Green function techniques in the treatment of quantum transport at the molecular scale

The theoretical investigation of charge (and spin) transport at nanometer length scales requires the use of advanced and powerful techniques able to deal with the dynamical properties of the relevant physical systems, to explicitly include out-of-equilibrium situations typical for electrical/heat transport as well as to take into account interaction effects in a systematic way. Equilibrium Green function techniques and their extension to non-equilibrium situations via the Keldysh formalism build one of the pillars of current state-of-the-art approaches to quantum transport which have been implemented in both model Hamiltonian formulations and first-principle methodologies. We offer a tutorial overview of the applications of Green functions to deal with some fundamental aspects of charge transport at the nanoscale, mainly focusing on applications to model Hamiltonian formulations.Comment: Tutorial review, LaTeX, 129 pages, 41 figures, 300 references, submitted to Springer series "Lecture Notes in Physics

Study of large hemispherical photomultiplier tubes for the ANTARES neutrino telescope

The ANTARES neutrino telescope, to be immersed depth in the Mediterranean Sea, will consist of a 3 dimensional matrix of 900 large area photomultiplier tubes housed in pressure resistant glass spheres. The selection of the optimal photomultiplier was a critical step for the project and required an intensive phase of tests and developments carried out in close collaboration with the main manufacturers worldwide. This paper provides an overview of the tests performed by the collaboration and describes in detail the features of the PMT chosen for ANTARES

Effect of the size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles on the Zener drag pressure

In this article, a new relationship for the calculation of the Zener drag pressure is described in which the effect of the size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles is taken into account, in addition to particle radius and volume fraction, which have been incorporated in the existing relationships. Microstructural observations indicated a clear correlation between the size distribution of dispersed particles and recrystallized grain sizes in the AA7020 aluminum alloy. However, the existing relationship to calculate the Zener drag pressure yielded a negligible difference of 0.016 pct between the two structures homogenized at different conditions resulting in totally different size distributions of nanoscale dispersed particles and, consequently, recrystallized grain sizes. The difference in the Zener drag pressure calculated by the application of the new relationship was 5.1 pct, being in line with the experimental observations of the recrystallized grain sizes. Mathematical investigations showed that the ratio of the Zener drag pressure from the new equation to that from the existing equation is maximized when the number densities of all the particles with different sizes are equal. This finding indicates that in the two structures with identical parameters except the size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles, the one that possesses a broader size distribution of particles, i.e., the number densities of particles with different sizes being equal, gives rise to a larger Zener drag pressure than that having a narrow size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles, i.e., most of the particles being in the same size range.Materials Science and EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin