Many-Electron Systems with Constrained Current

A formulation for transport in an inhomogeneous, interacting electron gas is described. Electronic current is induced by a constraint condition imposed as a vector Lagrange multiplier. Constrained minimization of the total energy functional on the manifold of an arbitrary constant current leads to a many-electron Schroedinger equation with a complex, momentum-dependent potential. Constant current Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham approximations are formulated within the method and application to transport for quantum wires is developed. No appeal is made to near equilibrium conditions or other approximations allowing development of a general ab initio electronic transport formulation

The effect of switching mobile sources to natural gas on the ozone in the great smoky mountains national park

Mobile sources are among the largest contributors of NOx in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region (GSMNP). In 2001, these sources contributed 45% of NOx emissions. From 1990 to 2001, the growth of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased 60% and 55% in neighboring Sevier and Blount counties respectively. These emissions combined with the high volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions in the Southeast area have caused the ozone ground level concentration to be as high as some major metropolitan areas in the summer season. In 2001, the maximum 8-hr ozone concentration inside the park was 103 parts per billion. In response to high ozone levels in other areas, federal, state, and local governments are promoting the use of alternative, clean, and reformulated fuel vehicles as a means to improve local air pollution. One of these fuels is compressed natural gas (CNG). The purpose of this project was to use USEPA's CMAQ system in order to model the air quality and compare the ozone ground level formation in the GSMNP from light duty vehicles (LDVs) operating with 100% CNG within 100 miles around GSMNP. A severe southeast ozone episode between August and September 1999 was used as a reference and 2004 was used as a future case. Results showed that LDVs fueled with 100% CNG in the domain could reduce ozone level by 10% and 8% for 1-hr and 8-hr ozone formation respectively in the GSMNP on the modeled time period. Scavenging occurred around the GSMNP in the morning time during the selected episode

Universality of Frequency and Field Scaling of the Conductivity Measured by Ac-Susceptibility of a Ybco-Film

Utilizing a novel and exact inversion scheme, we determine the complex linear conductivity $\sigma (\omega )$ from the linear magnetic ac-susceptibility which has been measured from 3\,mHz to 50\,MHz in fields between 0.4\,T and 4\,T applied parallel to the c-axis of a 250\,nm thin disk. The frequency derivative of the phase $\sigma ''/\sigma '$ and the dynamical scaling of $\sigma (\omega)$ above and below $T_g(B)$ provide clear evidence for a continuous phase transition at $T_g$ to a generic superconducting state. Based on the vortex-glass scaling model, the resulting critical exponents $\nu$ and $z$ are close to those frequently obtained on films by other means and associated with an 'isotropic' vortex glass. The field effect on $\sigma(\omega)$ can be related to the increase of the glass coherence length, $\xi_g\sim B$.Comment: 8 pages (5 figures upon request), revtex 3.0, APK.94.01.0

The Lieb-Liniger Model as a Limit of Dilute Bosons in Three Dimensions

We show that the Lieb-Liniger model for one-dimensional bosons with repulsive $\delta$-function interaction can be rigorously derived via a scaling limit from a dilute three-dimensional Bose gas with arbitrary repulsive interaction potential of finite scattering length. For this purpose, we prove bounds on both the eigenvalues and corresponding eigenfunctions of three-dimensional bosons in strongly elongated traps and relate them to the corresponding quantities in the Lieb-Liniger model. In particular, if both the scattering length $a$ and the radius $r$ of the cylindrical trap go to zero, the Lieb-Liniger model with coupling constant $g \sim a/r^2$ is derived. Our bounds are uniform in $g$ in the whole parameter range $0\leq g\leq \infty$, and apply to the Hamiltonian for three-dimensional bosons in a spectral window of size $\sim r^{-2}$ above the ground state energy.Comment: LaTeX2e, 19 page

Current Profiles of Molecular Nanowires; DFT Green Function Representation

The Liouville-space Green function formalism is used to compute the current density profile across a single molecule attached to electrodes. Time ordering is maintained in real, physical, time, avoiding the use of artificial time loops and backward propagations. Closed expressions for molecular currents, which only require DFT calculations for the isolated molecule, are derived to fourth order in the molecule/electrode coupling.Comment: 21 page

Low Density Limit of BCS Theory and Bose-Einstein Condensation of Fermion Pairs

We consider the low density limit of a Fermi gas in the BCS approximation. We show that if the interaction potential allows for a two-particle bound state, the system at zero temperature is well approximated by the Gross-Pitaevskii functional, describing a Bose-Einstein condensate of fermion pairs.Comment: LaTeX2e, 17 page

