305 research outputs found
Coherent transport in linear arrays of quantum dots: the effects of period doubling and of quasi-periodicity
We evaluate the phase-coherent transport of electrons along linear structures
of varying length, which are made from two types of potential wells set in
either a periodic or a Fibonacci quasi-periodic sequence. The array is
described by a tight-binding Hamiltonian and is reduced to an effective dimer
by means of a decimation-renormalization method, extended to allow for
connection to external metallic leads, and the transmission coefficient is
evaluated in a T-matrix scattering approach. Parallel behaviors are found for
the energy dependence of the density of electron states and of the
transmittivity of the array. In particular, we explicitly show that on
increasing its length the periodic array undergoes a metal-insulator transition
near single occupancy per dot, whereas prominent pseudo-gaps emerge away from
the band center in the Fibonacci-ordered array.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
Electromigration of Single-Layer Clusters
Single-layer atom or vacancy clusters in the presence of electromigration are
studied theoretically assuming an isotropic medium. A variety of distinctive
behaviors distinguish the response in the three standard limiting cases of
periphery diffusion (PD), terrace diffusion (TD), and evaporation-condensation
(EC). A general model provides power laws describing the size dependence of the
drift velocity in these limits, consistent with established results in the case
of PD. The validity of the widely used quasistatic limit is calculated. Atom
and vacancy clusters drift in opposite directions in the PD limit but in the
same direction otherwise. In absence of PD, linear stability analysis reveals a
new type of morphological instability, not leading to island break-down. For
strong electromigration, Monte Carlo simulations show that clusters then
destabilize into slits, in contrast to splitting in the PD limit.
Electromigration affects the diffusion coefficient of the cluster and
morphological fluctuations, the latter diverging at the instability threshold.
An instrinsic attachment-detachment bias displays the same scaling signature as
PD in the drift velocity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Casimir Effect, Achucarro-Ortiz Black Hole and the Cosmological Constant
We treat the two-dimensional Achucarro-Ortiz black hole (also known as (1+1)
dilatonic black hole) as a Casimir-type system. The stress tensor of a massless
scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions on two one-dimensional
"walls" ("Dirichlet walls") is explicitly calculated in three different vacua.
Without employing known regularization techniques, the expression in each
vacuum for the stress tensor is reached by using the Wald's axioms. Finally,
within this asymptotically non-flat gravitational background, it is shown that
the equilibrium of the configurations, obtained by setting Casimir force to
zero, is controlled by the cosmological constant.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, minor corrections, comments and clarifications
added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Chiral 4d string vacua with D-branes and NSNS and RR fluxes
We discuss type IIB orientifolds with D-branes, and NSNS and RR field
strength fluxes. The D-brane sectors lead to open string spectra with
non-abelian gauge symmetry and charged chiral fermions. The closed string field
strengths generate a scalar potential stabilizing most moduli. We describe the
construction of N=1 supersymmetric models in the context of orientifolds of IIB
theory on T^6/Z_2 x Z_2, containing D9-branes with world-volume magnetic
fluxes, and illustrate model building possibilities with several explicit
examples. We comment on a T-dual picture with D8-branes on non-Calabi-Yau
half-flat geometries, and discuss some of the topological properties of such
configurations. We also explore the construction of models with fluxes and with
D3-branes at singularities and present a non-supersymmetric 3-family SU(5)
model.Comment: latex, 49 pages, 2 figure
Towards Minkowski Vacua in Type II String Compactifications
We study the vacuum structure of compactifications of type II string theories
on orientifolds with SU(3)xSU(3) structure. We argue that generalised geometry
enables us to treat these non-geometric compactifications using a supergravity
analysis in a way very similar to geometric compactifications. We find
supersymmetric Minkowski vacua with all the moduli stabilised at weak string
coupling and all the tadpole conditions satisfied. Generically the value of the
moduli fields in the vacuum is parametrically controlled and can be taken to
arbitrarily large values.Comment: 33 pages; v2 minor corrections, references added, version to appear
in JHE
An Inflationary Scenario in Intersecting Brane Models
We propose a new scenario for D-term inflation which appears quite
straightforwardly in the open string sector of intersecting brane models. We
take the inflaton to be a chiral field in a bifundamental representation of the
