424 research outputs found
Double non-equivalent chain structure on vicinal Si(557)-Au surface
We study electronic and topographic properties of the vicinal Si(557)-Au
surface using scanning tunneling microscopy and reflection of high energy
electron diffraction technique. STM data reveal double wire structures along
terraces. Moreover behavior of the voltage dependent STM tip - surface distance
is different in different chains. While the one chain shows oscillations of the
distance which are sensitive to the sign of the voltage bias, the oscillations
in the other chain remain unchanged with respect to the positive/negative
biases. This suggests that one wire has metallic character while the other one
- semiconducting. The experimental results are supplemented by theoretical
calculations within tight binding model suggesting that the observed chains are
made of different materials, one is gold and the other one is silicon chain.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Thermoelectric phenomena in a quantum dot asymmetrically coupled to external leads
We study thermoelectric phenomena in a system consisting of strongly
correlated quantum dot coupled to external leads in the Kondo regime. We
calculate linear and nonlinear electrical and thermal conductance and
thermopower of the quantum dot and discuss the role of asymmetry in the
couplings to external electrodes. In the linear regime electrical and thermal
conductances are modified, while thermopower remains unchanged. In the
nonlinear regime the Kondo resonance in differential conductance develops at
non-zero source-drain voltage, which has important consequences on
thermoelectric properties of the system and the thermopower starts to depend on
the asymmetry. We also discuss Wiedemann-Franz relation, thermoelectric figure
of merit and validity of the Mott formula for thermopower.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Can the initial singularity be detected by cosmological tests?
In the present paper we raise the question whether initial cosmological
singularity can be proved from the cosmological tests. The classical general
relativity predict the existence of singularity in the past if only some energy
conditions are satisfied. On the other hand the latest quantum gravity
applications to cosmology suggest of possibility of avoiding the singularity
and replace it with the bounce. The distant type Ia supernovae data are used to
constraints on bouncing evolutional scenario where square of the Hubble
function is given by formulae
, where are density parameters and . We show that the on the
base of the SNIa data standard bouncing models can be ruled out on the
confidence level. If we add the cosmological constant to the standard
bouncing model then we obtain as the best-fit that the parameter
is equal zero which means that the SNIa data do not support the bouncing term
in the model. The bounce term is statistically insignificant the present epoch.
We also demonstrate that BBN offer the possibility of obtaining stringent
constraints of the extra term . The other observational test
methods like CMB and the age of oldest objects in the Universe are used. We
also use the Akaike informative criterion to select a model according to the
goodness of fit and we conclude that this term should be ruled out by Occam's
razor, which makes that the big bang is favored rather then bouncing scenario.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures improved versio
Electron transport across a quantum wire in the presence of electron leakage to a substrate
We investigate electron transport through a mono-atomic wire which is tunnel
coupled to two electrodes and also to the underlying substrate. The setup is
modeled by a tight-binding Hamiltonian and can be realized with a scanning
tunnel microscope (STM). The transmission of the wire is obtained from the
corresponding Green's function. If the wire is scanned by the contacting STM
tip, the conductance as a function of the tip position exhibits oscillations
which may change significantly upon increasing the number of wire atoms. Our
numerical studies reveal that the conductance depends strongly on whether or
not the substrate electrons are localized. As a further ubiquitous feature, we
observe the formation of charge oscillations.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Computerized microstrain test system
Design of computerized microstrain test apparatus to measure plastic deformation, hysteresis, and total strain energy at microinch sensitivitie
Comparison of the diagnostic value of symmetric dimethylarginine, cystatin C, and creatinine for detection of decreased glomerular filtration rate in dogs
BACKGROUND: Early detection of decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in dogs is challenging. Current methods are insensitive and new biomarkers are required. OBJECTIVE: To compare overall diagnostic performance of serum symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) and serum cystatin C to serum creatinine, for detection of decreased GFR in clinically stable dogs, with or without chronic kidney disease (CKD). ANIMALS: Ninety-seven client-owned dogs: 67 dogs with a diagnosis or suspicion of CKD and 30 healthy dogs were prospectively included. METHODS: Prospective diagnostic accuracy study. All dogs underwent physical examination, systemic arterial blood pressure measurement, urinalysis, hematology and blood biochemistry analysis, cardiac and urinary ultrasound examinations, and scintigraphy for estimation of glomerular filtration rate (mGFR). Frozen serum was used for batch analysis of SDMA and cystatin C. RESULTS: The area under the curve of creatinine, SDMA, and cystatin C for detection of an mGFR <30.8 mL/min/L was 0.98 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.93-1.0), 0.96 (95% CI, 0.91-0.99), and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.79-0.93), respectively. The sensitivity of both creatinine and SDMA at their prespecified cutoffs (115 μmol/L [1.3 mg/dL] and 14 μg/dL) for detection of an abnormal mGFR was 90%. The specificity was 90% for creatinine and 87% for SDMA. When adjusting the cutoff for cystatin C to correspond to a diagnostic sensitivity of 90% (0.49 mg/L), specificity was lower (72%) than that of creatinine and SDMA. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Overall diagnostic performance of creatinine and SDMA for detection of decreased mGFR was similar. Overall diagnostic performance of cystatin C was inferior to both creatinine and SDMA
Classical big-bounce cosmology: dynamical analysis of a homogeneous and irrotational Weyssenhoff fluid
A dynamical analysis of an effective homogeneous and irrotational Weyssenhoff
fluid in general relativity is performed using the 1+3 covariant approach that
enables the dynamics of the fluid to be determined without assuming any
particular form for the space-time metric. The spin contributions to the field
equations produce a bounce that averts an initial singularity, provided that
the spin density exceeds the rate of shear. At later times, when the spin
contribution can be neglected, a Weyssenhoff fluid reduces to a standard
cosmological fluid in general relativity. Numerical solutions for the time
evolution of the generalised scale factor in spatially-curved models are
presented, some of which exhibit eternal oscillatory behaviour without any
singularities. In spatially-flat models, analytical solutions for particular
values of the equation-of-state parameter are derived. Although the scale
factor of a Weyssenhoff fluid generically has a positive temporal curvature
near a bounce, it requires unreasonable fine tuning of the equation-of-state
parameter to produce a sufficiently extended period of inflation to fit the
current observational data.Comment: 34 pages, 18 figure
Kondo effect of an adatom in graphene and its scanning tunneling spectroscopy
We study the Kondo effect of a single magnetic adatom on the surface of
graphene. It was shown that the unique linear dispersion relation near the
Dirac points in graphene makes it more easy to form the local magnetic moment,
which simply means that the Kondo resonance can be observed in a more wider
parameter region than in the metallic host. The result indicates that the Kondo
resonance indeed can form ranged from the Kondo regime, to the mixed valence,
even to the empty orbital regime. While the Kondo resonance displays as a sharp
peak in the first regime, it has a peak-dip structure and/or an anti-resonance
in the remaining two regimes, which result from the Fano resonance due to the
significant background leaded by dramatically broadening of the impurity level
in graphene. We also study the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) spectra of
the adatom and they show obvious particle-hole asymmetry when the chemical
potential is tuned by the gate voltages applied to the graphene. Finally, we
explore the influence of the direct tunneling channel between the STM tip and
the graphene on the Kondo resonance and find that the lineshape of the Kondo
resonance is unaffected, which can be attributed to unusual large asymmetry
factor in graphene. Our study indicates that the graphene is an ideal platform
to study systematically the Kondo physics and these results are useful to
further stimulate the relevant experimental studies on the system.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
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