36,448 research outputs found
Parametric vision simulation study, part 2 Final report
Effects of landing site redesignation on visibility during manned lunar landin
Towards first-principles understanding of the metal-insulator transition in fluid alkali metals
By treating the electron-ion interaction as perturbation in the
first-principles Hamiltonian, we have calculated the density response functions
of a fluid alkali metal to find an interesting charge instability due to
anomalous electronic density fluctuations occurring at some finite wave vector
{\bi Q} in a dilute fluid phase above the liquid-gas critical point. Since
|{\bi Q}| is smaller than the diameter of the Fermi surface, this instability
necessarily impedes the electric conduction, implying its close relevance to
the metal-insulator transition in fluid alkali metals.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Current saturation and Coulomb interactions in organic single-crystal transistors
Electronic transport through rubrene single-crystal field effect transistors
(FETs) is investigated experimentally in the high carrier density regime (n ~
0.1 carrier/molecule). In this regime, we find that the current does not
increase linearly with the density of charge carriers, and tends to saturate.
At the same time, the activation energy for transport unexpectedly increases
with increasing n. We perform a theoretical analysis in terms of a well-defined
microscopic model for interacting Frohlich polarons, that quantitatively
accounts for our experimental observations. This work is particularly
significant for our understanding of electronic transport through organic FETs.Comment: Extended version with 1 additional figure and an appendix explaining
the consistency of the theoretical calculatio
Parity Violation in Neutrino Transport and the Origin of Pulsar Kicks
In proto-neutron stars with strong magnetic fields, the neutrino-nucleon
scattering/absorption cross sections depend on the direction of neutrino
momentum with respect to the magnetic field axis, a manifestation of parity
violation in weak interactions. We study the deleptonization and thermal
cooling (via neutrino emission) of proto-neutron stars in the presence of such
asymmetric neutrino opacities. Significant asymmetry in neutrino emission is
obtained due to multiple neutrino-nucleon scatterings. For an ordered magnetic
field threading the neutron star interior, the fractional asymmetry in neutrino
emission is about , corresponding to a pulsar kick velocity
of about km/s for a total radiated neutrino energy of
erg.Comment: AASTeX, 10 pages including 2 ps figures; ApJ Letter in press (March
10, 1998). Shortened to agree with the published versio
Pearson's random walk in the space of the CMB phases: evidence for parity asymmetry
The temperature fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are
supposed to be distributed randomly in both magnitude and phase, following to
the simplest model of inflation. In this paper, we look at the odd and even
multipoles of the spherical harmonic decomposition of the CMB, and the
different characteristics of these, giving rise to a parity asymmetry. We
compare the even and odd multipoles in the CMB power spectrum, and also the
even and odd mean angles. We find for the multipoles of the power spectrum,
that there is power excess in odd multipoles, compared to even ones, meaning
that we have a parity asymmetry. Further, for the phases, we present a random
walk for the mean angles, and find a significant separation for even/odd mean
angles, especially so for galactic coordinates. This is further tested and
confirmed with a directional parity test, comparing the parity asymmetry in
galactic and ecliptic coordinates.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, 10 pages, 10 figures, 1
table. Some typographical errors corrected, and further references adde
The 69 ms Radio Pulsar Near the Supernova Remnant RCW 103
We report the detection of the radio pulsar counterpart to the 69 ms X-ray
pulsar discovered near the supernova remnant RCW 103 (G332.4-0.4). Our
detection confirms that the pulsations arise from a rotation-powered neutron
star, which we name PSR J1617-5055. The observed barycentric period derivative
confirms that the pulsar has a characteristic age of only 8 kyr, the sixth
smallest of all known pulsars. The unusual apparent youth of the pulsar and its
proximity to a young remnant requires that an association be considered.
