Effective potential for Polyakov loops from a center symmetric effective theory in three dimensions

We present lattice simulations of a center symmetric dimensionally reduced effective field theory for SU(2) Yang Mills which employ thermal Wilson lines and three-dimensional magnetic fields as fundamental degrees of freedom. The action is composed of a gauge invariant kinetic term, spatial gauge fields and a potential for the Wilson line which includes a "fuzzy" bag term to generate non-perturbative fluctuations. The effective potential for the Polyakov loop is extracted from the simulations including all modes of the loop as well as for cooled configuration where the hard modes have been averaged out. The former is found to exhibit a non-analytic contribution while the latter can be described by a mean-field like ansatz with quadratic and quartic terms, plus a Vandermonde potential which depends upon the location within the phase diagram.Comment: 10 pages, 22 figures, v2: published version (minor clarifications, update of reference list

Thin film solar cells based on the ternary compound Cu2SnS3

Alongside with Cu2ZnSnS4 and SnS, the p-type semiconductor Cu2SnS3 also consists of only Earth abundant and low-cost elements and shows comparable opto-electronic properties, with respect to Cu2ZnSnS4 and SnS, making it a promising candidate for photovoltaic applications of the future. In this work, the ternary compound has been produced via the annealing of an electrodeposited precursor in a sulfur and tin sulfide environment. The obtained absorber layer has been structurally investigated by X-ray diffraction and results indicate the crystal structure to be monoclinic. Its optical properties have been measured via photoluminescence, where an asymmetric peak at 0.95 eV has been found. The evaluation of the photoluminescence spectrum indicates a band gap of 0.93 eV which agrees well with the results from the external quantum efficiency. Furthermore, this semiconductor layer has been processed into a photovoltaic device with a power conversion efficiency of 0.54%, a short circuit current of 17.1 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage of 104 mV hampered by a small shunt resistance, a fill factor of 30.4%, and a maximal external quantum efficiency of just less than 60%. In addition, the potential of this Cu2SnS3 absorber layer for photovoltaic applications is discussed

A mesoionic carbene complex of manganese in five oxidation states

Reaction between a carbazole-based mesoionic carbene ligand and manganese(ii) iodide results in the formation of a rare air-stable manganese(iv) complex after aerobic workup. Cyclic voltammetry reveals the complex to be stable in five oxidation states. The electronic structure of all five oxidation states is elucidated chemically, spectroscopically (NMR, high-frequency EPR, UV-Vis, MCD), magnetically, and computationally (DFT, CASSCF).Fil: Wittwer, Benjamin. Universidad de Innsbruck; AustriaFil: Dickmann, Nicole. University of Paderborn; AlemaniaFil: Berg, Stephan. University of Paderborn; AlemaniaFil: Leitner, Daniel. Universidad de Innsbruck; AustriaFil: Tesi, Lorenzo. Universitat Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Hunger, David. Universitat Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Gratzl, Raphael. Universidad de Innsbruck; AustriaFil: van Slageren, Joris. Universitat Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Neuman, Nicolás Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; Argentina. Universitat Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Munz, Dominik. Universitat Saarland; Alemania. Universitat Erlangen Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Hohloch, Stephan. Universidad de Innsbruck; Austri

A mesoionic carbene complex of manganese in five oxidation states

Reaction between a carbazole-based mesoionic carbene ligand and manganese(II) iodide results in the formation of a rare air-stable manganese(IV) complex after aerobic workup. Cyclic voltammetry reveals the complex to be stable in five oxidation states. The electronic structure of all five oxidation states is elucidated chemically, spectroscopically (NMR, high-frequency EPR, UV-Vis, MCD), magnetically, and computationally (DFT, CASSCF)

Operation of microstrip gas chambers manufactured on glass coated with high resistivity diamond-like layers

We describe recent observations and measurements realized with micro-strip gas chambers (MSGCs) manufactured on boro-silicate glass coated with a thin layer of diamond-like carbon (DLC) having a surface resistivity around 4.10$^{16}\Omega/\Box$. The role of the back-pla electrode configuration and potential in the detector performance has been studied. Even for this very high resistivity of the coatings, MSGCs operate differently from those manufactured on bare boro-silicate glass; the charge gain increases with the radiation flux for counting rates above 103 Hz/mm2, reaching a value 60% higher for 105 Hz/mm2. This behavior does not depend on the presence and potential of the back plane electrode; however, both maximum gain and rate capability are influenced by the drift field. From this study, compared with measurements realized previously with other detectors, we deduce that for stable high rate operation of MSGCs the resistivity of the coating should not exceed ~10$^{15}\Omega/\Box$

Electrochemical deposition of small molecules for electronic materials

The method of the deposition of films of small molecules for use in electronic applications is just as important as the molecule design itself as the film’s morphology and continuity influence the performance of the devices that they are incorporated in. The purpose of the work in this thesis was to develop a method of electrochemically depositing films of small molecules for potential use in electronic applications. A method of electrochemically depositing films of chemically reduced low solubility dye molecules was successfully pioneered. The process was developed using N,N dibutyl-3,4,9,10-perylene-bis(dicarboxime), a simplified version of 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic bisbenzimidalzole. Both of these dyes have been used in electronic applications, but low solubility makes them difficult to deposit by traditional solution techniques. A series of films was electrochemically deposited onto FTO coated glass and field effect transistors using coulometry. These films were characterised by absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and photo-electrochemistry. The same deposition method was applied to copper phthalocyanine. These films were characterised by absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The developed method was used to deposit films of bilayers of dyes and to investigate the dye penetration during the deposition of copper phthalocyanine onto porous titanium dioxide. Films of neutral copper and nickel dithiolenes were electrodeposited from air-stable TMA salts to investigate the absorbance of the near infrared species formed, as well as to investigate the conductivity of both complexes and the magnetoresponse of the neutral copper dithiolene which is air unstable when formed chemically

Melatonin-Induced Temporal Up-Regulation of Gene Expression Related to Ubiquitin/Proteasome System (UPS) in the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum

There is an increasing understanding that melatonin and the ubiquitin/ proteasome system (UPS) interact to regulate multiple cellular functions. Post-translational modifications such as ubiquitination are important modulators of signaling processes, cell cycle and many other cellular functions. Previously, we reported a melatonin-induced upregulation of gene expression related to ubiquitin/proteasome system (UPS) in Plasmodium falciparum, the human malaria parasite, and that P. falciparum protein kinase 7 influences this process. This implies a role of melatonin, an indolamine, in modulating intraerythrocytic development of the parasite. In this report we demonstrate by qPCR analysis, that melatonin induces gene upregulation in nine out of fourteen genes of the UPS, consisting of the same set of genes previously reported, between 4 to 5 h after melatonin treatment. We demonstrate that melatonin causes a temporally controlled gene expression of UPS members

ilastik: interactive machine learning for (bio)image analysis

We present ilastik, an easy-to-use interactive tool that brings machine-learning-based (bio)image analysis to end users without substantial computational expertise. It contains pre-defined workflows for image segmentation, object classification, counting and tracking. Users adapt the workflows to the problem at hand by interactively providing sparse training annotations for a nonlinear classifier. ilastik can process data in up to five dimensions (3D, time and number of channels). Its computational back end runs operations on-demand wherever possible, allowing for interactive prediction on data larger than RAM. Once the classifiers are trained, ilastik workflows can be applied to new data from the command line without further user interaction. We describe all ilastik workflows in detail, including three case studies and a discussion on the expected performance

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns