Excitation of high frequency voices from intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals with large eccentricity

The coalescence of a stellar-mass compact object together with an intermediate-mass black hole, also known as intermediate-mass-ratio inspiral, is usually not expected to be a viable gravitational wave source for the current ground-based gravitational wave detectors, due to the generally lower frequency of such source. In this paper, we adopt the effective-one-body formalism as the equation of motion, and obtain the accurately calculated gravitational waveforms by solving the Teukolsky equation in frequency-domain. We point out that high frequency modes of gravitational waves can be excited by large eccentricities of intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals. These high frequency modes can extend to more than 10 Hz, and enter the designed sensitive band of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We propose that such kind of highly eccentric intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals could be feasible sources and potentially observable by the ground-based gravitational wave detectors, like the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures. Class. Quant. Gravity, accepte

Broadband enhancement of light harvesting in luminescent solar concentrator

Luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) can absorb large-area incident sunlight, then emit luminescence with high quantum efficiency, which finally be collected by a small photovoltaic (PV) system. The light-harvesting area of the PV system is much smaller than that of the LSC system, potentially improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of solar cells. Here, based on Fermi-golden rule, we present a theoretical description of the luminescent process in nanoscale LSCs where the conventional ray-optics model is no longer applicable. As an example calculated with this new model, we demonstrate that a slot waveguide consisting of a nanometer-sized low-index slot region sandwiched by two high-index regions provides a broadband enhancement of light harvesting by the luminescent centers in the slot region. This is because the slot waveguide can (1) greatly enhance the spontaneous emission due to the Purcell effect, (2) dramatically increase the effective absorption cross-section of luminescent centers, and (3) strongly improve the quantum efficiency of luminescent centers. It is found that about 80% solar photons can be ultimately converted to waveguide-coupled luminescent photons even for a low luminescent quantum efficiency of 0.5. This LSC is potential to construct a tandem structure which can absorb nearly full-spectrum solar photons, and also may be of special interest for building integrated nano-PV applications

Variational Monte Carlo study of chiral spin liquid in the extended Heisenberg model on the Kagome lattice

We investigate the extended Heisenberg model on the Kagome lattice by using Gutzwiller projected fermionic states and the variational Monte Carlo technique. In particular, when both second- and third-neighbor super-exchanges are considered, we find that a gapped spin liquid described by non-trivial magnetic fluxes and long-range chiral-chiral correlations is energetically favored compared to the gapless U(1) Dirac state. Furthermore, the topological Chern number, obtained by integrating the Berry curvature, and the degeneracy of the ground state, by constructing linearly independent states, lead us to identify this flux state as the chiral spin liquid with $C=1/2$ fractionalized Chern number.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Improved Inner Approximation for Aggregating Power Flexibility in Active Distribution Networks and its Applications

Concise and reliable modeling for aggregating power flexibility of distributed energy resources in active distribution networks (ADNs) is a crucial technique for coordinating transmission and distribution networks. Our recent research has successfully derived an explicit expression for the exact aggregation model (EAM) of power flexibility at the substation level under linearized distribution network constraints. The EAM, however, is impractical for decision-making purposes due to its exponential complexity. In this paper, we propose an inner approximation method for aggregating flexibility in ADNs that utilizes the properties of the EAM to improve performance. Specifically, the geometric prototype of the inner approximation model is defined according to a subset of the coefficient vector set of the EAM, which enhances the accuracy. On the other hand, the computation efficiency of the inner approximation is also significantly improved by exploiting the regularity of coefficient vectors in the EAM in the parameter calculation process. The inner approximated flexibility model of ADNs is further incorporated into the security-constrained unit commitment problem as an application. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.Comment: 10 page

Neuroprotective Effect of Paeonol Mediates Anti-Inflammation via Suppressing Toll-Like Receptor 2 and Toll-Like Receptor 4 Signaling Pathways in Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injured Rats

Paeonol is a phenolic compound derived from Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews (MC) and P. lactiflora Pall (PL). Paeonol can reduce cerebral infarction volume and improve neurological deficits through antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the anti-inflammatory pathway of paeonol remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between anti-inflammatory responses of paeonol and signaling pathways of TLR2 and TLR4 in cerebral infarct. We established the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model in Sprague Dawley rats by occluding right middle cerebral artery for 60 min, followed by reperfusion for 24 h. The neurological deficit score was examined, and the brains of the rats were removed for cerebral infarction volume and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. The infarction volume and neurological deficits were lower in the paeonol group (pretreatment with paeonol; 20 mg/kg i.p.) than in the control group (without paeonol treatment). The IHC analysis revealed that the number of TLR2-, TLR4-, Iba1-, NF-κB- (P50-), and IL-1β-immunoreactive cells and TUNEL-positive cells was significantly lower in the paeonol group; however, the number of TNF-α-immunoreactive cells did not differ between the paeonol and control groups. The paeonol reveals some neuroprotective effects in the model of ischemia, which could be due to the reduction of many proinflammatory receptors/mediators, although the mechanisms are not clear