36,011 research outputs found
Superconducting Puddles and "Colossal'' Effects in Underdoped Cuprates
Phenomenological models for the antiferromagnetic (AF) vs. d-wave
superconductivity competition in cuprates are studied using conventional Monte
Carlo techniques. The analysis suggests that cuprates may show a variety of
different behaviors in the very underdoped regime: local coexistence or
first-order transitions among the competing orders, stripes, or glassy states
with nanoscale superconducting (SC) puddles. The transition from AF to SC does
not seem universal. In particular, the glassy state leads to the possibility of
"colossal'' effects in some cuprates, analog of those in manganites. Under
suitable conditions, non-superconducting Cu-oxides could rapidly become
superconducting by the influence of weak perturbations that align the randomly
oriented phases of the SC puddles in the mixed state. Consequences of these
ideas for thin-film and photoemission experiments are discussed.Comment: RevTeX 4, revised expanded version, 8 pages, 8 figure
Simultaneous analysis of elastic scattering and transfer/breakup channels for the 6He+208Pb reaction at energies near the Coulomb barrier
The elastic and alpha-production channels for the 6He+208Pb reaction are
investigated at energies around the Coulomb barrier (E_{lab}=14, 16, 18, 22,
and 27 MeV). The effect of the two-neutron transfer channels on the elastic
scattering has been studied within the Coupled-Reaction-Channels (CRC) method.
We find that the explicit inclusion of these channels allows a simultaneous
description of the elastic data and the inclusive alpha cross sections at
backward angles. Three-body Continuum-Discretized Coupled-Channels (CDCC)
calculations are found to reproduce the elastic data, but not the
transfer/breakup data. The trivially-equivalent local polarization potential
(TELP) derived from the CRC and CDCC calculations are found to explain the
features found in previous phenomenological optical model calculations for this
system.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures (replaced with updated version
Revised Pulsar Spindown
We address the issue of electromagnetic pulsar spindown by combining our
experience from the two limiting idealized cases which have been studied in
great extent in the past: that of an aligned rotator where ideal MHD conditions
apply, and that of a misaligned rotator in vacuum. We construct a spindown
formula that takes into account the misalignment of the magnetic and rotation
axes, and the magnetospheric particle acceleration gaps. We show that near the
death line aligned rotators spin down much slower than orthogonal ones. In
order to test this approach, we use a simple Monte Carlo method to simulate the
evolution of pulsars and find a good fit to the observed pulsar distribution in
the P-Pdot diagram without invoking magnetic field decay. Our model may also
account for individual pulsars spinning down with braking index n < 3, by
allowing the corotating part of the magnetosphere to end inside the light
cylinder. We discuss the role of magnetic reconnection in determining the
pulsar braking index. We show, however, that n ~ 3 remains a good approximation
for the pulsar population as a whole. Moreover, we predict that pulsars near
the death line have braking index values n > 3, and that the older pulsar
population has preferentially smaller magnetic inclination angles. We discuss
possible signatures of such alignment in the existing pulsar data.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures; accepted to Ap
Quasi-exactly solvable quartic potentials with centrifugal and Coulombic terms
PT symmetric complex potential V(r) = - r^4 + i a r^3 + b r^2 + i c r + i d/r
+ e/r^2 is studied. Arbitrarily large multiplets of its closed bound-state
solutions with real energies are shown obtainable quasi-exactly (i.e., with a
certain relationship between their charges and energies) from a single
underlying finite-dimensional secular equation.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge
On the \phi(1020)f_0(980) S-wave scattering and the Y(2175) resonance
We have studied the \phi(1020)f_0(980) S-wave scattering at energies around
threshold employing chiral Lagrangians coupled to vector mesons through minimal
coupling. The interaction kernel is obtained by considering the f_0(980) as a
K\bar{K} bound state. The Y(2175) resonance is generated in this approach by
the self-interactions between the \phi(1020) and the f_0(980) resonances. We
are able to describe the e^+e^-\to \phi(1020)f_0(980) recent scattering data to
test experimentally our scattering amplitudes, concluding that the Y(2175)
resonance has a large \phi(1020)f_0(980) meson-meson component.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure
Evaluation of design recommendations for the development of wheelchair rugby sports-wear
Currently, wheelchair rugby athletes face the challenges of playing the sport without specifically designed sports-wear kit. A few designs and recommendations have already been proposed by researchers but none have made it to market yet. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a set of design recommendations for the development of wheelchair rugby sports-wear. This was done so that the products to be created are developed in collaboration with their potential users, responding to their particular needs and requirements. The evaluation was done through an online survey, where the athletes were presented with a visual representation of the design recommendations. The results indicate that the people questioned agree with the majority of the proposed designs and would be happy to have these improvements made to their current sports-wear. The most criticised recommendations were for the gloves, as they are the most important part of the kit, so it is important that they are adequate and allow for a good performance
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