316 research outputs found
Whole-mantle convection with tectonic plates preserves long-term global patterns of upper mantle geochemistry
The evolution of the planetary interior during plate tectonics is controlled by slow convection within the mantle. Global-scale geochemical differences across the upper mantle are known, but how they are preserved during convection has not been adequately explained. We demonstrate that the geographic patterns of chemical variations around the Earth’s mantle endure as a direct result of whole-mantle convection within largely isolated cells defined by subducting plates. New 3D spherical numerical models embedded with the latest geological paleo-tectonic reconstructions and ground-truthed with new Hf-Nd isotope data, suggest that uppermost mantle at one location (e.g. under Indian Ocean) circulates down to the core-mantle boundary (CMB), but returns within ≥100 Myrs via large-scale convection to its approximate starting location. Modelled tracers pool at the CMB but do not disperse ubiquitously around it. Similarly, mantle beneath the Pacific does not spread to surrounding regions of the planet. The models fit global patterns of isotope data and may explain features such as the DUPAL anomaly and long-standing differences between Indian and Pacific Ocean crust. Indeed, the geochemical data suggests this mode of convection could have influenced the evolution of mantle composition since 550 Ma and potentially since the onset of plate tectonics
The Energy-dependent Checkerboard Patterns in Cuprate Superconductors
Motivated by the recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments [J.
E. Hoffman {\it et al.}, Science {\bf 297}, 1148 (2002); K. McElroy {\it et
al.}, Nature (to be published)], we investigate the real space local density of
states (LDOS) induced by weak disorder in a d-wave superconductor. We first
present the energy dependent LDOS images around a single weak defect at several
energies, and then point out that the experimentally observed checkerboard
pattern in the LDOS could be understood as a result of quasiparticle
interferences by randomly distributed defects. It is also shown that the
checkerboard pattern oriented along to the Cu-O bonds at low energies
would transform to that oriented parallel to the Cu-O bonds at higher energies.
This result is consistent with the experiments.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Phonon Hall effect in ionic crystals in the presence of static magnetic field
We study phonon Hall effect (PHE) for ionic crystals in the presence of
static magnetic field. Using Green-Kubo formula, we present an exact
calculation of thermal conductivity tensor by considering both positive and
negative frequency phonons. Numerical results are shown for some lattices such
as hexagonal lattices, triangular lattices, and square lattices. We find that
the PHE occurs on the nonmagnetic ionic crystal NaCl, although the magnitude is
very small which is due to the tiny charge-to-mass ratio of the ions. The
off-diagonal thermal conductivity is finite for nonzero magnetic field and
changes sign for high value of magnetic field at high temperature. We also
found that the off-diagonal thermal conductivity diverges as at low
temperature
Group descent algorithms for nonconvex penalized linear and logistic regression models with grouped predictors
Penalized regression is an attractive framework for variable selection
problems. Often, variables possess a grouping structure, and the relevant
selection problem is that of selecting groups, not individual variables. The
group lasso has been proposed as a way of extending the ideas of the lasso to
the problem of group selection. Nonconvex penalties such as SCAD and MCP have
been proposed and shown to have several advantages over the lasso; these
penalties may also be extended to the group selection problem, giving rise to
group SCAD and group MCP methods. Here, we describe algorithms for fitting
these models stably and efficiently. In addition, we present simulation results
and real data examples comparing and contrasting the statistical properties of
these methods
BPS R-balls in N=4 SYM on R X S^3, Quantum Hall Analogy and AdS/CFT Holography
In this paper, we propose a new approach to study the BPS dynamics in N=4
supersymmetric U(N) Yang-Mills theory on R X S^3, in order to better understand
the emergence of gravity in the gauge theory. Our approach is based on
supersymmetric, space-filling Q-balls with R-charge, which we call R-balls. The
usual collective coordinate method for non-topological scalar solitons is
applied to quantize the half and quarter BPS R-balls. In each case, a different
quantization method is also applied to confirm the results from the collective
coordinate quantization. For finite N, the half BPS R-balls with a U(1)
R-charge have a moduli space which, upon quantization, results in the states of
a quantum Hall droplet with filling factor one. These states are known to
correspond to the ``sources'' in the Lin-Lunin-Maldacena geometries in IIB
supergravity. For large N, we find a new class of quarter BPS R-balls with a
non-commutativity parameter. Quantization on the moduli space of such R-balls
gives rise to a non-commutative Chern-Simons matrix mechanics, which is known
to describe a fractional quantum Hall system. In view of AdS/CFT holography,
this demonstrates a profound connection of emergent quantum gravity with
non-commutative geometry, of which the quantum Hall effect is a special case.Comment: 42 pages, 2 figures; v3: a new paragraph on counting unbroken susy of
NC R-balls and references adde
