2,450 research outputs found

    Measurement of the Entropy and Critical Temperature of a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas

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    We report a model-independent measurement of the entropy, energy, and critical temperature of a degenerate, strongly interacting Fermi gas of atoms. The total energy is determined from the mean square cloud size in the strongly interacting regime, where the gas exhibits universal behavior. The entropy is measured by sweeping a bias magnetic field to adiabatically tune the gas from the strongly interacting regime to a weakly interacting regime, where the entropy is known from the cloud size after the sweep. The dependence of the entropy on the total energy quantitatively tests predictions of the finite-temperature thermodynamics.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

    Critical properties of the unconventional spin-Peierls system TiOBr

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    We have performed detailed x-ray scattering measurements on single crystals of the spin-Peierls compound TiOBr in order to study the critical properties of the transition between the incommensurate spin-Peierls state and the paramagnetic state at Tc2 ~ 48 K. We have determined a value of the critical exponent beta which is consistent with the conventional 3D universality classes, in contrast with earlier results reported for TiOBr and TiOCl. Using a simple power law fit function we demonstrate that the asymptotic critical regime in TiOBr is quite narrow, and obtain a value of beta_{asy} = 0.32 +/- 0.03 in the asymptotic limit. A power law fit function which includes the first order correction-to-scaling confluent singularity term can be used to account for data outside the asymptotic regime, yielding a more robust value of beta_{avg} = 0.39 +/- 0.05. We observe no evidence of commensurate fluctuations above Tc1 in TiOBr, unlike its isostructural sister compound TiOCl. In addition, we find that the incommensurate structure between Tc1 and Tc2 is shifted in Q-space relative to the commensurate structure below Tc1.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Physical Review

    Integrating Item Accuracy and Reaction Time to Improve the Measurement of Inhibitory Control Abilities in Early Childhood

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    Efforts to improve children’s executive function are often hampered by the lack of measures that are optimized for use during the transition from preschool to elementary school. Whereas preschool-based measures often emphasize response accuracy, elementary school-based measures emphasize reaction time (RT)—especially for measures inhibitory control (IC) tasks that typically have a speeded component. The primary objective of this study was to test in a preschool-aged sample whether the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in improved scoring for three IC tasks relative to scores derived from accuracy data alone. Generally, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in modest improvements in the measurement precision of IC abilities. Moreover, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT helped eliminate floor and ceiling effects that occurred when accuracy data were considered alone. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of scoring IC tasks in ways that are maximally informative for program evaluation and longitudinal modeling

    Commensurate Fluctuations in the Pseudogap and Incommensurate spin-Peierls Phases of TiOCl

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    X-ray scattering measurements on single crystals of TiOCl reveal the presence of commensurate dimerization peaks within both the incommensurate spin-Peierls phase and the so-called pseudogap phase above T_c2. This scattering is relatively narrow in Q-space indicating long correlation lengths exceeding ~ 100 A below T* ~ 130 K. It is also slightly shifted in Q relative to that of the commensurate long range ordered state at the lowest temperatures, and it coexists with the incommensurate Bragg peaks below T_c2. The integrated scattering over both commensurate and incommensurate positions evolves continuously with decreasing temperature for all temperatures below T* ~ 130 K.Comment: To appear in Physical Review B: Rapid Communications. 5 page

    Suppression of the commensurate spin-Peierls state in Sc-doped TiOCl

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    We have performed x-ray scattering measurements on single crystals of the doped spin-Peierls compound Ti(1-x)Sc(x)OCl (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03). These measurements reveal that the presence of non-magnetic dopants has a profound effect on the unconventional spin-Peierls behavior of this system, even at concentrations as low as 1%. Sc-doping suppresses commensurate fluctuations in the pseudogap and incommensurate spin-Peierls phases of TiOCl, and prevents the formation of a long-range ordered spin-Peierls state. Broad incommensurate scattering develops in the doped compounds near Tc2 ~ 93 K, and persists down to base temperature (~ 7 K) with no evidence of a lock-in transition. The width of the incommensurate dimerization peaks indicates short correlation lengths on the order of ~ 12 angstroms below Tc2. The intensity of the incommensurate scattering is significantly reduced at higher Sc concentrations, indicating that the size of the associated lattice displacement decreases rapidly as a function of doping.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
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