12,529 research outputs found
Structural characteristics of positionally-disordered lattices: relation to the first sharp diffraction peak in glasses
Positional disorder has been introduced into the atomic structure of certain
crystalline lattices, and the orientationally-averaged structure factor S(k)
and pair-correlation function g(r) of these disordered lattices have been
studied. Analytical expressions for S(k) and g(r) for Gaussian positional
disorder in 2D and 3D are confirmed with precise numerical simulations. These
analytic results also have a bearing on the unsolved Gauss circle problem in
mathematics. As the positional disorder increases, high-k peaks in S(k) are
destroyed first, eventually leaving a single peak, that with the lowest-k
value. The pair-correlation function for lattices with such high levels of
positional disorder exhibits damped oscillations, with a period equal to the
separation between the furthest-separated (lowest-k) lattice planes. The last
surviving peak in S(k) is, for example for silicon and silica, at a wavevector
nearly identical to that of the experimentally-observed first sharp diffraction
peak (FSDP) in the amorphous phases of those materials. Thus, for these
amorphous materials at least, the FSDP can be regarded as arising from
scattering from atomic configurations equivalent to the single family of
positionally-disordered local Bragg planes having the furthest separation.Comment: v2: changes in response to referees' comments: Figure 2 made more
readable, improved discussion of height of peaks in S(k), other minor changes
4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Searching for Perfect Fluids: Quantum Viscosity in a Universal Fermi Gas
We measure the shear viscosity in a two-component Fermi gas of atoms, tuned
to a broad s-wave collisional (Feshbach) resonance. At resonance, the atoms
strongly interact and exhibit universal behavior, where the equilibrium
thermodynamic properties and the transport coefficients are universal functions
of the density and temperature . We present a new calibration of the
temperature as a function of global energy, which is directly measured from the
cloud profiles. Using the calibration, the trap-averaged shear viscosity in
units of is determined as a function of the reduced temperature at
the trap center, from nearly the ground state to the unitary two-body regime.
Low temperature data is obtained from the damping rate of the radial breathing
mode, while high temperature data is obtained from hydrodynamic expansion
measurements. We also show that the best fit to the high temperature expansion
data is obtained for a vanishing bulk viscosity. The measured trap-averaged
entropy per particle and shear viscosity are used to estimate the ratio of the
shear viscosity to the entropy density, which is compared that conjectured for
a perfect fluid.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure
Measurement of the electron electric dipole moment using GdIG
A new method for the detection of the electron edm using a solid is
described. The method involves the measurement of a voltage induced across the
solid by the alignment of the samples magnetic dipoles in an applied magnetic
field, H. A first application of the method to GdIG has resulted in a limit on
the electron edm of 5E-24 e-cm, which is a factor of 40 below the limit
obtained from the only previous solid-state edm experiment. The result is
limited by the imperfect discrimination of an unexpectedly large voltage that
is even upon the reversal of the sample magnetization.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, v2:references corrected, submitted to PRL,
v3:added labels to figure
Model for Spreading of Liquid Monolayers
Manipulating fluids at the nanoscale within networks of channels or chemical
lanes is a crucial challenge in developing small scale devices to be used in
microreactors or chemical sensors. In this context, ultra-thin (i.e.,
monolayer) films, experimentally observed in spreading of nano-droplets or upon
extraction from reservoirs in capillary rise geometries, represent an extreme
limit which is of physical and technological relevance since the dynamics is
governed solely by capillary forces. In this work we use kinetic Monte Carlo
(KMC) simulations to analyze in detail a simple, but realistic model proposed
by Burlatsky \textit{et al.} \cite{Burlatsky_prl96,Oshanin_jml} for the
two-dimensional spreading on homogeneous substrates of a fluid monolayer which
is extracted from a reservoir. Our simulations confirm the previously predicted
time-dependence of the spreading, , with as
the average position of the advancing edge at time , and they reveal a
non-trivial dependence of the prefactor on the strength of
inter-particle attraction and on the fluid density at the reservoir as
well as an -dependent spatial structure of the density profile of the
monolayer. The asymptotic density profile at long time and large spatial scale
is carefully analyzed within the continuum limit. We show that including the
effect of correlations in an effective manner into the standard mean-field
description leads to predictions both for the value of the threshold
interaction above which phase segregation occurs and for the density profiles
in excellent agreement with KMC simulations results.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
DECam integration tests on telescope simulator
The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a next generation optical survey aimed at
measuring the expansion history of the universe using four probes: weak
gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster counts, baryon acoustic oscillations, and
Type Ia supernovae. To perform the survey, the DES Collaboration is building
the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square degree, 570 Megapixel CCD camera
which will be mounted at the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo
Inter- American Observatory. DES will survey 5000 square degrees of the
southern galactic cap in 5 filters (g, r, i, z, Y). DECam will be comprised of
74 250 micron thick fully depleted CCDs: 62 2k x 4k CCDs for imaging and 12 2k
x 2k CCDs for guiding and focus. Construction of DECam is nearing completion.
