A non extensive approach for DNA breaking by ionizing radiation

Tsallis entropy and a maximum entropy principle allows to reproduce experimental data of DNA double strand breaking by electron and neutron radiation. Analytic results for the probability of finding a DNA segment of length l are obtained reproducing quite well the fragment distribution function experimentally obtained

Condensation of Vortex-Strings: Effective Potential Contribution Through Dual Actions

Topological excitations are believed to play an important role in different areas of physics. For example, one case of topical interest is the use of dual models of quantum cromodynamics to understand properties of its vacuum and confinement through the condensation of magnetic monopoles and vortices. Other applications are related to the role of these topological excitations, nonhomogeneous solutions of the field equations, in phase transitions associated to spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories, whose study is of importance in phase transitions in the early universe, for instance. Here we show a derivation of a model dual to the scalar Abelian Higgs model where its topological excitations, namely vortex-strings, become manifest and can be treated in a quantum field theory way. The derivation of the nontrivial contribution of these vacuum excitations to phase transitions and its analogy with superconductivity is then made possible and they are studied here.Comment: 7 pages. Based on a talk given by R. O. Ramos at the Infrared QCD in Rio conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 5-9, 200

Topologically Protected Zero Modes in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

We show that the twisted graphene bilayer can reveal unusual topological properties at low energies, as a consequence of a Dirac-point splitting. These features rely on a symmetry analysis of the electron hopping between the two layers of graphene and we derive a simplified effective low-energy Hamiltonian which captures the essential topological properties of twisted bilayer graphene. The corresponding Landau levels peculiarly reveal a degenerate zero-energy mode which cannot be lifted by strong magnetic fields.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; published versio

A COMPARATIVE STUDY FOR PROPELLER BLADE DESIGN

This work presents a comparative study between two propeller design methods for aeronautical application, with emphasis on its main element, the blade. The first method is an empirical approach based on graphical distribution of design parameters of a propeller and consists on a sequence of steps which starts from defined value for parameters like flight speed, propeller RPM, etc; with a view to obtain others dimensional parameters (diameter, twisting angle, etc) for a propeller to be used on a general aviation aircraft, with the goal to achieve certain performance target. According to the author of this method, the design of a propeller should be seen more as an art rather than exact science. The second method is well known by the aeronautical industry and called “method or theory of blade element”. This theory consider a propeller blade as a twisted wing, for which the quantities of interest to be obtained are the aerodynamics reactions, lift and drag, which are a function of the airfoil characteristics (treated as aerodynamic coefficients, cl for lift and cd for drag) for each section along blades length, twist angle, Mach, etc. For obtaining the propeller value of interest, the number of blades must also be considered. As an application for the study it was used a tri-blade propeller which equips an airplane for general aviation, that can carry 4 occupants flying at 170 Knots. The first aim of this study was to compare the results provided by the empirical method against the BET (Blade Element Theory). A secondary objective was to extend the empirical method in the design of a propeller for use on a closed circuit wind tunnel, once verified the consistency of obtained results as aimed on the first part of this study. Although the results were favorable, showing that both methods provide similar results, the study showed that the empirical method is not valid for operating and constructive conditions set for conditions like the defined for this wind tunnel, once for this type of application, the design parameters extrapolates the minimum and maximum limits established in the empirical method, providing extremely inconsistent results

Capacitive Coupling of Two Transmission Line Resonators Mediated by the Phonon Number of a Nanoelectromechanical Oscillator

Detection of quantum features in mechanical systems at the nanoscale constitutes a challenging task, given the weak interaction with other elements and the available technics. Here we describe how the interaction between two monomodal transmission-line resonators (TLRs) mediated by vibrations of a nano-electromechanical oscillator can be described. This scheme is then employed for quantum non-demolition detection of the number of phonons in the nano-electromechanical oscillator through a direct current measurement in the output of one of the TLRs. For that to be possible an undepleted field inside one of the TLR works as a amplifier for the interaction between the mechanical resonator and the remaining TLR. We also show how how the non-classical nature of this system can be used for generation of tripartite entanglement and conditioned mechanical coherent superposition states, which may be further explored for detection processes.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure