503 research outputs found
The role of glass dynamics in the anomaly of the dielectric function of solid helium
We propose that acousto-optical coupling of the electric field to strain
fields around defects in disordered He is causing an increase of the
dielectric function with decreasing temperature due to the arrested dynamics of
defect excitations. A distribution of such low-energy excitations can be
described within the framework of a glass susceptibility of a small volume
fraction inside solid He. Upon lowering the temperature the relaxation time
of defects diverges and an anomaly occurs in the dielectric function
when . Since satisfies the Kramers-Kronig relation, we predict an accompanying peak in
the imaginary part of at the same temperature, where the
largest change in the amplitude has been seen at fixed frequency. We also
discuss recent measurements of the amplitude of the dynamic dielectric function
that indicate a low-temperature anomaly similar to the one seen in the
resonance frequency of the torsional oscillator and shear modulus experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Examining the Effect of Introducing a Link from Electrical Excitation to Calcium Dynamics in a Cardiomyocyte
Calcium dysregulation is a significant cause of fatal cardiac arrythmias, but it is an incompletely understood phenomenon and difficult to predict. Cardiac calcium levels can be modeled as a system of partial differential equations linking the electrical excitation, calcium signaling, and mechanical contraction dynamics of the heart. A complete calcium induced calcium release model uses reaction-diffusion equations to fully link these three systems. Simulations examine the effect of introducing the link from calcium signaling to electrical excitation. In particular, we perform a parameter study on the strength of the feedback connection with both links between calcium signaling and electrical excitation enabled. Simulations indicate that the feedback and feedforward between electrical excitation and calcium signaling can influence the voltage in a physiologically realistic way
Mean-field evolution of fermions with singular interaction
We consider a system of N fermions in the mean-field regime interacting
though an inverse power law potential , for
. We prove the convergence of a solution of the many-body
Schr\"{o}dinger equation to a solution of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock
equation in the sense of reduced density matrices. We stress the dependence on
the singularity of the potential in the regularity of the initial data. The
proof is an adaptation of [22], where the case is treated.Comment: 16 page
Electrochemical reaction in single layer MoS2: nanopores opened atom by atom
Ultrathin nanopore membranes based on 2D materials have demonstrated ultimate
resolution toward DNA sequencing. Among them, molybdenum disulphide (MoS2)
shows long-term stability as well as superior sensitivity enabling high
throughput performance. The traditional method of fabricating nanopores with
nanometer precision is based on the use of focused electron beams in
transmission electron microscope (TEM). This nanopore fabrication process is
time-consuming, expensive, not scalable and hard to control below 1 nm. Here,
we exploited the electrochemical activity of MoS2 and developed a convenient
and scalable method to controllably make nanopores in single-layer MoS2 with
sub-nanometer precision using electrochemical reaction (ECR). The
electrochemical reaction on the surface of single-layer MoS2 is initiated at
the location of defects or single atom vacancy, followed by the successive
removals of individual atoms or unit cells from single-layer MoS2 lattice and
finally formation of a nanopore. Step-like features in the ionic current
through the growing nanopore provide direct feedback on the nanopore size
inferred from a widely used conductance vs. pore size model. Furthermore, DNA
translocations can be detected in-situ when as-fabricated MoS2 nanopores are
used. The atomic resolution and accessibility of this approach paves the way
for mass production of nanopores in 2D membranes for potential solid-state
nanopore sequencing.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
A glassy contribution to the heat capacity of hcp He solids
We model the low-temperature specific heat of solid He in the hexagonal
closed packed structure by invoking two-level tunneling states in addition to
the usual phonon contribution of a Debye crystal for temperatures far below the
Debye temperature, . By introducing a cutoff energy in the
two-level tunneling density of states, we can describe the excess specific heat
observed in solid hcp He, as well as the low-temperature linear term in the
specific heat. Agreement is found with recent measurements of the temperature
behavior of both specific heat and pressure. These results suggest the presence
of a very small fraction, at the parts-per-million (ppm) level, of two-level
tunneling systems in solid He, irrespective of the existence of