In order to verify that the camera meets technical specifications for DES and
to reduce the time required to commission the instrument, we have constructed a
full sized telescope simulator and performed full system testing and
integration prior to shipping. To complete this comprehensive test phase we
have simulated a DES observing run in which we have collected 4 nights worth of
data. We report on the results of these unique tests performed for the DECam
and its impact on the experiments progress.Comment: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Technology and
Instrumentation in Particle Physics (TIPP 2011). To appear in Physics
Procedia. 8 pages, 3 figure
ADI splitting schemes for a fourth-order nonlinear partial differential equation from image processing
We present directional operator splitting schemes for the numerical solution of a fourth-order, nonlinear partial differential evolution equation which arises in image processing. This equation constitutes the Hâ1-gradient flow of the total variation and represents a prototype of higher-order equations of similar type which are popular in imaging for denoising, deblurring and inpainting problems. The efficient numerical solution of this equation is very challenging due to the stiffness of most numerical schemes. We show that the combination of directional splitting schemes with implicit time-stepping provides a stable and computationally cheap numerical realisation of the equation
Spontaneous Violation of the CP Symmetry in the Higgs Sector of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model
The spontaneous violation of the CP symmetry in the next-to-minimal
supersymmetric standard Model (NMSSM) is investigated. It is found that the
spontaneous violation of the CP symmetry can occur in the Higgs sector of the
NMSSM for a wide region of the parameter space of the model, at the 1-loop
level where the radiative corrections due to the top quark and scalar-top quark
loops are found to generate the scalar-pseudoscalar mixings between the two
Higgs doublets of the NMSSM. In our model, we assume that the masses of the
left-handed and the right-handed scalar-top quarks are not degenerate. And we
investigate our model anaytically: We derive analytical formulae of the 1-loop
mass matrix for the neutral Higgs bosons. We calculate the upper bound on the
lightest neutral Higgs boson mass under the assumption. It is found to be about
140 GeV for our choice of parameter values in the presence of the spontaneous
violation of the CP symmetry in the NMSSM. Thus, the possibility of the
spontaneous violation of the CP symmetry is not completely ruled out in the
Higgs sector of the NMSSM if the masses of the left-handed and the right-handed
scalar-top quarks are not degenerate. Further, the phenomenology of the
- mixing within the context of our model is studied. The lower
bound on CP violating phase in the - mixing is found to increase
if either decreases or increases.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, To appear in Phys. Rev.
Electronic structure and the glass transition in pnictide and chalcogenide semiconductor alloys. Part I: The formation of the -network
Semiconductor glasses exhibit many unique optical and electronic anomalies.
We have put forth a semi-phenomenological scenario (J. Chem. Phys. 132, 044508
(2010)) in which several of these anomalies arise from deep midgap electronic
states residing on high-strain regions intrinsic to the activated transport
above the glass transition. Here we demonstrate at the molecular level how this
scenario is realized in an important class of semiconductor glasses, namely
chalcogen and pnictogen containing alloys. Both the glass itself and the
intrinsic electronic midgap states emerge as a result of the formation of a
network composed of -bonded atomic -orbitals that are only weakly
hybridized. Despite a large number of weak bonds, these -networks are
stable with respect to competing types of bonding, while exhibiting a high
degree of structural degeneracy. The stability is rationalized with the help of
a hereby proposed structural model, by which -networks are
symmetry-broken and distorted versions of a high symmetry structure. The latter
structure exhibits exact octahedral coordination and is fully
covalently-bonded. The present approach provides a microscopic route to a fully
consistent description of the electronic and structural excitations in vitreous
semiconductors.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, revised version, final version to appear in J.
Chem. Phy
Research encounters, reflexivity and supervision
Reflexivity in qualitative and ethnographic social science research can provide a rich source of data, especially regarding the affective, performative and relational aspects of interviews with research subjects. This paper explores by means of three case examples different ways of accessing and using such reflexivity. The examples are drawn from an empirical psycho-social study into the identity transitions of first-time mothers in an inner-city multicultural environment. Fieldnotes and supervision were used to engage with researcher subjectivity, to enhance the productive use of reflexivity and to address the emotional work of research. The methodology of the supervision was psychoanalytic, in its use of a boundaried frame and of psychoanalytic forms of noticing oneself, of staying engaged emotionally as well as creating a reflective distance. The examples illustrate how this can enhance the knowledge gained about the research subjects
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