1,155 research outputs found
Electron-electron interaction and charging effects in graphene quantum dots
We analyze charging effects in graphene quantum dots. Using a simple model,
we show that, when the Fermi level is far from the neutrality point, charging
effects lead to a shift in the electrostatic potential and the dot shows
standard Coulomb blockade features. Near the neutrality point, surface states
are partially occupied and the Coulomb interaction leads to a strongly
correlated ground state which can be approximated by either a Wigner crystal or
a Laughlin like wave function. The existence of strong correlations modify the
transport properties which show non equilibrium effects, similar to those
predicted for tunneling into other strongly correlated systems.Comment: Extended version accepted for publication at Phys. Rev.
Meteor ablation spheres from deep-sea sediments
Spheres from mid-Pacific abyssal clays (0 to 500,000 yrs old), formed from particles that completely melted and subsequently recrystallized as they separated from their meteoroid bodies, or containing relict grains of parent meteoroids that did not experience any melting were analyzed. The spheres were readily divided into three groups using their dominant mineralogy. The Fe-rich spheres were produced during ablation of Fe and metal-rich silicate meteoroids. The glassy spheres are considerably more Fe-rich than the silicate spheres. They consist of magnetite and an Fe glass which is relatively low in Si. Bulk compositions and relict grains are useful for determining the parent meteoroid types for the silicate spheres. Bulk analyses of recrystallized spheres show that nonvolatile elemental abundances are similar to chondrite abundances. Analysis of relict grains identified high temperature minerals associated with a fine-grained, low temperature, volatile-rich matrix. The obvious candidates for parent meteoroids of this type of silicate sphere is a carbonaceous chondrite
Inflaton Decay in an Alpha Vacuum
We study the alpha vacua of de Sitter space by considering the decay rate of
the inflaton field coupled to a scalar field placed in an alpha vacuum. We find
an {\em alpha dependent} Bose enhancement relative to the Bunch-Davies vacuum
and, surprisingly, no non-renormalizable divergences. We also consider a
modified alpha dependent time ordering prescription for the Feynman propagator
and show that it leads to an alpha independent result. This result suggests
that it may be possible to calculate in any alpha vacuum if we employ the
appropriate causality preserving prescription.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, Revtex 4 preprin
Imaging analysis of LDEF craters
Two small craters in Al from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) experiment tray A11E00F (no. 74, 119 micron diameter and no. 31, 158 micron diameter) were analyzed using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS), low voltage scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM), and SEM energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). High resolution images and sensitive elemental and molecular analysis were obtained with this combined approach. The result of these analyses are presented
Vacuum polarization near cosmic string in RS2 brane world
Gravitational field of cosmic strings in theories with extra spatial
dimensions must differ significantly from that in the Einstein's theory. This
means that all gravity induced properties of cosmic strings need to be revised
too. Here we consider the effect of vacuum polarization outside a straight
infinitely thin cosmic string embedded in a RS2 brane world. Perturbation
technique combined with the method of dimensional regularization is used to
calculate for a massless scalar field.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX
The inflationary prediction for primordial non-gaussianity
We extend the \delta N formalism so that it gives all of the stochastic
properties of the primordial curvature perturbation \zeta if the initial field
perturbations are gaussian. The calculation requires only the knowledge of some
family of unperturbed universes. A formula is given for the normalisation \fnl
of the bispectrum of \zeta, which is the main signal of non-gaussianity.
Examples of the use of the formula are given, and its relation to cosmological
perturbation theory is explained.Comment: Revtex Latex file. 4 pages, no figures. v4: minor changes, typos
corrected, references added and updated. Version published in Physical Review
Letter
Energy Density in Expanding Universes as Seen by Unruh's Detector
We consider the response of an Unruh detector to scalar fields in an
expanding space-time. When combining transition elements of the scalar field
Hamiltonian with the interaction operator of detector and field, one finds at
second order in time-dependent perturbation theory a transition amplitude,
which actually dominates in the ultraviolet over the first order contribution.
In particular, the detector response faithfully reproduces the particle number
implied by the stress-energy of a minimally coupled scalar field, which is
inversely proportional to the energy of a scalar mode. This finding disagrees
with the contention that in de Sitter space, the response of the detector drops
exponentially with particle energy and therefore indicates a thermal spectrum.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur
Localized Particle States and Dynamics Gravitational Effects
Scalar particles--i.e., scalar-field excitations--in de Sitter space exhibit
behavior unlike either classical particles in expanding space or quantum
particles in flat spacetime. Their energies oscillate forever, and their
interactions are spread out in energy. Here it is shown that these features
characterize not only normal-mode excitations spread out over all space, but
localized particles or wave packets as well. Both one-particle and coherent
states of a massive, minimally coupled scalar field in de Sitter space,
associated with classical wave packets, are constructed explicitly. Their
energy expectation values and corresponding Unruh-DeWitt detector response
functions are calculated. Numerical evaluation of these quantities for a simple
set of classical wave packets clearly displays these novel features. Hence,
given the observed accelerating expansion of the Universe, it is possible that
observation of an ultralow-mass scalar particle could yield direct confirmation
of distinct predictions of quantum field theory in curved spacetime.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Cosmic Dust Collection Facility: Scientific objectives and programmatic relations
The science objectives are summarized for the Cosmic Dust Collection Facility (CDCF) on Space Station Freedom and these objectives are related to ongoing science programs and mission planning within NASA. The purpose is to illustrate the potential of the CDCF project within the broad context of early solar system sciences that emphasize the study of primitive objects in state-of-the-art analytical and experimental laboratories on Earth. Current knowledge about the sources of cosmic dust and their associated orbital dynamics is examined, and the results are reviewed of modern microanalytical investigations of extraterrestrial dust particles collected on Earth. Major areas of scientific inquiry and uncertainty are identified and it is shown how CDCF will contribute to their solution. General facility and instrument concepts that need to be pursued are introduced, and the major development tasks that are needed to attain the scientific objectives of the CDCF project are identified
Dynamical symmetry breaking in the external gravitational and constant magnetic fields
We investigate the effects of the external gravitational and constant
magnetic fields to the dynamical symmetrybreaking. As simple models of the
dynamical symmetry breaking we consider the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model and
the supersymmetric Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (SUSY NJL) model non-minimally
interacting with the external gravitational field and minimally interacting
with constant magnetic field. The explicit expressions for the scalar and
spinor Green functions are found up to the linear terms on the spacetime
curvature and exactly for a constant magnetic field. We obtain the effective
potential of the above models from the Green functions in the magnetic field in
curved spacetime. Calculating the effective potential numerically with the
varying curvature and/or magnetic fields we show the effects of the external
gravitational and magnetic fields to the phase structure of the theories. In
particular, increase of the curvature in the spontaneously broken chiral
symmetry phase due to the fixed magnetic field makes this phase to be less
broken. On the same time strong magnetic field quickly induces chiral symmetry
breaking even at the presence of fixed gravitational field within nonbroken
phase.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, epic.sty and eepic.sty are use
- …