8,377 research outputs found
Relaxation properties of the quantum kinetics of carrier-LO-phonon interaction in quantum wells and quantum dots
The time evolution of optically excited carriers in semiconductor quantum
wells and quantum dots is analyzed for their interaction with LO-phonons. Both
the full two-time Green's function formalism and the one-time approximation
provided by the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz are considered, in order to
compare their description of relaxation processes. It is shown that the
two-time quantum kinetics leads to thermalization in all the examined cases,
which is not the case for the one-time approach in the intermediate-coupling
regime, even though it provides convergence to a steady state. The
thermalization criterion used is the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger condition.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Structure and decay at rapid proton capture waiting points
We investigate the region of the nuclear chart around from a
three-body perspective, where we compute reaction rates for the radiative
capture of two protons. One key quantity is here the photon dissociation cross
section for the inverse process where two protons are liberated from the
borromean nucleus by photon bombardment. We find a number of peaks at low
photon energy in this cross section where each peak is located at the energy
corresponding to population of a three-body resonance. Thus, for these energies
the decay or capture processes proceed through these resonances. However, the
next step in the dissociation process still has the option of following several
paths, that is either sequential decay by emission of one proton at a time with
an intermediate two-body resonance as stepping stone, or direct decay into the
continuum of both protons simultaneously. The astrophysical reaction rate is
obtained by folding of the cross section as function of energy with the
occupation probability for a Maxwell-Boltzmann temperature distribution. The
reaction rate is then a function of temperature, and of course depending on the
underlying three-body bound state and resonance structures. We show that a very
simple formula at low temperature reproduces the elaborate numerically computed
reaction rate.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, conference proceedings, publishe
Self-limited oxide formation in Ni(111) oxidation
The oxidation of the Ni(111) surface is studied experimentally with low
energy electron microscopy and theoretically by calculating the electron
reflectivity for realistic models of the NiO/Ni(111) surface with an ab-initio
scattering theory. Oxygen exposure at 300 K under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions
leads to the formation of a continuous NiO(111)-like film consisting of
nanosized domains. At 750 K, we observe the formation of a nano-heterogeneous
film composed primarily of NiO(111)-like surface oxide nuclei, which exhibit
virtually the same energy-dependent reflectivity as in the case of 300 K and
which are separated by oxygen-free Ni(111) terraces. The scattering theory
explains the observed normal incidence reflectivity R(E) of both the clean and
the oxidized Ni(111) surface. At low energies R(E) of the oxidized surface is
determined by a forbidden gap in the k_parallel=0 projected energy spectrum of
the bulk NiO crystal. However, for both low and high temperature oxidation a
rapid decrease of the reflectivity in approaching zero kinetic energy is
experimentally observed. This feature is shown to characterize the thickness of
the oxide layer, suggesting an average oxide thickness of two NiO layers.Comment: 10 pages (in journal format), 9 figure
Collective flow and QCD phase transition
In the first part I discuss the sensitivity of collective matter expansion in
ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions to the transition between quark and
hadronic matter (physics of the softest point of the Equation of State). A kink
in the centrality dependence of elliptic flow has been suggested as a signature
for the phase transition in hot QCD matter. Indeed, preliminary data of NA49
presented at this conference show first indications for the predicted kink. In
the second part I have a look at the present theories of heavy-ion reactions.
These remarks may also be seen as a critical comment to B. Mueller's summary
talk (nucl-th/9906029) presented at this conference.Comment: Write-up of QM '99 talk. Typo's correcte
Mineral absorption in relation to nutritional ecology of reindeer
This paper addresses the way which absorption of minerals relate to nutritional ecology and mineral conservation processes. A latin square designed experiment was used to assess the effects of diet on mineral (Ca, Mg, K, Na) absorption processes in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.). Three male calves were fed 3 different diets: concentrate with 25% grass meal (RF-71), lichens, and a mixed diet of lichens and RF-71. Two other male calves were fed the lichen or mixed diet, supplemented with 4 g Ca/day. Ca supplementation significantly increased fecal Ca excretion, reduced the excretion of K and Mg, but had no significant effect on Na excretion. Rates of intake and fecal exretion of Ca, Mg and K were highly correlated (P<0.001), while no correlations were found for Na. Negative digestibilities of Ca, Mg and K, and a positive Na digestibility were noted for the lichen diet. For the other diets, all minerals were in positive digestibility, and Ca supplements increased the digestibility of all minerals. Digesta from different sections of the alimentary tract were collected after termination of the experiment. Alimentary pools of Ca and K were equal for animals fed lichen or RF-71, whereas the Na pool was largest on the lichen diet and the Mg pool largest on the RF-71 diet. Rumen turnover time (rumen mineral pool size/daily mineral intake) was consistently less than 3 days for Ca and Mg, but was 22 and 82 days for Na on the RF-71 and lichen diets respectively. Estimates of mineral exchange in various parts of the tract showed that the intestines play and important role in scavanging endogenously secreted minerals. Results are discussed with respect to mineral binding by lichens and the possible role of natural mineral supplements in the nutritional ecology of reindeer
The order of the metal to superconductor transition
We present results from large-scale Monte Carlo simulations on the full
Ginzburg-Landau (GL) model, including fluctuations in the amplitude and the
phase of the matter-field, as well as fluctuations of the non-compact
gauge-field of the theory. {}From this we obtain a precise critical value of
the GL parameter \kct separating a first order metal to superconductor
transition from a second order one, \kct = (0.76\pm 0.04)/\sqrt{2}. This
agrees surprisingly well with earlier analytical results based on a disorder
theory of the superconductor to metal transition, where the value
\kct=0.798/\sqrt{2} was obtained. To achieve this, we have done careful
infinite volume and continuum limit extrapolations. In addition we offer a
novel interpretation of \kct, namely that it is also the value separating
\typeI and \typeII behaviour.<Comment: Minor corrections, present version accepted for publication in PR
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