3,195 research outputs found
Large negative magnetoresistance in a ferromagnetic shape memory alloy : Ni_{2+x}Mn_{1-x}Ga
5% negative magnetoresistance (MR) at room temperature has been observed in
bulk Ni_{2+x}Mn_{1-x}Ga. This indicates the possibility of using
Ni_{2+x}Mn_{1-x}Ga as magnetic sensors. We have measured MR in the
ferromagnetic state for different compositions (x=0-0.2) in the austenitic,
pre-martensitic and martensitic phases. MR is found to increase with x. While
MR for x=0 varies almost linearly in the austenitic and pre-martensitic phases,
in the martensitic phase it shows a cusp-like shape. This has been explained by
the changes in twin and domain structures in the martensitic phase. In the
austenitic phase, which does not have twin structure, MR agrees with theory
based on s-d scattering model.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Appl. Phys. Lett 86, 202508 (2005
Decomposition Methods for Large Scale LP Decoding
When binary linear error-correcting codes are used over symmetric channels, a
relaxed version of the maximum likelihood decoding problem can be stated as a
linear program (LP). This LP decoder can be used to decode error-correcting
codes at bit-error-rates comparable to state-of-the-art belief propagation (BP)
decoders, but with significantly stronger theoretical guarantees. However, LP
decoding when implemented with standard LP solvers does not easily scale to the
block lengths of modern error correcting codes. In this paper we draw on
decomposition methods from optimization theory, specifically the Alternating
Directions Method of Multipliers (ADMM), to develop efficient distributed
algorithms for LP decoding.
The key enabling technical result is a "two-slice" characterization of the
geometry of the parity polytope, which is the convex hull of all codewords of a
single parity check code. This new characterization simplifies the
representation of points in the polytope. Using this simplification, we develop
an efficient algorithm for Euclidean norm projection onto the parity polytope.
This projection is required by ADMM and allows us to use LP decoding, with all
its theoretical guarantees, to decode large-scale error correcting codes
efficiently.
We present numerical results for LDPC codes of lengths more than 1000. The
waterfall region of LP decoding is seen to initiate at a slightly higher
signal-to-noise ratio than for sum-product BP, however an error floor is not
observed for LP decoding, which is not the case for BP. Our implementation of
LP decoding using ADMM executes as fast as our baseline sum-product BP decoder,
is fully parallelizable, and can be seen to implement a type of message-passing
with a particularly simple schedule.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures. An early version of this work appeared at the
49th Annual Allerton Conference, September 2011. This version to appear in
IEEE Transactions on Information Theor
Premartensite to martensite transition and its implications on the origin of modulation in Ni2MnGa ferromagnetic shape memory alloy
We present here results of temperature dependent high resolution synchrotron
x-ray powder diffraction study of sequence of phase transitions in Ni2MnGa. Our
results show that the incommensurate martensite phase results from the
incommensurate premartensite phase, and not from the austenite phase assumed in
the adaptive phase model. The premartensite phase transforms to the martensite
phase through a first order phase transition with coexistence of the two phases
in a broad temperature interval (~40K), discontinuous change in the unit cell
volume as also in the modulation wave vector across the transition temperature
and considerable thermal hysteresis in the characteristic transition
temperatures. The temperature variation of the modulation wave vector q shows
smooth analytic behaviour with no evidence for any devilish plateau
corresponding to an intermediate or ground state commensurate lock-in phases.
