1,199 research outputs found
Gate-voltage dependence of Kondo effect in a triangular quantum dot
We study the conductance through a triangular triple quantum dot, which are
connected to two noninteracting leads, using the numerical renormalization
group (NRG). It is found that the system shows a variety of Kondo effects
depending on the filling of the triangle. The SU(4) Kondo effect occurs at
half-filling, and a sharp conductance dip due to a phase lapse appears in the
gate-voltage dependence. Furthermore, when four electrons occupy the three
sites on average, a local S=1 moment, which is caused by the Nagaoka mechanism,
is induced along the triangle. The temperature dependence of the entropy and
spin susceptibility of the triangle shows that this moment is screened by the
conduction electrons via two separate stages at different temperatures. The
two-terminal and four-terminal conductances show a clear difference at the gate
voltages, where the SU(4) or the S=1 Kondo effects occurring.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figs: typos just below (4) are corrected, results are not
affecte
Bifurcation in electrostatic resistive drift wave turbulence
The Hasegawa-Wakatani equations, coupling plasma density and electrostatic
potential through an approximation to the physics of parallel electron motions,
are a simple model that describes resistive drift wave turbulence. We present
numerical analyses of bifurcation phenomena in the model that provide new
insights into the interactions between turbulence and zonal flows in the
tokamak plasma edge region. The simulation results show a regime where, after
an initial transient, drift wave turbulence is suppressed through zonal flow
generation. As a parameter controlling the strength of the turbulence is tuned,
this zonal flow dominated state is rapidly destroyed and a turbulence-dominated
state re-emerges. The transition is explained in terms of the Kelvin-Helmholtz
stability of zonal flows. This is the first observation of an upshift of
turbulence onset in the resistive drift wave system, which is analogous to the
well-known Dimits shift in turbulence driven by ion temperature gradients.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
Gyrokinetic simulation of entropy cascade in two-dimensional electrostatic turbulence
Two-dimensional electrostatic turbulence in magnetized weakly-collisional
plasmas exhibits a cascade of entropy in phase space [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103,
015003 (2009)]. At scales smaller than the gyroradius, this cascade is
characterized by the dimensionless ratio D of the collision time to the eddy
turnover time measured at the scale of the thermal Larmor radius. When D >> 1,
a broad spectrum of fluctuations at sub-Larmor scales is found in both position
and velocity space. The distribution function develops structure as a function
of v_{perp}, the velocity coordinate perpendicular to the local magnetic field.
The cascade shows a local-scale nonlinear interaction in both position and
velocity spaces, and Kolmogorov's scaling theory can be extended into phase
space.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, Conference paper presented at 2009 Asia-Pacific
Plasma Theory Conference. Ver.2 includes corrected typos & updated reference
The Biomedical Use of Silk: Past, Present, Future
Humans have long appreciated silk for its lustrous appeal and remarkable physical properties, yet as the mysteries of silk are unraveled, it becomes clear that this outstanding biopolymer is more than a high-tech fiber. This progress report provides a critical but detailed insight into the biomedical use of silk. This journey begins with a historical perspective of silk and its uses, including the long-standing desire to reverse engineer silk. Selected silk structure–function relationships are then examined to appreciate past and current silk challenges. From this, biocompatibility and biodegradation are reviewed with a specific focus of silk performance in humans. The current clinical uses of silk (e.g., sutures, surgical meshes, and fabrics) are discussed, as well as clinical trials (e.g., wound healing, tissue engineering) and emerging biomedical applications of silk across selected formats, such as silk solution, films, scaffolds, electrospun materials, hydrogels, and particles. The journey finishes with a look at the roadmap of next-generation recombinant silks, especially the development pipeline of this new industry for clinical use
Noncollisional plasmoid instability based on a gyrofluid and gyrokinetic integrated approach
In this work, the development of two-dimensional current sheets with respect
to tearing-modes, in collisionless plasmas with a strong guide field, is
analysed. During their non-linear evolution, these thin current sheets can
become unstable to the formation of plasmoids, which allows the magnetic
reconnection process to reach high reconnection rates. We carry out a detailed
