Neutron skin of 27^{27}Al with Skyrme and Korea-IBS-Daegu-SKKU density functionals

Recent measurement of the parity-violating (PV) asymmetry in the elastic electron scattering on $^{27}$Al target evokes the interest in the distribution of the neutron in the nucleus. In this work, we calculate the neutron skin thickness ($R_{np}$) of $^{27}$Al with nonrelativistic nuclear structure models. We focus on the role of the effective mass, symmetry energy and pairing force. Models are selected to have effective masses in the range $(0.58-1.05)M$ where $M$ is the nucleon mass in free space, and stiffness of the symmetry energy is varied by choosing the slope of the symmetry energy in the range 9.4 -- 100.5 MeV. Effect of pairing force is investigated by calculating $R_{np}$ with and without pairing, and using two different forms of the pairing force. With nine models, we obtain $R_{np} = 0.001 - 0.014$ fm. The result is independent of the effective mass, symmetry energy, and the form of pairing force. However, $R_{np}$ is negative when the pairing force is switched off, so the pairing force plays an essential role to make $R_{np}$ positive and constrained in a narrow range. We also calculate the PV asymmetry ($A_{\rm pv}$) in the elastic electron-$^{27}$Al scattering in the Born approximation at the kinematics of the Qweak experiment. We obtain a very narrow-ranged result $A_{\rm pv} =$ (2.07 -- 2.09) $\times 10^{-6}$. The result is consistent with the experiment and insensitive to the effective mass, symmetry energy and pairing force.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Gravitational Lensing by Power-Law Mass Distributions: A Fast and Exact Series Approach

We present an analytical formulation of gravitational lensing using familiar triaxial power-law mass distributions, where the 3-dimensional mass density is given by $\rho(X,Y,Z) = \rho_0 [1 + (\frac{X}{a})^2 + (\frac{Y}{b})^2 + (\frac{Z}{c})^2]^{-\nu/2}$. The deflection angle and magnification factor are obtained analytically as Fourier series. We give the exact expressions for the deflection angle and magnification factor. The formulae for the deflection angle and magnification factor given in this paper will be useful for numerical studies of observed lens systems. An application of our results to the Einstein Cross can be found in Chae, Turnshek, & Khersonsky (1998). Our series approach can be viewed as a user-friendly and efficient method to calculate lensing properties that is better than the more conventional approaches, e.g., numerical integrations, multipole expansions.Comment: 24 pages, 3 Postscript figures, ApJ in press (October 10th

Two-gap and paramagnetic pair-breaking effects on upper critical field of SmFeAsO0.85_{0.85} and SmFeAsO0.8_{0.8}F0.2_{0.2} single crystals

We investigated the temperature dependence of the upper critical field [$H_{c2}(T)$] of fluorine-free SmFeAsO$_{0.85}$ and fluorine-doped SmFeAsO$_{0.8}$F$_{0.2}$ single crystals by measuring the resistive transition in low static magnetic fields and in pulsed fields up to 60 T. Both crystals show that $H_{c2}(T)$'s along the c axis [$H_{c2}^c(T)$] and in an $ab$-planar direction [$H_{c2}^{ab}(T)$] exhibit a linear and a sublinear increase, respectively, with decreasing temperature below the superconducting transition. $H_{c2}(T)$'s in both directions deviate from the conventional one-gap Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg theoretical prediction at low temperatures. A two-gap nature and the paramagnetic pair-breaking effect are shown to be responsible for the temperature-dependent behavior of $H_{c2}^c$ and $H_{c2}^{ab}$, respectively.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Limits of Binaries That Can Be Characterized by Gravitational Microlensing

Due to the high efficiency of planet detections, current microlensing planet searches focus on high-magnification events. High-magnification events are sensitive to remote binary companions as well and thus a sample of wide-separation binaries are expected to be collected as a byproduct. In this paper, we show that characterizing binaries for a portion of this sample will be difficult due to the degeneracy of the binary-lensing parameters. This degeneracy arises because the perturbation induced by the binary companion is well approximated by the Chang-Refsdal lensing for binaries with separations greater than a certain limit. For binaries composed of equal mass lenses, we find that the lens binarity can be noticed up to the separations of $\sim 60$ times of the Einstein radius corresponding to the mass of each lens. Among these binaries, however, we find that the lensing parameters can be determined only for a portion of binaries with separations less than $\sim 20$ times of the Einstein radius.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Dynamics of fullerene coalescence