The existence of the incommensurate 7M like modulated structure down to 5K
suggests that the incommensurate 7M like modulation is the ground state of
Ni2MnGa and not the Bain distorted tetragonal L10 phase or any other lock-in
phase with a commensurate modulation. These findings can be explained within
the framework of the soft phonon model
Revealing the nature of antiferro-quadrupolar ordering in Cerium Hexaboride: CeB
Cerium-hexaboride (CeB) f-electron compound displays a rich array of
low-temperature magnetic phenomena, including `magnetically hidden' order,
identified as multipolar in origin via advanced x-ray scattering. From
first-principles electronic-structure results, we find that the
\emph{antiferro-quadrupolar} (AFQ) ordering in CeB arises from
crystal-field splitting and yields band structure in agreement with
experiments. With interactions of -electrons between Ce and B being
small, the electronic state of CeB is suitably described as
Ce(4)(e)(B). The AFQ state of orbital spins is
caused by an exchange interaction induced through spin-orbit interaction, which
also splits J=5/2 state into ground state and excited
state. Within the smallest antiferromagnetic (111) configuration, an
orbital-ordered AFQ state appears during charge self-consistency, and supports
the appearance of `hidden' order. Hydrostatic pressure (either applied or
chemically induced) stabilizes the AFM (AFQ) states over a ferromagnetic one,
as observed at low temperatures.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Influence of Ni doping on the electronic structure of Ni_2MnGa
The modifications in the electronic structure of Ni_{2+x}Mn_{1-x}Ga by Ni
doping have been studied using full potential linearized augmented plane wave
method and ultra-violet photoemission spectroscopy. Ni 3d related electron
states appear due to formation of Ni clusters. We show the possibility of
changing the minority-spin DOS with Ni doping, while the majority-spin DOS
remains almost unchanged. The total magnetic moment decreases with excess Ni.
The total energy calculations corroborate the experimentally reported changes
in the Curie temperature and the martensitic transition temperature with x.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Privacy and Truthful Equilibrium Selection for Aggregative Games
We study a very general class of games --- multi-dimensional aggregative
games --- which in particular generalize both anonymous games and weighted
congestion games. For any such game that is also large, we solve the
equilibrium selection problem in a strong sense. In particular, we give an
efficient weak mediator: a mechanism which has only the power to listen to
reported types and provide non-binding suggested actions, such that (a) it is
an asymptotic Nash equilibrium for every player to truthfully report their type
to the mediator, and then follow its suggested action; and (b) that when
players do so, they end up coordinating on a particular asymptotic pure
strategy Nash equilibrium of the induced complete information game. In fact,
truthful reporting is an ex-post Nash equilibrium of the mediated game, so our
solution applies even in settings of incomplete information, and even when
player types are arbitrary or worst-case (i.e. not drawn from a common prior).
We achieve this by giving an efficient differentially private algorithm for
computing a Nash equilibrium in such games. The rates of convergence to
equilibrium in all of our results are inverse polynomial in the number of
players . We also apply our main results to a multi-dimensional market game.
Our results can be viewed as giving, for a rich class of games, a more robust
version of the Revelation Principle, in that we work with weaker informational
assumptions (no common prior), yet provide a stronger solution concept (ex-post
Nash versus Bayes Nash equilibrium). In comparison to previous work, our main
conceptual contribution is showing that weak mediators are a game theoretic
object that exist in a wide variety of games -- previously, they were only
known to exist in traffic routing games
Characterization of the hot Neptune GJ 436b with Spitzer and ground-based observations
We present Spitzer Space Telescope infrared photometry of a secondary eclipse
of the hot Neptune GJ436b. The observations were obtained using the 8-micron
band of the InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC). The data spanning the predicted time
of secondary eclipse show a clear flux decrement with the expected shape and
duration. The observed eclipse depth of 0.58 mmag allows us to estimate a
blackbody brightness temperature of T_p = 717 +- 35 K at 8 microns. We compare
this infrared flux measurement to a model of the planetary thermal emission,
and show that this model reproduces properly the observed flux decrement. The
timing of the secondary eclipse confirms the non-zero orbital eccentricity of
the planet, while also increasing its precision (e = 0.14 +- 0.01). Additional
new spectroscopic and photometric observations allow us to estimate the
rotational period of the star and to assess the potential presence of another
planet.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A on 11/09/2007; 7 pages, 6 figure
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