5,716 research outputs found
Intrinsic charge transport on the surface of organic semiconductors
The novel technique based on air-gap transistor stamps enabled realization of
the intrinsic (not dominated by static disorder) transport of the
electric-field-induced charge carriers on the surface of rubrene crystals over
a wide temperature range. The signatures of the intrinsic transport are the
anisotropy of the carrier mobility, mu, and the growth of mu with cooling. The
anisotropy of mu vanishes in the activation regime at lower temperatures, where
the charge transport becomes dominated by shallow traps. The deep traps,
deliberately introduced into the crystal by X-ray radiation, increase the
field-effect threshold without affecting the mobility. These traps filled above
the field-effect threshold do not scatter the mobile polaronic carriers.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Closed-Flux Solutions to the Constraints for Plane Gravity Waves
The metric for plane gravitational waves is quantized within the Hamiltonian
framework, using a Dirac constraint quantization and the self-dual field
variables proposed by Ashtekar. The z axis (direction of travel of the waves)
is taken to be the entire real line rather than the torus (manifold
coordinatized by (z,t) is RxR rather than x R). Solutions to the
constraints proposed in a previous paper involve open-ended flux lines running
along the entire z axis, rather than closed loops of flux; consequently, these
solutions are annihilated by the Gauss constraint at interior points of the z
axis, but not at the two boundary points. The solutions studied in the present
paper are based on closed flux loops and satisfy the Gauss constraint for all
z.Comment: 18 pages; LaTe
Discovering New Physics in the Decays of Black Holes
If the scale of quantum gravity is near a TeV, the LHC will be producing one
black hole (BH) about every second, thus qualifying as a BH factory. With the
Hawking temperature of a few hundred GeV, these rapidly evaporating BHs may
produce new, undiscovered particles with masses ~100 GeV. The probability of
producing a heavy particle in the decay depends on its mass only weakly, in
contrast with the exponentially suppressed direct production. Furthemore, BH
decays with at least one prompt charged lepton or photon correspond to the
final states with low background. Using the Higgs boson as an example, we show
that it may be found at the LHC on the first day of its operation, even with
incomplete detectors.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Plane waves in quantum gravity: breakdown of the classical spacetime
Starting with the Hamiltonian formulation for spacetimes with two commuting
spacelike Killing vectors, we construct a midisuperspace model for linearly
polarized plane waves in vacuum gravity. This model has no constraints and its
degrees of freedom can be interpreted as an infinite and continuous set of
annihilation and creation like variables. We also consider a simplified version
of the model, in which the number of modes is restricted to a discrete set. In
both cases, the quantization is achieved by introducing a Fock representation.
We find regularized operators to represent the metric and discuss whether the
coherent states of the quantum theory are peaked around classical spacetimes.
It is shown that, although the expectation value of the metric on Killing
orbits coincides with a classical solution, its relative fluctuations become
significant when one approaches a region where null geodesics are focused. In
that region, the spacetimes described by coherent states fail to admit an
approximate classical description. This result applies as well to the vacuum of
the theory.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Solid solution decomposition and Guinier-Preston zone formation in Al-Cu alloys: A kinetic theory with anisotropic interactions
Using methods of statistical kinetic theory parametrized with
first-principles interatomic interactions that include chemical and strain
contributions, we investigated the kinetics of decomposition and microstructure
formation in Al-Cu alloys as a function of temperature and alloy concentration.
We show that the decomposition of the solid solution forming platelets of
copper, known as Guinier-Preston (GP) zones, includes several stages and that
the transition from GP1 to GP2 zones is determined mainly by kinetic factors.
With increasing temperature, the model predicts a gradual transition from
platelet-like precipitates to equiaxial ones and at intermediate temperatures
both precipitate morphologies may coexist.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Quantum geometry with intrinsic local causality
The space of states and operators for a large class of background independent
theories of quantum spacetime dynamics is defined. The SU(2) spin networks of
quantum general relativity are replaced by labelled compact two-dimensional
surfaces. The space of states of the theory is the direct sum of the spaces of
invariant tensors of a quantum group G_q over all compact (finite genus)
oriented 2-surfaces. The dynamics is background independent and locally causal.
The dynamics constructs histories with discrete features of spacetime geometry
such as causal structure and multifingered time. For SU(2) the theory satisfies
the Bekenstein bound and the holographic hypothesis is recast in this
formalism.Comment: Latex 33 pages, 7 Figure, epsfi
Quantum Gravity Vacuum and Invariants of Embedded Spin Networks
We show that the path integral for the three-dimensional SU(2) BF theory with
a Wilson loop or a spin network function inserted can be understood as the
Rovelli-Smolin loop transform of a wavefunction in the Ashtekar connection
representation, where the wavefunction satisfies the constraints of quantum
general relativity with zero cosmological constant. This wavefunction is given
as a product of the delta functions of the SU(2) field strength and therefore
it can be naturally associated to a flat connection spacetime. The loop
transform can be defined rigorously via the quantum SU(2) group, as a spin foam
state sum model, so that one obtains invariants of spin networks embedded in a
three-manifold. These invariants define a flat connection vacuum state in the
q-deformed spin network basis. We then propose a modification of this
construction in order to obtain a vacuum state corresponding to the flat metric
spacetime.Comment: 15 pages, revised version to appear in Class. Quant. Gra
Quantization of pure gravitational plane waves
Pure gravitational plane waves are considered as a special case of spacetimes
with two commuting spacelike Killing vector fields. Starting with a
midisuperspace that describes this kind of spacetimes, we introduce
gauge-fixing and symmetry conditions that remove all non-physical degrees of
freedom and ensure that the classical solutions are plane waves. In this way,
we arrive at a reduced model with no constraints and whose only degrees of
freedom are given by two fields. In a suitable coordinate system, the reduced
Hamiltonian that generates the time evolution of this model turns out to
vanish, so that all relevant information is contained in the symplectic
structure. We calculate this symplectic structure and particularize our
discussion to the case of linearly polarized plane waves. The reduced phase
space can then be described by an infinite set of annihilation and creation
like variables. We finally quantize the linearly polarized model by introducing
a Fock representation for these variables.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex, no figure
A candidate for a background independent formulation of M theory
A class of background independent membrane field theories are studied, and
several properties are discovered which suggest that they may play a role in a
background independent form of M theory. The bulk kinematics of these theories
are described in terms of the conformal blocks of an algebra G on all oriented,
finite genus, two-surfaces. The bulk dynamics is described in terms of causal
histories in which time evolution is specified by giving amplitudes to certain
local changes of the states. Holographic observables are defined which live in
finite dimensional states spaces associated with boundaries in spacetime. We
show here that the natural observables in these boundary state spaces are, when
G is chosen to be Spin(D) or a supersymmetric extension of it, generalizations
of matrix model coordinates in D dimensions. In certain cases the bulk dynamics
can be chosen so the matrix model dynamics is recoverd for the boundary
observables. The bosonic and supersymmetric cases in D=3 and D=9 are studied,
and it is shown that the latter is, in a certain limit, related to the matrix
model formulation of M theory. This correspondence gives rise to a conjecture
concerning a background independent form of M theory in terms of which
excitations of the background independent membrane field theory that correspond
to strings and D0 branes are identified.Comment: Latex 46 pages, 21 figures, new results included which lead to a
modification of the statement of the basic conjecture. Presentation improve
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