hidden sector and we argue that a sufficiently flat potential can be brane
engineered. This type of model generically predicts a near gaussian red
spectrum with negligible tensor modes. We note that this model can very
naturally generate a baryon asymmetry at the end of inflation via the recently
proposed hidden sector baryogenesis mechanism. We also discuss the possibility
that Majorana masses for the neutrinos can be simultaneously generated by the
tachyon condensation which ends inflation. Our proposed scenario is viable for
both high and low scale supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures; v2 references and comments adde
Flux Compactifications on Calabi-Yau Threefolds
The presence of RR and NS three-form fluxes in type IIB string
compactification on a Calabi-Yau orientifold gives rise to a nontrivial
superpotential W for the dilaton and complex structure moduli. This
superpotential is computable in terms of the period integrals of the Calabi-Yau
manifold. In this paper, we present explicit examples of both supersymmetric
and nonsupersymmetric solutions to the resulting 4d N=1 supersymmetric no-scale
supergravity, including some nonsupersymmetric solutions with relatively small
values of W. Our examples arise on orientifolds of the hypersurfaces in
and . They serve as explicit
illustrations of several of the ingredients which have played a role in the
recent proposals for constructing de Sitter vacua of string theory.Comment: 30 pages, harvmac big; refs and minor comments adde
Low Energy Supersymmetry from Non-Geometry
We study a class of flux compactifications that have all the moduli
stabilised, a high (GUT) string scale and a low (TeV) gravitino mass that is
generated dynamically. These non-geometric compactifications correspond to type
II string theories on SU(3)xSU(3) structure orientifolds. The resulting
superpotentials admit, excluding non-perturbative effects, supersymmetric
Minkowski vacua with any number of moduli stabilised. We argue that
non-perturbative effects are present and introduce terms in the superpotential
that are exponentially suppressed by the same moduli that appear
perturbatively. These deform the supersymmetric Minkowski vacua to
supersymmetric AdS vacua with an exponentially small gravitino mass. The
resulting vacua allow for low scale supersymmetry breaking which can be
realised by a number of mechanisms.Comment: 36pp; v2 references added, minor clarifications, JHEP versio
Lives versus Livelihoods? Perceived economic risk has a stronger association with support for COVID-19 preventive measures than perceived health risk
This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 countries (N = 25,435). The main predictors were (1) perceived risk to contract coronavirus, (2) perceived risk to suffer economic losses due to coronavirus, and (3) their interaction effect. Individual and country-level variables were added as covariates in multilevel regression models. We examined compliance with various preventive health behaviors and support for strict containment policies. Results show that perceived economic risk consistently predicted mitigation behavior and policy support—and its effects were positive. Perceived health risk had mixed effects. Only two significant interactions between health and economic risk were identified—both positive
Physical activity attenuates the influence of FTO variants on obesity risk: A meta-analysis of 218,166 adults and 19,268 children
Background: The FTO gene harbors the strongest known susceptibility locus for obesity. While many individual studies have suggested that physical activity (PA) may attenuate the effect of FTO on obesity risk, other studies have not been able to confirm this interaction. To confirm or refute unambiguously whether PA attenuates the association of FTO with obesity risk, we meta-analyzed data from 45 studies of adults (n = 218,166) and nine studies of children and adolescents (n = 19,268). Methods and Findings: All studies identified to have data on the FTO rs9939609 variant (or any proxy [r2>0.8]) and PA were invited to participate, regardless of ethnicity or age of the participants. PA was standardized by categorizing it into a dichotomous variable (physically inactive versus active) in each study. Overall, 25% of adults and 13% of children were categorized as inactive. Interaction analyses were performed within each study by including the FTO×PA interaction term in an additive model, adjusting for age and sex. Subsequently, random effects meta-analysis was used to pool the interaction terms. In adults, the minor (A-) allele of rs9939609 increased the odds of obesity by 1.23-fold/allele (95% CI 1.20-1.26), but PA attenuated this effect (pinteraction= 0.001). More specifically, the minor allele of rs9939609 increased the odds of obesity less in the physically active group (odds ratio = 1.22/allele, 95% CI 1.19-1.25) than in the inactive group (odds ratio = 1.30/allele, 95% CI 1.24-1.36). No such interaction was found in children and adolescents. Concl
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