Deduction of the quantum numbers of low-lying states of 6-nucleon systems based on symmetry

The inherent nodal structures of the wavefunctions of 6-nucleon systems have been investigated. The existence of a group of six low-lying states dominated by L=0 has been deduced. The spatial symmetries of these six states are found to be mainly {4,2} and {2,2,2}.Comment: 8 pages, no figure

Improved Simulation of the Mass Charging for ASTROD I

The electrostatic charging of the test mass in ASTROD I (Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices I) mission can affect the quality of the science data as a result of spurious Coulomb and Lorentz forces. To estimate the size of the resultant disturbances, credible predictions of charging rates and the charging noise are required. Using the GEANT4 software toolkit, we present a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the ASTROD I test mass charging due to exposure of the spacecraft to galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) protons and alpha particles (3He, 4He) in the space environment. A positive charging rate of 33.3 e+/s at solar minimum is obtained. This figure reduces by 50% at solar maximum. Based on this charging rate and factoring in the contribution of minor cosmic-ray components, we calculate the acceleration noise and stiffness associated with charging. We conclude that the acceleration noise arising from Coulomb and Lorentz effects are well below the ASTROD I acceleration noise limit at 0.1 mHz both at solar minimum and maximum. The coherent Fourier components due to charging are investigated, it needs to be studied carefully in order to ensure that these do not compromise the quality of science data in the ASTROD I mission.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, submitted to International Journal of Modern Physics

Breathing oscillations of a trapped impurity in a Bose gas

Motivated by a recent experiment [J. Catani et al., arXiv:1106.0828v1 preprint, 2011], we study breathing oscillations in the width of a harmonically trapped impurity interacting with a separately trapped Bose gas. We provide an intuitive physical picture of such dynamics at zero temperature, using a time-dependent variational approach. In the Gross-Pitaevskii regime we obtain breathing oscillations whose amplitudes are suppressed by self trapping, due to interactions with the Bose gas. Introducing phonons in the Bose gas leads to the damping of breathing oscillations and non-Markovian dynamics of the width of the impurity, the degree of which can be engineered through controllable parameters. Our results reproduce the main features of the impurity dynamics observed by Catani et al. despite experimental thermal effects, and are supported by simulations of the system in the Gross-Pitaevskii regime. Moreover, we predict novel effects at lower temperatures due to self-trapping and the inhomogeneity of the trapped Bose gas.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Mechanistic Study Of Plasma Damage Of Low k Dielectric Surfaces

Plasma damage to low k dielectric materials was investigated from a mechanistic point of view. Low k dielectric films were treated by plasma Ar, O-2, N-2/H-2, N-2 and H-2 in a standard RIE chamber and the damage was characterized by Angle Resolved X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (ARXPS), X-Ray Reflectivity (XRR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Contact Angle measurements. Both carbon depletion and surface densification were observed on the top surface of damaged low k materials while the bulk remained largely unaffected. Plasma damage was found to be a complicated phenomenon involving both chemical and physical effects, depending on chemical reactivity and the energy and mass of the plasma species. A downstream hybrid plasma source with separate ions and atomic radicals was employed to study their respective roles in the plasma damage process. Ions were found to play a more important role in the plasma damage process. The dielectric constant of low k materials can increase up to 20% due to plasma damage and we attributed this to the removal of the methyl group making the low k surface hydrophilic. Annealing was generally effective in mitigating moisture uptake to restore the k value but the recovery was less complete for higher energy plasmas. Quantum chemistry calculation confirmed that physisorbed water in low k materials induces the largest increase of dipole moments in comparison with changes of surface bonding configurations, and is primarily responsible for the dielectric constant increase.Microelectronics Research Cente

Unconventional spin texture of a topologically nontrivial semimetal Sb(110)

The surfaces of antimony are characterized by the presence of spin-split states within the projected bulk band gap and the Fermi contour is thus expected to exhibit a spin texture. Using spin-resolved density functional theory calculations, we determine the spin polarization of the surface bands of Sb(110). The existence of the unconventional spin texture is corroborated by the investigations of the electron scattering on this surface. The charge interference patterns formed around single scattering impurities, imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy, reveal the absence of direct backscattering signal. We identify the allowed scattering vectors and analyze their bias evolution in relation to the surface-state dispersion.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Incommensurate magnetic structure of CeRhIn5

The magnetic structure of the heavy fermion antiferromagnet CeRhIn5 is determined using neutron diffraction. We find a magnetic wave vector q_M=(1/2,1/2,0.297), which is temperature independent up to T_N=3.8K. A staggered moment of 0.374(5) Bohr magneton at 1.4K, residing on the Ce ion, spirals transversely along the c axis. The nearest neighbor moments on the tetragonal basal plane are aligned antiferromagnetically.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures There was an extra factor of 2 in Eq (2). This affects the value of staggered moment. The correct staggered moment is 0.374(5) Bohr magneton at 1.4

Imprints of the nuclear symmetry energy on gravitational waves from the axial w-modes of neutron stars

The eigen-frequencies of the axial w-modes of oscillating neutron stars are studied using the continued fraction method with an Equation of State (EOS) partially constrained by the recent terrestrial nuclear laboratory data. It is shown that the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy $E_{sym}(\rho)$ affects significantly both the frequencies and the damping times of these modes. Besides confirming the previously found universal behavior of the mass-scaled eigen-frequencies as functions of the compactness of neutron stars, we explored several alternative universal scaling functions. Moreover, the $w_{II}$-mode is found to exist only for neutron stars having a compactness of $M/R\geq 0.1078$ independent of the EOS used.Comment: Version appeared in Phys. Rev. C80, 025801 (2009

Neutron and proton drip lines using the modified Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula

Proton and neutron separation energies have been calculated using the extended Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula. This modified Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula describes minutely the positions of all the old and the new magic numbers. It accounts for the disappearance of some traditional magic numbers for neutrons and provides extra stability for some new neutron numbers. The neutron and proton drip lines have been predicted using this extended Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula. The implications of the proton drip line on the astrophysical rp-process and of the neutron drip line on the astrophysical r-process have been discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure