738 research outputs found
Vacuum Bubble in an Inhomogeneous Cosmology
We study the propagation of bubbles of new vacuum in a radially inhomogeneous
Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi background that includes a cosmological constant. This
exemplifies the classical evolution of a tunneling bubble through a metastable
state with curvature inhomogeneities, and will be relevant in the context of
the Landscape. We demand that the matter profile in the LTB background satisfy
the weak energy condition. For sample profiles that satisfy this restriction,
we find that the evolution of the bubble (in terms of the physically relevant
coordinates intrinsic to the shell) is largely unaffected by the prsence of
local inhomogeneities. Our setup should also be a useful toy model for
capturing the effects of ambient inhomogeneities on an inflating region.Comment: 31 pages, 21(!) figures, v2: minor changes, figures re-sized (might
require zoom on some systems), references adde
Influence of medium composition on the characteristics of a denitrifying biofilm formed by alcaligenes denitrificans in a fluidised bed reactor
The influence of the ratio carbon/nitrogen and phosphorus concentration on the performance of a biofilm fluidised bed reactor
used for denitrification and on the properties of the biofilm was studied. Although the removal efficiencies of C and N reached
steady-state values, the thickness of the biofilm steadily increased. The dry density of the biofilm did not seem to be dependent
on the loading conditions, although a denser biofilm was obtained when there was no nutrient limitation that corresponded to the
complete removal of nitrate and carbon. The composition of the biofilm in terms of proteins and polysaccharides changed with
the C/N ratio and P concentrations. Higher denitrifying activities, which were obtained with increasing P concentrations, were
related with higher protein content, since metabolism was shifted from polysaccharide production towards cell production. The
thickness and the density of the biofilms were related mainly with the shear stress in the reactor and the composition of biofilms
was dependent on the composition of the medium and related with higher activities of the microorganisms.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PRAXIS XXI .
Instituto de Biotecnologia e Química Fina (IBQF)
Tunneling and propagation of vacuum bubbles on dynamical backgrounds
In the context of bubble universes produced by a first-order phase transition
with large nucleation rates compared to the inverse dynamical time scale of the
parent bubble, we extend the usual analysis to non-vacuum backgrounds. In
particular, we provide semi-analytic and numerical results for the modified
nucleation rate in FLRW backgrounds, as well as a parameter study of bubble
walls propagating into inhomogeneous (LTB) or FLRW spacetimes, both in the
thin-wall approximation. We show that in our model, matter in the background
often prevents bubbles from successful expansion and forces them to collapse.
For cases where they do expand, we give arguments why the effects on the
interior spacetime are small for a wide range of reasonable parameters and
discuss the limitations of the employed approximations.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected, matches published versio
Current and power spectrum in a magnetic tunnel device with an atomic size spacer
Current and its noise in a ferromagnetic double tunnel barrier device with a
small spacer particle were studied in the framework of the sequential tunneling
approach. Analytical formulae were derived for electron tunneling through the
spacer particle containing only a single energy level. It was shown that
Coulomb interactions of electrons with a different spin orientation lead to an
increase of the tunnel magnetoresistance. Interactions can also be responsible
for the negative differential resistance. A current noise study showed, which
relaxation processes can enhance or reduce fluctuations leading either to a
super-Poissonian or a sub-Poissonian shot noise.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Theta angle versus CP violation in the leptonic sector
Assuming that the axion mechanism of solving the strong CP problem does not
exist and the vanishing of theta at tree level is achieved by some
model-building means, we study the naturalness of having large CP-violating
sources in the leptonic sector. We consider the radiative mechanisms which
transfer a possibly large CP-violating phase in the leptonic sector to the
theta parameter. It is found that large theta cannot be induced in the models
with one Higgs doublet as at least three loops are required in this case. In
the models with two or more Higgs doublets the dominant source of theta is the
phases in the scalar potential, induced by CP violation in leptonic sector.
Thus, in the MSSM framework the imaginary part of the trilinear soft-breaking
parameter A_l generates the corrections to the theta angle already at one loop.
These corrections are large, excluding the possibility of large phases, unless
the universality in the slepton sector is strongly violated.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Nonequilibrium Josephson effect in short-arm diffusive SNS interferometers
We study non-equilibrium Josephson effect and phase-dependent conductance in
three-terminal diffusive interferometers with short arms. We consider strong
proximity effect and investigate an interplay of dissipative and Josephson
currents co-existing within the same proximity region. In junctions with
transparent interfaces, the suppression of the Josephson current appears at
rather large voltage, , and the current vanishes at
. Josephson current inversion becomes possible in junctions with
resistive interfaces, where the inversion occurs within a finite interval of
the applied voltage. Due to the presence of considerably large and
phase-dependent injection current, the critical current measured in a current
biased junction does not coincide with the maximum Josephson current, and
remains finite when the true Josephson current is suppressed. The voltage
dependence of the conductance shows two pronounced peaks, at the bulk gap
energy, and at the proximity gap energy; the phase oscillation of the
conductance exhibits qualitatively different form at small voltage ,
and at large voltage .Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, revised version, to be published in Phys. Rev.
String-localized Quantum Fields and Modular Localization
We study free, covariant, quantum (Bose) fields that are associated with
irreducible representations of the Poincar\'e group and localized in
semi-infinite strings extending to spacelike infinity. Among these are fields
that generate the irreducible representations of mass zero and infinite spin
that are known to be incompatible with point-like localized fields. For the
massive representation and the massless representations of finite helicity, all
string-localized free fields can be written as an integral, along the string,
of point-localized tensor or spinor fields. As a special case we discuss the
string-localized vector fields associated with the point-like electromagnetic
field and their relation to the axial gauge condition in the usual setting.Comment: minor correction
Photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence of Eu:La2O3 nanoparticles synthesized by several methods
Abstract : Europium-doped La2O3 nanocrystalline powders with sizes ranging from 4 nm to 300 nm have been obtained by the modified Pechini, hydrothermal with conventional furnace, hydrothermal with microwave furnace, and precipitation with ultrasonic bath methods. X-ray diffraction techniques were used to study the evolution of the prepared gels towards the desired crystalline phase. We determined the size and the morphology of the nanoparticles by electronic microscopy. Finally, we studied and analyzed the luminescence properties of the trivalent europium in the hexagonal La2O3 nanocrystals by photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence
Nonequilibrium Josephson effect in mesoscopic ballistic multiterminal SNS junctions
We present a detailed study of nonequilibrium Josephson currents and
conductance in ballistic multiterminal SNS-devices. Nonequilibrium is created
by means of quasiparticle injection from a normal reservoir connected to the
normal part of the junction. By applying a voltage at the normal reservoir the
Josephson current can be suppressed or the direction of the current can be
reversed. For a junction longer than the thermal length, , the
nonequilibrium current increases linearly with applied voltage, saturating at a
value equal to the equilibrium current of a short junction. The conductance
exhibits a finite bias anomaly around . For symmetric
injection, the conductance oscillates -periodically with the phase
difference between the superconductors, with position of the minimum
( or ) dependent on applied voltage and temperature. For
asymmetric injection, both the nonequilibrium Josephson current and the
conductance becomes -periodic in phase difference. Inclusion of barriers
at the NS-interfaces gives rise to a resonant behavior of the total Josephson
current with respect to junction length with a period . Both
three and four terminal junctions are studied.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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