18,430 research outputs found
Faceted anomalous scaling in the epitaxial growth of semiconductor films
We apply the generic dynamical scaling theory (GDST) to the surfaces of CdTe
polycrystalline films grown in glass substrates. The analysed data were
obtained with a stylus profiler with an estimated resolution lateral resolution
of m. Both real two-point correlation function and power spectrum
analyses were done. We found that the GDST applied to the surface power spectra
foresees faceted morphology in contrast with the self-affine surface indicated
by the local roughness exponent found via the height-height correlation
function. This inconsistency is explained in terms of convolution effects
resulting from the finite size of the probe tip used to scan the surfaces. High
resolution AFM images corroborates the predictions of GDST.Comment: to appear in Europhysics Letter
Transition on the entropic elasticity of DNA induced by intercalating molecules
We use optical tweezers to perform stretching experiments on DNA molecules
when interacting with the drugs daunomycin and ethidium bromide, which
intercalate the DNA molecule. These experiments are performed in the low-force
regime from zero up to 2 pN. Our results show that the persistence length of
the DNA-drug complexes increases strongly as the drug concentration increases
up to some critical value. Above this critical value, the persistence length
decreases abruptly and remains practically constant for larger drug
concentrations. The contour length of the molecules increases monotonically and
saturates as drugs concentration increases. Measured in- tercalants critical
concentrations for the persistence length transition coincide with reported
values for the helix-coil transition of DNA-drug complexes, obtained from
sedimentation experiments.Comment: This experimental article shows and discuss a transition observed in
the persistence length of DNA molecules when studied as a function of some
intercalating drug concentrations, like daunomycin and ethidium bromide. It
has 15 pages and 4 figures. The article presented here is in preprint forma
Modelling of epitaxial film growth with a Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier dependent on the step height
The formation of mounded surfaces in epitaxial growth is attributed to the
presence of barriers against interlayer diffusion in the terrace edges, known
as Ehrlich-Schwoebel (ES) barriers. We investigate a model for epitaxial growth
using a ES barrier explicitly dependent on the step height. Our model has an
intrinsic topological step barrier even in the absence of an explicit ES
barrier. We show that mounded morphologies can be obtained even for a small
barrier while a self-affine growth, consistent with the Villain-Lai-Das Sarma
equation, is observed in absence of an explicit step barrier. The mounded
surfaces are described by a super-roughness dynamical scaling characterized by
locally smooth (faceted) surfaces and a global roughness exponent .
The thin film limit is featured by surfaces with self-assembled
three-dimensional structures having an aspect ratio (height/width) that may
increase or decrease with temperature depending on the strength of step
barrier.Comment: To appear in J. Phys. Cond. Matter; 3 movies as supplementary
materia
Unidentified Galactic High-Energy Sources as Ancient Pulsar Wind Nebulae in the light of new high energy observations and the new code
In a Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN), the lifetime of inverse Compton (IC) emitting
electrons exceeds the lifetime of its progenitor pulsar (as well as its
shell-type remnant), but it also exceeds the age of those that emit via
synchrotron radiation. Therefore, during its evolution, the PWN can remain
bright in IC so that its GeV-TeV gamma-ray flux remains high for timescales
much larger (for 10^5 - 10^6 yrs) than the pulsar lifetime and the X-ray PWN
lifetime. In this scenario, the magnetic field in the cavity induced by the
wind of the progenitor star plays a crucial role. This scenario is in line with
the discovery of several unidentified or "dark" sources in the TeV gamma-ray
band without X-ray counterparts; and it is also finding confirmation in the
recent discoveries at GeV gamma rays. Moreover, these consequences could be
also important for reinterpreting the detection of starburst galaxies in the
TeV gamma-ray band when considering a leptonic origin of the gamma-ray signal.
Both theoretical aspects and their observational proofs will be discussed, as
well as the first results of our new modeling code.Comment: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on High-Energy
Gamma-Ray Astronomy (Gamma2012
Absorption lines from magnetically-driven winds in X-ray binaries
High resolution X-ray spectra of black hole X-ray binaries (BHBs) show
blueshifted absorption lines from disk winds which seem to be equatorial. Winds
occur in the Softer (disk-dominated) states of the outburst and are less
prominent or absent in the Harder (power-law dominated) states. We use
self-similar magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-ejection models to explain
the disk winds in BHBs. In our models, the density at the base of the outflow
from the accretion disk is not a free parameter, but is determined by solving
the full set of dynamical MHD equations. Thus the physical properties of the
outflow are controlled by the global structure of the disk. We studied
different MHD solutions characterized by different values of (a) the disk
aspect ratio () and (b) the ejection efficiency (). We use two
kinds of MHD solutions depending on the absence (cold solution) or presence
(warm solution) of heating at the disk surface. Such heating could be from e.g.
dissipation of energy due to MHD turbulence in the disk or from illumination.
We use each of these MHD solutions to predict the physical parameters of an
outflow; put limits on the ionization parameter (), column density and
timescales, motivated by observational results; and thus select regions within
the outflow which are consistent with the observed winds. The cold MHD
solutions cannot account for winds due to their low ejection efficiency. But
warm solutions can explain the observed physical quantities in the wind because
they can have sufficiently high values of (, implying larger
mass loading at the base of the outflow). Further from our thermodynamic
equilibrium curve analysis for the outflowing gas, we found that in the Hard
state a range of is thermodynamically unstable, and had to be excluded.
This constrain made it impossible to have any wind at all, in the Hard state.Comment: 16 Pages, 10 figures in the main body and 4 figures in the appendix.
Accepted for publication in A&
Development of a sequential injection system for the determination of nitrite and nitrate in estuarine waters
Non-collinear coupling between magnetic adatoms in carbon nanotubes
The long range character of the exchange coupling between localized magnetic
moments indirectly mediated by the conduction electrons of metallic hosts often
plays a significant role in determining the magnetic order of low-dimensional
structures. In addition to this indirect coupling, here we show that the direct
exchange interaction that arises when the moments are not too far apart may
induce a non-collinear magnetic order that cannot be characterized by a
Heisenberg-like interaction between the magnetic moments. We argue that this
effect can be manipulated to control the magnetization alignment of magnetic
dimers adsorbed to the walls of carbon nanotubes.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
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