49 research outputs found
Theoretical study of the insulating oxides and nitrides: SiO2, GeO2, Al2O3, Si3N4, and Ge3N4
An extensive theoretical study is performed for wide bandgap crystalline
oxides and nitrides, namely, SiO_{2}, GeO_{2}, Al_{2}O_{3}, Si_{3}N_{4}, and
Ge_{3}N_{4}. Their important polymorphs are considered which are for SiO_{2}:
-quartz, - and -cristobalite and stishovite, for
GeO_{2}: -quartz, and rutile, for Al_{2}O_{3}: -phase, for
Si_{3}N_{4} and Ge_{3}N_{4}: - and -phases. This work
constitutes a comprehensive account of both electronic structure and the
elastic properties of these important insulating oxides and nitrides obtained
with high accuracy based on density functional theory within the local density
approximation. Two different norm-conserving \textit{ab initio}
pseudopotentials have been tested which agree in all respects with the only
exception arising for the elastic properties of rutile GeO_{2}. The agreement
with experimental values, when available, are seen to be highly satisfactory.
The uniformity and the well convergence of this approach enables an unbiased
assessment of important physical parameters within each material and among
different insulating oxide and nitrides. The computed static electric
susceptibilities are observed to display a strong correlation with their mass
densities. There is a marked discrepancy between the considered oxides and
nitrides with the latter having sudden increase of density of states away from
the respective band edges. This is expected to give rise to excessive carrier
scattering which can practically preclude bulk impact ionization process in
Si_{3}N_{4} and Ge_{3}N_{4}.Comment: Published version, 10 pages, 8 figure
Soft-Gluon-Pole Contribution in Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetries of Drell-Yan Processes
We use multi-parton states to examine the leading order collinear
factorization of single transverse-spin asymmetries in Drell-Yan processes.
Twist-3 operators are involved in the factorization. We find that the so-called
soft-gluon-pole contribution in the factorization must exist in order to make
the factorization correct. This contribution comes from the corresponding
cross-section at one-loop, while the hard-pole contribution in the
factorization comes from the cross-section at tree-level. Although the two
contributions come from results at different orders, their perturbative
coefficient functions in the factorization are at the same order. This is in
contrast to factorizations only involving twist-2 operators. The
soft-gluon-pole contribution found in this work is in agreement with that
derived in a different way. For the hard-pole contributions we find an extra
contribution from an extra parton process contributing to the asymmetries. We
also solve a part of discrepancy in evolutions of the twist-3 operator. The
method presented here for analyzing the factorization can be generalized to
other processes and can be easily used for studying factorizations at higher
orders, because the involved calculations are of standard scattering
amplitudes.Comment: typos eliminated. Published in JHEP 1104:062,201
Snake Cytotoxins Bind to Membranes via Interactions with Phosphatidylserine Head Groups of Lipids
The major representatives of Elapidae snake venom, cytotoxins (CTs), share similar three-fingered fold and exert diverse range of biological activities against various cell types. CT-induced cell death starts from the membrane recognition process, whose molecular details remain unclear. It is known, however, that the presence of anionic lipids in cell membranes is one of the important factors determining CT-membrane binding. In this work, we therefore investigated specific interactions between one of the most abundant of such lipids, phosphatidylserine (PS), and CT 4 of Naja kaouthia using a combined, experimental and modeling, approach. It was shown that incorporation of PS into zwitterionic liposomes greatly increased the membrane-damaging activity of CT 4 measured by the release of the liposome-entrapped calcein fluorescent dye. The CT-induced leakage rate depends on the PS concentration with a maximum at approximately 20% PS. Interestingly, the effects observed for PS were much more pronounced than those measured for another anionic lipid, sulfatide. To delineate the potential PS binding sites on CT 4 and estimate their relative affinities, a series of computer simulations was performed for the systems containing the head group of PS and different spatial models of CT 4 in aqueous solution and in an implicit membrane. This was done using an original hybrid computational protocol implementing docking, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. As a result, at least three putative PS-binding sites with different affinities to PS molecule were delineated. Being located in different parts of the CT molecule, these anion-binding sites can potentially facilitate and modulate the multi-step process of the toxin insertion into lipid bilayers. This feature together with the diverse binding affinities of the sites to a wide variety of anionic targets on the membrane surface appears to be functionally meaningful and may adjust CT action against different types of cells
The Spin Structure of the Nucleon
We present an overview of recent experimental and theoretical advances in our
understanding of the spin structure of protons and neutrons.Comment: 84 pages, 29 figure
Observation of a J^PC = 1-+ exotic resonance in diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV/c pi- into pi- pi- pi+
The COMPASS experiment at the CERN SPS has studied the diffractive
dissociation of negative pions into the pi- pi- pi+ final state using a 190
GeV/c pion beam hitting a lead target. A partial wave analysis has been
performed on a sample of 420000 events taken at values of the squared
4-momentum transfer t' between 0.1 and 1 GeV^2/c^2. The well-known resonances
a1(1260), a2(1320), and pi2(1670) are clearly observed. In addition, the data
show a significant natural parity exchange production of a resonance with
spin-exotic quantum numbers J^PC = 1-+ at 1.66 GeV/c^2 decaying to rho pi. The
resonant nature of this wave is evident from the mass-dependent phase
differences to the J^PC = 2-+ and 1++ waves. From a mass-dependent fit a
resonance mass of 1660 +- 10+0-64 MeV/c^2 and a width of 269+-21+42-64 MeV/c^2
is deduced.Comment: 7 page, 3 figures; version 2 gives some more details, data unchanged;
version 3 updated authors, text shortened, data unchange
The Dirac form factor predicts the Pauli form factor in the Endpoint Model
We compute the momentum-transfer dependence of the proton Pauli form factor
in the endpoint overlap model. We find the model correctly reproduces
the scaling of the ratio of with the Dirac Form factor observed
at the Jefferson Laboratory. The calculation uses the leading-power, leading
twist Dirac structure of the quark light-cone wave function, and the same
endpoint dependence previously determined from the Dirac form factor .
There are no parameters and no adjustable functions in the endpoint model's
prediction for . The model's predicted ratio
is quite insensitive to the endpoint wave function, which explains why the
observed ratio scales like down to rather low momentum transfers. The
endpoint model appears to be the only comprehensive model consistent with all
form factor information as well as reproducing fixed-angle proton-proton
scattering at large momentum transfer. Any one of the processes is capable of
predicting the others.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives
We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe