Some symmetry properties of spin currents and spin polarizations in multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled systems

We study theoretically some symmetry properties of spin currents and spin polarizations in multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled systems. Based on a scattering wave function approach, we show rigorously that in the equilibrium state no finite spin polarizations can exist in a multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled system (both in the leads and in the spin-orbit coupled region) and also no finite equilibrium terminal spin currents can exist. By use of a typical two-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled system as the example, we show explicitly that the nonequilibrium terminal spin currents in a multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled system are non-conservative in general. This non-conservation of terminal spin currents is not caused by the use of an improper definition of spin current but is intrinsic to spin-dependent transports in mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled systems. We also show that the nonequilibrium lateral edge spin accumulation induced by a longitudinal charge current in a thin strip of \textit{finite} length of a two-dimensional electronic system with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling may be non-antisymmetric in general, which implies that some cautions may need to be taken when attributing the occurrence of nonequilibrium lateral edge spin accumulation induced by a longitudinal charge current in such a system to an intrinsic spin Hall effect.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Factors of Influence on the Performance of a Short-Latency Non-Invasive Brain Switch: Evidence in Healthy Individuals and Implication for Motor Function Rehabilitation.

Brain-computer interfacing (BCI) has recently been applied as a rehabilitation approach for patients with motor disorders, such as stroke. In these closed-loop applications, a brain switch detects the motor intention from brain signals, e.g., scalp EEG, and triggers a neuroprosthetic device, either to deliver sensory feedback or to mimic real movements, thus re-establishing the compromised sensory-motor control loop and promoting neural plasticity. In this context, single trial detection of motor intention with short latency is a prerequisite. The performance of the event detection from EEG recordings is mainly determined by three factors: the type of motor imagery (e.g., repetitive, ballistic), the frequency band (or signal modality) used for discrimination (e.g., alpha, beta, gamma, and MRCP, i.e., movement-related cortical potential), and the processing technique (e.g., time-series analysis, sub-band power estimation). In this study, we investigated single trial EEG traces during movement imagination on healthy individuals, and provided a comprehensive analysis of the performance of a short-latency brain switch when varying these three factors. The morphological investigation showed a cross-subject consistency of a prolonged negative phase in MRCP, and a delayed beta rebound in sensory-motor rhythms during repetitive tasks. The detection performance had the greatest accuracy when using ballistic MRCP with time-series analysis. In this case, the true positive rate (TPR) was ~70% for a detection latency of ~200 ms. The results presented here are of practical relevance for designing BCI systems for motor function rehabilitation

Non-equilibrium spin polarization effects in spin-orbit coupling system and contacting metallic leads

We study theoretically the current-induced spin polarization effect in a two-terminal mesoscopic structure which is composed of a semiconductor two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) bar with Rashba spin-orbit (SO) interaction and two attached ideal leads. The nonequilibrium spin density is calculated by solving the scattering wave functions explicitly within the ballistic transport regime. We found that for a Rashba SO system the electrical current can induce spin polarization in the SO system as well as in the ideal leads. The induced polarization in the 2DEG shows some qualitative features of the intrinsic spin Hall effect. On the other hand, the nonequilibrium spin density in the ideal leads, after being averaged in the transversal direction, is independent of the distance measured from the lead/SO system interface, except in the vicinity of the interface. Such a lead polarization effect can even be enhanced by the presence of weak impurity scattering in the SO system and may be detectable in real experiments.Comment: 6 pages,5 figure

