Positive Affect and Adjustment to Perceived Racism

This research provided the first empirical investigation of the role of positive affect in moderating the relationship between perceived racism and depressive symptoms. A sample of 215 racial and ethnic minority young adults completed measures of perceived racism, daily race–related stress, positive affect, optimism, and depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that positive affect and perceived racism accounted for a significant portion of the variance in depressive symptoms. Most notably, above and beyond the effects of optimism, positive affect interacted with perceived racism to weaken its influence on depression. Implications for future research directions that build on these initial findings are discussed

The absence of intraband scattering in a consistent theory of Gilbert damping in metallic ferromagnets

Damping of magnetization dynamics in a ferromagnetic metal is usually characterized by the Gilbert parameter alpha. Recent calculations of this quantity, using a formula due to Kambersky, find that it is infinite for a perfect crystal owing to an intraband scattering term which is of third order in the spin-orbit parameter xi This surprising result conflicts with recent work by Costa and Muniz who study damping numerically by direct calculation of the dynamical transverse spin susceptibility in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. We resolve this inconsistency by following the Costa-Muniz approach for a slightly simplified model where it is possible to calculate alpha analytically. We show that to second order in the spin-orbit parameter xi one retrieves the Kambersky result for alpha, but to higher order one does not obtain any divergent intraband terms. The present work goes beyond that of Costa and Muniz by pointing out the necessity of including the effect of long-range Coulomb interaction in calculating damping for large xi. A direct derivation of the Kambersky formula is given which shows clearly the restriction of its validity to second order in xi so that no intraband scattering terms appear. This restriction has an important effect on the damping over a substantial range of impurity content and temperature. The experimental situation is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 0 figure

The quantum-mechanical basis of an extended Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation for a current-carrying ferromagnetic wire

An extended Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation is introduced to describe the dynamics of inhomogeneous magnetization in a current-carrying wire. The coefficients of all the terms in this equation are calculated quantum-mechanically for a simple model which includes impurity scattering. This is done by comparing the energies and lifetimes of a spin wave calculated from the LLG equation and from the explicit model. Two terms are of particular importance since they describe non-adiabatic spin-transfer torque and damping processes which do not rely on spin-orbit coupling. It is shown that these terms may have a significant influence on the velocity of a current-driven domain wall and they become dominant in the case of a narrow wall.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur

Position determination of a lander and rover at Mars with Earth-based differential tracking

The presence of two or more landed or orbiting spacecraft at a planet provides the opportunity to perform extremely accurate Earth-based navigation by simultaneously acquiring Doppler data and either Same-Beam Interferometry (SBI) or ranging data. Covariance analyses were performed to investigate the accuracy with which lander and rover positions on the surface of Mars can be determined. Simultaneous acquisition of Doppler and ranging data from a lander and rover over two or more days enables determination of all components of their relative position to under 20 m. Acquiring one hour of Doppler and SBI enables three dimensional lander-rover relative position determination to better than 5 m. Twelve hours of Doppler and either SBI or ranging from a lander and a low circular or half synchronous circular Mars orbiter makes possible lander absolute position determination to tens of meters