53,107 research outputs found
Influence of Correlated Hybridization on the Conductance of Molecular Transistors
We study the spin-1/2 single-channel Anderson impurity model with correlated
(occupancy dependent) hybridization for molecular transistors using the
numerical renormalization-group method. Correlated hybridization can induce
nonuniversal deviations in the normalized zero-bias conductance and, for some
parameters, modestly enhance the spin polarization of currents in applied
magnetic field. Correlated hybridization can also explain a gate-voltage
dependence to the Kondo scale similar to what has been observed in recent
experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and molecular hydrogen in oxygen-rich planetary nebulae: the case of NGC6720
Evolved stars are primary sources for the formation of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dust grains. Their circumstellar chemistry is usually
designated as either oxygen-rich or carbon-rich, although dual-dust chemistry
objects, whose infrared spectra reveal both silicate- and carbon-dust features,
are also known. The exact origin and nature of this dual-dust chemistry is not
yet understood. Spitzer-IRS mid-infrared spectroscopic imaging of the nearby,
oxygen-rich planetary nebula NGC6720 reveals the presence of the 11.3 micron
aromatic (PAH) emission band. It is attributed to emission from neutral PAHs,
since no band is observed in the 7 to 8 micron range. The spatial distribution
of PAHs is found to closely follow that of the warm clumpy molecular hydrogen
emission. Emission from both neutral PAHs and warm H2 is likely to arise from
photo-dissociation regions associated with dense knots that are located within
the main ring. The presence of PAHs together with the previously derived high
abundance of free carbon (relative to CO) suggest that the local conditions in
an oxygen-rich environment can also become conducive to in-situ formation of
large carbonaceous molecules, such as PAHs, via a bottom-up chemical pathway.
In this scenario, the same stellar source can enrich the interstellar medium
with both oxygen-rich dust and large carbonaceous molecules.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 5 page
The Many Faces of Heterogeneous Ice Nucleation: Interplay Between Surface Morphology and Hydrophobicity
What makes a material a good ice nucleating agent? Despite the importance of
heterogeneous ice nucleation to a variety of fields, from cloud science to
microbiology, major gaps in our understanding of this ubiquitous process still
prevent us from answering this question. In this work, we have examined the
ability of generic crystalline substrates to promote ice nucleation as a
function of the hydrophobicity and the morphology of the surface. Nucleation
rates have been obtained by brute-force molecular dynamics simulations of
coarse-grained water on top of different surfaces of a model fcc crystal,
varying the water-surface interaction and the surface lattice parameter. It
turns out that the lattice mismatch of the surface with respect to ice,
customarily regarded as the most important requirement for a good ice
nucleating agent, is at most desirable but not a requirement. On the other
hand, the balance between the morphology of the surface and its hydrophobicity
can significantly alter the ice nucleation rate and can also lead to the
formation of up to three different faces of ice on the same substrate. We have
pinpointed three circumstances where heterogeneous ice nucleation can be
promoted by the crystalline surface: (i) the formation of a water overlayer
that acts as an in-plane template; (ii) the emergence of a contact layer
buckled in an ice-like manner; and (iii) nucleation on compact surfaces with
very high interaction strength. We hope that this extensive systematic study
will foster future experimental work aimed at testing the physiochemical
understanding presented herein.Comment: Main + S
Multiple domestications of asian rice
In their recent Correspondence about our study showingthat there were three origins of Asian rice2, Huang and Han suggest that the
methodology that we used to infer multiple domestications was flawed as it did not take account of the strong genetic bottleneck in japonica
Knowlesi malaria in Vietnam
The simian malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi is transmitted in the forests of Southeast Asia. Symptomatic zoonotic knowlesi malaria in humans is widespread in the region and is associated with a history of spending time in the jungle. However, there are many settings where knowlesi transmission to humans would be expected but is not found. A recent report on the Ra-glai population of southern central Vietnam is taken as an example to help explain why this may be so
Anomalous aging phenomena caused by drift velocities
We demonstrate via several examples that a uniform drift velocity gives rise
to anomalous aging, characterized by a specific form for the two-time
correlation functions, in a variety of statistical-mechanical systems far from
equilibrium. Our first example concerns the oscillatory phase observed recently
in a model of competitive learning. Further examples, where the proposed theory
is exact, include the voter model and the Ohta-Jasnow-Kawasaki theory for
domain growth in any dimension, and a theory for the smoothing of sandpile
surfaces.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Europhysics Letter
Smooth rationally connected threefolds contain all smooth curves
We show that if X is a smooth rationally connected threefold and C is a
smooth projective curve then C can be embedded in X. Furthermore, a version of
this property characterises rationally connected varieties of dimension at
least 3. We give some details about the toric case.Comment: Version 1 was called "Any smooth toric threefold contains all
curves". This version is completely rewritten and proves a much stronger
result, following suggestions of Janos Kolla
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