644 research outputs found
High-precision Measurements of Ionospheric TEC Gradients with the Very Large Array VHF System
We have used a relatively long, contiguous VHF observation of a bright cosmic
radio source (Cygnus A) with the Very Large Array (VLA) to demonstrate the
capability of this instrument to study the ionosphere. This interferometer, and
others like it, can observe ionospheric total electron content (TEC)
fluctuations on a much wider range of scales than is possible with many other
instruments. We have shown that with a bright source, the VLA can measure
differential TEC values between pairs of antennas (delta-TEC) with an precision
of 0.0003 TECU. Here, we detail the data reduction and processing techniques
used to achieve this level of precision. In addition, we demonstrate techniques
for exploiting these high-precision delta-TEC measurements to compute the TEC
gradient observed by the array as well as small-scale fluctuations within the
TEC gradient surface. A companion paper details specialized spectral analysis
techniques used to characterize the properties of wave-like fluctuations within
this data.Comment: accepted for publication in Radio Scienc
Design of 370-ps Delay Floating-Voltage Level Shifters With 30-V/ns Power Supply Slew Tolerance
A new design method for producing high-performance and power-rail slew-tolerant floating-voltage level shifters is presented, offering increased speed, reduced power consumption, and smaller layout area compared with previous designs. The method uses an energy-saving pulse-triggered input, a high-bandwidth current mirror, and a simple full latch composed of two inverters. A number of optimizations are explored in detail, resulting in a presented design with a dVdd slew immunity of 30 V/ns, and near-zero static power dissipation in a 180-nm technology. Experimental results show a delay of below 370 ps for a level-shift range of 8-20 V. Postlayout simulation puts the energy consumption at 2.6 pJ/bit at 4 V and 7.2 pJ/bit at 20 V, with near symmetric rise and fall delays
Predicting vapor liquid equilibria using density functional theory: a case study of argon
Predicting vapor liquid equilibria (VLE) of molecules governed by weak van der Waals (vdW) interactions using the first principles approach is a significant challenge. Due to the poor scaling of the post Hartree-Fock wave function theory with system size/basis functions, the Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) is preferred for systems with a large number of molecules. However, traditional DFT cannot adequately account for medium to long range correlations which are necessary for modeling vdW interactions. Recent developments in DFT such as dispersion corrected models and nonlocal van der Waals functionals have attempted to address this weakness with a varying degree of success. In this work, we predict the VLE of argon and assess the performance of several density functionals and the second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) by determining critical and structural properties via first principles Monte Carlo simulations. PBE-D3, BLYP-D3, and rVV10 functionals were used to compute vapor liquid coexistence curves, while PBE0-D3, M06-2X-D3, and MP2 were used for computing liquid density at a single state point. The performance of the PBE-D3 functional for VLE is superior to other functionals (BLYP-D3 and rVV10). At T = 85 K and P = 1 bar, MP2 performs well for the density and structural features of the first solvation shell in the liquid phase
Precision neutron interferometric measurement of the nd coherent neutron scattering length and consequences for models of three-nucleon forces
We have performed the first high precision measurement of the coherent
neutron scattering length of deuterium in a pure sample using neutron
interferometry. We find b_nd = (6.665 +/- 0.004) fm in agreement with the world
average of previous measurements using different techniques, b_nd = (6.6730 +/-
0.0045) fm. We compare the new world average for the nd coherent scattering
length b_nd = (6.669 +/- 0.003) fm to calculations of the doublet and quartet
scattering lengths from several modern nucleon-nucleon potential models with
three-nucleon force (3NF) additions and show that almost all theories are in
serious disagreement with experiment. This comparison is a more stringent test
of the models than past comparisons with the less precisely-determined nuclear
doublet scattering length of a_nd = (0.65 +/- 0.04) fm.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Connection between dynamics and thermodynamics of liquids on the melting line
The dynamics of a large number of liquids and polymers exhibit scaling
properties characteristic of a simple repulsive inverse power law (IPL)
potential, most notably the superpositioning of relaxation data as a function
of the variable TV{\gamma}, where T is temperature, V the specific volume, and
{\gamma} a material constant. A related scaling law, TmVm{\Gamma}, with the
same exponent {\Gamma}={\gamma}, links the melting temperature Tm and volume Vm
of the model IPL liquid; liquid dynamics is then invariant at the melting
point. Motivated by a similar invariance of dynamics experimentally observed at
transitions of liquid crystals, we determine dynamic and melting point scaling
exponents {\gamma} and {\Gamma} for a large number of non-associating liquids.
