First-principles Analysis of Photo-current in Graphene PN Junctions

We report a first principles investigation of photocurrent generation by graphene PN junctions. The junctions are formed by either chemically doping with nitrogen and boron atoms, or by controlling gate voltages. Non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism combined with density functional theory (DFT) is applied to calculate the photo-response function. The graphene PN junctions show a broad band photo-response including the terahertz range. The dependence of the response on the angle between the light polarization vector and the PN interface is determined. Its variation against photon energy $E_{ph}$ is calculated in the visible range. The essential properties of chemically doped and gate-controlled PN junctions are similar, but the former shows fingerprints of dopant distribution.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Non-Arrhenius modes in the relaxation of model proteins

We have investigated the relaxational dynamics for a protein model at various temperatures. Theoretical analysis of this model in conjunction with numerical simulations suggests several relaxation regimes, including a single exponential, a power law and a logarithmic time dependence. Even though a stretched exponential form gives a good fit to the simulation results in the crossover regime between a single exponential and a power law decay, we have not been able to directly deduce this form from the theoretical analysis.Comment: 5 figures, 12 page

From the Complete Yang Model to Snyder's Model, de Sitter Special Relativity and Their Duality

By means of Dirac procedure, we re-examine Yang's quantized space-time model, its relation to Snyder's model, the de Sitter special relativity and their UV-IR duality. Starting from a dimensionless dS_5-space in a 5+1-d Mink-space a complete Yang model at both classical and quantum level can be presented and there really exist Snyder's model, the dS special relativity and the duality.Comment: 7 papge

I-V characteristics and differential conductance fluctuations of Au nanowires

Electronic transport properties of Au nano-structure are investigated using both experimental and theoretical analysis. Experimentally, stable Au nanowires were created using mechanically controllable break junction in air, and simultaneous current-voltage (I-V) and differential conductance $\delta I/\delta V$ data were measured. The atomic device scale structures are mechanically very stable up to bias voltage $V_b\sim0.6V$ and have a life time of a few $minutes$. Facilitated by a shape function data analysis technique which finger-prints electronic properties of the atomic device, our data show clearly differential conductance fluctuations with an amplitude $>1$ at room temperature, and a nonlinear I-V characteristics. To understand the transport features of these atomic scale conductors, we carried out {\it ab initio} calculations on various Au atomic wires. The theoretical results demonstrate that transport properties of these systems crucially depend on the electronic properties of the scattering region, the leads, and most importantly the interaction of the scattering region with the leads. For ideal, clean Au contacts, the theoretical results indicate a linear I-V behavior for bias voltage $V_b<0.5V$. When sulfur impurities exist at the contact junction, nonlinear I-V curves emerge due to a tunnelling barrier established in the presence of the S atom. The most striking observation is that even a single S atom can cause a qualitative change of the I-V curve from linear to nonlinear. A quantitatively favorable comparison between experimental data and theoretical results is obtained. We also report other results concerning quantum transport through Au atomic contacts.Comment: 11 pages and 9 figures, submitted to PR

The Conditional Colour-Magnitude Distribution: I. A Comprehensive Model of the Colour-Magnitude-Halo Mass Distribution of Present-Day Galaxies

We formulate a model of the conditional colour-magnitude distribution (CCMD) to describe the distribution of galaxy luminosity and colour as a function of halo mass. It consists of two populations of different colour distributions, dubbed pseudo-blue and pseudo-red, respectively, with each further separated into central and satellite galaxies. We define a global parameterization of these four colour-magnitude distributions and their dependence on halo mass, and we infer parameter values by simultaneously fitting the space densities and auto-correlation functions of 79 galaxy samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey defined by fine bins in the colour-magnitude diagram (CMD). The model deprojects the overall galaxy CMD, revealing its tomograph along the halo mass direction. The bimodality of the colour distribution is driven by central galaxies at most luminosities, though at low luminosities it is driven by the difference between blue centrals and red satellites. For central galaxies, the two pseudo-colour components are distinct and orthogonal to each other in the CCMD: at fixed halo mass, pseudo-blue galaxies have a narrow luminosity range and broad colour range, while pseudo-red galaxies have a narrow colour range and broad luminosity range. For pseudo-blue centrals, luminosity correlates tightly with halo mass, while for pseudo-red galaxies colour correlates more tightly (redder galaxies in more massive haloes). The satellite fraction is higher for redder and for fainter galaxies, with colour a stronger indicator than luminosity. We discuss the implications of the results and further applications of the CCMD model.Comment: 32 pages, 26 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Efficient quantum key distribution over a collective noise channel

