332 research outputs found
Scattering phases in quantum dots: an analysis based on lattice models
The properties of scattering phases in quantum dots are analyzed with the
help of lattice models. We first derive the expressions relating the different
scattering phases and the dot Green functions. We analyze in detail the Friedel
sum rule and discuss the deviation of the phase of the transmission amplitude
from the Friedel phase at the zeroes of the transmission. The occurrence of
such zeroes is related to the parity of the isolated dot levels. A statistical
analysis of the isolated dot wave-functions reveals the absence of significant
correlations in the parity for large disorder and the appearance, for weak
disorder, of certain dot states which are strongly coupled to the leads. It is
shown that large differences in the coupling to the leads give rise to an
anomalous charging of the dot levels. A mechanism for the phase lapse observed
experimentally based on this property is discussed and illustrated with model
calculations.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. to appear in Physical Review
Quantification of depth of anesthesia by nonlinear time series analysis of brain electrical activity
We investigate several quantifiers of the electroencephalogram (EEG) signal
with respect to their ability to indicate depth of anesthesia. For 17 patients
anesthetized with Sevoflurane, three established measures (two spectral and one
based on the bispectrum), as well as a phase space based nonlinear correlation
index were computed from consecutive EEG epochs. In absence of an independent
way to determine anesthesia depth, the standard was derived from measured blood
plasma concentrations of the anesthetic via a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic
model for the estimated effective brain concentration of Sevoflurane. In most
patients, the highest correlation is observed for the nonlinear correlation
index D*. In contrast to spectral measures, D* is found to decrease
monotonically with increasing (estimated) depth of anesthesia, even when a
"burst-suppression" pattern occurs in the EEG. The findings show the potential
for applications of concepts derived from the theory of nonlinear dynamics,
even if little can be assumed about the process under investigation.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Magneto-transport in periodic and quasiperiodic arrays of mesoscopic rings
We study theoretically the transmission properties of serially connected
mesoscopic rings threaded by a magnetic flux. Within a tight-binding formalism
we derive exact analytical results for the transmission through periodic and
quasiperiodic Fibonacci arrays of rings of two different sizes. The role played
by the number of scatterers in each arm of the ring is analyzed in some detail.
The behavior of the transmission coefficient at a particular value of the
energy of the incident electron is studied as a function of the magnetic flux
(and vice versa) for both the periodic and quasiperiodic arrays of rings having
different number of atoms in the arms. We find interesting resonance properties
at specific values of the flux, as well as a power-law decay in the
transmission coefficient as the number of rings increases, when the magnetic
field is switched off. For the quasiperiodic Fibonacci sequence we discuss
various features of the transmission characteristics as functions of energy and
flux, including one special case where, at a special value of the energy and in
the absence of any magnetic field, the transmittivity changes periodically as a
function of the system size.Comment: 9 pages with 7 .eps figures included, submitted to PR
Nonlinear excitations in CsNiF3 in magnetic fields perpendicular to the easy plane
Experimental and numerical studies of the magnetic field dependence of the
specific heat and magnetization of single crystals of CsNiF3 have been
performed at 2.4 K, 2.9 K, and 4.2 K in magnetic fields up to 9 T oriented
perpendicular to the easy plane. The experimental results confirm the presence
of the theoretically predicted double peak structure in the specific heat
arising from the formation of nonlinear spin modes. The demagnetizing effects
are found to be negligible, and the overall agreement between the data and
numerical predictions is better than reported for the case when the magnetic
field was oriented in the easy plane. Demagnetizing effects might play a role
in generating the difference observed between theory and experiment in previous
work analyzing the excess specific heat using the sine-Gordon model.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A Solvable Regime of Disorder and Interactions in Ballistic Nanostructures, Part I: Consequences for Coulomb Blockade
We provide a framework for analyzing the problem of interacting electrons in
a ballistic quantum dot with chaotic boundary conditions within an energy
(the Thouless energy) of the Fermi energy. Within this window we show that the
interactions can be characterized by Landau Fermi liquid parameters. When ,
