2,814 research outputs found
A specialized isotope mass spectrometer for noninvasive diagnostics of Helicobacter pylori infection in human beings
A specialized isotope mass spectrometer for noninvasive diagnostics of Helicobacter pylori infection in human beings based on the carbon-13 isotope breath test has been designed and constructed. Important stages of the work included (i) calculating a low-aberration mass analyzer, (ii) manufacturing and testing special gas inlet system, and (iii) creating a small-size collector of ions. The proposed instrument ensures 13C/12C isotopic ratio measurement to within 1.7â° (pro mille) accuracy, which corresponds to requirements for a diagnostic tool. Preliminary medical testing showed that the mass spectrometer is applicable to practical diagnostics. The instrument is also capable of measuring isotopic ratios of other light elements, including N, O, B (for BF2+ ions), Ar, Cl, and
Mechanism of fragmentation and atomization of molecular ions in gasdynamic transport cell
The fragmentation of molecular ions formed upon the electrospraying of a sample and transported through the gasdynamic system of a mass spectrometer equipped with an IESAP (Ion Extraction from Solution at Atmospheric Pressure) source has been experimentally studied. It is established that ion fragmentation in a Kantorowicz-Gray type cell takes place in the immediate vicinity of a skimmer port, apparently, as a result of collisions between ions (accelerated in an electric field) and stagnant gas. Molecular mechanisms of fragmentation are considered and it is concluded that this process can take place in a single ion-molecule collision even
Canonical-basis solution of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equation on three-dimensional Cartesian mesh
A method is presented to obtain the canonical-form solutions of the HFB
equation for atomic nuclei with zero-range interactions like the Skyrme force.
It is appropriate to describe pairing correlations in the continuum in
coordinate-space representations. An improved gradient method is used for
faster convergences under constraint of orthogonality between orbitals. To
prevent high-lying orbitals to shrink into a spatial point, a repulsive
momentum dependent force is introduced, which turns out to unveil the nature of
high-lying canonical-basis orbitals. The asymptotic properties at large radius
and the relation with quasiparticle states are discussed for the obtained
canonical basis.Comment: 23 pages including 17 figures, REVTeX4, revised version, scheduled to
appear in Phys. Rev. C, Vol.69, No.
Quantum and approximation algorithms for maximum witnesses of Boolean matrix products
The problem of finding maximum (or minimum) witnesses of the Boolean product
of two Boolean matrices (MW for short) has a number of important applications,
in particular the all-pairs lowest common ancestor (LCA) problem in directed
acyclic graphs (dags). The best known upper time-bound on the MW problem for
n\times n Boolean matrices of the form O(n^{2.575}) has not been substantially
improved since 2006. In order to obtain faster algorithms for this problem, we
study quantum algorithms for MW and approximation algorithms for MW (in the
standard computational model). Some of our quantum algorithms are input or
output sensitive. Our fastest quantum algorithm for the MW problem, and
consequently for the related problems, runs in time
\tilde{O}(n^{2+\lambda/2})=\tilde{O}(n^{2.434}), where \lambda satisfies the
equation \omega(1, \lambda, 1) = 1 + 1.5 \, \lambda and \omega(1, \lambda, 1)
is the exponent of the multiplication of an n \times n^{\lambda}$ matrix by an
n^{\lambda} \times n matrix. Next, we consider a relaxed version of the MW
problem (in the standard model) asking for reporting a witness of bounded rank
(the maximum witness has rank 1) for each non-zero entry of the matrix product.
