The Fourth Element: Characteristics, Modelling, and Electromagnetic Theory of the Memristor

In 2008, researchers at HP Labs published a paper in {\it Nature} reporting the realisation of a new basic circuit element that completes the missing link between charge and flux-linkage, which was postulated by Leon Chua in 1971. The HP memristor is based on a nanometer scale TiO$_2$ thin-film, containing a doped region and an undoped region. Further to proposed applications of memristors in artificial biological systems and nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM), they also enable reconfigurable nanoelectronics. Moreover, memristors provide new paradigms in application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). A significant reduction in area with an unprecedented memory capacity and device density are the potential advantages of memristors for Integrated Circuits (ICs). This work reviews the memristor and provides mathematical and SPICE models for memristors. Insight into the memristor device is given via recalling the quasi-static expansion of Maxwell's equations. We also review Chua's arguments based on electromagnetic theory.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures, Accepted as a regular paper - the Proceedings of Royal Society

Evidence for Factorization in Three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 Decays

Motivated by recent experimental results, we use a factorization approach to study the three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 decay modes. Two mechanisms are proposed for kaon pair production: current-produced (from vacuum) and transition (from B meson). The Bbar0 --> D(*)+ K- K0 decay is governed solely by the current-produced mechanism. As the kaon pair can be produced only by the vector current, the matrix element can be extracted from e+ e- --> K Kbar processes via isospin relations. The decay rates obtained this way are in good agreement with experiment. Both current-produced and transition processes contribute to B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decays. By using QCD counting rules and the measured B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decay rates, the measured decay spectra can be understood.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Spawning rings of exceptional points out of Dirac cones

The Dirac cone underlies many unique electronic properties of graphene and topological insulators, and its band structure--two conical bands touching at a single point--has also been realized for photons in waveguide arrays, atoms in optical lattices, and through accidental degeneracy. Deformations of the Dirac cone often reveal intriguing properties; an example is the quantum Hall effect, where a constant magnetic field breaks the Dirac cone into isolated Landau levels. A seemingly unrelated phenomenon is the exceptional point, also known as the parity-time symmetry breaking point, where two resonances coincide in both their positions and widths. Exceptional points lead to counter-intuitive phenomena such as loss-induced transparency, unidirectional transmission or reflection, and lasers with reversed pump dependence or single-mode operation. These two fields of research are in fact connected: here we discover the ability of a Dirac cone to evolve into a ring of exceptional points, which we call an "exceptional ring." We experimentally demonstrate this concept in a photonic crystal slab. Angle-resolved reflection measurements of the photonic crystal slab reveal that the peaks of reflectivity follow the conical band structure of a Dirac cone from accidental degeneracy, whereas the complex eigenvalues of the system are deformed into a two-dimensional flat band enclosed by an exceptional ring. This deformation arises from the dissimilar radiation rates of dipole and quadrupole resonances, which play a role analogous to the loss and gain in parity-time symmetric systems. Our results indicate that the radiation that exists in any open system can fundamentally alter its physical properties in ways previously expected only in the presence of material loss and gain

Self-directed growth of AlGaAs core-shell nanowires for visible light applications

Al(0.37)Ga(0.63)As nanowires (NWs) were grown in a molecular beam epitaxy system on GaAs(111)B substrates. Micro-photoluminescence measurements and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated a core-shell structure and Al composition gradient along the NW axis, producing a potential minimum for carrier confinement. The core-shell structure formed during the growth as a consequence of the different Al and Ga adatom diffusion lengths.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Immunological responses following administration of a genotype 1a/1b/2/3a quadrivalent HCV VLP vaccine

The significant public health problem of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been partially addressed with the advent of directly acting antiviral agents (DAAs). However, the development of an effective preventative vaccine would have a significant impact on HCV incidence and would represent a major advance towards controlling and possibly eradicating HCV globally. We previously reported a genotype 1a HCV viral-like particle (VLP) vaccine that produced neutralizing antibodies (NAb) and T cell responses to HCV. To advance this approach, we produced a quadrivalent genotype 1a/1b/2a/3a HCV VLP vaccine to produce broader immune responses. We show that this quadrivalent vaccine produces antibody and NAb responses together with strong T and B cell responses in vaccinated mice. Moreover, selective neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies (HuMAbs) targeting conserved antigenic domain B and D epitopes of the E2 protein bound strongly to the HCV VLPs, suggesting that these critical epitopes are expressed on the surface of the particles. Our findings demonstrate that a quadrivalent HCV VLP based vaccine induces broad humoral and cellular immune responses that will be necessary for protection against HCV. Such a vaccine could provide a substantial addition to highly active antiviral drugs in eliminating HCV.D. Christiansen, L. Earnest-Silveira, B. Chua, P. Meuleman, I. Boo, B. Grubor-Bauk, D.C. Jackson, Z.Y. Keck, S.K.H. Foung, H.E. Drummer, E.J. Gowans, J. Torres

