Vacuum energy sequestering and graviton loops

We recently formulated a local mechanism of vacuum energy sequester. This mechanism automatically removes all matter loop contributions to vacuum energy from the stress energy tensor which sources the curvature. Here we adapt the local vacuum energy sequestering mechanism to also cancel all the vacuum energy loops involving virtual gravitons, in addition to the vacuum energy generated by matter fields alone

Towards Atomic Level Simulation of Electron Devices Including the Semiconductor-Oxide Interface

We report a milestone in device modeling whereby a planar MOSFET with extremely thin silicon on insulator channel is simulated at the atomic level, including significant parts of the gate and buried oxides explicitly in the simulation domain, in ab initio fashion, i.e without material or geometrical parameters. We use the density-functional-based tight-binding formalism for constructing the device Hamiltonian, and non-equilibrium Green's functions formalism for calculating electron current. Simulations of Si/SiO2 super-cells agree very well with experimentally observed band-structure phenomena in SiO2-confined sub-6 nm thick Si films. Device simulations of ETSOI MOSFET with 3 nm channel length and sub-nm channel thickness also agree well with reported measurements of the transfer characteristics of a similar transistor.published_or_final_versio

Temperature Dependence of Exciton Diffusion in Conjugated Polymers

The temperature dependence of the exciton dynamics in a conjugated polymer is studied using time-resolved spectroscopy. Photoluminescence decays were measured in heterostructured samples containing a sharp polymer-fullerene interface, which acts as an exciton quenching wall. Using a 1D diffusion model, the exciton diffusion length and diffusion coefficient were extracted in the temperature range of 4-293 K. The exciton dynamics reveal two temperature regimes: in the range of 4-150 K, the exciton diffusion length (coefficient) of ~3 nm (~1.5 × 10-4 cm2/s) is nearly temperature independent. Increasing the temperature up to 293 K leads to a gradual growth up to 4.5 nm (~3.2 × 10-4 cm2/s). This demonstrates that exciton diffusion in conjugated polymers is governed by two processes: an initial downhill migration toward lower energy states in the inhomogenously broadened density of states, followed by temperature activated hopping. The latter process is switched off below 150 K.

Permittivity of oxidized ultra-thin silicon films from atomistic simulations

We establish the dependence of the permittivity of oxidized ultra-thin silicon films on the film thickness by means of atomistic simulations within the density-functional-based tight-binding theory (DFTB). This is of utmost importance for modeling ultra- and extremely-thin silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs, and for evaluating their scaling potential. We demonstrate that electronic contribution to the dielectric response naturally emerges from the DFTB Hamiltonian when coupled to Poisson equation solved in vacuum, without phenomenological parameters, and obtain good agreement with available experimental data. Comparison to calculations of H-passivated Si films reveals much weaker dependence of permittivity on film thickness for the SiO2-passivated Si, with less than 18% reduction in the case of 0.9 nm silicon-on-insulator.published_or_final_versio

Application of Johnson disribution to the problemof aerospace images classification

Solving the problem of aerospace images classification it was suggested to approximate distribution density of image characteristics by Johnson distribution. The possibilities of such approach were investigated and its availability was show

Smooth transitions from Schwarzschild vacuum to de Sitter space

We provide an infinity of spacetimes which contain part of both the Schwarzschild vacuum and de Sitter space. The transition, which occurs below the Schwarzschild event horizon, involves only boundary surfaces (no surface layers). An explicit example is given in which the weak and strong energy conditions are satisfied everywhere (except in the de Sitter section) and the dominant energy condition is violated only in the vicinity of the boundary to the Schwarzschild section. The singularity is avoided by way of a change in topology in accord with a theorem due to Borde..Comment: revtex4, two figures. Final form to appear in Phys. Rev.

Coherent Stranski-Krastanov growth in 1+1 dimensions with anharmonic interactions: An equilibrium study

The formation of coherently strained three-dimensional islands on top of the wetting layer in Stranski-Krastanov mode of growth is considered in a model in 1+1 dimensions accounting for the anharmonicity and non-convexity of the real interatomic forces. It is shown that coherent 3D islands can be expected to form in compressed rather than in expanded overlayers beyond a critical lattice misfit. In the latter case the classical Stranski-Krastanov growth is expected to occur because the misfit dislocations can become energetically favored at smaller island sizes. The thermodynamic reason for coherent 3D islanding is the incomplete wetting owing to the weaker adhesion of the edge atoms. Monolayer height islands with a critical size appear as necessary precursors of the 3D islands. The latter explains the experimentally observed narrow size distribution of the 3D islands. The 2D-3D transformation takes place by consecutive rearrangements of mono- to bilayer, bi- to trilayer islands, etc., after exceeding the corresponding critical sizes. The rearrangements are initiated by nucleation events each next one requiring to overcome a lower energetic barrier. The model is in good qualitative agreement with available experimental observations.Comment: 12 pages text, 15 figures, Accepted in Phys.Rev.B, Vol.61, No2

Spiral Evolution in a Confined Geometry

Supported nanoscale lead crystallites with a step emerging from a non-centered screw dislocation on the circular top facet were prepared by rapid cooling from just above the melting temperature. STM observations of the top facet show a nonuniform rotation rate and shape of the spiral step as the crystallite relaxes. These features can be accurately modeled using curvature driven dynamics, as in classical models of spiral growth, with boundary conditions fixing the dislocation core and regions of the step lying along the outer facet edge.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Physical Review Letter

A Cosmological Theory without Singularities

A theory of gravitation is constructed in which all homogeneous and isotropic solutions are nonsingular, and in which all curvature invariants are bounded. All solutions for which curvature invariants approach their limiting values approach de Sitter space. The action for this theory is obtained by a higher derivative modification of Einstein's theory. We expect that our model can easily be generalized to solve the singularity problem also for anisotropic cosmologies.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures (available as hard copies from the authors), uses phyzzx, BROWN-HET-89

Radiation of Charged Particles by Charged Black Hole

The probability of a charged particle production by the electric field of a charged black hole depends essentially on the particle energy. This probability is found in the nonrelativistic and ultrarelativistic limits. The range of values for the mass and charge of a black hole is indicated where the discussed mechanism of radiation is dominating over the Hawking one.Comment: 10 pages, latex, 4 ps-figure