Thermoelectric relations in the conformal limit in Dirac and Weyl semimetals

In the Fermi liquid description of metals, electrical and thermoelectric transport coefficients are linked by robust relations which can be challenged by strong interactions or when the electron liquid enters a different regime. These relations have been very powerful in the characterisation of novel materials. We show that Dirac and Weyl semimetals at zero doping and zero temperature (the conformal limit) have a very singular behavior due to a quantum anomaly. Away from this point, a Mott relation can be established

Propagation of a short laser pulse in a plasma

The propagation of an electromagnetic pulse in a plasma is studied for pulse durations that are comparable to the plasma period. When the carrier frequency of the incident pulse is much higher than the plasma frequency, the pulse propagates without distortion at its group speed. When the carrier frequency is comparable to the plasma frequency, the pulse is distorted and leaves behind it an electromagnetic wake.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, REVTeX. To be published in Physical Review E, vol. 56, December 1, 199

Positron-neutrino correlations in 32Ar and 33Ar Decays: Probes of Scalar weak currents and nuclear isospin mixing

The positron-neutrino correlation in the 0^+ \to 0^+ \beta decay of ^{32}Ar was measured at ISOLDE by analyzing the effect of lepton recoil on the shape of the narrow proton group following the superallowed decay. Our result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction; for vanishing Fierz interference we find a=0.9989 \pm 0.0052 \pm 0.0036. Our result leads to improved constraints on scalar weak interactions. The positron-neutrino correlation in ^{33}Ar decay was measured in the same experiment; for vanishing Fierz interference we find a=0.944 \pm 0.002 \pm 0.003. The ^{32}Ar and ^{33}Ar correlations, in combination with precision measurements of the half-lives, superallowed branching ratios and beta endpoint energies, will determine the isospin impurities of the superallowed transitions. These will provide useful tests of isospin-violation corrections used in deducing |V_{\rm ud}| which currently indicates non-unitarity of the KM matrix.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Optimal map of the modular structure of complex networks

Modular structure is pervasive in many complex networks of interactions observed in natural, social and technological sciences. Its study sheds light on the relation between the structure and function of complex systems. Generally speaking, modules are islands of highly connected nodes separated by a relatively small number of links. Every module can have contributions of links from any node in the network. The challenge is to disentangle these contributions to understand how the modular structure is built. The main problem is that the analysis of a certain partition into modules involves, in principle, as many data as number of modules times number of nodes. To confront this challenge, here we first define the contribution matrix, the mathematical object containing all the information about the partition of interest, and after, we use a Truncated Singular Value Decomposition to extract the best representation of this matrix in a plane. The analysis of this projection allow us to scrutinize the skeleton of the modular structure, revealing the structure of individual modules and their interrelations.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Systematic trends in beta-delayed particle emitting nuclei: The case of beta-p-alpha emission from 21Mg

We have observed beta+-delayed alpha and p-alpha emission from the proton-rich nucleus 21Mg produced at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. The assignments were cross-checked with a time distribution analysis. This is the third identified case of beta-p-alpha emission. We discuss the systematic of beta-delayed particle emission decays, show that our observed decays fit naturally into the existing pattern, and argue that the patterns are to a large extent caused by odd-even effects.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Design and Implementation of Mechatronics Home Lab for Undergraduate Mechatronics Teaching

Author's accepted manuscript© 2022 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The field of mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field of engineering, where the combination of physical components and theory from several engineering fields is applied to build complex machines. Mechatronics education is an active learning process through practical laboratory exercises and problem-based learning. This paper presents the design and implementation of a mechatronics home lab to support undergraduate mechatronics teaching. The purpose is to support theoretical teaching in mechatronics with a low-cost, 3D-printable platform where the students can experiment and practice instrumentation and control theory with a practical problem-based approach. Five projects were introduced for experiment implementation of the developed home lab. Throughout these experiments, it is intended to facilitate the understanding of theories and concepts in mechatronics, and enhance the ability to design and implementation of experiments, the collection and analysis of data, and the conducting of simulation in MATLAB.Design and Implementation of Mechatronics Home Lab for Undergraduate Mechatronics TeachingacceptedVersionPaid open acces

Clarification of the low-lying states of Be-9

5 pages, 1 table, 2 figures.-- Presented at the International Conference on Finite Fermionic Systems: Nilsson Model 50 years (Lund University, Sweden, June 14–18, 2005).-- PACS nrs.: 23.40.Hc, 27.20.+n, 24.80.+y.A newly developed technique for dealing with three-body decays of broad isolated levels is extended to deal with the broad, overlapping levels found at 2-9 MeV excitation energy in Be-9. The levels are populated through beta-decay of Li-9. The method gives firm evidence for the existence of several levels. Angular correlation studies allow spin values to be assigned.Peer reviewe

Positron-neutrino correlation in the 0^+ \to 0^+ decay of ^{32}Ar

The positron-neutrino correlation in the $0^+ \to 0^+ \beta$ decay of $^{32}$Ar was measured at ISOLDE by analyzing the effect of lepton recoil on the shape of the narrow proton group following the superallowed decay. Our result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction. For vanishing Fierz interference we find $a=0.9989 \pm 0.0052 \pm 0.0036$, which yields improved constraints on scalar weak interactions

Nuclear structure of Ac-231

The low-energy structure of 231Ac has been investigated by means of gamma ray spectroscopy following the beta-decay of 231Ra. Multipolarities of 28 transitions have been established by measuring conversion electrons with a mini-orange electron spectrometer. The decay scheme of 231Ra --> 231Ac has been constructed for the first time. The Advanced Time Delayed beta-gamma-gamma(t) method has been used to measure the half-lives of five levels. The moderately fast B(E1) transition rates derived suggest that the octupole effects, albeit weak, are still present in this exotic nucleus