Formation of Nanopits in Si Capping Layers on SiGe Quantum Dots
In-situ annealing at a high temperature of 640°C was performed for a low temperature grown Si capping layer, which was grown at 300°C on SiGe self-assembled quantum dots with a thickness of 50 nm. Square nanopits, with a depth of about 8 nm and boundaries along 〈110〉, are formed in the Si capping layer after annealing. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy observation shows that each nanopit is located right over one dot with one to one correspondence. The detailed migration of Si atoms for the nanopit formation is revealed by in-situ annealing at a low temperature of 540°C. The final well-defined profiles of the nanopits indicate that both strain energy and surface energy play roles during the nanopit formation, and the nanopits are stable at 640°C. A subsequent growth of Ge on the nanopit-patterned surface results in the formation of SiGe quantum dot molecules around the nanopits
Phase transition from a to superconductor
We study the phase transition from a to
superconductor using the tight-binding model of two-dimensional cuprates. As
the temperature is lowered past the critical temperature , first a superconducting phase is created. With further reduction of
temperature, the phase is created at temperature
. We study the temperature dependencies of the order parameter,
specific heat and spin susceptibility in these mixed-angular-momentum states on
square lattice and on a lattice with orthorhombic distortion. The
above-mentioned phase transitions are identified by two jumps in specific heat
at and .Comment: Latex file, 5 pages, 6 postscript figures, Accepted in Physical
Review
Exploring morphological correlations among H2CO, 12CO, MSX and continuum mappings
There are relatively few H2CO mappings of large-area giant molecular cloud
(GMCs). H2CO absorption lines are good tracers for low-temperature molecular
clouds towards star formation regions. Thus, the aim of the study was to
identify H2CO distributions in ambient molecular clouds. We investigated
morphologic relations among 6-cm continuum brightness temperature (CBT) data
and H2CO (111-110; Nanshan 25-m radio telescope), 12CO (1--0; 1.2-m CfA
telescope) and midcourse space experiment (MSX) data, and considered the impact
of background components on foreground clouds. We report simultaneous 6-cm H2CO
absorption lines and H110\alpha radio recombination line observations and give
several large-area mappings at 4.8 GHz toward W49 (50'\times50'), W3
(70'\times90'), DR21/W75 (60'\times90') and NGC2024/NGC2023 (50'\times100')
GMCs. By superimposing H2CO and 12CO contours onto the MSX color map, we can
compare correlations. The resolution for H2CO, 12CO and MSX data was about 10',
8' and 18.3", respectively. Comparison of H2CO and 12CO contours, 8.28-\mu m
MSX colorscale and CBT data revealed great morphological correlation in the
large area, although there are some discrepancies between 12CO and H2CO peaks
in small areas. The NGC2024/NGC2023 GMC is a large area of HII regions with a
high CBT, but a H2CO cloud to the north is possible against the cosmic
microwave background. A statistical diagram shows that 85.21% of H2CO
absorption lines are distributed in the intensity range from -1.0 to 0 Jy and
the \Delta V range from 1.206 to 5 km/s.Comment: 18 pages, 22 figures, 5 tables. Accepted to be published in
Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Modified f(G) gravity models with curvature-matter coupling
A modified f(G) gravity model with coupling between matter and geometry is
proposed, which is described by the product of the Lagrange density of the
matter and an arbitrary function of the Gauss-Bonnet term. The field equations
and the equations of motion corresponding to this model show the
non-conservation of the energy-momentum tensor, the presence of an extra-force
acting on test particles and the non-geodesic motion. Moreover, the energy
conditions and the stability criterion at de Sitter point in the modified f(G)
gravity models with curvature-matter coupling are derived, which can degenerate
to the well-known energy conditions in general relativity. Furthermore, in
order to get some insight on the meaning of these energy conditions, we apply
them to the specific models of f(G) gravity and the corresponding constraints
on the models are given. In addition, the conditions and the candidate for
late-time cosmic accelerated expansion in the modified f(G) gravity are studied
by means of conditions of power-law expansion and the equation of state of
matter less than -1/ 3 .Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Photoproduction in Scattering
We investigate the + c + photoproduction in
collision at the LEP II energy. The physical motivations for this study are: 1)
such next-to-leading order(NLO) process was not considered in previous
investigations of photoproduction in interaction, and it is
worthwhile to do so in order to make sound predictions for experimental
comparison; 2) from recent Belle experiment results, the process with same
final states at the factory has a theoretically yet unexplainable large
fraction; hence it is interesting to see what may happen at other colliders; 3)
the existing LEP data are marginal in observing such process, and at the planed
Linear Colliders(LCs) this process can be measured with high accuracy; 4) it is
necessary to take this process into consideration in the aim of elucidating the
quarkonium production mechanism, especially in testing the universality of
NRQCD nonperturbative matrix elements via photoproduction in
electron-position collisions.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
- …