38,036 research outputs found
Wavepacket scattering on graphene edges in the presence of a (pseudo) magnetic field
The scattering of a Gaussian wavepacket in armchair and zigzag graphene edges
is theoretically investigated by numerically solving the time dependent
Schr\"odinger equation for the tight-binding model Hamiltonian. Our theory
allows to investigate scattering in reciprocal space, and depending on the type
of graphene edge we observe scattering within the same valley, or between
different valleys. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the well know
skipping orbits are observed. However, our results demonstrate that in the case
of a pseudo-magnetic field, induced by non-uniform strain, the scattering by an
armchair edge results in a non-propagating edge state.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Young Red Spheroidal Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Fields: Evidence for a Truncated IMF at ~2M_solar and a Constant Space Density to z~2
The optical-IR images of the Northern and Southern Hubble Deep Fields are
used to measure the spectral and density evolution of early-type galaxies. The
mean optical SED is found to evolve passively towards a mid F-star dominated
spectrum by z ~ 2. We demonstrate with realistic simulations that hotter
ellipticals would be readily visible if evolution progressed blueward and
brightward at z > 2, following a standard IMF. The colour distributions are
best fitted by a `red' IMF, deficient above ~2 M_solar and with a spread of
formation in the range 1.5 < z_f < 2.5. Traditional age dating is spurious in
this context, a distant elliptical can be young but appear red, with an
apparent age >3 Gyrs independent of its formation redshift. Regarding density
evolution, we demonstrate that the sharp decline in numbers claimed at z > 1
results from a selection bias against distant red galaxies in the optical,
where the flux is too weak for morphological classification, but is remedied
with relatively modest IR exposures revealing a roughly constant space density
to z ~ 2. We point out that the lack of high mass star-formation inferred here
and the requirement of metals implicates cooling-flows of pre-enriched gas in
the creation of the stellar content of spheroidal galaxies. Deep-field X-ray
images will be very helpful to examine this possibility.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters,
typographical errors corrected, simulated images with different IMFs
illustrated at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~bouwens/ellip.htm
All-strain based valley filter in graphene nanoribbons using snake states
A pseudo-magnetic field kink can be realized along a graphene nanoribbon
using strain engineering. Electron transport along this kink is governed by
snake states that are characterized by a single propagation direction. Those
pseudo-magnetic fields point towards opposite directions in the K and K'
valleys, leading to valley polarized snake states. In a graphene nanoribbon
with armchair edges this effect results in a valley filter that is based only
on strain engineering. We discuss how to maximize this valley filtering by
adjusting the parameters that define the stress distribution along the graphene
ribbon.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Photometry and spectroscopy of multiple populations along the AGB of NGC2808 and NGC6121 (M4)
We present a photometric and spectroscopic study of multiple populations
along the asymptotic-giant branch (AGB) of the intermediate-metallicity
globular clusters (GCs) NGC2808 and NGC6121 (M4). Chemical abundances of O, Na,
Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Y, and Ce in AGB stars from
high-resolution FLAMES+UVES@VLT spectra are reported for both clusters. Our
spectroscopic results have been combined with multi-wavelength photometry from
the HST UV survey of Galactic GCs and ground-based photometry, plus proper
motions derived by combining stellar positions from ground-based images and
Gaia DR1. Our analysis reveals that the AGBs of both clusters host multiple
populations with different chemical composition.
In M4 we have identified two main populations of stars with different Na/O
content, lying on distinct AGBs in the mF438W vs. C_F275W,F336W,F438W and the V
vs.C_U,B,I pseudo-CMDs. In the more massive and complex GC NGC2808 three groups
of stars with different chemical abundances occupy different locations on the
so-called "chromosome map" photometric diagram. The spectroscopic+photometric
comparison of stellar populations along the AGB and the red giants of this GC
suggests that the AGB hosts stellar populations with a range in helium
abundances spanning from primordial up to high contents of Y~0.32. On the other
hand, from our dataset, there is no evidence for stars with extreme helium
abundance (Y~0.38) on the AGB, suggesting that the most He-rich stars of
NGC2808 do not reach this phase.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A systematic comparison of supervised classifiers
Pattern recognition techniques have been employed in a myriad of industrial,
medical, commercial and academic applications. To tackle such a diversity of
data, many techniques have been devised. However, despite the long tradition of
pattern recognition research, there is no technique that yields the best
classification in all scenarios. Therefore, the consideration of as many as
possible techniques presents itself as an fundamental practice in applications
aiming at high accuracy. Typical works comparing methods either emphasize the
performance of a given algorithm in validation tests or systematically compare
various algorithms, assuming that the practical use of these methods is done by
experts. In many occasions, however, researchers have to deal with their
practical classification tasks without an in-depth knowledge about the
underlying mechanisms behind parameters. Actually, the adequate choice of
classifiers and parameters alike in such practical circumstances constitutes a
long-standing problem and is the subject of the current paper. We carried out a
study on the performance of nine well-known classifiers implemented by the Weka
framework and compared the dependence of the accuracy with their configuration
parameter configurations. The analysis of performance with default parameters
revealed that the k-nearest neighbors method exceeds by a large margin the
other methods when high dimensional datasets are considered. When other
configuration of parameters were allowed, we found that it is possible to
improve the quality of SVM in more than 20% even if parameters are set
randomly. Taken together, the investigation conducted in this paper suggests
that, apart from the SVM implementation, Weka's default configuration of
parameters provides an performance close the one achieved with the optimal
configuration
Role of Quantum Confinement in Luminescence Efficiency of Group IV Nanostructures
Experimental results obtained previously for the photoluminescence efficiency
(PL) of Ge quantum dots (QDs) are theoretically studied. A
- plot of PL versus QD diameter () resulted in an
identical slope for each Ge QD sample only when . We
identified that above 6.2 nm: due to a changing
effective mass (EM), while below 4.6 nm: due to
electron/ hole confinement. We propose that as the QD size is initially
reduced, the EM is reduced, which increases the Bohr radius and interface
scattering until eventually pure quantum confinement effects dominate at small
Entropy, non-ergodicity and non-Gaussian behaviour in ballistic transport
Ballistic transportation introduces new challenges in the thermodynamic
properties of a gas of particles. For example, violation of mixing, ergodicity
and of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem may occur, since all these processes
are connected. In this work, we obtain results for all ranges of diffusion,
i.e., both for subdiffusion and superdiffusion, where the bath is such that it
gives origin to a colored noise. In this way we obtain the skewness and the
non-Gaussian factor for the probability distribution function of the dynamical
variable. We put particular emphasis on ballistic diffusion, and we demonstrate
that in this case, although the second law of thermodynamics is preserved, the
entropy does not reach a maximum and a non-Gaussian behavior occurs. This
implies the non-applicability of the central limit theorem.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
Coleman meets Schwinger
It is well known that spherical D-branes are nucleated in the presence of an
external RR electric field. Using the description of D-branes as solitons of
the tachyon field on non-BPS D-branes, we show that the brane nucleation
process can be seen as the decay of the tachyon false vacuum. This process can
describe the decay of flux-branes in string theory or the decay of quintessence
potentials arising in flux compactifications.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
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