3,287 research outputs found
Snake states in graphene quantum dots in the presence of a p-n junction
We investigate the magnetic interface states of graphene quantum dots that
contain p-n junctions. Within a tight-binding approach, we consider rectangular
quantum dots in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field containing p-n,
as well as p-n-p and n-p-n junctions. The results show the interplay between
the edge states associated with the zigzag terminations of the sample and the
snake states that arise at the p-n junction, due to the overlap between
electron and hole states at the potential interface. Remarkable localized
states are found at the crossing of the p-n junction with the zigzag edge
having a dumb-bell shaped electron distribution. The results are presented as
function of the junction parameters and the applied magnetic flux.Comment: 13 pages, 23 figures, to be appeared in Phys. Rev.
The split-operator technique for the study of spinorial wavepacket dynamics
The split-operator technique for wave packet propagation in quantum systems
is expanded here to the case of propagating wave functions describing
Schr\"odinger particles, namely, charge carriers in semiconductor
nanostructures within the effective mass approximation, in the presence of
Zeeman effect, as well as of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. We
also demonstrate that simple modifications to the expanded technique allow us
to calculate the time evolution of wave packets describing Dirac particles,
which are relevant for the study of transport properties in graphene.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure
Life and death of a hero - Lessons learned from modeling the dwarf spheroidal Hercules: an incorrect orbit?
Hercules is a dwarf spheroidal satellite of the Milky Way, found at a
distance of about 138 kpc, and showing evidence of tidal disruption. It is very
elongated and exhibits a velocity gradient of 16 +/- 3 km/s/kpc. Using this
data a possible orbit of Hercules has previously been deduced in the
literature. In this study we make use of a novel approach to find a best fit
model that follows the published orbit. Instead of using trial and error, we
use a systematic approach in order to find a model that fits multiple
observables simultaneously. As such, we investigate a much wider parameter
range of initial conditions and ensure we have found the best match possible.
Using a dark matter free progenitor that undergoes tidal disruption, our
best-fit model can simultaneously match the observed luminosity, central
surface brightness, effective radius, velocity dispersion, and velocity
gradient of Hercules. However, we find it is impossible to reproduce the
observed elongation and the position angle of Hercules at the same time in our
models. This failure persists even when we vary the duration of the simulation
significantly, and consider a more cuspy density distribution for the
progenitor. We discuss how this suggests that the published orbit of Hercules
is very likely to be incorrect.Comment: accepted by MNRAS; 19 pages, 19 figures, 2 table
Simplified model for the energy levels of quantum rings in single layer and bilayer graphene
Within a minimal model, we present analytical expressions for the eigenstates
and eigenvalues of carriers confined in quantum rings in monolayer and bilayer
graphene. The calculations were performed in the context of the continuum
model, by solving the Dirac equation for a zero width ring geometry, i.e. by
freezing out the carrier radial motion. We include the effect of an external
magnetic field and show the appearance of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations and of a
non-zero gap in the spectrum. Our minimal model gives insight in the energy
spectrum of graphene-based quantum rings and models different aspects of finite
width rings.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.
Ursa Major II - Reproducing the observed properties through tidal disruption
Recent deep photometry of the dwarf spheroidal Ursa Major II's morphology,
and spectroscopy of individual stars, have provided a number of new constraints
on its properties. With a velocity dispersion 6 km s, and under
the assumption that the galaxy is virialised, the mass-to-light ratio is found
to be approaching 2000 - apparently heavily dark matter dominated. Using
N-Body simulations, we demonstrate that the observed luminosity, ellipticity,
irregular morphology, velocity gradient, and the velocity dispersion can be
well reproduced through processes associated with tidal mass loss, and in the
absence of dark matter. These results highlight the considerable uncertainty
that exists in measurements of the dark matter content of Ursa Major II. The
dynamics of the inner tidal tails, and tidal stream, causes the observed
velocity dispersion of stars to be boosted to values of 5 km s (20
km s at times). This effect is responsible for raising the velocity
dispersion of our model to the observed values in UMaII. We test an iterative
rejection technique for removing unbound stars from samples of UMaII stars
whose positions on the sky, and line-of-sight velocities, are provided. We find
this technique is very effective at providing an accurate bound mass from this
information, and only fails when the galaxy has a bound mass less than 10 of
its initial mass. However when mass remains bound, mass overestimation by
3 orders of magnitude are seen. Additionally we find that mass measurements
are sensitive to measurement uncertainty in line-of-sight velocities.
Measurement uncertainties of 1-4 km s result in mass overestimates by a
factor of 1.3-5.7.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted to MNRAS: 23rd, May, 201
Wave packet dynamics and valley filter in strained graphene
The time evolution of a wavepacket in strained graphene is studied within the
tight-binding model and continuum model. The effect of an external magnetic
field, as well as a strain-induced pseudo-magnetic field, on the wave packet
trajectories and zitterbewegung are analyzed. Combining the effects of strain
with those of an external magnetic field produces an effective magnetic field
which is large in one of the Dirac cones, but can be practically zero in the
other. We construct an efficient valley filter, where for a propagating
incoming wave packet consisting of momenta around the K and K' Dirac points,
the outgoing wave packet exhibits momenta in only one of these Dirac points,
while the components of the packet that belong to the other Dirac point are
reflected due to the Lorentz force. We also found that the zitterbewegung is
permanent in time in the presence of either external or strain-induced magnetic
fields, but when both the external and strain-induced magnetic fields are
present, the zitterbewegung is transient in one of the Dirac cones, whereas in
the other cone the wave packet exhibits permanent spatial oscillations.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure
Dielectric mismatch and shallow donor impurities in GaN/HfO2 quantum wells
In this work we investigate electron-impurity binding energy in GaN/HfO
quantum wells. The calculation considers simultaneously all energy
contributions caused by the dielectric mismatch: (i) image self-energy (i.e.,
interaction between electron and its image charge), (ii) the direct Coulomb
interaction between the electron-impurity and (iii) the interactions among
electron and impurity image charges. The theoretical model account for the
solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation and the results shows how
the magnitude of the electron-impurity binding energy depends on the position
of impurity in the well-barrier system. The role of the large dielectric
constant in the barrier region is exposed with the comparison of the results
for GaN/HfO with those of a more typical GaN/AlN system, for two different
confinement regimes: narrow and wide quantum wells.Comment: 6 Pages, 7 figure
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