First, by adapting the fastest known algorithm for maximum witnesses, we obtain
an algorithm for the relaxed problem that reports for each non-zero entry of
the product matrix a witness of rank at most \ell in time
\tilde{O}((n/\ell)n^{\omega(1,\log_n \ell,1)}). Then, by reducing the relaxed
problem to the so called k-witness problem, we provide an algorithm that
reports for each non-zero entry C[i,j] of the product matrix C a witness of
rank O(\lceil W_C(i,j)/k\rceil ), where W_C(i,j) is the number of witnesses for
C[i,j], with high probability. The algorithm runs in
\tilde{O}(n^{\omega}k^{0.4653} +n^2k) time, where \omega=\omega(1,1,1).Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
Information Loss in Coarse Graining of Polymer Configurations via Contact Matrices
Contact matrices provide a coarse grained description of the configuration
omega of a linear chain (polymer or random walk) on Z^n: C_{ij}(omega)=1 when
the distance between the position of the i-th and j-th step are less than or
equal to some distance "a" and C_{ij}(omega)=0 otherwise. We consider models in
which polymers of length N have weights corresponding to simple and
self-avoiding random walks, SRW and SAW, with "a" the minimal permissible
distance. We prove that to leading order in N, the number of matrices equals
the number of walks for SRW, but not for SAW. The coarse grained Shannon
entropies for SRW agree with the fine grained ones for n <= 2, but differs for
n >= 3.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, latex2e Main change: the introduction is
rewritten in a less formal way with the main results explained in simple
term
Evolution of shell structure in neutron-rich calcium isotopes
We employ interactions from chiral effective field theory and compute the
binding energies and low-lying excitations of calcium isotopes with the
coupled-cluster method. Effects of three-nucleon forces are included
phenomenologically as in-medium two-nucleon interactions, and the coupling to
the particle continuum is taken into account using a Berggren basis. The
computed ground-state energies and the low-lying 2+ states for the isotopes
42,48,50,52Ca are in good agreement with data, and we predict the excitation
energy of the first 2+ state in 54Ca at 1.9 MeV, displaying only a weak
sub-shell closure. In the odd-mass nuclei 53,55,61Ca we find that the positive
parity states deviate strongly from the naive shell model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; small correction of effective 3NF and slight
change of the corresponding parameters; updated figures and tables; main
results and conclusions unchange
Maximum likelihood drift estimation for a threshold diffusion
We study the maximum likelihood estimator of the drift parameters of a
stochastic differential equation, with both drift and diffusion coefficients
constant on the positive and negative axis, yet discontinuous at zero. This
threshold diffusion is called drifted Oscillating Brownian motion.For this
continuously observed diffusion, the maximum likelihood estimator coincide with
a quasi-likelihood estimator with constant diffusion term. We show that this
estimator is the limit, as observations become dense in time, of the
(quasi)-maximum likelihood estimator based on discrete observations. In long
time, the asymptotic behaviors of the positive and negative occupation times
rule the ones of the estimators. Differently from most known results in the
literature, we do not restrict ourselves to the ergodic framework: indeed,
depending on the signs of the drift, the process may be ergodic, transient or
null recurrent. For each regime, we establish whether or not the estimators are
consistent; if they are, we prove the convergence in long time of the properly
rescaled difference of the estimators towards a normal or mixed normal
distribution. These theoretical results are backed by numerical simulations
Bare vs effective pairing forces. A microscopic finite-range interaction for HFB calculations in coordinate space
We propose a microscopic effective interaction to treat pairing correlations
in the channel. It is introduced by recasting the gap equation
written in terms of the bare force into a fully equivalent pairing problem.
Within this approach, the proposed interaction reproduces the pairing
properties provided by the realistic force very accurately. Written in
the canonical basis of the actual Bogolyubov transformation, the force takes
the form of an off-shell in-medium two-body matrix in the superfluid phase
multiplied by a BCS occupation number . This interaction is finite
ranged, non local, total-momentum dependent and density dependent. The factor
emerging from the recast of the gap equation provides a natural
cut-off and makes zero-range approximations of the effective vertex meaningful.
Performing such an approximation, the roles of the range and of the density
dependence of the interaction can be disentangled. The isoscalar and isovector
density-dependences derived ab-initio provide the pairing force with a strong
predictive power when extrapolated toward the drip-lines. Although finite
ranged and non local, the proposed interaction makes HFB calculations of finite
nuclei in coordinate space tractable. Through the two-basis method, its
computational cost is of the same order as for a zero-range force.Comment: 43 pages, 13 figures. Published versio
Influence of ion implantation on the magnetic and transport properties of manganite films
We have used oxygen ions irradiation to generate controlled structural
disorder in thin manganite films. Conductive atomic force microscopy CAFM),
transport and magnetic measurements were performed to analyze the influence of
the implantation process in the physical properties of the films. CAFM images
show regions with different conductivity values, probably due to the random
distribution of point defect or inhomogeneous changes of the local Mn3+/4+
ratio to reduce lattice strains of the irradiated areas. The transport and
magnetic properties of these systems are interpreted in this context.
Metal-insulator transition can be described in the frame of a percolative
model. Disorder increases the distance between conducting regions, lowering the
observed TMI. Point defect disorder increases localization of the carriers due
to increased disorder and locally enhanced strain field. Remarkably, even with
the inhomogeneous nature of the samples, no sign of low field magnetoresistance
was found. Point defect disorder decreases the system magnetization but doesn t
seem to change the magnetic transition temperature. As a consequence, an
important decoupling between the magnetic and the metal-insulator transition is
found for ion irradiated films as opposed to the classical double exchange
model scenario.Comment: 27 pages, 11 Figure
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