cases indistinguishable from missing transverse energy (MET)
at colliders. We propose new methods to search for these particles using
neutrino telescopes. We study their detection prospects, assuming production
either at the LHC or through dark matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun and the
Earth. We find that the sensitivity for LOLIPs produced at the LHC is limited
by luminosity and detection energy thresholds. On the other hand, in the case
of DM annihilation into LOLIPs, the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes is
promising and may extend beyond the reach of upcoming direct detection
experiments. In the context of low scale hidden sectors weakly coupled to the
SM, such indirect searches allow to probe couplings as small as 10^-15.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
Absolutely stable proton and lowering the gauge unification scale
A unified model is constructed, based on flipped SU(5) in which the proton is absolutely stable. The model requires the existence of new leptons with masses of order the weak scale. The possibility that the unification scale could be extremely low is discussed
Search for Point Sources of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Above 40 EeV Using a Maximum Likelihood Ratio Test
We present the results of a search for cosmic ray point sources at energies
above 40 EeV in the combined data sets recorded by the AGASA and HiRes stereo
experiments. The analysis is based on a maximum likelihood ratio test using the
probability density function for each event rather than requiring an a priori
choice of a fixed angular bin size. No statistically significant clustering of
events consistent with a point source is found.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
A Search for Arrival Direction Clustering in the HiRes-I Monocular Data above 10^(19.5) eV
In the past few years, small scale anisotropy has become a primary focus in
the search for source of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). The Akeno
Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) has reported the presence of clusters of event
arrival directions in their highest energy data set. The High Resolution Fly's
Eye (HiRes) has accumulated an exposure in one of its monocular eyes at
energies above 10^(19.5) eV comparable to that of AGASA. However, monocular
events observed with an air fluorescence detector are characterized by highly
asymmetric angular resolution. A method is developed for measuring
autocorrelation with asymmetric angular resolution. It is concluded that
HiRes-I observations are consistent with no autocorrelation and that the
sensitivity to clustering of the HiRes-I detector is comparable to that of the
reported AGASA data set. Furthermore, we state with a 90% confidence level that
no more than 13% of the observed HiRes-I events above 10^(19.5) eV could be
sharing common arrival directions. However, because a measure of
autocorrelation makes no assumption of the underlying astrophysical mechanism
that results in clustering phenomena, we cannot claim that the HiRes monocular
analysis and the AGASA analysis are inconsistent beyond a specified confidence
level.Comment: 16 pages, 23 figure
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