3,020 research outputs found
Bromophenyl functionalization of carbon nanotubes : an ab initio study
We study the thermodynamics of bromophenyl functionalization of carbon
nanotubes with respect to diameter and metallic/insulating character using
density-functional theory (DFT). On one hand, we show that the activation
energy for the grafting of a bromophenyl molecule onto a semiconducting zigzag
nanotube ranges from 0.73 eV to 0.76 eV without any clear trend with respect to
diameter within numerical accuracy. On the other hand, the binding energy of a
single bromophenyl molecule shows a clear diameter dependence and ranges from
1.51 eV for a (8,0) zigzag nanotube to 0.83 eV for a (20,0) zigzag nanotube.
This is in part explained by the transition from sp2 to sp3 bonding occurring
to a carbon atom of a nanotube when a phenyl is grafted to it and the fact that
smaller nanotubes are closer to a sp3 hybridization than larger ones due to
increased curvature. Since a second bromophenyl unit can attach without energy
barrier next to an isolated grafted unit, they are assumed to exist in pairs.
The para configuration is found to be favored for the pairs and their binding
energy decreases with increasing diameter, ranging from 4.34 eV for a (7,0)
nanotube to 2.27 eV for a (29,0) nanotube. An analytic form for this radius
dependence is derived using a tight binding hamiltonian and first order
perturbation theory. The 1/R^2 dependance obtained (where R is the nanotube
radius) is verified by our DFT results within numerical accuracy. Finally,
metallic nanotubes are found to be more reactive than semiconducting nanotubes,
a feature that can be explained by a non-zero density of states at the Fermi
level for metallic nanotubes.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures and 3 table
Skyrme Crystal In A Two-Dimensional Electron Gas
The ground state of a two-dimensional electron gas at Landau level filling
factors near is a Skyrme crystal with long range order in the
positions and orientations of the topologically and electrically charged
elementary excitations of the ferromagnetic ground state. The lowest
energy Skyrme crystal is a square lattice with opposing postures for
topological excitations on opposite sublattices. The filling factor dependence
of the electron spin-polarization, calculated for the square lattice Skyrme
crystal, is in excellent agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 3 pages, latex, 3 figures available upon request from
[email protected]
Commensurate-incommensurate transitions of quantum Hall stripe states in double-quantum-well systems
In higher Landau levels (N>0) and around filling factors nu =4N+1, a
two-dimensional electron gas in a double-quantum-well system supports a stripe
groundstate in which the electron density in each well is spatially modulated.
When a parallel magnetic field is added in the plane of the wells, tunneling
between the wells acts as a spatially rotating effective Zeeman field coupled
to the ``pseudospins'' describing the well index of the electron states. For
small parallel fields, these pseudospins follow this rotation, but at larger
fields they do not, and a commensurate-incommensurate transition results.
Working in the Hartree-Fock approximation, we show that the combination of
stripes and commensuration in this system leads to a very rich phase diagram.
The parallel magnetic field is responsible for oscillations in the tunneling
matrix element that induce a complex sequence of transitions between
commensurate and incommensurate liquid or stripe states. The homogeneous and
stripe states we find can be distinguished by their collective excitations and
tunneling I-V, which we compute within the time-dependent Hartree-Fock
approximation.Comment: 23 pages including 8 eps figure
Rubidium Rydberg macrodimers
We explore long-range interactions between two atoms excited into high
principal quantum number n Rydberg states, and present calculated potential
energy surfaces (PES) for various symmetries of doubly excited ns and np
rubidium atoms. We show that the PES for these symmetries exhibit deep (~GHz)
potential wells, which can support very extended (~micrometers) bound
vibrational states (macrodimers). We present n-scaling relations for both the
depth De of the wells and the equilibrium separations Re of these macrodimers,
and explore their response to small electric fields and stability with respect
to predissociation. Finally, we present a scheme to form and study these
macrodimers via photoassociation, and show how one can probe the various
\ell-character of the potential wells
Dynamics of electrons in the quantum Hall bubble phases
In Landau levels N > 1, the ground state of the two-dimensional electron gas
(2DEG) in a perpendicular magnetic field evolves from a Wigner crystal for
small filling of the partially filled Landau level, into a succession of bubble
states with increasing number of guiding centers per bubble as the filling
increases, to a modulated stripe state near half filling. In this work, we show
that these first-order phase transitions between the bubble states lead to
measurable discontinuities in several physical quantities such as the density
of states and the magnetization of the 2DEG. We discuss in detail the behavior
of the collective excitations of the bubble states and show that their spectra
have higher-energy modes besides the pinned phonon mode. The frequencies of
these modes, at small wavevector k, have a discontinuous evolution as a
function of filling factor that should be measurable in, for example, microwave
absorption experiments.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Corrected typos in eqs. (38),(39),(40
Reweighting of the form factors in exclusive B --> X ell nu decays
A form factor reweighting technique has been elaborated to permit relatively
easy comparisons between different form factor models applied to exclusive B
--> X l nu decays. The software tool developped for this purpose is described.
It can be used with any event generator, three of which were used in this work:
ISGW2, PHSP and FLATQ2, a new powerful generator. The software tool allows an
easy and reliable implementation of any form factor model. The tool has been
fully validated with the ISGW2 form factor hypothesis. The results of our
present studies indicate that the combined use of the FLATQ2 generator and the
form factor reweighting tool should play a very important role in future
exclusive |Vub| measurements, with largely reduced errors.Comment: accepted for publication by EPJ
Simulated drilling noise affects the space use of a large terrestrial mammal
Wildlife is exposed to increasing anthropogenic disturbances related to shale oil and gas extraction in response to rising
worldwide demands. As these disturbances increase in intensity and occurrence across the landscape, understanding their
impacts is essential for management. On Anticosti Island (Québec, Canada), we equipped six white-tailed deer Odocoileus
virginianus with GPS collars taking hourly locations. We then designed a playback experiment by simulating constant
drilling noise emitted by generators to which half of the collared deer were exposed for a three-week period. Deer tolerated
noise levels up to 70 dB(C). However, the number of locations recorded in areas where the noise was above 70 dB(C) was
on average 73% (SE¿18%) lower than before the disturbance, which suggests that deer experienced fine scale functional
habitat loss. This loss of habitat occurred up to 200 m from the noise source. The size of home ranges and movement rates
did not appear to be affected by the noise disturbance. In addition, during the experiment, deer were able to relocate in
areas of their home range where food availability was similar to that of sites used before the disturbance. These results show
that drilling noise can affect the habitat use of white-tailed deer. However, future research is needed to better understand
the cumulative impacts of shale mining on large mammals, as this study isolated only one of the many disturbances present
near mining sites and for a limited perio
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