Fullerene coalescence experimentally found in fullerene-embedded single-wall nanotubes under electron-beam irradiation or heat treatment is simulated by minimizing the classical action for many atom systems. The dynamical trajectory for forming a (5,5) C$_{120}$ nanocapsule from two C$_{60}$ fullerene molecules consists of thermal motions around potential basins and ten successive Stone-Wales-type bond rotations after the initial cage-opening process for which energy cost is about 8 eV. Dynamical paths for forming large-diameter nanocapsules with (10,0), (6,6), and (12,0) chiral indexes have more bond rotations than 25 with the transition barriers in a range of 10--12 eV.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 supplementary movie at http://dielc.kaist.ac.kr/yonghyun/coal.mpeg. To be published in Physical Review Letter

Environmental considerations of plastic behaviors for automobile applications

AbstractIt is well known fact that the thermo-mechanical behaviors of polymeric materials are strongly influenced by environmental factors, and, for automobiles, the mechanical properties of interior plastic structures are noticeably changed by being repeatedly exposed to environments such as sun light and rains. As the properties change, mechanical fits such as fasteners and clips in automobiles lose their tightness, creating unexpected noises. To consider Buzz, Squeak and Rattle (BSR) from initial stage of the interior design, it is very important to obtain, analyze and understand the structural behaviors of the materials under environmental changes as well as time. In this report, the mechanical property changes of the plastics for automobiles are measured to investigate the temperature and humidity effects. The samples are undergone different temperature and humidity conditions, and regularly taken out to measure the thermo-mechanical properties. The data are compared with the original samples, and analyzed for the properties change. Viscoelastic characteristics such as glass transition temperatures and storage/loss modulus were also investigate

Microlensing under Shear

We investigate the distortions due to this shear in the microlensing light curves and in the astrometric microlensing centroid shift trajectories. As expected, the light curve deviation increases as the shear increases and the impact parameter decreases. Although the light curve in the presence of a small shear is similar to the simple Paczynski curve with a slightly smaller impact parameter, the detailed difference between the light curve with and without shear reflects the direction and the magnitude of the shear. The centroid shift trajectory also deviates from a simple ellipse in the presence of shear. The distortion of the centroid shift trajectory increases as the impact parameter decreases, and the shape of the trajectory becomes complicated when the impact parameter becomes small enough. The magnitude of the maximum distortion depends on the magnitude and the direction of the shear. For a source trajectory in a given direction, the time of the maximum distortion depends mostly on the impact parameter and hardly on the shear. It is possible to determine the magnitude of the shear and its direction if both the time and the magnitude of the maximum astrometric distortion are measured. The magnitude of the shear produced by the Galactic bulge or a globular cluster falls in the range 10^{-6}--10^{-4} in normalized units. Although the actual determination of the shear from the Galactic sub-structures will not be easy due to complications such as binary companion, future large scale microlensing experiments may enable us to determine the shear in some high amplification events, leading eventually to mapping the Galactic mass distribution.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, ApJ accepe

Folding potential with modern nuclear density functionals and application to 16O+208Pb reaction

Double folding potential is constructed using the M3Y interaction and the matter densities of the projectile and target nuclei obtained from four microscopic energy density functional (EDF) models. The elastic scattering cross sections for the 16O+208Pb system are calculated using the optical model with the double folding potentials of the four EDF models. We focus on the correlation between the matter densities and the behavior the double folding potential and the elastic scattering cross sections. First, the matter and charge densities are examined by comparing the results of the four EDF models. There is a slight difference in the density in the internal region, but it is negligible in the outer region. Next, we calculate the double folding potential with the matter densities obtained from the four EDF models. Differences between the models are negligible in the outer region, but the potential depth in the internal region shows model dependence, which can be understood from the behavior of matter densities in the internal region. Another point is that the double folding potential is shown to be weakly dependent on the incident energy. Finally, the elastic scattering cross sections have no significant model dependence except for the slight difference in the backward angle.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figure

Occlusal reduction of unilateral molars influences change of stress-related hormones in rats

In order to investigate the change of stress-related hormones by dental occlusal reduction, we ground  molars in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and evaluated the effect on hormone levels. Thirteen and 18 weeks  after occlusal reduction, cortisol concentration was increased 2.75 and 2.17 fold respectively, whereas corticosterone  concentration was slightly elevated by 31.2% and 13.5%, respectively. Body weight was slightly  decreased, but feed and water intake, and blood chemistry were the same in the experimental group as  in the control group. Our results suggest that unilateral molar occlusal reduction may influence cortisol and  corticosterone levels and the endocrine system, leading to hormone imbalance through the body.