10,723 research outputs found
Destruction of Neel order and appearance of superconductivity in electron-doped cuprates by oxygen annealing process
We use thermodynamic and neutron scattering measurements to study the effect
of oxygen annealing on the superconductivity and magnetism in
PrLaCeCuO. Although the transition temperature
measured by susceptibility and superconducting coherence length increase
smoothly with gradual oxygen removal from the annealing process, bulk
superconductivity, marked by a specific heat anomaly at and the presence
of a neutron magnetic resonance, only appears abruptly when is close to
the largest value. These results suggest that the effect of oxygen annealing
must be first determined in order to establish a Ce-doping dependence of
antiferromagnetism and superconductivity phase diagram for electron-doped
copper oxides.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.
Constraints on millicharged particles with low threshold germanium detectors at Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory
Relativistic millicharged particles () have been proposed in various
extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. We consider the scenarios
where they are produced at nuclear reactor core and via interactions of
cosmic-rays with the earth's atmosphere. Millicharged particles could also be
candidates for dark matter, and become relativistic through acceleration by
supernova explosion shock waves. The atomic ionization cross section of
with matter are derived with the equivalent photon approximation.
Smoking-gun signatures with significant enhancement in the differential cross
section are identified. New limits on the mass and charge of are
derived, using data taken with a point-contact germanium detector with 500g
mass functioning at an energy threshold of 300~eV at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor
Neutrino Laboratory.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Getting Information on Independently Prepared Quantum States -- When Are Individual Measurements as Powerful as Joint Measurements?
Given a composite quantum system in which the states of the subsystems are
independently (but not necessarily identically) prepared, we construct separate
measurements on the subsystems from any given joint measurement such that the
former always give at least as large information as the latter. This
construction offers new insights into the understanding of measurements on this
type of composite systems. Moreover, this construction essentially proves the
intuition that separate measurements on the subsystems are sufficient to
extract the maximal information about the separately prepared subsystems, thus
making a joint measurement unnecessary. Furthermore, our result implies that
individual attacks are as powerful as collective attacks in obtaining
information on the raw key in quantum key distribution.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
The Case for Dynamic Models of Learners' Ontologies in Physics
In a series of well-known papers, Chi and Slotta (Chi, 1992; Chi & Slotta,
1993; Chi, Slotta & de Leeuw, 1994; Slotta, Chi & Joram, 1995; Chi, 2005;
Slotta & Chi, 2006) have contended that a reason for students' difficulties in
learning physics is that they think about concepts as things rather than as
processes, and that there is a significant barrier between these two
ontological categories. We contest this view, arguing that expert and novice
reasoning often and productively traverses ontological categories. We cite
examples from everyday, classroom, and professional contexts to illustrate
this. We agree with Chi and Slotta that instruction should attend to learners'
ontologies; but we find these ontologies are better understood as dynamic and
context-dependent, rather than as static constraints. To promote one
ontological description in physics instruction, as suggested by Slotta and Chi,
could undermine novices' access to productive cognitive resources they bring to
their studies and inhibit their transition to the dynamic ontological
flexibility required of experts.Comment: The Journal of the Learning Sciences (In Press
Inelastic neutron scattering studies of Crystal Field Levels in PrOsAs
We use neutron scattering to study the Pr crystalline electric field
(CEF) excitations in the filled skutterudite PrOsAs. By comparing
the observed levels and their strengths under neutron excitation with the
theoretical spectrum and neutron excitation intensities, we identify the
Pr CEF levels, and show that the ground state is a magnetic
triplet, and the excited states ,
and are at 0.4, 13 and 23 meV, respectively. A comparison of the
observed CEF levels in PrOsAs with the heavy fermion superconductor
PrOsSb reveals the microscopic origin of the differences in the
ground states of these two filled skutterudites.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
miR-CATCH: microRNA capture affinity technology.
Several experimental methods exist to explore the microRNA (miRNA) regulome. These methods almost exclusively focus on multiple targets bound to a single, or perhaps a few miRNAs of interest. Here, we describe a microRNA capture affinity technology (miR-CATCH) which uses an affinity capture oligonucleotide to co-purify a single target messenger RNA (mRNA) together with all its endogenously bound miRNAs. This bench-top method is similar to RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and provides an experimental alternative to computational miRNA target prediction
Experimental elucidation of the origin of the `double spin resonances' in Ba(FeCo)As
We report a combined study of the spin resonances and superconducting gaps
for underdoped ( K), optimally doped ( K), and overdoped
( K) Ba(FeCo)As single crystals with inelastic
neutron scattering and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We find a
quasi two dimensional spin resonance whose energy scales with the
superconducting gap in all three compounds. In addition, anisotropic low energy
spin excitation enhancements in the superconducting state have been deduced and
characterized for the under and optimally doped compounds. Our data suggest
that the quasi two dimensional spin resonance is a spin exciton that
corresponds to the spin singlet-triplet excitations of the itinerant electrons.
However, the intensity enhancements of the anisotropic spin excitations are
dominated by the out-of-plane spin excitations of the ordered moments due to
the suppression of damping in the superconducting state. Hence we offer a new
interpretation of the double energy scales differing from previous
interpretations based on anisotropic superconducting energy gaps, and
systematically explain the doping-dependent trend across the phase diagram.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication on Physical
Review
Student understanding of rotational and rolling motion concepts
We investigated the common difficulties that students have with concepts
related to rotational and rolling motion covered in the introductory physics
courses. We compared the performance of calculus- and algebra-based
introductory physics students with physics juniors who had learned rotational
and rolling motion concepts in an intermediate level mechanics course.
Interviews were conducted with six physics juniors and ten introductory
students using demonstration-based tasks. We also administered free-response
and multiple-choice questions to a large number of students enrolled in
introductory physics courses, and interviewed six additional introductory
students on the test questions (during the test design phase). All students
showed similar difficulties regardless of their background, and higher
mathematical sophistication did not seem to help acquire a deeper
understanding. We found that some difficulties were due to related difficulties
with linear motion, while others were tied specifically to the more intricate
nature of rotational and rolling motion.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; it includes a multiple-choice test (in
Appendix B
Anisotropic spin-density distribution and magnetic anisotropy of strained LaSrMnO thin films: Angle-dependent x-ray magnetic circular dichroism
Magnetic anisotropies of ferromagnetic thin films are induced by epitaxial
strain from the substrate via strain-induced anisotropy in the orbital magnetic
moment and that in the spatial distribution of spin-polarized electrons.
However, the preferential orbital occupation in ferromagnetic metallic
LaSrMnO (LSMO) thin films studied by x-ray linear dichroism
(XLD) has always been found out-of-plane for both tensile and compressive
epitaxial strain and hence irrespective of the magnetic anisotropy. In order to
resolve this mystery, we directly probed the preferential orbital occupation of
spin-polarized electrons in LSMO thin films under strain by angle-dependent
x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Anisotropy of the spin-density
distribution was found to be in-plane for the tensile strain and out-of-plane
for the compressive strain, consistent with the observed magnetic anisotropy.
The ubiquitous out-of-plane preferential orbital occupation seen by XLD is
attributed to the occupation of both spin-up and spin-down out-of-plane
orbitals in the surface magnetic dead layer.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
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