Recurrence for discrete time unitary evolutions

We consider quantum dynamical systems specified by a unitary operator U and an initial state vector \phi. In each step the unitary is followed by a projective measurement checking whether the system has returned to the initial state. We call the system recurrent if this eventually happens with probability one. We show that recurrence is equivalent to the absence of an absolutely continuous part from the spectral measure of U with respect to \phi. We also show that in the recurrent case the expected first return time is an integer or infinite, for which we give a topological interpretation. A key role in our theory is played by the first arrival amplitudes, which turn out to be the (complex conjugated) Taylor coefficients of the Schur function of the spectral measure. On the one hand, this provides a direct dynamical interpretation of these coefficients; on the other hand it links our definition of first return times to a large body of mathematical literature.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, typos correcte

Coordination and control – limits in standard representations of multi-reservoir operations in hydrological modeling

Major multi-reservoir cascades represent a primary mechanism for dealing with hydrologic variability and extremes within institutionally complex river basins worldwide. These coordinated management processes fundamentally reshape water balance dynamics. Yet, multi-reservoir coordination processes have been largely ignored in the increasingly sophisticated representations of reservoir operations within large-scale hydrological models. The aim of this paper is twofold, namely (i) to provide evidence that the common modeling practice of parameterizing each reservoir in a cascade independently from the others is a significant approximation and (ii) to demonstrate potential unintended consequences of this independence approximation when simulating the dynamics of hydrological extremes in complex reservoir cascades. We explore these questions using the Water Balance Model, which features detailed representations of the human infrastructure coupled to the natural processes that shape water balance dynamics. It is applied to the Upper Snake River basin in the western US and its heavily regulated multi-reservoir cascade. We employ a time-varying sensitivity analysis that utilizes the method of Morris factor screening to explicitly track how the dominant release rule parameters evolve both along the cascade and in time according to seasonal high- and low-flow events. This enables us to address aim (i) by demonstrating how the progressive and cumulative dominance of upstream releases significantly dampens the ability of downstream reservoir rules' parameters to influence flow conditions. We address aim (ii) by comparing simulation results with observed reservoir operations during critical low-flow and high-flow events in the basin. Our time-varying parameter sensitivity analysis with the method of Morris clarifies how independent single-reservoir parameterizations and their tacit assumption of independence leads to reservoir release behaviors that generate artificial water shortages and flooding, whereas the observed coordinated cascade operations avoided these outcomes for the same events. To further explore the role of (non-)coordination in the large deviations from the observed operations, we use an offline multi-reservoir water balance model in which adding basic coordination mechanisms drawn from the observed emergency operations is sufficient to correct the deficiencies of the independently parameterized reservoir rules from the hydrological model. These results demonstrate the importance of understanding the state–space context in which reservoir releases occur and where operational coordination plays a crucial role in avoiding or mitigating water-related extremes. Understanding how major infrastructure is coordinated and controlled in major river basins is essential for properly assessing future flood and drought hazards in a changing world

Familial influences on sustained attention and inhibition in preschoolers

Background: In this study several aspects of attention were studied in 237 nearly 6-year-old twin pairs. Specifically, the ability to sustain attention and inhibition were investigated using a computerized test battery (Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks). Furthermore, the Teacher's Report Form (TRF) was filled out by the teacher of the child and the attention subscale of this questionnaire was analyzed. Methods: The variance in performance on the different tasks of the test battery and the score on the attention scale of the TRF were decomposed into a contribution of the additive effects of many genes (A), environmental effects that are shared by twins (C) and unique environmental influences not shared by twins (E) by using data from MZ and DZ twins. Results: The genetic model fitting results showed an effect of A and E for the attention scale of the TRF, and for some of the inhibition and sustained attention measures. For most of the attention variables, however, it was not possible to decide between a model with A and E or a model with C and E. Time-on-task effects on reaction time or number of errors and the delay after making an error did not show familial resemblances. A remarkable finding was that the heritability of the attention scale of the TRF was found to be higher than the heritability of indices that can be considered to be more direct measures of attention, such as mean tempo in the sustained attention task and response speed in the Go-NoGo task. Conclusion: In preschoolers, familial resemblances on sustained attention and inhibition were observed. © Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2004

Adiabatic non-equilibrium steady states in the partition free approach

Consider a small sample coupled to a finite number of leads, and assume that the total (continuous) system is at thermal equilibrium in the remote past. We construct a non-equilibrium steady state (NESS) by adiabatically turning on an electrical bias between the leads. The main mathematical challenge is to show that certain adiabatic wave operators exist, and to identify their strong limit when the adiabatic parameter tends to zero. Our NESS is different from, though closely related with the NESS provided by the Jak{\v s}i{\'c}-Pillet-Ruelle approach. Thus we partly settle a question asked by Caroli {\it et al} in 1971 regarding the (non)equivalence between the partitioned and partition-free approaches