Two-loop Radiative Neutrino Mechanism in an SU(3)L×U(1)NSU(3)_L\times U(1)_N Gauge Model

By using the $L_e$ - $L_\mu$ - $L_\tau$ symmetry, we construct an $SU(3)_L\times U(1)_N$ gauge model that provides two-loop radiative neutrino masses as well as one-loop radiative neutrino masses. The generic smallness of two-loop neutrino masses leading to $\Delta m^2_\odot$ compared with one-loop neutrino masses leading to $\Delta m^2_{atm}$ successfully explains $\Delta m^2_{atm}$ $>>$ $\Delta m^2_{\odot}$ by invoking the $L_e$ - $L_\mu$ - $L_\tau$ breaking. The Higgs scalar ($h^+$) that initiates radiative mechanisms is unified into a Higgs triplet together with the standard Higgs scalar ($\phi^+$, $\phi^0$) to form ($\phi^+$, $\phi^0$, $h^+$), which calls for three families of lepton triplets: ($\nu^i_L$, $\ell^i_L$, $\omega^i_L$) (i = 1,2,3), where $\omega^i$ denote heavy neutral leptons. The two-loop radiative mechanism is found possible by introducing a singly charged scalar, which couples to $\ell^i_R\omega^j_R$ (i,j = 2,3).Comment: with 10 pages, revtex, including 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D (with undefined latex citation indices removed

Observation of B+ -> p pbar pi+, B0 -> p pbar K0, and B+ -> p pbar K*+

We report the first observation of a b -> u type charmless baryonic B decay, B+ -> p pbar pi+, as well as b -> s type B0 -> p pbar K0 and B+ -> p pbar K*+ decays. The analysis is based on a 78fb^{-1} data sample recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at KEKB. We find BF(B+ -> p pbar pi+) = (3.06^{+0.73}_{-0.62} \pm 0.37)*10^{-6}, BF(B0 -> p pbar K0) =(1.88^{+0.77}_{-0.60} \pm 0.23)*10^{-6}, and BF(B+ -> p pbar K*+) = (10.3^{+3.6 + 1.3}_{-2.8 -1.7})*10^{-6}. We also update BF(B+ -> p pbar K+) = (5.66^{+0.67}_{-0.57} \pm 0.62)* 10^{-6}, and present an upper limit on BF(B0 -> p pbar K*0) at the 90% confidence level. A common feature of the observed decay modes is threshold peaking in baryon pair invariant mass.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure file

Observation of B+ to Lambda Lambdabar K+

We report the first observation of the charmless hyperonic B decay, B^+ --> Lambda Lambdabar K^+, using a 140 fb^-1 data sample recorded at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e^+e^- collider. The measured branching fraction is B(B^+ --> Lambda Lambdabar K^+) = 2.91 ^{+0.90}_{-0.70} +/- 0.38 *10^-6 . We also perform a search for the related decay mode B^+ --> Lambda Lambdabar pi^+, but do not find a significant signal. We set a 90% confidence-level upper limit of B(B^+ --> Lambda Lambdabar pi^+) < 2.8 * 10^-6.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Radiatively Induced Neutrino Masses and Oscillations in an SU(3)_LxU(1)_N Gauge Model

We have constructed an $SU(3)_L \times U(1)_N$ gauge model utilizing an $U(1)_{L^\prime}$ symmetry, where $L^\prime$ = $L_e-L_\mu-L_\tau$, which accommodates tiny neutrino masses generated by $L^\prime$-conserving one-loop and $L^\prime$-breaking two-loop radiative mechanisms. The generic smallness of two-loop radiative effects compared with one-loop radiative effects describes the observed hierarchy of $\Delta m_{atm}^2$ $\gg$ $\Delta m_\odot^2$. A key ingredient for radiative mechanisms is a charged scalar ($h^+$) that couples to charged lepton-neutrino pairs and $h^+$ together with the standard Higgs scalar ($\phi$) can be unified into a Higgs triplet as ($\phi^0$, $\phi^-$, $h^+$)$^T$. This assignment in turn requires lepton triplets ($\psi_L^i$) with heavy charged leptons ($\kappa_L^{+i}$) as the third member: $\psi_L^i=(\nu^i_L,\ell^i_L,\kappa^{+i}_L)^T$, where $i$ ($=1,2,3$) denotes three families. It is found that our model is relevant to yield quasi-vacuum oscillations for solar neutrinos.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, including 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D with minor modification of our resul