295 research outputs found
Pseudo Goldstone Bosons Phenomenology in Minimal Walking Technicolor
We construct the non-linear realized Lagrangian for the Goldstone Bosons
associated to the breaking pattern of SU(4) to SO(4). This pattern is expected
to occur in any Technicolor extension of the standard model featuring two Dirac
fermions transforming according to real representations of the underlying gauge
group. We concentrate on the Minimal Walking Technicolor quantum number
assignments with respect to the standard model symmetries. We demonstrate that
for, any choice of the quantum numbers, consistent with gauge and Witten
anomalies the spectrum of the pseudo Goldstone Bosons contains electrically
doubly charged states which can be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
First Principles Simulations of Boron Diffusion in Graphite
Boron strongly modifies electronic and diffusion properties of graphite. We report the first ab initio study of boron interaction with the point defects in graphite, which includes structures, thermodynamics, and diffusion. A number of possible diffusion mechanisms of boron in graphite are suggested. We conclude that boron diffuses in graphite by a kick-out mechanism. This mechanism explains the common activation energy, but large magnitude difference, for the rate of boron diffusion parallel and perpendicular to the basal plane. © 2007 The American Physical Society
Models of core reconstruction for the 90-degree partial dislocation in semiconductors
We compare the models that have been proposed in the literature for the
atomic structure of the 90-degree partial dislocation in the homopolar
semiconductors, silicon, diamond, and germanium. In particular, we examine the
traditional single-period and our recently proposed double-period core
structures. Ab-initio and tight-binding results on the core energies are
discussed, and the geometries are compared in light of the available
experimental information about dislocations in these systems. The double-period
geometry is found to be the ground-state structure in all three materials. We
address boundary-conditions issues that have been recently raised about these
results. The structures of point excitations (kinks, solitons, and kink-soliton
complexes) in the two geometries are also reviewed.Comment: 9 pages, with 3 postscript figures embedded. Uses REVTEX and epsf
macros. Also available at
http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~dhv/preprints/rn_eds/index.htm
Atomic structure of dislocation kinks in silicon
We investigate the physics of the core reconstruction and associated
structural excitations (reconstruction defects and kinks) of dislocations in
silicon, using a linear-scaling density-matrix technique. The two predominant
dislocations (the 90-degree and 30-degree partials) are examined, focusing for
the 90-degree case on the single-period core reconstruction. In both cases, we
observe strongly reconstructed bonds at the dislocation cores, as suggested in
previous studies. As a consequence, relatively low formation energies and high
migration barriers are generally associated with reconstructed
(dangling-bond-free) kinks. Complexes formed of a kink plus a reconstruction
defect are found to be strongly bound in the 30-degree partial, while the
opposite is true in the case of 90-degree partial, where such complexes are
found to be only marginally stable at zero temperature with very low
dissociation barriers. For the 30-degree partial, our calculated formation
energies and migration barriers of kinks are seen to compare favorably with
experiment. Our results for the kink energies on the 90-degree partial are
consistent with a recently proposed alternative double-period structure for the
core of this dislocation.Comment: 12 pages, two-column style with 8 postscript figures embedded. Uses
REVTEX and epsf macros. Also available at
http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~dhv/preprints/index.html#rn_di
Close encounters in young stellar clusters: implications for planetary systems in the solar neighbourhood
The stars that populate the solar neighbourhood were formed in stellar
clusters. Through N-body simulations of these clusters, we measure the rate of
close encounters between stars. By monitoring the interaction histories of each
star, we investigate the singleton fraction in the solar neighbourhood. A
singleton is a star which formed as a single star, has never experienced any
close encounters with other stars or binaries, or undergone an exchange
encounter with a binary. We find that, of the stars which formed as single
stars, a significant fraction are not singletons once the clusters have
dispersed. If some of these stars had planetary systems, with properties
similar to those of the solar system, the planets orbits may have been
perturbed by the effects of close encounters with other stars or the effects of
a companion star within a binary. Such perturbations can lead to strong
planet-planet interactions which eject several planets, leaving the remaining
planets on eccentric orbits. Some of the single stars exchange into binaries.
