Kaluza-Klein description of geometric phases in graphene

In this paper, we use the Kaluza-Klein approach to describe topological defects in a graphene layer. Using this approach, we propose a geometric model allowing to discuss the quantum flux in $K$-spin subspace. Within this model, the graphene layer with a topological defect is described by a four-dimensional metric, where the deformation produced by the topological defect is introduced via the three-dimensional part of metric tensor, while an Abelian gauge field is introduced via an extra dimension. We use this new geometric model to discuss the arising of topological quantum phases in a graphene layer with a topological defect.Comment: 16 pages, version accepted to Annals of Physic

Mechanical design of NASA Ames Research Center vertical motion simulator

NASA has designed and is constructing a new flight simulator with large vertical travel. Several aspects of the mechanical design of this Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) are discussed, including the multiple rack and pinion vertical drive, a pneumatic equilibration system, and the friction-damped rigid link catenaries used as cable supports

The effect of delayed harvest upon yield of grain

In 1927 yield and moisture data were secured at semi-weekly harvest intervals for four varieties of oats, two of winter wheat and two of barley. In 1928 this experiment was repeated using six varieties of oats, two of winter wheat and four of barley. The data secured in these studies show increases in yields which indicate that photosynthesis and translocation of food material to the kernel may continue much longer than has been previously reported. The yields continued to rise until the moisture content of the grain had fallen to percentages varying, in 1927, between 33.6 and 10.0, and in 1928 between 45.0 and 19.4, as shown in table I, page 335. The results of these experiments indicate that a considerable part of the grain crop is usually harvested before maximum production has been attained. In 1927 several of the varieties increased in yield as much as 10 percent after the date on which they normally would have been harvested. In some cases these increases extended over a period of 10 days. In 1928, probably due to intermittent storms, the increases were much smaller than in the previous year, but continued over approximately the same length of time. The results confirm the accepted idea that the corresponding losses from delayed harvesting are lower for wheat than for other grains. The experiments with oats show a distinct relation between varieties and the length of profitable harvest period

Detailed analysis of radiation data from the Gemini 4 and Gemini 7 proton-electron spectrometer experiments Final report, 13 Jun. 1967 - 30 Dec. 1968

Detailed analysis of radiation data from Gemini 4 and 7 proton-electron spectrometer experiment

rab7b controls trafficking from endosomes to the tgn

Rab7b is a recently identified member of the Rab GTPase protein family and has high similarity to Rab7. It has been reported that Rab7b is lysosome associated, that it is involved in monocytic differentiation and that it promotes lysosomal degradation of TLR4 and TLR9. Here we investigated further the localization and function of this GTPase. We found that wild-type Rab7b is lysosome associated whereas an activated, GTP-bound form of Rab7b localizes to the Golgi apparatus. In contrast to Rab7, Rab7b is not involved in EGF and EGFR degradation. Depletion of Rab7b or expression of Rab7b T22N, a Rab7b dominant-negative mutant, impairs cathepsin-D maturation and causes increased secretion of hexosaminidase. Moreover, expression of Rab7b T22N or depletion of Rab7b alters TGN46 distribution, cation-independent mannose-6-phosphate receptor (CI-MPR) trafficking, and causes an increase in the levels of the late endosomal markers CI-MPR and cathepsin D. Vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSV-G) trafficking, by contrast, is normal in Rab7b-depleted or Rab7b-T22N-expressing cells. In addition, depletion of Rab7b prevents cholera toxin B-subunit from reaching the Golgi. Altogether, these data indicate that Rab7b is required for normal lysosome function, and, in particular, that it is an essential factor for retrograde transport from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network (TGN)

Interacting damage models mapped onto Ising and percolation models

We introduce a class of damage models on regular lattices with isotropic interactions, as e.g. quasistatic fiber bundles. The system starts intact with a surface-energy threshold required to break any cell sampled from an uncorrelated quenched-disorder distribution. The evolution of this heterogeneous system is ruled by Griffith's principle which states that a cell breaks when the release in elastic energy in the system exceeds the surface-energy barrier necessary to break the cell. By direct integration over all possible realizations of the quenched disorder, we obtain the probability distribution of each damage configuration at any level of the imposed external deformation. We demonstrate an isomorphism between the distributions so obtained and standard generalized Ising models, in which the coupling constants and effective temperature in the Ising model are functions of the nature of the quenched-disorder distribution and the extent of accumulated damage. In particular, we show that damage models with global load sharing are isomorphic to standard percolation theory, that damage models with local load sharing rule are isomorphic to the standard Ising model, and draw consequences thereof for the universality class and behavior of the autocorrelation length of the breakdown transitions corresponding to these models. We also treat damage models having more general power-law interactions, and classify the breakdown process as a function of the power-law interaction exponent. Last, we also show that the probability distribution over configurations is a maximum of Shannon's entropy under some specific constraints related to the energetic balance of the fracture process, which firmly relates this type of quenched-disorder based damage model to standard statistical mechanics.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Effect of topological defects and Coulomb charge on the low energy quantum dynamics of gapped graphene

We study the combined effect of a conical topological defect and a Coulomb charge impurity on the dynamics of Dirac fermions in gapped graphene. Beyond a certain strength of the Coulomb charge, quantum instability sets in, which demarcates the boundary between sub and supercritical values of the charge. In the subcritical regime, for certain values of the system parameters, the allowed boundary conditions in gapped graphene cone can be classified in terms of a single real parameter. We show that the observables such as local density of states, scattering phase shifts and the bound state spectra are sensitive to the value of this real parameter, which is interesting from an empirical point of view. For a supercritical Coulomb charge, we analyze the system with a regularized potential as well as with a zigzag boundary condition and find the effect of the sample topology on the observable features of the system.Comment: 22 pages, 23 figure

Relativistic Landau quantization for a neutral particle

In this contribution we study the Landau levels arising within the relativistic quantum dynamics of a neutral particle which possesses a permanent magnetic dipole moment interacting with an external electric field. We consider the Aharonov-Casher coupling of magnetic dipole to the electric field to investigate an an analog of Landau quantization in this system and solve the Dirac equation for two different field configurations. The eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of Hamiltonian in both cases are obtained.Comment: 9 pages, no figure

Noninertial effects on a Dirac neutral particle inducing an analogue of the Landau quantization in the cosmic string spacetime

We discuss the behaviour of external fields that interact with a Dirac neutral particle with a permanent electric dipole moment in order to achieve relativistic bound states solutions in a noninertial frame and in the presence of a topological defect spacetime. We show that the noninertial effects of the Fermi-Walker reference frame induce a radial magnetic field even in the absence of magnetic charges, which is influenced by the topology of the cosmic string spacetime. We then discuss the conditions that the induced fields must satisfy to yield the relativistic bound states corresponding to the Landau-He-McKellar-Wilkens quantization in the cosmic string spacetime. Finally we obtain the Dirac spinors for positive-energy solutions and the Gordon decomposition of the Dirac probability current.Comment: 15 pages, no figure, this paper will be published in volume 42 of the Brazilian Journal of Physic