Edge states in graphene-like systems

The edges of graphene and graphene like systems can host localized states with evanescent wave function with properties radically different from those of the Dirac electrons in bulk. This happens in a variety of situations, that are reviewed here. First, zigzag edges host a set of localized non-dispersive state at the Dirac energy. At half filling, it is expected that these states are prone to ferromagnetic instability, causing a very interesting type of edge ferromagnetism. Second, graphene under the influence of external perturbations can host a variety of topological insulating phases, including the conventional quantum Hall effect, the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) and the quantum spin Hall phase, in all of which phases conduction can only take place through topologically protected edge states. Here we provide an unified vision of the properties of all these edge states, examined under the light of the same one orbital tight-binding model. We consider the combined action of interactions, spin–orbit coupling and magnetic field, which produces a wealth of different physical phenomena. We briefly address what has been actually observed experimentally.JFR acknowledges financial support by MEC-Spain (FIS2013-47328-C2-2-P) and Generalitat Valenciana (ACOMP/2010/070), Prometeo. This work has been financially supported in part by FEDER funds. We acknowledge financial support by Marie-Curie-ITN607904-SPINOGRAPH

Anomalous magnetism in hydrogenated graphene

We revisit the problem of local moment formation in graphene due to chemisorption of individual atomic hydrogen or other analogous sp3 covalent functionalizations. We describe graphene with the single-orbital Hubbard model, so that the H chemisorption is equivalent to a vacancy in the honeycomb lattice. To circumvent artifacts related to periodic unit cells, we use either huge simulation cells of up to 8×105 sites, or an embedding scheme that allows the modeling of a single vacancy in an otherwise pristine infinite honeycomb lattice. We find three results that stress the anomalous nature of the magnetic moment (m) in this system. First, in the noninteracting (U=0) zero-temperature (T=0) case, the m(B) is a continuous smooth curve with divergent susceptibility, different from the stepwise constant function found for single unpaired spins in a gapped system. Second, for U=0 and T>0, the linear susceptibility follows a power law ∝T−α with an exponent of α=0.77 different from the conventional Curie law. For U>0, in the mean-field approximation, the integrated moment is smaller than m=1μB, in contrast with results using periodic unit cells. These three results highlight the fact that the magnetic response of the local moment induced by sp3 functionalizations in graphene is different from that of local moments in gapped systems, for which the magnetic moment is quantized and follows a Curie law, and from Pauli paramagnetism in conductors, for which linear susceptibility can be defined at T=0.The authors acknowledge financial support by Marie-Curie-ITN 607904-SPINOGRAPH. J.F.-R. acknowledges financial supported by MEC-Spain (GrantsNo. FIS2013-47328-C2-2-P and No. MAT2016-78625-C2) and Generalitat Valenciana (Grant No. ACOMP/2010/070), Prometeo, by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funds through the Portuguese Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization COMPETE 2020, and National Funds through FCT, under the Project No. PTDC/FIS-NAN/4662/2014 (016656) [Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology]. This work has been financially supported in part by FEDER funds

Designer fermion models in functionalized graphene bilayers

We propose a method to realize a broad class of tunable fermionic Hamiltonians in graphene bilayer. For that matter, we consider graphene bilayer functionalized with sp3 defects that induce zero-energy resonances hosting an individual electron each. The application of an off-plane electric field opens up a gap, so that the zero-energy resonance becomes an in-gap bound state whose confinement scales inversely with the gap. Controlling both the distance among the defects and the applied electric field, we can define fermionic models, even lattices, whose hoppings and Coulomb interactions can be tuned. We consider in detail the case of triangular and honeycomb artificial lattices and we show how, for a given arrangement of the sp3 centers, these lattices can undergo an electrically controlled transition between the weak and strong coupling regimes.We acknowledge Grant No. P2020-PTDC/FIS-NAN/3668/2014, financial support Generalitat Valenciana funding Prometeo2017/139 and MINECO Spain (Grant No. MAT2016-78625-C2)

Electrical spin manipulation in graphene nanostructures

We propose a mechanism to drive singlet-triplet spin transitions electrically in a wide class of graphene nanostructures that present pairs of in-gap zero modes, localized at opposite sublattices. Examples are rectangular nanographenes with short zigzag edges, armchair ribbon heterojunctions with topological in-gap states, and graphene islands with sp3 functionalization. The interplay between the hybridization of zero modes and the Coulomb repulsion leads to symmetric exchange interaction that favors a singlet ground state. Application of an off-plane electric field to the graphene nanostructure generates an additional Rashba spin-orbit coupling, which results in antisymmetric exchange interaction that mixes S=0 and S=1 manifolds. We show that modulation in time of either the off-plane electric field or the applied magnetic field permits performing electrically driven spin resonance in a system with very long spin-relaxation times.This work has been financially supported, in part, by FEDER funds. We acknowledge financial support from Marie-Curie-ITN Grant No. 607904-SPINOGRAPH, FCT, under the Projects No. PTDC/FIS-NAN/4662/2014 and No. PTDC/FISNAN/3668/2014, and MINECO-Spain (Grant No. MAT2016-78625-C2)

Experiències senzilles d’electromagnetisme: Atracció i repulsió per forces magnètiques. Caiguda d’imant a càmera lenta

La realització d’experiments científics és una activitat pedagògica que afavoreix l’aprenentatge significatiu dels alumnes, la seua motivació per la matèria i estimula l’interès per ampliar coneixements. En aquest treball presentem dues experiències senzilles de fenòmens d’inducció electromagnètica, amb el propòsit que els estudiants comprenguen els principals conceptes involucrats i l’estreta relació entre l’electricitat i el magnetisme. El nivell d’aquests experiments és adequat per a segon curs de batxillerat, per a qualsevol curs introductori de Física en els Graus de Ciències i per a l’alumnat del Màster d’Educació Secundària