We present two efficient quantum key distribution schemes over two different collective-noise channels. The accepted hypothesis of collective noise is that photons travel inside a time window small compared to the variation of noise. Noiseless subspaces are made up of two Bell states and the spatial degree of freedom is introduced to form two nonorthogonal bases. Although these protocols resort to entangled states for encoding the key bit, the receiver is only required to perform single-particle product measurements and there is no basis mismatch. Moreover, the detection is passive as the receiver does not switch his measurements between two conjugate measurement bases to get the key.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; the revised version of the paper published in Phys. Rev. A 78, 022321 (2008). Some negligible errors on the error rates of eavesdropping check are correcte

Improving the security of secure direct communication based on secret transmitting order of particles

We analyzed the security of the secure direct communication protocol based on secret transmitting order of particles recently proposed by Zhu, Xia, Fan, and Zhang [Phys. Rev. A 73, 022338 (2006)], and found that this scheme is insecure if an eavesdropper, say Eve, wants to steal the secret message with Trojan horse attack strategies. The vital loophole in this scheme is that the two authorized users check the security of their quantum channel only once. Eve can insert another spy photon, an invisible photon or a delay one in each photon which the sender Alice sends to the receiver Bob, and capture the spy photon when it returns from Bob to Alice. After the authorized users check the security, Eve can obtain the secret message according to the information about the transmitting order published by Bob. Finally, we present a possible improvement of this protocol.Comment: 4 pages, no figur

Conductance spectra of metallic nanotube bundles

We report a first principles analysis of electronic transport characteristics for (n,n) carbon nanotube bundles. When n is not a multiple of 3, inter-tube coupling causes universal conductance suppression near Fermi level regardless of the rotational arrangement of individual tubes. However, when n is a multiple of 3, the bundles exhibit a diversified conductance dependence on the orientation details of the constituent tubes. The total energy of the bundle is also sensitive to the orientation arrangement only when n is a multiple of 3. All the transport properties and band structures can be well understood from the symmetry consideration of whether the rotational symmetry of the individual tubes is commensurate with that of the bundle

Enzymes and genes involved in the betalain biosynthesis in higher plants

Betalains, a class of water-soluble nitrogen-containing pigments, replace anthocyanins and serve the analogous functions in 13 families of the order, caryophyllales. They modulate the attractive appearance of plants and protect them against destructive oxidative damage. Their antioxidant roles, radicalscavenging properties in human health and their potential uses in food and pharmaceutical industries have made significant progress achieved in the detection, purification, quantification, structure elucidation of betalains, and in particular in the understanding of biosynthetic pathways of the pigments,the enzymes and their genes involved in the pathways. In this paper, major progress in betalain biosynthesis and the enzymes and genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways in higher plant are reviewed, and the perspectives discussed

Information filtering based on transferring similarity

In this Brief Report, we propose a new index of user similarity, namely the transferring similarity, which involves all high-order similarities between users. Accordingly, we design a modified collaborative filtering algorithm, which provides remarkably higher accurate predictions than the standard collaborative filtering. More interestingly, we find that the algorithmic performance will approach its optimal value when the parameter, contained in the definition of transferring similarity, gets close to its critical value, before which the series expansion of transferring similarity is convergent and after which it is divergent. Our study is complementary to the one reported in [E. A. Leicht, P. Holme, and M. E. J. Newman, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 73} 026120 (2006)], and is relevant to the missing link prediction problem.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure