Ab initio lifetime correction to scattering states for time-dependent electronic-structure calculations with incomplete basis sets

We propose a method for obtaining effective lifetimes of scattering electronic states for avoiding the artificially confinement of the wave function due to the use of incomplete basis sets in time-dependent electronic-structure calculations of atoms and molecules. In this method, using a fitting procedure, the lifetimes are extracted from the spatial asymptotic decay of the approximate scattering wave functions obtained with a given basis set. The method is based on a rigorous analysis of the complex-energy solutions of the Schr{\"o}dinger equation. It gives lifetimes adapted to any given basis set without using any empirical parameters. The method can be considered as an ab initio version of the heuristic lifetime model of Klinkusch et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 131, 114304 (2009)]. The method is validated on the H and He atoms using Gaussian-type basis sets for calculation of high-harmonic-generation spectra

Ab Initio Study of Electronic Transport in Cubic-HfO2 Grain Boundaries

In polycrystalline materials the grain boundaries (GBs) are particularly important as they can act as a sink for atom defects and impurities, which may drive structural transformation of the materials and consequently modify their properties. Characterising the structure and properties of GBs is critical for understanding and controlling material property. Here, we investigated how GBs can modify the structural, electronic, and transport properties of the polycrystalline material . In general, grain boundaries are considered to be detrimental to the physical stability and electronic transport in . Anyway, studying by first principles the two most stable and common types of GBs, the tilt and the twist, we found substantial differences on the impact they have on the material properties. In fact, while tilt defects create channels of different sizes and shapes in hafnia along which the electronic transport is stronger in relation to leakage current through GBs, twist defects create a sort of amorphous structure that tends to resemble the bulk and which is independent of the number of rotated planes/atoms

Basis convergence of range-separated density-functional theory

Range-separated density-functional theory is an alternative approach to Kohn-Sham density-functional theory. The strategy of range-separated density-functional theory consists in separating the Coulomb electron-electron interaction into long-range and short-range components, and treating the long-range part by an explicit many-body wave-function method and the short-range part by a density-functional approximation. Among the advantages of using many-body methods for the long-range part of the electron-electron interaction is that they are much less sensitive to the one-electron atomic basis compared to the case of the standard Coulomb interaction. Here, we provide a detailed study of the basis convergence of range-separated density-functional theory. We study the convergence of the partial-wave expansion of the long-range wave function near the electron-electron coalescence. We show that the rate of convergence is exponential with respect to the maximal angular momentum L for the long-range wave function, whereas it is polynomial for the case of the Coulomb interaction. We also study the convergence of the long-range second-order M{{\o}}ller-Plesset correlation energy of four systems (He, Ne, N2, and H2O) with the cardinal number X of the Dunning basis sets cc-p(C)VXZ, and find that the error in the correlation energy is best fitted by an exponential in X. This leads us to propose a three-point complete-basis-set extrapolation scheme for range-separated density-functional theory based on an exponential formula

Words hurt: common and distinct neural substrates underlying nociceptive and semantic pain

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that processing semantic pain, such as words associated with physical pain, modulates pain perception and enhances activity in regions of the pain matrix. A direct comparison between activations due to noxious stimulation and processing of words conveying physical pain may clarify whether and to what extent the neural substrates of nociceptive pain are shared by semantic pain. Pain is triggered also by experiences of social exclusion, rejection or loss of significant others (the so-called social pain), therefore words expressing social pain may modulate pain perception similarly to what happens with words associated with physical pain. This event-related fMRI study aims to compare the brain activity related to perceiving nociceptive pain and that emerging from processing semantic pain, i.e., words related to either physical or social pain, in order to identify common and distinct neural substrates. Methods: Thirty-four healthy women underwent two fMRI sessions each. In the Semantic session, participants were presented with positive words, negative pain-unrelated words, physical pain-related words, and social pain-related words. In the Nociceptive session, participants received cutaneous mechanical stimulations that could be either painful or not. During both sessions, participants were asked to rate the unpleasantness of each stimulus. Linguistic stimuli were also rated in terms of valence, arousal, pain relatedness, and pain intensity, immediately after the Semantic session. Results: In the Nociceptive session, the 'nociceptive stimuli' vs. 'non-nociceptive stimuli' contrast revealed extensive activations in SI, SII, insula, cingulate cortex, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In the Semantic session, words associated with social pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, showed increased activity in most of the same areas, whereas words associated with physical pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, only activated the left supramarginal gyrus and partly the postcentral gyrus. Discussion: Our results confirm that semantic pain partly shares the neural substrates of nociceptive pain. Specifically, social pain-related words activate a wide network of regions, mostly overlapping with those pertaining to the affective-motivational aspects of nociception, whereas physical pain-related words overlap with a small cluster including regions related to the sensory-discriminative aspects of nociception. However, most regions of overlap are differentially activated in different conditions

The new scintillating fiber detector of E835 at Fermilab

Abstract The scintillating fiber tracker for the measurement of the polar coordinate θ for experiment E835 at Fermilab has been upgraded, by adding two extra layers (240 fibers each), at R ≈9 cm from the beam axis. Photons from the fibers are detected by Visible Light Photon Counters (VLPCs). The high granularity, flexibility and fast response of the scintillating fibers, combined with the high quantum efficiency of the VLPCs, allow high rate capability, high efficiency, good tracking and time resolution. Signals from the outer two layers are used to provide θ information to the first-level trigger