Higth performance liquid chromatography technique design and validation for quantification of tolbutamide, acetamide and propianamide in solid dispersions

El estudio del tipo de interacción involucrada en la formación de dispersiones sólidas de tolbutamida con distintas proporciones de acetamida y propianamida, ha requerido del diseño y validación de un método analítico por cromatografía líquida de alta eficacia (CLAE) que permita cuantificar la proporción de los transportadores en mezclas físicas y en dispersión sólida. El método resultó ser lineal, preciso y exacto en el intervalo de concentración de 100-1,56 μg/mL para tolbutamida y 50-0,781 μg/mL para acetamida y propianamida.The interest to design and validate a high performance liquid chromatography method for quantification of tolbutamide, acetamide and propianamide in solid dispersions, was to find a relation among the amount of carriers and the active substance in solid dispersions, in order to further investigate the drug-carrier interaction pattern responsible of solid dispersion formation. The method was lineal, precise and accurate in the concentration range between 100.0 - 1.56 μg/ mL for tolbutamide and 50.0 - 0.78 μg/mL for acetamide and propianamide

Absence of nuclear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission from a compact starburst: the case of the type-2 quasar Mrk 477

Mrk 477 is the closest type-2 quasar, at a distance of 163 Mpc. This makes it an ideal laboratory for studying the interplay between nuclear activity and star formation with a great level of detail and signal-to-noise. In this Letter we present new mid-infrared (mid-IR) imaging and spectroscopic data with an angular resolution of 0.4″ (∼300 pc) obtained with the Gran Telescopio Canarias instrument CanariCam. The N-band (8–13 μm) spectrum of the central ∼400 pc of the galaxy reveals [S IV]λ10.51 μm emission, but no 8.6 or 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features, which are commonly used as tracers of recent star formation. This is in stark contrast with the presence of a nuclear starburst of ∼300 pc in size, an age of 6 Myr, and a mass of 1.1×108 M⊙, as constrained from ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope observations. Considering this, we argue that even the more resilient, neutral molecules that mainly produce the 11.3 μm PAH band are most likely being destroyed in the vicinity of the active nucleus despite the relatively large X-ray column density, log NH = 23.5 cm−2, and modest X-ray luminosity, 1.5×1043 erg s−1. This highlights the importance of being cautious when using PAH features as star formation tracers in the central region of galaxies to evaluate the impact of feedback from active galactic nuclei

Observation of Scaling Violations in Scaled Momentum Distributions at HERA

Charged particle production has been measured in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) events over a large range of $x$ and $Q^2$ using the ZEUS detector. The evolution of the scaled momentum, $x_p$, with $Q^2,$ in the range 10 to 1280 $GeV^2$, has been investigated in the current fragmentation region of the Breit frame. The results show clear evidence, in a single experiment, for scaling violations in scaled momenta as a function of $Q^2$.Comment: 21 pages including 4 figures, to be published in Physics Letters B. Two references adde

D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel $D^{*+}\to (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+) \pi^+$ (+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The $e^+p$ cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with $5<Q^2<100 GeV^2$ and $y<0.7$ is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region {$1.3<p_T(D^{*\pm})<9.0$ GeV and $| \eta(D^{*\pm}) |<1.5$}. Differential cross sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), $\eta(D^{*\pm}), W$ and $Q^2$ are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and $\eta$(D^{*\pm}), the charm contribution $F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2)$ to the proton structure function is determined for Bjorken $x$ between 2 $\cdot$ 10$^{-4}$ and 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure

Evolution of the use of corticosteroids for the treatment of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in Spain between March and November 2020: SEMI-COVID national registry

Objectives: Since the results of the RECOVERY trial, WHO recommendations about the use of corticosteroids (CTs) in COVID-19 have changed. The aim of the study is to analyse the evolutive use of CTs in Spain during the pandemic to assess the potential influence of new recommendations. Material and methods: A retrospective, descriptive, and observational study was conducted on adults hospitalised due to COVID-19 in Spain who were included in the SEMI-COVID- 19 Registry from March to November 2020. Results: CTs were used in 6053 (36.21%) of the included patients. The patients were older (mean (SD)) (69.6 (14.6) vs. 66.0 (16.8) years; p < 0.001), with hypertension (57.0% vs. 47.7%; p < 0.001), obesity (26.4% vs. 19.3%; p < 0.0001), and multimorbidity prevalence (20.6% vs. 16.1%; p < 0.001). These patients had higher values (mean (95% CI)) of C-reactive protein (CRP) (86 (32.7-160) vs. 49.3 (16-109) mg/dL; p < 0.001), ferritin (791 (393-1534) vs. 470 (236- 996) µg/dL; p < 0.001), D dimer (750 (430-1400) vs. 617 (345-1180) µg/dL; p < 0.001), and lower Sp02/Fi02 (266 (91.1) vs. 301 (101); p < 0.001). Since June 2020, there was an increment in the use of CTs (March vs. September; p < 0.001). Overall, 20% did not receive steroids, and 40% received less than 200 mg accumulated prednisone equivalent dose (APED). Severe patients are treated with higher doses. The mortality benefit was observed in patients with oxygen saturation </=90%. Conclusions: Patients with greater comorbidity, severity, and inflammatory markers were those treated with CTs. In severe patients, there is a trend towards the use of higher doses. The mortality benefit was observed in patients with oxygen saturation </=90%