Rigid, spherical molecules containing no polar bonds have {\Gamma}={\gamma};
consequently, the reduced relaxation time, viscosity and diffusion coefficient
are each constant along the melting line. For other liquids {\gamma}>{\Gamma}
always; i.e., the dynamics is more sensitive to volume than is the melting
point, and for these liquids the dynamics at the melting point slows down with
increasing Tm (that is, increasing pressure).Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Beyond Born-Mayer: Improved Models for Short-Range Repulsion in ab Initio Force Fields
Short-range repulsion
within intermolecular force fields is conventionally
described by either Lennard-Jones (<i>A</i>/<i>r</i><sup>12</sup>) or Born–Mayer (<i>A</i> expÂ(−<i>Br</i>)) forms. Despite their widespread use, these simple functional
forms are often unable to describe the interaction energy accurately
over a broad range of intermolecular distances, thus creating challenges in the development of ab initio
force fields and potentially leading to decreased accuracy and transferability.
Herein, we derive a novel short-range functional form based on a simple
Slater-like model of overlapping atomic densities and an iterated
stockholder atom (ISA) partitioning of the molecular electron density.
We demonstrate that this Slater–ISA methodology yields a more
accurate, transferable, and robust description of the short-range
interactions at minimal additional computational cost compared to
standard Lennard-Jones or Born–Mayer approaches. Finally, we
show how this methodology can be adapted to yield the standard Born–Mayer
functional form while still retaining many of the advantages of the
Slater-ISA approach
Counter Machines and Distributed Automata: A Story about Exchanging Space and Time
We prove the equivalence of two classes of counter machines and one class of
distributed automata. Our counter machines operate on finite words, which they
read from left to right while incrementing or decrementing a fixed number of
counters. The two classes differ in the extra features they offer: one allows
to copy counter values, whereas the other allows to compute copyless sums of
counters. Our distributed automata, on the other hand, operate on directed path
graphs that represent words. All nodes of a path synchronously execute the same
finite-state machine, whose state diagram must be acyclic except for
self-loops, and each node receives as input the state of its direct
predecessor. These devices form a subclass of linear-time one-way cellular
automata.Comment: 15 pages (+ 13 pages of appendices), 5 figures; To appear in the
proceedings of AUTOMATA 2018
A 6.7-GHz Active Gate Driver for GaN FETs to Combat Overshoot, Ringing, and EMI
Active gate driving has been demonstrated to beneficially shape switching waveforms in Si-and SiC-based power converters. For faster GaN power devices with sub-10-ns switching transients, however, reported variable gate driving has so far been limited to altering a single drive parameter once per switching event, either during or outside of the transient. This paper demonstrates a gate driver with a timing resolution and range of output resistance levels that surpass those of existing gate drivers or arbitrary waveform generators. It is shown to permit active gate driving with a bandwidth that is high enough to shape a GaN switching during the transient. The programmable gate driver has integrated high-speed memory, control logic, and multiple parallel output stages. During switching transients, the gate driver can activate a near-arbitrary sequence of pull-up or pull-down output resistances between 0.12 and 64 A hybrid of clocked and asynchronous control logic with 150-ps delay elements achieves an effective resistance update rate of 6.7 GHz during switching events. This active gate driver is evaluated in a 1-MHz bridge-leg converter using EPC2015 GaN FETs. The results show that aggressive manipulation of the gate-drive resistance at sub-nanosecond resolutions can profile gate waveforms of the GaN FET, thereby beneficially shaping the switch-node voltage waveform in the power circuit. Examples of open-loop active gate driving are demonstrated that maintain the low switching loss of constant-strength gate driving, while reducing overshoot, oscillation, and EMI-generating high-frequency spectral content
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