249 research outputs found
Dynamic Fluctuation Phenomena in Double Membrane Films
Dynamics of double membrane films is investigated in the long-wavelength
limit including the overdamped squeezing mode. We demonstrate that thermal
fluctuations essentially modify the character of the mode due to its nonlinear
coupling to the transversal shear hydrodynamic mode. The corresponding Green
function acquires as a function of the frequency a cut along the imaginary
semi-axis. Fluctuations lead to increasing the attenuation of the squeezing
mode it becomes larger than the `bare' value.Comment: 7 pages, Revte
Selective high frequency mechanical actuation driven by the VO2 electronic instability
Micro- and nano-electromechanical resonators are a fundamental building block
of modern technology, used in environmental monitoring, robotics, medical tools
as well as fundamental science. These devices rely on dedicated electronics to
generate their driving signal, resulting in an increased complexity and size.
Here, we present a new paradigm to achieve high-frequency mechanical actuation
based on the metal-insulator transition of VO, where the steep
variation of its electronic properties enables to realize high-frequency
electrical oscillations. The dual nature of this phase change, which is both
electronic and structural, turns the electrical oscillations into an intrinsic
actuation mechanism, powered by a small DC voltage and capable to selectively
excite the different mechanical modes of a microstructure. Our results pave the
way towards the realization of micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems with
autonomous actuation from integrated DC power sources such as solar cells or
micro-batteries.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 4 figures Supplemental Material: 16 pages, 7
section
An optoelectronic framework enabled by low-dimensional phase-change films.
Accepted author version. The definitive version was published in: Nature 511, 206–211 (10 July 2014) doi:10.1038/nature13487The development of materials whose refractive index can be optically transformed as desired, such as chalcogenide-based phase-change materials, has revolutionized the media and data storage industries by providing inexpensive, high-speed, portable and reliable platforms able to store vast quantities of data. Phase-change materials switch between two solid states--amorphous and crystalline--in response to a stimulus, such as heat, with an associated change in the physical properties of the material, including optical absorption, electrical conductance and Young's modulus. The initial applications of these materials (particularly the germanium antimony tellurium alloy Ge2Sb2Te5) exploited the reversible change in their optical properties in rewritable optical data storage technologies. More recently, the change in their electrical conductivity has also been extensively studied in the development of non-volatile phase-change memories. Here we show that by combining the optical and electronic property modulation of such materials, display and data visualization applications that go beyond data storage can be created. Using extremely thin phase-change materials and transparent conductors, we demonstrate electrically induced stable colour changes in both reflective and semi-transparent modes. Further, we show how a pixelated approach can be used in displays on both rigid and flexible films. This optoelectronic framework using low-dimensional phase-change materials has many likely applications, such as ultrafast, entirely solid-state displays with nanometre-scale pixels, semi-transparent 'smart' glasses, 'smart' contact lenses and artificial retina devices.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)OUP John Fell Fun
Flavor Mediation Delivers Natural SUSY
If supersymmetry (SUSY) solves the hierarchy problem, then naturalness
considerations coupled with recent LHC bounds require non-trivial superpartner
flavor structures. Such "Natural SUSY" models exhibit a large mass hierarchy
between scalars of the third and first two generations as well as degeneracy
(or alignment) among the first two generations. In this work, we show how this
specific beyond the standard model (SM) flavor structure can be tied directly
to SM flavor via "Flavor Mediation". The SM contains an anomaly-free SU(3)
flavor symmetry, broken only by Yukawa couplings. By gauging this flavor
symmetry in addition to SM gauge symmetries, we can mediate SUSY breaking via
(Higgsed) gauge mediation. This automatically delivers a natural SUSY spectrum.
Third-generation scalar masses are suppressed due to the dominant breaking of
the flavor gauge symmetry in the top direction. More subtly, the
first-two-generation scalars remain highly degenerate due to a custodial U(2)
symmetry, where the SU(2) factor arises because SU(3) is rank two. This
custodial symmetry is broken only at order (m_c/m_t)^2. SUSY gauge coupling
unification predictions are preserved, since no new charged matter is
introduced, the SM gauge structure is unaltered, and the flavor symmetry treats
all matter multiplets equally. Moreover, the uniqueness of the anomaly-free
SU(3) flavor group makes possible a number of concrete predictions for the
superpartner spectrum.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. v2 references added, minor changes to
flavor constraints and a little discussion adde
A Stealth Supersymmetry Sampler
The LHC has strongly constrained models of supersymmetry with traditional
missing energy signatures. We present a variety of models that realize the
concept of Stealth Supersymmetry, i.e. models with R-parity in which one or
more nearly-supersymmetric particles (a "stealth sector") lead to collider
signatures with only a small amount of missing energy. The simplest realization
involves low-scale supersymmetry breaking, with an R-odd particle decaying to
its superpartner and a soft gravitino. We clarify the stealth mechanism and its
differences from compressed supersymmetry and explain the requirements for
stealth models with high-scale supersymmetry breaking, in which the soft
invisible particle is not a gravitino. We also discuss new and distinctive
classes of stealth models that couple through a baryon portal or Z' gauge
interactions. Finally, we present updated limits on stealth supersymmetry in
light of current LHC searches.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figure
Spectral criterion of stochastic stability for invariant manifolds 1
The mean square stability for invariant manifolds of nonlinear stochastic differential equations is considered. The stochastic stability analysis is reduced to the estimation of the spectral radius of some positive operator. For the important case of manifolds with codimension one, a constructive spectral analysis of this operator is carried out. On the basis of this spectral technique, parametrical criteria of the stochastic stability of limit cycle and 2-torus are developed. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Tweeting the Meeting: An In-Depth Analysis of Twitter Activity at Kidney Week 2011
In recent years, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has increased its efforts to use its annual conference to inform and educate the public about kidney disease. Social media, including Twitter, has been one method used by the Society to accomplish this goal. Twitter is a popular microblogging service that serves as a potent tool for disseminating information. It allows for short messages (140 characters) to be composed by any author and distributes those messages globally and quickly. The dissemination of information is necessary if Twitter is to be considered a tool that can increase public awareness of kidney disease. We hypothesized that content, citation, and sentiment analyses of tweets generated from Kidney Week 2011 would reveal a large number of educational tweets that were disseminated to the public. An ideal tweet for accomplishing this goal would include three key features: 1) informative content, 2) internal citations, and 3) positive sentiment score. Informative content was found in 29% of messages, greater than that found in a similarly sized medical conference (2011 ADA Conference, 16%). Informative tweets were more likely to be internally, rather than externally, cited (38% versus 22%, p<0.0001), thereby amplifying the original information to an even larger audience. Informative tweets had more negative sentiment scores than uninformative tweets (means −0.162 versus 0.199 respectively, p<0.0001), therefore amplifying a tweet whose content had a negative tone. Our investigation highlights significant areas of promise and improvement in using Twitter to disseminate medical information in nephrology from a scientific conference. This goal is pertinent to many nephrology-focused conferences that wish to increase public awareness of kidney disease
A Non Standard Model Higgs at the LHC as a Sign of Naturalness
Light states associated with the hierarchy problem affect the Higgs LHC
production and decays. We illustrate this within the MSSM and two simple
extensions applying the latest bounds from LHC Higgs searches. Large deviations
in the Higgs properties are expected in a natural SUSY spectrum. The discovery
of a non-Standard-Model Higgs may signal the presence of light stops accessible
at the LHC. Conversely, the more the Higgs is Standard-Model-like, the more
tuned the theory becomes. Taking the ratio of different Higgs decay channels at
the LHC cancels the leading QCD uncertainties and potentially improves the
accuracy in Higgs coupling measurements to the percent level. This may lead to
the possibility of doing precision Higgs physics at the LHC. Finally, we
entertain the possibility that the ATLAS excess around 125 GeV persists with a
Higgs production cross-section that is enhanced compared to the SM. This
increase can only be accommodated in extensions of the MSSM and it may suggest
that stops lie below 400 GeV, likely within reach of next year's LHC run.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures. v2: lambdaSUSY point changed, typos fixed,
references added, conclusions unchange
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