Most of these binaries are broken up via subsequent interactions within the
cluster, but some remain intact beyond the lifetime of the cluster. The
properties of these binaries are similar to those of the observed binary
systems containing extra-solar planets. Thus, dynamical processes in young
stellar clusters will alter significantly any population of solar-system-like
planetary systems. In addition, beginning with a population of planetary
systems exactly resembling the solar system around single stars, dynamical
encounters in young stellar clusters may produce at least some of the
extra-solar planetary systems observed in the solar neighbourhood.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Excitons and stacking order in h-BN
The strong excitonic emission at 5.75 eV of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)
makes this material one of the most promising candidate for light emitting
devices in the far ultraviolet (UV). However, single excitons occur only in
perfect monocrystals that are extremely hard to synthesize, while regular h-BN
samples present a complex emission spectrum with several additional peaks. The
microscopic origin of these additional emissions has not yet been understood.
In this work we address this problem using an experimental and theoretical
approach that combines nanometric resolved cathodoluminescence, high resolution
transmission electron microscopy and state of the art theoretical spectroscopy
methods. We demonstrate that emission spectra are strongly inhomogeneus within
individual flakes and that additional excitons occur at structural
deformations, such as faceted plane folds, that lead to local changes of the
h-BN stacking order
Black holes and core expansion in massive star clusters
We present the results from realistic N-body modelling of massive star
clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. We have computed eight simulations with N ~
10^5 particles; six of these were evolved for at least a Hubble time. The aim
of this modelling is to examine the possibility of large-scale core expansion
in massive star clusters and search for a viable dynamical origin for the
radius-age trend observed for such objects in the Magellanic Clouds. We
identify two physical processes which can lead to significant and prolonged
cluster core expansion: mass-loss due to rapid stellar evolution in a
primordially mass segregated cluster, and heating due to a retained population
of stellar-mass black holes. These two processes operate over different
time-scales - the former occurs only at early times and cannot drive core
expansion for longer than a few hundred Myr, while the latter typically does
not begin until several hundred Myr have passed but can result in core
expansion lasting for many Gyr. We investigate the behaviour of these expansion
mechanisms in clusters with varying degrees of primordial mass segregation and
in clusters with varying black hole retention fractions. In combination, the
two processes can lead to a wide variety of evolutionary paths on the
radius-age plane, which fully cover the observed cluster distribution and hence
define a dynamical origin for the radius-age trend in the Magellanic Clouds. We
discuss the implications of core expansion for various aspects of globular
cluster research, as well as the possibility of observationally inferring the
presence of a population of stellar-mass black holes in a cluster.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Metastable Frenkel pair defect in graphite: source of Wigner energy?
The atomic processes associated with energy storage and release in irradiated graphite have long been subject to untested speculation. We examine structures and recombination routes for interstitial-vacancy (I-V) pairs in graphite. Interaction results in the formation of a new metastable defect (an intimate I-V pair) or a Stone-Wales defect. The intimate I-V pair, although 2.9 eV more stable than its isolated constituents, still has a formation energy of 10.8 eV. The barrier to recombination to perfect graphite is calculated to be 1.3 eV, consistent with the experimental first Wigner energy release peak at 1.38 eV. We expect similar defects to form in carbon nanostructures such as nanotubes, nested fullerenes, and onions under irradiation
Four-Body Effects in Globular Cluster Black Hole Coalescence
In the high density cores of globular clusters, multibody interactions are
expected to be common, with the result that black holes in binaries are
hardened by interactions. It was shown by Sigurdsson & Hernquist (1993) and
others that 10 solar mass black holes interacting exclusively by three-body
encounters do not merge in the clusters themselves, because recoil kicks the
binaries out of the clusters before the binaries are tight enough to merge.
Here we consider a new mechanism, involving four-body encounters. Numerical
simulations by a number of authors suggest that roughly 20-50% of binary-binary
encounters will eject one star but leave behind a stable hierarchical triple.
If the orbital plane of the inner binary is strongly tilted with respect to the
orbital plane of the outer object, a secular Kozai resonance, first
investigated in the context of asteroids in the Solar System, can increase the
eccentricity of the inner body significantly. We show that in a substantial
fraction of cases the eccentricity is driven to a high enough value that the
inner binary will merge by gravitational radiation, without a strong
accompanying kick. Thus the merged object remains in the cluster; depending on
the binary fraction of black holes and the inclination distribution of
newly-formed hierarchical triples, this mechanism may allow massive black holes
to accumulate through successive mergers in the cores of globular clusters. It
may also increase the likelihood that stellar-mass black holes in globular
clusters will be detectable by their gravitational radiation.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters (includes emulateapj.sty
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