Observation of a temperature dependent electrical resistance minimum above the magnetic ordering temperature in Gd2_2PdSi3_3

Results on electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, magnetic Results on electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity and Gd Mossbauer measurements on a Gd-based intermetallic compound, Gd$_{2}$PdSi$_{3}$ are reported. A finding of interest is that the resistivity unexpectedly shows a well-defined minimum at about 45 K, well above the long range magnetic ordering temperature (21 K), a feature which gets suppressed by the application of a magnetic field. This observation in a Gd alloy presents an interesting scenario. On the basis of our results, we propose electron localization induced by s-f (or d-f) exchange interaction prior to long range magnetic order as a mechanism for the electrical resistance minimum.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The role of right and left parietal lobes in the conceptual processing of numbers

Neuropsychological and functional imaging studies have associated the conceptual processing of numbers with bilateral parietal regions (including intraparietal sulcus). However, the processes driving these effects remain unclear because both left and right posterior parietal regions are activated by many other conceptual, perceptual, attention, and response-selection processes. To dissociate parietal activation that is number-selective from parietal activation related to other stimulus or response-selection processes, we used fMRI to compare numbers and object names during exactly the same conceptual and perceptual tasks while factoring out activations correlating with response times. We found that right parietal activation was higher for conceptual decisions on numbers relative to the same tasks on object names, even when response time effects were fully factored out. In contrast, left parietal activation for numbers was equally involved in conceptual processing of object names. We suggest that left parietal activation for numbers reflects a range of processes, including the retrieval of learnt facts that are also involved in conceptual decisions on object names. In contrast, number selectivity in right parietal cortex reflects processes that are more involved in conceptual decisions on numbers than object names. Our results generate a new set of hypotheses that have implications for the design of future behavioral and functional imaging studies of patients with left and right parietal damage

Facile Protocol for Water-Tolerant “Frustrated Lewis Pair”-Catalyzed Hydrogenation

Despite rapid advances in the field of metal-free, “frustrated Lewis pair” (FLP)-catalyzed hydrogenation, the need for strictly anhydrous reaction conditions has hampered wide-scale uptake of this methodology. Herein, we report that, despite the generally perceived moisture sensitivity of FLPs, 1,4-dioxane solutions of B(C6F5)3 actually show appreciable moisture tolerance and can catalyze hydrogenation of a range of weakly basic substrates without the need for rigorously inert conditions. In particular, reactions can be performed directly in commercially available nonanhydrous solvents without subsequent drying or use of internal desiccants

The Hubble Space Telescope high speed photometer

The Hubble Space Telescope will provide the opportunity to perform precise astronomical photometry above the disturbing effects of the atmosphere. The High Speed Photometer is designed to provide the observatory with a stable, precise photometer with wide dynamic range, broad wavelenth coverage, time resolution in the microsecond region, and polarimetric capability. Here, the scientific requirements for the instrument are examined, the unique design features of the photometer are explored, and the improvements to be expected over the performance of ground-based instruments are projected

Coulomb and quantum oscillator problems in conical spaces with arbitrary dimensions

The Schr\"odinger equations for the Coulomb and the Harmonic oscillator potentials are solved in the cosmic-string conical space-time. The spherical harmonics with angular deficit are introduced. The algebraic construction of the harmonic oscillator eigenfunctions is performed through the introduction of non-local ladder operators. By exploiting the hidden symmetry of the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator the eigenvalues for the angular momentum operators in three dimensions are reproduced. A generalization for N-dimensions is performed for both Coulomb and harmonic oscillator problems in angular deficit space-times. It is thus established the connection among the states and energies of both problems in these topologically non-trivial space-times.Comment: 15 page

Amplitude Modulation and Relaxation-Oscillation of Counterpropagating Rolls within a Broken-Symmetry Laser-Induced Electroconvection Strip

We report a liquid-crystal pattern-formation experiment in which we break the lateral (translational) symmetry of a nematic medium with a laser-induced thermal gradient. The work is motivated by an improved measurement (reported here) of the temperature dependence of the electroconvection threshold voltage in planar-nematic 4-methoxybenzylidene-4-butylaniline (MBBA). In contrast with other broken-symmetry-pattern studies that report a uniform drift, we observe a strip of counterpropagating rolls that collide at a sink point, and a strong temporally periodic amplitude modulation within a width of 3-4 rolls about the sink point. The time dependence of the amplitude at a fixed position is periodic but displays a nonsinusoidal relaxation-oscillation profile. After reporting experimental results based on spacetime contours and wavenumber profiles, along with a measurement of the change in the drift frequency with applied voltage at a fixed control parameter, we propose some potential guidelines for a theoretical model based on saddle-point solutions for Eckhaus-unstable states and coupled complex Ginzburg-Landau equations. Published in PRE 73, 036317 (2006).Comment: Published in Physical Review E in March 200

Magnetic relaxation in metallic films: Single and multilayer structures

The intrinsic magnetic relaxations in metallic films will be discussed. It will be shown that the intrinsic damping mechanism in metals is caused by incoherent scattering of itinerant electron-hole pair excitations by phonons and magnons. Berger [L. Berger, Phys. Rev. B 54, 9353 (1996)] showed that the interaction between spin waves and itinerant electrons in multilayers can lead to interface Gilbert damping. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) studies were carried out using magnetic single and double layer films. The FMR linewidth of the Fe films in the double layer structures was found to always be larger than the FMR linewidth measured for the single Fe films having the same thickness. The increase in the FMR linewidth scaled inversely with the film thickness, and was found to be linearly dependent on the microwave frequency. These results are in agreement with Berger's predictions. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics

Phonon Assisted Multimagnon Optical Absorption and Long Lived Two-Magnon States in Undoped Lamellar Copper Oxides

We calculate the effective charge for multimagnon infrared (IR) absorption assisted by phonons in the parent insulating compounds of cuprate superconductors and the spectra for two-magnon absorption using interacting spin-wave theory. Recent measured bands in the mid IR [Perkins et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 71} 1621 (1993)] are interpreted as involving one phonon plus a two-magnon virtual bound state, and one phonon plus higher multimagnon absorption processes. The virtual bound state consists of a narrow resonance occurring when the magnon pair has total momentum close to $(\pi,0)$.Comment: 4 page

High frequency sound waves in vitreous silica

We report a molecular dynamics simulation study of the sound waves in vitreous silica in the mesoscopic exchanged momentum range. The calculated dynamical structure factors are in quantitative agreement with recent experimental inelastic neutron and x-ray scattering data. The analysis of the longitudinal and transverse current spectra allows to discriminate between opposite interpretations of the existing experimental data in favour of the propagating nature of the high frequency sound waves.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 ps figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett., February 198

A Perturbative/Variational Approach to Quantum Lattice Hamiltonians

We propose a method to construct the ground state $\psi(\lambda)$ of local lattice hamiltonians with the generic form $H_0 + \lambda H_1$, where $\lambda$ is a coupling constant and $H_0$ is a hamiltonian with a non degenerate ground state $\psi_0$. The method is based on the choice of an exponential ansatz $\psi(\lambda) = {\rm exp}(U(\lambda)) \psi_0$, which is a sort of generalized lattice version of a Jastrow wave function. We combine perturbative and variational techniques to get succesive approximations of the operator $U(\lambda)$. Perturbation theory is used to set up a variational method which in turn produces non perturbative results. The computation with this kind of ansatzs leads to associate to the original quantum mechanical problem a statistical mechanical system defined in the same spatial dimension. In some cases these statistical mechanical systems turn out to be integrable, which allow us to obtain exact upper bounds to the energy. The general ideas of our method are illustrated in the example of the Ising model in a transverse field.Comment: 27 pages, three .ps figures appended, DFTUZ 94-2