supersolidity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Anderson localization for a class of models with a sign-indefinite single-site potential via fractional moment method
A technically convenient signature of Anderson localization is exponential
decay of the fractional moments of the Green function within appropriate energy
ranges. We consider a random Hamiltonian on a lattice whose randomness is
generated by the sign-indefinite single-site potential, which is however
sign-definite at the boundary of its support. For this class of Anderson
operators we establish a finite-volume criterion which implies that above
mentioned the fractional moment decay property holds. This constructive
criterion is satisfied at typical perturbative regimes, e. g. at spectral
boundaries which satisfy 'Lifshitz tail estimates' on the density of states and
for sufficiently strong disorder. We also show how the fractional moment method
facilitates the proof of exponential (spectral) localization for such random
potentials.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure, to appear in AH
Pressure Induced Quantum Critical Point and Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior in BaVS3
The phase diagram of BaVS3 is studied under pressure using resistivity
measurements. The temperature of the metal to nonmagnetic Mott insulator
transition decreases under pressure, and vanishes at the quantum critical point
p_cr=20kbar. We find two kinds of anomalous conducting states. The
high-pressure metallic phase is a non-Fermi liquid described by Delta rho = T^n
where n=1.2-1.3 at 1K < T < 60K. At p<p_cr, the transition is preceded by a
wide precursor region with critically increasing resistivity which we ascribe
to the opening of a soft Coulomb gap.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figures, problem with figure correcte
Metallo-dielectric diamond and zinc-blende photonic crystals
It is shown that small inclusions of a low absorbing metal can have a
dramatic effect on the photonic band structure. In the case of diamond and
zinc-blende photonic crystals, several complete photonic band gaps (CPBG's) can
open in the spectrum, between the 2nd-3rd, 5th-6th, and 8th-9th bands. Unlike
in the purely dielectric case, in the presence of small inclusions of a low
absorbing metal the largest CPBG for a moderate dielectric constant
(epsilon<=10) turns out to be the 2nd-3rd CPBG. The 2nd-3rd CPBG is the most
important CPBG, because it is the most stable against disorder. For a diamond
and zinc-blende structure of nonoverlapping dielectric and metallo-dielectric
spheres, a CPBG begins to decrease with an increasing dielectric contrast
roughly at the point where another CPBG starts to open--a kind of gap
competition. A CPBG can even shrink to zero when the dielectric contrast
increases further. Metal inclusions have the biggest effect for the dielectric
constant 2<=epsilon<=12, which is a typical dielectric constant at near
infrared and in the visible for many materials, including semiconductors and
polymers. It is shown that one can create a sizeable and robust 2nd-3rd CPBG at
near infrared and visible wavelengths even for a photonic crystal which is
composed of more than 97% low refractive index materials (n<=1.45, i.e., that
of silica glass or a polymer). These findings open the door for any
semiconductor and polymer material to be used as genuine building blocks for
the creation of photonic crystals with a CPBG and significantly increase the
possibilities for experimentalists to realize a sizeable and robust CPBG in the
near infrared and in the visible. One possibility is a construction method
using optical tweezers, which is analyzed here.Comment: 25 pp, 23 figs, RevTex, to appear in Phys Rev B. For more information
look at
http://www.amolf.nl/research/photonic_materials_theory/moroz/moroz.htm
Visualization of nano-plasmons in graphene
We study localized plasmons at the nanoscale (nano-plasmons) in graphene. The
collective excitations of induced charge density modulations in graphene are
drastically changed in the vicinity of a single impurity compared to graphene's
bulk behavior. The dispersion of nano-plasmons depends on the number of
electrons and the sign, strength and size of the impurity potential. Due to
this rich parameter space the calculated dispersions are intrinsically
multidimensional requiring an advanced visualization tool for their efficient
analysis, which can be achieved with parallel rendering. To overcome the
problem of analyzing thousands of very complex spatial patterns of
nano-plasmonic modes, we take a combined visual and quantitative approach to
investigate the excitations on the two-dimensional graphene lattice. Our visual
and quantitative analysis shows that impurities trigger the formation of
localized plasmonic excitations of various symmetries. We visually identify
dipolar, quadrupolar and radial modes, and quantify the spatial distributions
of induced charges.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
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