Although the respective ages and distances are consistent within substantial
uncertainties, the large inferred pulsar transverse velocity is difficult to
explain given the observed pulsar velocity distribution, the absence of
evidence for a pulsar wind nebula, and the symmetry of the remnant. Rather, we
argue that the objects are likely superposed on the sky; this is reasonable
given the complex area. Without an association, the question of where is the
supernova remnant left behind following the birth of PSR J1617-5055 remains
open. We also discuss a possible association between PSR J1617-5055 and the
gamma-ray source 2CG 333+01. Though an association is energetically plausible,
it is unlikely given that EGRET did not detect 2CG 333+01.Comment: 18 pages, 2 encapsulated Postscript figures, uses AAS LaTeX style
files. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
Nonlinear Screening and Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions
A nonlinear response theory is developed and applied to electrostatic
interactions between spherical macroions, screened by surrounding microions, in
charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions. The theory describes leading-order
nonlinear response of the microions (counterions, salt ions) to the
electrostatic potential of the macroions and predicts microion-induced
effective many-body interactions between macroions. A linear response
approximation [Phys. Rev. E 62, 3855 (2000)] yields an effective pair potential
of screened-Coulomb (Yukawa) form, as well as a one-body volume energy, which
contributes to the free energy. Nonlinear response generates effective
many-body interactions and essential corrections to both the effective pair
potential and the volume energy. By adopting a random-phase approximation (RPA)
for the response functions, and thus neglecting microion correlations,
practical expressions are derived for the effective pair and triplet potentials
and for the volume energy. Nonlinear screening is found to weaken repulsive
pair interactions, induce attractive triplet interactions, and modify the
volume energy. Numerical results for monovalent microions are in good agreement
with available ab initio simulation data and demonstrate that nonlinear effects
grow with increasing macroion charge and concentration and with decreasing salt
concentration. In the dilute limit of zero macroion concentration,
leading-order nonlinear corrections vanish. Finally, it is shown that nonlinear
response theory, when combined with the RPA, is formally equivalent to the
mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann theory and that the linear response approximation
corresponds, within integral-equation theory, to a linearized hypernetted-chain
closure.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, Phys. Rev. E (in press
Can Parity Violation in Neutrino Transport Lead to Pulsar Kicks?
In magnetized proto-neutron stars, neutrino cross sections depend
asymmetrically on the neutrino momenta due to parity violation. However, these
asymmetric opacities do not induce any asymmetric flux in the bulk interior of
the star where neutrinos are nearly in thermal equilibrium. Consequently,
parity violation in neutrino absorption and scattering can only give rise to
asymmetric neutrino flux above the neutrino-matter decoupling layer. The kick
velocity is substantially reduced from previous estimates, requiring a dipole
field ~G to get of order a few hundred km~s.Comment: REVTEX, 4 pages, no figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
First-principles investigation of Ag-Cu alloy surfaces in an oxidizing environment
In this paper we investigate by means of first-principles density functional
theory calculations the (111) surface of the Ag-Cu alloy under varying
conditions of pressure of the surrounding oxygen atmosphere and temperature.
This alloy has been recently proposed as a catalyst with improved selectivity
for ethylene epoxidation with respect to pure silver, the catalyst commonly
used in industrial applications. Here we show that the presence of oxygen leads
to copper segregation to the surface. Considering the surface free energy as a
function of the surface composition, we construct the convex hull to
investigate the stability of various surface structures. By including the
dependence of the free surface energy on the oxygen chemical potential, we are
able compute the phase diagram of the alloy as a function of temperature,
pressure and surface composition. We find that, at temperature and pressure
typically used in ethylene epoxidation, a number of structures can be present
on the surface of the alloy, including clean Ag(111), thin layers of copper
oxide and thick oxide-like structures. These results are consistent with, and
help explain, recent experimental results.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Entropy-induced Microphase Separation in Hard Diblock Copolymers
Whereas entropy can induce phase behavior that is as rich as seen in
energetic systems, microphase separation remains a very rare phenomenon in
entropic systems. In this paper, we present a density functional approach to
study the possibility of entropy-driven microphase separation in diblock
copolymers. Our model system consists of copolymers composed of freely-jointed
slender hard rods. The two types of monomeric segments have comparable lengths,
but a significantly different diameter, the latter difference providing the
driving force for the phase separation. At the same time these systems can also
exhibit liquid crystalline phases. We treat this system in the appropriate
generalization of the Onsager approximation to chain-like particles. Using a
linear stability (bifurcation) analysis, we analytically determine the onset of
the microseparated and the nematic phases for long chains. We find that for
very long chains the microseparated phase always preempts the nematic. In the
limit of infinitely long chains, the correlations within the chain become
Gaussian and the approach becomes exact. This allows us to define a Gaussian
limit in which the theory strongly simplifies and the competition between
microphase separation and liquid crystal formation can be studied essentially
analytically. Our main results are phase diagrams as a function of the
effective diameter difference, the segment composition and the length ratio of
the segments. We also determine the amplitude of the positional order as a
function of position along the chain at the onset of the microphase separation
instability. Finally, we give suggestions as to how this type of
entropy-induced microphase separation could be observed experimentally.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
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