Self-consistent triaxial de Zeeuw-Carollo Models

We use the usual method of Schwarzschild to construct self-consistent solutions for the triaxial de Zeeuw & Carollo (1996) models with central density cusps. ZC96 models are triaxial generalisations of spherical $\gamma$-models of Dehnen whose densities vary as $r^{-\gamma}$ near the center and $r^{-4}$ at large radii and hence, possess a central density core for $\gamma=0$ and cusps for $\gamma > 0$. We consider four triaxial models from ZC96, two prolate triaxials: $(p, q) = (0.65, 0.60)$ with $\gamma = 1.0$ and 1.5, and two oblate triaxials: $(p, q) = (0.95, 0.60)$ with $\gamma = 1.0$ and 1.5. We compute 4500 orbits in each model for time periods of $10^{5} T_{D}$. We find that a large fraction of the orbits in each model are stochastic by means of their nonzero Liapunov exponents. The stochastic orbits in each model can sustain regular shapes for $\sim 10^{3} T_{D}$ or longer, which suggests that they diffuse slowly through their allowed phase-space. Except for the oblate triaxial models with $\gamma =1.0$, our attempts to construct self-consistent solutions employing only the regular orbits fail for the remaining three models. However, the self-consistent solutions are found to exist for all models when the stochastic and regular orbits are treated in the same way because the mixing-time, $\sim10^{4} T_{D}$, is shorter than the integration time, $10^{5} T_{D}$. Moreover, the ``fully-mixed'' solutions can also be constructed for all models when the stochastic orbits are fully mixed at 15 lowest energy shells. Thus, we conclude that the self-consistent solutions exist for our selected prolate and oblate triaxial models with $\gamma = 1.0$ and 1.5.Comment: 6 Pages, 3 Figures, 2 Tables. Accepted for Publication in A&

Predicting floods in a large karst river basin by coupling PERSIANN-CCS QPEs with a physically based distributed hydrological model

In general, there are no long-term meteorological or hydrological data available for karst river basins. The lack of rainfall data is a great challenge that hinders the development of hydrological models. Quantitative precipitation estimates (QPEs) based on weather satellites offer a potential method by which rainfall data in karst areas could be obtained. Furthermore, coupling QPEs with a distributed hydrological model has the potential to improve the precision of flood predictions in large karst watersheds. Estimating precipitation from remotely sensed information using an artificial neural network-cloud classification system (PERSIANN-CCS) is a type of QPE technology based on satellites that has achieved broad research results worldwide. However, only a few studies on PERSIANN-CCS QPEs have occurred in large karst basins, and the accuracy is generally poor in terms of practical applications. This paper studied the feasibility of coupling a fully physically based distributed hydrological model, i.e., the Liuxihe model, with PERSIANN-CCS QPEs for predicting floods in a large river basin, i.e., the Liujiang karst river basin, which has a watershed area of 58 270 km-2, in southern China. The model structure and function require further refinement to suit the karst basins. For instance, the sub-basins in this paper are divided into many karst hydrology response units (KHRUs) to ensure that the model structure is adequately refined for karst areas. In addition, the convergence of the underground runoff calculation method within the original Liuxihe model is changed to suit the karst water-bearing media, and the Muskingum routing method is used in the model to calculate the underground runoff in this study. Additionally, the epikarst zone, as a distinctive structure of the KHRU, is carefully considered in the model. The result of the QPEs shows that compared with the observed precipitation measured by a rain gauge, the distribution of precipitation predicted by the PERSIANN-CCS QPEs was very similar. However, the quantity of precipitation predicted by the PERSIANN-CCS QPEs was smaller. A post-processing method is proposed to revise the products of the PERSIANN-CCS QPEs. The karst flood simulation results show that coupling the post-processed PERSIANN-CCS QPEs with the Liuxihe model has a better performance relative to the result based on the initial PERSIANN-CCS QPEs. Moreover, the performance of the coupled model largely improves with parameter re-optimization via the post-processed PERSIANN-CCS QPEs. The average values of the six evaluation indices change as follows: the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient increases by 14 %, the correlation coefficient increases by 15 %, the process relative error decreases by 8 %, the peak flow relative error decreases by 18 %, the water balance coefficient increases by 8 %, and the peak flow time error displays a 5 h decrease. Among these parameters, the peak flow relative error shows the greatest improvement; thus, these parameters are of page1506 the greatest concern for flood prediction. The rational flood simulation results from the coupled model provide a great practical application prospect for flood prediction in large karst river basins