The Amorphous-Crystal Interface in Silicon: a Tight-Binding Simulation

The structural features of the interface between the cystalline and amorphous phases of Si solid are studied in simulations based on a combination of empirical interatomic potentials and a nonorthogonal tight-binding model. The tight-binding Hamiltonian was created and tested for the types of structures and distortions anticipated to occur at this interface. The simulations indicate the presence of a number of interesting features near the interface. The features that may lead to crystallization upon heating include chains with some defects, most prominently dimers similar to those on the Si(001) 2x1 reconstructed free surface. Within the amorphous region order is lost over very short distances. By examining six different samples with two interfaces each, we find the energy of the amorphous-crystal interface to be 0.49 +/- 0.05 J/m^2Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

The Limit Behavior Of The Trajectories of Dissipative Quadratic Stochastic Operators on Finite Dimensional Simplex

The limit behavior of trajectories of dissipative quadratic stochastic operators on a finite-dimensional simplex is fully studied. It is shown that any dissipative quadratic stochastic operator has either unique or infinitely many fixed points. If dissipative quadratic stochastic operator has a unique point, it is proven that the operator is regular at this fixed point. If it has infinitely many fixed points, then it is shown that $\omega-$ limit set of the trajectory is contained in the set of fixed points.Comment: 14 pages, accepted in Difference Eq. App

Detection of Anomalous Reactor Activity Using Antineutrino Count Rate Evolution Over the Course of a Reactor Cycle

This paper analyzes the sensitivity of antineutrino count rate measurements to changes in the fissile content of civil power reactors. Such measurements may be useful in IAEA reactor safeguards applications. We introduce a hypothesis testing procedure to identify statistically significant differences between the antineutrino count rate evolution of a standard 'baseline' fuel cycle and that of an anomalous cycle, in which plutonium is removed and replaced with an equivalent fissile worth of uranium. The test would allow an inspector to detect anomalous reactor activity, or to positively confirm that the reactor is operating in a manner consistent with its declared fuel inventory and power level. We show that with a reasonable choice of detector parameters, the test can detect replacement of 73 kg of plutonium in 90 days with 95% probability, while controlling the false positive rate at 5%. We show that some improvement on this level of sensitivity may be expected by various means, including use of the method in conjunction with existing reactor safeguards methods. We also identify a necessary and sufficient daily antineutrino count rate to achieve the quoted sensitivity, and list examples of detectors in which such rates have been attained.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Appl. Phy

Comments on the Relativity of Shape

In this talk I address three topics related to the shape of hadrons: 1. The Lorentz contraction of bound states. Few dedicated studies of this exist - I describe a recent calculation for ordinary atoms (positronium). 2. Does the A-dependence of nuclear structure functions indicate a change of proton shape in the nuclear environment? (My short answer is no.) 3. The size of Fock states contributing to processes involving large momentum transfers. End-point configurations can be transversally extended and yet sufficiently short-lived to contribute coherently to hard scattering.Comment: Talk at the Workshop on the Shape of Hadrons, 27-29 April 2006 in Athens, Greece. 11 pages, 15 figure

Analytical Galaxy Profiles for Photometric and Lensing Analysis

This article introduces a family of analytical functions of the form x^{\nu} K_{\nu}(x), where K_{\nu} is the incomplete Bessel function of the third kind. This family of functions can describe the density profile, projected and integrated light profiles and the gravitational potentials of galaxies. For the proper choice of parameters, these functions accurately approximate Sersic functions over a range of indices and are good fits to galaxy light profiles. With an additional parameter corresponding to a galaxy core radius, these functions can fit galaxy like M87 over a factor of 100,000 in radius. Unlike Sersic profiles, these functions have simple analytical 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional Fourier transforms, so they are easily convolved with spatially varying point spread function and are well suited for photometric and lensing analysis. We use these functions to estimate the effects of seeing on lensing measurements and show that high S/N measurements, even when the PSF is larger than the galaxy effective radius, should be able to recover accurate estimates of lensing distortions by weighting light in the outer isophotes that are less effected by seeing

Electroweak interactions in a relativistic Fermi gas

We present a relativistic model for computing the neutrino mean free path in neutron matter. Thereby, neutron matter is described as a non-interacting Fermi gas in beta-equilibrium. We present results for the neutrino mean free path for temperatures from 0 up to 50 MeV and a broad range of neutrino energies. We show that relativistic effects cause a considerable enhancement of neutrino-scattering cross-sections in neutron matter. The influence of the $Q^2$-dependence in the electroweak form factors and the inclusion of a weak magnetic term in the hadron current is discussed. The weak-magnetic term in the hadron current is at the origin of some selective spin dependence for the nucleons which are subject to neutrino interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. C, minor changes and updates of the figures are mad

Origin of the structural phase transition in Li7La3Zr2O12

Garnet-type Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) is a solid electrolyte material with a low-conductivity tetragonal and a high-conductivity cubic phase. Using density-functional theory and variable cell shape molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the tetragonal phase stability is dependent on a simultaneous ordering of the Li ions on the Li sublattice and a volume-preserving tetragonal distortion that relieves internal structural strain. Supervalent doping introduces vacancies into the Li sublattice, increasing the overall entropy and reducing the free energy gain from ordering, eventually stabilizing the cubic phase. We show that the critical temperature for cubic phase stability is lowered as Li vacancy concentration (dopant level) is raised and that an activated hop of Li ions from one crystallographic site to another always accompanies the transition. By identifying the relevant mechanism and critical concentrations for achieving the high conductivity phase, this work shows how targeted synthesis could be used to improve electrolytic performance

Cosmic Optical Background: the View from Pioneer 10/11

We present the new constraints on the cosmic optical background (COB) obtained from an analysis of the Pioneer 10/11 Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP) data. After careful examination of data quality, the usable measurements free from the zodiacal light are integrated into sky maps at the blue (~0.44 um) and red (~0.64 um) bands. Accurate starlight subtraction is achieved by referring to all-sky star catalogs and a Galactic stellar population synthesis model down to 32.0 mag. We find that the residual light is separated into two components: one component shows a clear correlation with thermal 100 um brightness, while another betrays a constant level in the lowest 100 um brightness region. Presence of the second component is significant after all the uncertainties and possible residual light in the Galaxy are taken into account, thus it most likely has the extragalactic origin (i.e., the COB). The derived COB brightness is (1.8 +/- 0.9) x 10^(-9) and (1.2 +/- 0.9) x 10^(-9) erg/s/cm2/sr/A at the blue and red band, respectively, or 7.9 +/- 4.0 and 7.7 +/- 5.8 nW/m2/sr. Based on a comparison with the integrated brightness of galaxies, we conclude that the bulk of the COB is comprised of normal galaxies which have already been resolved by the current deepest observations. There seems to be little room for contributions of other populations including "first stars" at these wavelengths. On the other hand, the first component of the IPP residual light represents the diffuse Galactic light (DGL) - scattered starlight by the interstellar dust. We derive the mean DGL-to-100 um brightness ratios of 2.1 x 10^(-3) and 4.6 x 10^(-3) at the two bands, which are roughly consistent with the previous observations toward denser dust regions. Extended red emission in the diffuse interstellar medium is also confirmed.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; Typos correcte

Extending Feynman's Formalisms for Modelling Human Joint Action Coordination

The recently developed Life-Space-Foam approach to goal-directed human action deals with individual actor dynamics. This paper applies the model to characterize the dynamics of co-action by two or more actors. This dynamics is modelled by: (i) a two-term joint action (including cognitive/motivatonal potential and kinetic energy), and (ii) its associated adaptive path integral, representing an infinite--dimensional neural network. Its feedback adaptation loop has been derived from Bernstein's concepts of sensory corrections loop in human motor control and Brooks' subsumption architectures in robotics. Potential applications of the proposed model in human--robot interaction research are discussed. Keywords: Psycho--physics, human joint action, path integralsComment: 6 pages, Late