study of the impact of a finite , which also implies finite electron
Larmor radius effects, on the collisionless plasmoid instability. This study is
conducted through a comparison of gyrofluid and gyrokinetic simulations. The
comparison shows in general a good capability of the gyrofluid models in
predicting the plasmoid instability observed with gyrokinetic simulations. We
show that the effects of promotes the plasmoid growth. The impact of
the closure applied during the derivation of the gyrofluid model is also
studied through the comparison of the energy variation
Parametric instabilities in the LCGT arm cavity
We evaluated the parametric instabilities of LCGT (Japanese interferometric
gravitational wave detector project) arm cavity. The number of unstable modes
of LCGT is 10-times smaller than that of Advanced LIGO (U.S.A.). Since the
strength of the instabilities of LCGT depends on the mirror curvature more
weakly than that of Advanced LIGO, the requirement of the mirror curvature
accuracy is easier to be achieved. The difference in the parametric
instabilities between LCGT and Advanced LIGO is because of the thermal noise
reduction methods (LCGT, cooling sapphire mirrors; Advanced LIGO, fused silica
mirrors with larger laser beams), which are the main strategies of the
projects. Elastic Q reduction by the barrel surface (0.2 mm thickness
TaO) coating is effective to suppress instabilities in the LCGT arm
cavity. Therefore, the cryogenic interferometer is a smart solution for the
parametric instabilities in addition to thermal noise and thermal lensing.Comment: 6 pages,3 figures. Amaldi7 proceedings, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.
(accepted
Complexity of Spider Dragline Silk
The tiny spider makes dragline silk fibers with unbeatable toughness, all under the most innocuous conditions. Scientists have persistently tried to emulate its natural silk spinning process using recombinant proteins with a view toward creating a new wave of smart materials, yet most efforts have fallen short of attaining the native fiber’s excellent mechanical properties. One reason for these shortcomings may be that artificial spider silk systems tend to be overly simplified and may not sufficiently take into account the true complexity of the underlying protein sequences and of the multidimensional aspects of the natural self-assembly process that give rise to the hierarchically structured fibers. Here, we discuss recent findings regarding the material constituents of spider dragline silk, including novel spidroin subtypes, nonspidroin proteins, and possible involvement of post-translational modifications, which together suggest a complexity that transcends the two-component MaSp1/MaSp2 system. We subsequently consider insights into the spidroin domain functions, structures, and overall mechanisms for the rapid transition from disordered soluble protein into a highly organized fiber, including the possibility of viewing spider silk self-assembly through a framework relevant to biomolecular condensates. Finally, we consider the concept of “biomimetics” as it applies to artificial spider silk production with a focus on key practical aspects of design and evaluation that may hopefully inform efforts to more closely reproduce the remarkable structure and function of the native silk fiber using artificial methods
Satellite-based characterization of climatic conditions before large-scale general flowering events in Peninsular Malaysia
General flowering (GF) is a unique phenomenon wherein, at irregular intervals, taxonomically diverse trees in Southeast Asian dipterocarp forests synchronize their reproduction at the community level. Triggers of GF, including drought and low minimum temperatures a few months previously has been limitedly observed across large regional scales due to lack of meteorological stations. Here, we aim to identify the climatic conditions that trigger large-scale GF in Peninsular Malaysia using satellite sensors, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), to evaluate the climatic conditions of focal forests. We observed antecedent drought, low temperature and high photosynthetic radiation conditions before large-scale GF events, suggesting that large-scale GF events could be triggered by these factors. In contrast, we found higher-magnitude GF in forests where lower precipitation preceded large-scale GF events. GF magnitude was also negatively influenced by land surface temperature (LST) for a large-scale GF event. Therefore, we suggest that spatial extent of drought may be related to that of GF forests, and that the spatial pattern of LST may be related to that of GF occurrence. With significant new findings and other results that were consistent with previous research we clarified complicated environmental correlates with the GF phenomenon
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