Atmospheric transport of sulphur compound pollutants

Imperial Users onl

Influence of structural disorder and large-scale geometric fluctuations on the Coherent Transport of Metallic Junctions and Molecular Wires

Structural disorder is present in almost all experimental measurements of electronic transport through single molecules or molecular wires. To assess its influence on the conductance is computationally demanding, because a large number of conformations must be considered. Here we analyze an approximate recursive layer Green function approach for the ballistic transport through quasi one-dimensional nano-junctions. We find a rapid convergence of the method with its control parameter, the layer thickness, and good agreement with existing experimental and theoretical data. Because the computational effort rises only linearly with system size, this method permits treatment of very large systems. We investigate the conductance of gold- and silver wires of different sizes and conformations. For weak electrode disorder and imperfect coupling between electrode and wire we find conductance variations of approximately 20%. Overall we find the conductance of silver junctions well described by the immediate vicinity of narrowest point in the junction, a result that may explain the observation of well-conserved conductance plateaus in recent experiments on silver junctions. In an application to flexible oligophene wires, we find that strongly distorted conformations that are sterically forbidden at zero temperature, contribute significantly to the observed average zero-bias conductance of the molecular wire

Ultrasensitive 3He magnetometer for measurements of high magnetic fields

We describe a 3He magnetometer capable to measure high magnetic fields (B > 0.1 Tesla) with a relative accuracy of better than 10^-12. Our approach is based on the measurement of the free induction decay of gaseous, nuclear spin polarized 3He following a resonant radio frequency pulse excitation. The measurement sensitivity can be attributed to the long coherent spin precession time T2* being of order minutes which is achieved for spherical sample cells in the regime of motional narrowing where the disturbing influence of field inhomogeneities is strongly suppressed. The 3He gas is spin polarized in-situ using a new, non-standard variant of the metastability exchange optical pumping. We show that miniaturization helps to increase T2* further and that the measurement sensitivity is not significantly affected by temporal field fluctuations of order 10^-4.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure

QCD Signatures of Narrow Graviton Resonances in Hadron Colliders

We show that the characteristic p_\perp spectrum yields valuable information for the test of models for the production of narrow graviton resonances in the TeV range at LHC. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in those scenarios the parton showering formalism agrees with the prediction of NLO matrix element calculations.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, LaTe

Vector-pseudoscalar two-meson distribution amplitudes in three-body BB meson decays

We study three-body nonleptonic decays $B\to VVP$ by introducing two-meson distribution amplitudes for the vector-pseudoscalar pair, such that the analysis is simplified into the one for two-body decays. The twist-2 and twist-3 $\phi K$ two-meson distribution amplitudes, associated with longitudinally and transversely polarized $\phi$ mesons, are constrained by the experimental data of the $\tau\to\phi K\nu$ and $B\to\phi K\gamma$ branching ratios. We then predict the $B\to\phi K\gamma$ and $B\to\phi\phi K$ decay spectra in the $\phi K$ invariant mass. Since the resonant contribution in the $\phi K$ channel is negligible, the above decay spectra provide a clean test for the application of two-meson distribution amplitudes to three-body $B$ meson decays.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, Revtex4, version to appear in PR

A 3D full-field study of cracks in a nuclear graphite under mode I and mode II cyclic dwell loading conditions

Three‐dimensional (3D) full‐field deformation around crack tips in a nuclear graphite has been studied under mode I and mode II cyclic dwell loading conditions using digital volume correlation (DVC) and integrated finite element (FE) analysis. A cracked Brazilian disk specimen of Gilsocarbon graphite was tested at selected loading angles to achieve mode I and mode II cyclic dwell loading conditions. Integrated FE analysis was carried out with the 3D displacement fields measured by DVC injected into the FE model, from which the crack driving force J‐integral was obtained using a damaged plasticity material model. The evolution of near‐tip strains and the J‐integral during the cyclic dwell loading was examined. Under cyclic dwell, residual strain accumulation was observed for the first time. The results shed some light on the effect of dwell time on the 3D crack deformation and crack driving force in Gilsocarbon under cyclic mode I and II loading conditions