13,471 research outputs found
Monte Carlo simulations of infinitely dilute solutions of amphiphilic diblock star copolymers
Single-chain Monte Carlo simulations of amphiphilic diblock star copolymers
were carried out in continuous space using implicit solvents. Two distinct
architectures were studied: stars with the hydrophobic blocks attached to the
core, and stars with the polar blocks attached to the core, with all arms being
of equal length. The ratio of the lengths of the hydrophobic block to the
length of the polar block was varied from 0 to 1. Stars with 3, 6, 9 or 12
arms, each of length 10, 15, 25, 50, 75 and 100 Kuhn segments were analysed.
Four distinct types of conformations were observed for these systems. These,
apart from studying the snapshots from the simulations, have been
quantitatively characterised in terms of the mean-squared radii of gyration,
mean-squared distances of monomers from the centre-of-mass, asphericity
indices, static scattering form factors in the Kratky representation as well as
the intra-chain monomer-monomer radial distribution functions.Comment: 12 pages, 11 ps figures. Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phy
Disorder-induced metal-insulator transitions in three-dimensional topological insulators and superconductors
We discuss the effects of disorder in time-reversal invariant topological
insulators and superconductors in three spatial dimensions. For
three-dimensional topological insulator in symplectic (AII) symmetry class, the
phase diagram in the presence of disorder and a mass term, which drives a
transition between trivial and topological insulator phases, is computed
numerically by the transfer matrix method. The numerics is supplemented by a
field theory analysis (the large- expansion where is the number of
valleys or Dirac cones), from which we obtain the correlation length exponent,
and several anomalous dimensions at a non-trivial critical point separating a
metallic phase and a Dirac semi-metal. A similar field theory approach is
developed for disorder-driven transitions in symmetry class AIII, CI, and DIII.
For these three symmetry classes, where topological superconductors are
characterized by integer topological invariant, a complementary description is
given in terms of the non-linear sigma model supplemented with a topological
term which is a three-dimensional analogue of the Pruisken term in the integer
quantum Hall effect.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure
Interacting topological phases and modular invariance
We discuss a (2+1) dimensional topological superconductor with left-
and right-moving Majorana edge modes and a
symmetry. In the absence of interactions, these phases are distinguished by an
integral topological invariant . With interactions, the edge state in the
case is unstable against interactions, and a invariant mass gap can be generated dynamically. We show that
this phenomenon is closely related to the modular invariance of type II
superstring theory. More generally, we show that the global gravitational
anomaly of the non-chiral Majorana edge states is the physical manifestation of
the bulk topological superconductors classified by .Comment: 11 page
Linking horizontal and vertical transports of biomass fire emissions to the Tropical Atlantic Ozone Paradox during the Northern Hemisphere winter season: climatology
International audienceDuring the Northern hemisphere winter season, biomass burning is widespread in West Africa, yet the total tropospheric column ozone values (<30 DU) over much of the Tropical Atlantic Ocean (15° N?5° S) are relatively low. At the same time, the tropospheric column ozone values in the Southern Tropical Atlantic are higher than those in the Northern Hemisphere (ozone paradox). We examine the causes for low tropospheric column ozone values by considering the horizontal and vertical transport of biomass fire emissions in West Africa during November through March, using observed data which characterizes fires, aerosols, horizontal winds, precipitation, lightning and outgoing longwave radiation. We have found that easterly winds prevail in the lower troposphere but transition to westerly winds at pressure levels lower than 500 hPa. A persistent anticyclone over West Africa at 700 hPa is responsible for strong easterly winds, which causes a net outflow of ozone/ozone precursors from biomass burning in West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards South America. The lowest outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and highest precipitation rates are generally found over the central Atlantic, some distance downstream of fires in West Africa making the vertical transport of ozone and ozone precursors less likely and ozone destruction more likely. However, lightning over land areas in Central Africa and South America can lead to enhanced ozone levels in the upper troposphere especially over the Southern tropical Atlantic during the Northern Hemisphere winter season
Space-borne observations link the tropical atlantic ozone maximum and paradox to lightning
International audienceThe potential enhancement of tropospheric column ozone values over the Tropical Atlantic Ocean on a seasonal basis by lightning is investigated using satellite derived ozone data, TRMM lightning data, ozonesonde data and NCEP reanalysis during 1998-2001. Our results show that the number of lightning flashes in Africa and South America reach a maximum during September, October and November (SON). The spatial patterns of winds in combination with lightning from West Africa, Central Africa and South America is likely responsible for enriching middle/upper troposphere ozone over the Tropical South Atlantic during SON. Moreover, lightning flashes are high in the hemisphere opposite to biomass burning during December, January, and February (DJF) and June, July and August (JJA). This pattern leads to an enrichment of ozone in the middle/upper troposphere in the Southern Hemisphere Tropics during DJF and the Northern Hemisphere Tropics during JJA. During JJA the largest numbers of lightning flashes are observed in West Africa, enriching tropospheric column ozone to the north of 5S in the absence of biomass burning. During DJF, lightning is concentrated in South America and Central Africa enriching tropospheric column ozone south of the Equator in the absence of biomass burning
Decoy effects and brands
The relative preference for a target product over a competitor can be increased by providing a third alternative (a decoy) that is clearly inferior to the target but is not necessarily inferior to the competitor. We investigated how these “decoy” effects are influenced by the presence or absence of brand name information and the level of consumer brand knowledge. A field experiment was conducted with three hundred and twenty married females. Results indicated that overall, inclusion of a decoy in the choice set significantly increased the relative preference for the target (i.e., a decoy effect). However, identifying alternatives with real brand names eliminated this effect when participants possessed an extensive amount of knowledge about the brands, but it did not when participants had relatively limited knowledge. These results were generally consistent with implications of the category-based processing view about brand name information
Equation of State in Numerical Relativistic Hydrodynamics
Relativistic temperature of gas raises the issue of the equation of state
(EoS) in relativistic hydrodynamics. We study the EoS for numerical
relativistic hydrodynamics, and propose a new EoS that is simple and yet
approximates very closely the EoS of the single-component perfect gas in
relativistic regime. We also discuss the calculation of primitive variables
from conservative ones for the EoS's considered in the paper, and present the
eigenstructure of relativistic hydrodynamics for a general EoS, in a way that
they can be used to build numerical codes. Tests with a code based on the Total
Variation Diminishing (TVD) scheme are presented to highlight the differences
induced by different EoS's.Comment: To appear in the ApJS September 2006, v166n1 issue. Pdf with full
resolution figures can be downloaded from
http://canopus.cnu.ac.kr/ryu/ryuetal.pd
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