3,511 research outputs found
A Preliminary Study of Solar Powered Aircraft and Associated Power Trains
The feasibility of regeneratively powered solar high altitude powered platform (HAPP) remotely piloted vehicles was assessed. Those technologies which must be pursued to make long duration solar HAPPs feasible are recommended. A methodology which involved characterization and parametric analysis of roughly two dozen variables to determine vehicles capable of fulfilling the primary mission are defined. One of these vehicles was then conceptually designed. Variations of each major design parameter were investigated along with state-of-the-art changes in power train component capabilities. The midlatitude mission studied would be attainable by a solar HAPP if fuel cell, electrolyzer and photovoltaic technologies are pursued. Vehicles will be very large and have very lightweight structures in order to attain the combinations of altitude and duration required by the primary mission
Late Bayesian inference in mental transformations
Many skills rely on performing noisy mental computations on noisy sensory measurements. Bayesian models suggest that humans compensate for measurement noise and reduce behavioral variability by biasing perception toward prior expectations. Whether a similar strategy is employed to compensate for noise in downstream mental and sensorimotor computations is not known. We tested humans in a battery of tasks and found that tasks which involved more complex mental transformations resulted in increased bias, suggesting that humans are able to mitigate the effect of noise in both sensorimotor and mental transformations. These results indicate that humans delay inference in order to account for both measurement noise and noise in downstream computations.Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (BR-2014-102)Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein FundSimons Foundation (542993SPI)McKnight Endowment Fund for NeuroscienceMcGovern Institute for Brain Research at MI
Validity of the Gor'kov expansion near the upper critical field in type II superconductors
We have examined the validity of the Gor'kov expansion in the strength of the
order parameter of type II superconductors near the upper critical field.
Although the degeneracy of the electron levels in a magnetic field gives non-
perturbative terms in the solution to the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations we
find, contrary to recent claims, that these non-perturbative terms cancel in
the expression for the thermodynamic potential, and that the traditional
Gor'kov theory is correct sufficiently close to Hc2 at finite temperature. We
have derived conditions for the validity of the Gor'kov theory which
essentially state, that the change in the quasiparticle energies as compared to
the normal state energies cannot be too large compared to the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. One reference adde
Electric field effect on superconductivity at complex oxide interfaces
We examine the enhancement of the interfacial superconductivity between
LaAlO and SrTiO by an effective electric field. Through the
breaking of inversion symmetry at the interface, we show that a term coupling
the superfluid density and an electric field can augment the superconductivity
transition temperature. Microscopically, we show that an electric field can
also produce changes in the carrier density by relating the measured
capacitance to the density of states. Through the electron-phonon induced
interaction in bulk SrTiO, we estimate the transition temperature.Comment: 7 Pages, Submitted to Physical Revie
Thermodynamic properties of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 calculated from the electronic dispersion
The electronic dispersion for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+d) has been determined from
angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES). From this dispersion we
calculate the entropy and superfluid density. Even with no adjustable
parameters we obtain an exceptional match with experimental data across the
entire phase diagram, thus indirectly confirming both the ARPES and
thermodynamic data. The van Hove singularity is crossed in the overdoped region
giving a distinctive linear-in-T temperature dependence in the superfluid
density there.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Induced polarization at a paraelectric/superconducting interface
We examine the modified electronic states at the interface between
superconducting and ferro(para)-electric heterostructures. We find that
electric polarization and superconducting order parameters can be
significantly modified due to coupling through linear terms brought about by
explicit symmetry breaking at the interface. Using an effective action and a
Ginzburg-Landau formalism, we show that an interaction term linear in the
electric polarization will modify the superconducting order parameter at
the interface. This also produces modulation of a ferroelectric polarization.
It is shown that a paraelectric-superconductor interaction will produce an
interface-induced ferroelectric polarization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Weak Values with Decoherence
The weak value of an observable is experimentally accessible by weak
measurements as theoretically analyzed by Aharonov et al. and recently
experimentally demonstrated. We introduce a weak operator associated with the
weak values and give a general framework of quantum operations to the W
operator in parallel with the Kraus representation of the completely positive
map for the density operator. The decoherence effect is also investigated in
terms of the weak measurement by a shift of a probe wave function of continuous
variable. As an application, we demonstrate how the geometric phase is affected
by the bit flip noise.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure
Critical temperature oscillations in magnetically coupled superconducting mesoscopic loops
We study the magnetic interaction between two superconducting concentric
mesoscopic Al loops, close to the superconducting/normal phase transition. The
phase boundary is measured resistively for the two-loop structure as well as
for a reference single loop. In both systems Little-Parks oscillations,
periodic in field are observed in the critical temperature Tc versus applied
magnetic field H. In the Fourier spectrum of the Tc(H) oscillations, a weak
'low frequency' response shows up, which can be attributed to the inner loop
supercurrent magnetic coupling to the flux of the outer loop. The amplitude of
this effect can be tuned by varying the applied transport current.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Mutant Alcohol Dehydrogenase Leads to Improved Ethanol Tolerance in Clostridium Thermocellum
Clostridium thermocellum is a thermophilic, obligately anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium that is a candidate microorganism for converting cellulosic biomass into ethanol through consolidated bioprocessing. Ethanol intolerance is an important metric in terms of process economics, and tolerance has often been described as a complex and likely multigenic trait for which complex gene interactions come into play. Here, we resequence the genome of an ethanol-tolerant mutant, show that the tolerant phenotype is primarily due to a mutated bifunctional acetaldehyde-CoA/alcohol dehydrogenase gene (adhE), hypothesize based on structural analysis that cofactor specificity may be affected, and confirm this hypothesis using enzyme assays. Biochemical assays confirm a complete loss of NADH-dependent activity with concomitant acquisition of NADPH-dependent activity, which likely affects electron flow in the mutant. The simplicity of the genetic basis for the ethanol-tolerant phenotype observed here informs rational engineering of mutant microbial strains for cellulosic ethanol production
On the Lawrence–Doniach and Anisotropic Ginzburg–Landau Models for Layered Superconductors
The authors consider two models, the Lawrence-Doniach and the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau models for layered superconductors such as the recently discovered high-temperature superconductors. A mathematical description of both models is given and existence results for their solution are derived. The authors then relate the two models in the sense that they show that as the layer spacing tends to zero, the Lawrence-Doniach model reduces to the anisotropic Ginzburg- Landau model. Finally, simplified versions of the models are derived that can be used to accurately simulate high-temperature superconductors
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