the dimensionless conductance of the dot, is large, we find that the disordered
interacting problem can be solved in a saddle-point approximation which becomes
exact as (as in a large-N theory). The infinite theory shows a
transition to a strong-coupling phase characterized by the same order parameter
as in the Pomeranchuk transition in clean systems (a spontaneous
interaction-induced Fermi surface distortion), but smeared and pinned by
disorder. At finite , the two phases and critical point evolve into three
regimes in the plane -- weak- and strong-coupling regimes separated
by crossover lines from a quantum-critical regime controlled by the quantum
critical point. In the strong-coupling and quantum-critical regions, the
quasiparticle acquires a width of the same order as the level spacing
within a few 's of the Fermi energy due to coupling to collective
excitations. In the strong coupling regime if is odd, the dot will (if
isolated) cross over from the orthogonal to unitary ensemble for an
exponentially small external flux, or will (if strongly coupled to leads) break
time-reversal symmetry spontaneously.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. Very minor changes. We have clarified that we
are treating charge-channel instabilities in spinful systems, leaving
spin-channel instabilities for future work. No substantive results are
change
Correlation of pulse wave velocity with left ventricular mass in patients with hypertension once blood pressure has been normalized
Vascular stiffness has been proposed as a simple method to assess arterial loading conditions of the heart which induce left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). There is some controversy as to whether the relationship of vascular stiffness to LVH is independent of blood pressure, and which measurement of arterial stiffness, augmentation index (AI) or pulse wave velocity (PWV) is best. Carotid pulse wave contor and pulse wave velocity of patients (n=20) with hypertension whose blood pressure (BP) was under control (<140/90 mmHg) with antihypertensive drug treatment medications, and without valvular heart disease, were measured. Left ventricular mass, calculated from 2D echocardiogram, was adjusted for body size using two different methods: body surface area and height. There was a significant (P<0.05) linear correlation between LV mass index and pulse wave velocity. This was not explained by BP level or lower LV mass in women, as there was no significant difference in PWV according to gender (1140.1+67.8 vs 1110.6+57.7 cm/s). In contrast to PWV, there was no significant correlation between LV mass and AI. In summary, these data suggest that aortic vascular stiffness is an indicator of LV mass even when blood pressure is controlled to less than 140/90 mmHg in hypertensive patients. The data further suggest that PWV is a better proxy or surrogate marker for LV mass than AI and the measurement of PWV may be useful as a rapid and less expensive assessment of the presence of LVH in this patient population
Health Status and Health Care Use Among Adolescents Identified With and Without Autism in Early Childhood — Four U.S. Sites, 2018–2020
Persons identified in early childhood as having autism spectrum disorder (autism) often have co-occurring health problems that extend into adolescence (1–3). Although only limited data exist on their health and use of health care services as they transition to adolescence, emerging data suggest that a minority of these persons receive recommended guidance* from their primary care providers (PCPs) starting at age 12 years to ensure a planned transition from pediatric to adult health care (4,5). To address this gap in data, researchers analyzed preliminary data from a follow-up survey of parents and guardians of adolescents aged 12–16 years who previously participated in the Study to Explore Early Development (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/seed.html). The adolescents were originally studied at ages 2–5 years and identified at that age as having autism (autism group) or as general population controls (control group). Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) that accounted for differences in demographic characteristics were used to compare outcomes between groups. Adolescents in the autism group were more likely than were those in the control group to have physical difficulties (21.2% versus 1.6%;aPR = 11.6;95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.2–31.9), and to have additional mental health or other condition
Neuroimaging and Responsibility Assessments
Could neuroimaging evidence help us to assess the degree of a person’s responsibility for a crime which we know that they committed? This essay defends an affirmative answer to this question. A range of standard objections to this high-tech approach to assessing people’s responsibility is considered and then set aside, but I also bring to light and then reject a novel objection—an objection which is only encountered when functional (rather than structural) neuroimaging is used to assess people’s responsibility
- …