Data Analysis Report on the Impact of Technology on Learning in Open Universities and Distance Education

This report presents the results of an international survey on the impact of the use of information technology and new media on higher distance education. This empirical research has been conducted by the EU project IMPACT that investigates the implications of various technologies for students and aims to provide research-based principles for how instructors can best use technology in their teaching. The study confirmed that the use of technology in higher distance education is beneficial for the student population at large and for special needs students in particular. No agreement was reached among the study groups on whether there is a difference in learning outcomes between studying at an Open University or a traditional face-to-face university

Dimensional reduction by pressure in the magnetic framework material CuF2_{2}(D2_{2}O)2_{2}pyz: from spin-wave to spinon excitations

Metal organic magnets have enormous potential to host a variety of electronic and magnetic phases that originate from a strong interplay between the spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom. We control this interplay in the quantum magnet CuF$_2$(D$_2$O)$_2$pyz by using high pressure to drive the system through a structural and magnetic phase transition. Using neutron scattering, we show that the low pressure state, which hosts a two-dimensional square lattice with spin-wave excitations and a dominant exchange coupling of 0.89 meV, transforms at high pressure into a one-dimensional spin-chain hallmarked by a spinon continuum and a reduced exchange interaction of 0.43 meV. This direct microscopic observation of a magnetic dimensional crossover as a function of pressure opens up new possibilities for studying the evolution of fractionalised excitations in low dimensional quantum magnets and eventually pressure-controlled metal--insulator transitions

Quantum Gravitational Contributions to the CMB Anisotropy Spectrum

We derive the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations in the framework of quantum cosmology. For this purpose we perform a Born-Oppenheimer approximation to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for an inflationary universe with a scalar field. In this way we first recover the scale-invariant power spectrum that is found as an approximation in the simplest inflationary models. We then obtain quantum gravitational corrections to this spectrum and discuss whether they lead to measurable signatures in the CMB anisotropy spectrum. The non-observation so far of such corrections translates into an upper bound on the energy scale of inflation.Comment: 4 pages, v3: sign error in Eq. (5) and its consequences correcte

U(1)-Symmetry breaking and violation of axial symmetry in TlCuCl3 and other insulating spin systems

We describe the Bose-Einstein condensate of magnetic bosonic quasiparticles in insulating spin systems using a phenomenological standard functional method for T = 0. We show that results that are already known from advanced computational techniques immediately follow. The inclusion of a perturbative anisotropy term that violates the axial symmetry allows us to remarkably well explain a number of experimental features of the dimerized spin-1/2 system TlCuCl3. Based on an energetic argument we predict a general intrinsic instability of an axially symmetric magnetic condensate towards a violation of this symmetry, which leads to the spontaneous formation of an anisotropy gap in the energy spectrum above the critical field. We, therefore, expect that a true Goldstone mode in insulating spin systems, i.e., a strictly linear energy-dispersion relation down to arbitrarily small excitations energies, cannot be observed in any real material.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Free-electron Model for Mesoscopic Force Fluctuations in Nanowires

When two metal electrodes are separated, a nanometer sized wire (nanowire) is formed just before the contact breaks. The electrical conduction measured during this retraction process shows signs of quantized conductance in units of G_0=2e^2/h. Recent experiments show that the force acting on the wire during separation fluctuates, which has been interpreted as being due to atomic rearrangements. In this report we use a simple free electron model, for two simple geometries, and show that the electronic contribution to the force fluctuations is comparable to the experimentally found values, about 2 nN.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, reference correcte

Hysteresis effects in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the formation of vortices in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a rotating anisotropic trap. We find that the number of vortices and angular momentum attained by the condensate depends upon the rotation history of the trap and on the number of vortices present in the condensate initially. A simplified model based on hydrodynamic equations is developed, and used to explain this effect in terms of a shift in the resonance frequency of the quadrupole mode of the condensate in the presence of a vortex lattice. Differences between the spin-up and spin-down response of the condensate are found, demonstrating hysteresis phenomena in this system.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures; revised after referees' report

Non-equilibrium hysteresis and spin relaxation in the mixed-anisotropy dipolar coupled spin-glass LiHo0.5_{0.5}Er0.5_{0.5}F4_{4}

We present a study of the model spin-glass LiHo$_{0.5}$Er$_{0.5}$F$_4$ using simultaneous AC susceptibility, magnetization and magnetocaloric effect measurements along with small angle neutron scattering (SANS) at sub-Kelvin temperatures. All measured bulk quantities reveal hysteretic behavior when the field is applied along the crystallographic c axis. Furthermore avalanche-like relaxation is observed in a static field after ramping from the zero-field-cooled state up to $200 - 300$ Oe. SANS measurements are employed to track the microscopic spin reconfiguration throughout both the hysteresis loop and the related relaxation. Comparing the SANS data to inhomogeneous mean-field calculations performed on a box of one million unit cells provides a real-space picture of the spin configuration. We discover that the avalanche is being driven by released Zeeman energy, which heats the sample and creates positive feedback, continuing the avalanche. The combination of SANS and mean-field simulations reveal that the conventional distribution of cluster sizes is replaced by one with a depletion of intermediate cluster sizes for much of the hysteresis loop.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

TMDlib and TMDplotter: library and plotting tools for transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions

Transverse-momentum-dependent distributions (TMDs) are central in high-energy physics from both theoretical and phenomenological points of view. In this manual we introduce the library, TMDlib, of fits and parameterisations for transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMD PDFs) and fragmentation functions (TMD FFs) together with an online plotting tool, TMDplotter. We provide a description of the program components and of the different physical frameworks the user can access via the available parameterisations.Comment: version 2, referring to TMDlib 1.0.2 - comments and references adde