759 research outputs found
One-by-one trap activation in silicon nanowire transistors
Flicker or 1/f noise in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors
(MOSFETs) has been identified as the main source of noise at low frequency. It
often originates from an ensemble of a huge number of charges trapping and
detrapping. However, a deviation from the well-known model of 1/f noise is
observed for nanoscale MOSFETs and a new model is required. Here, we report the
observation of one-by-one trap activation controlled by the gate voltage in a
nanowire MOSFET and we propose a new low-frequency-noise theory for nanoscale
FETs. We demonstrate that the Coulomb repulsion between electronically charged
trap sites avoids the activation of several traps simultaneously. This effect
induces a noise reduction by more than one order of magnitude. It decreases
when increasing the electron density in the channel due to the electrical
screening of traps. These findings are technologically useful for any FETs with
a short and narrow channel.Comment: One file with paper and supplementary informatio
Gene therapy restores vision in rd1 mice after removal of a confounding mutation in Gpr179
The rd1 mouse with a mutation in the Pde6b gene was the first strain of mice identified with a retinal degeneration. However, AAV-mediated gene supplementation of rd1 mice only results in structural preservation of photoreceptors, and restoration of the photoreceptor-mediated a-wave, but not in restoration of the bipolar cell-mediated b-wave. Here we show that a mutation in Gpr179 prevents the full restoration of vision in rd1 mice. Backcrossing rd1 with C57BL6 mice reveals the complete lack of b-wave in a subset of mice, consistent with an autosomal recessive Mendelian inheritance pattern. We identify a mutation in the Gpr179 gene, which encodes for a G-protein coupled receptor localized to the dendrites of ON-bipolar cells. Gene replacement in rd1 mice that are devoid of the mutation in Gpr179 successfully restores the function of both photoreceptors and bipolar cells, which is maintained for up to 13 months. Our discovery may explain the failure of previous gene therapy attempts in rd1 mice, and we propose that Grp179 mutation status should be taken into account in future studies involving rd1 mice
Anomalous thermal conductivity and local temperature distribution on harmonic Fibonacci chains
The harmonic Fibonacci chain, which is one of a quasiperiodic chain
constructed with a recursion relation, has a singular continuous
frequency-spectrum and critical eigenstates. The validity of the Fourier law is
examined for the harmonic Fibonacci chain with stochastic heat baths at both
ends by investigating the system size N dependence of the heat current J and
the local temperature distribution. It is shown that J asymptotically behaves
as (ln N)^{-1} and the local temperature strongly oscillates along the chain.
These results indicate that the Fourier law does not hold on the harmonic
Fibonacci chain. Furthermore the local temperature exhibits two different
distribution according to the generation of the Fibonacci chain, i.e., the
local temperature distribution does not have a definite form in the
thermodynamic limit. The relations between N-dependence of J and the
frequency-spectrum, and between the local temperature and critical eigenstates
are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Phys.: Cond. Ma
Low-temperature heat transfer in nanowires
The new regime of low-temperature heat transfer in suspended nanowires is
predicted. It takes place when (i) only ``acoustic'' phonon modes of the wire
are thermally populated and (ii) phonons are subject to the effective elastic
scattering. Qualitatively, the main peculiarities of heat transfer originate
due to appearance of the flexural modes with high density of states in the wire
phonon spectrum. They give rise to the temperature dependence of the
wire thermal conductance. The experimental situations where the new regime is
likely to be detected are discussed.Comment: RevTex file, 1 PS figur
The photometric properties of a vast stellar substructure in the outskirts of M33
We have surveyed sq.degrees surrounding M33 with CFHT MegaCam in the
g and i filters, as part of the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey. Our
observations are deep enough to resolve the top 4mags of the red giant branch
population in this galaxy. We have previously shown that the disk of M33 is
surrounded by a large, irregular, low-surface brightness substructure. Here, we
quantify the stellar populations and structure of this feature using the PAndAS
data. We show that the stellar populations of this feature are consistent with
an old population with dex and an interquartile range in
metallicity of dex. We construct a surface brightness map of M33 that
traces this feature to mags\,arcsec. At these low surface
brightness levels, the structure extends to projected radii of kpc from
the center of M33 in both the north-west and south-east quadrants of the
galaxy. Overall, the structure has an "S-shaped" appearance that broadly aligns
with the orientation of the HI disk warp. We calculate a lower limit to the
integrated luminosity of the structure of mags, comparable to a
bright dwarf galaxy such as Fornax or AndII and slightly less than $1\$ of the
total luminosity of M33. Further, we show that there is tentative evidence for
a distortion in the distribution of young stars near the edge of the HI disk
that occurs at similar azimuth to the warp in HI. The data also hint at a
low-level, extended stellar component at larger radius that may be a M33 halo
component. We revisit studies of M33 and its stellar populations in light of
these new results, and we discuss possible formation scenarios for the vast
stellar structure. Our favored model is that of the tidal disruption of M33 in
its orbit around M31.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 17 figures. ApJ preprint forma
Phonon dispersion and electron-phonon interaction in peanut-shaped fullerene polymers
We reveal that the periodic radius modulation peculiar to one-dimensional
(1D) peanut-shaped fullerene (C) polymers exerts a strong influence on
their low-frequency phonon states and their interactions with mobile electrons.
The continuum approximation is employed to show the zone-folding of phonon
dispersion curves, which leads to fast relaxation of a radial breathing mode in
the 1D C polymers. We also formulate the electron-phonon interaction
along the deformation potential theory, demonstrating that only a few set of
electron and phonon modes yields a significant magnitude of the interaction
relevant to the low-temperature physics of the system. The latter finding gives
an important implication for the possible Peierls instability of the C
polymers suggested in the earlier experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Effect of phonon scattering by surface roughness on the universal thermal conductance
The effect of phonon scattering by surface roughness on the thermal
conductance in mesoscopic systems at low temperatures is calculated using full
elasticity theory. The low frequency behavior of the scattering shows novel
power law dependences arising from the unusual properties of the elastic modes.
This leads to new predictions for the low temperature depression of the thermal
conductance below the ideal universal value. Comparison with the data of Schwab
et al. [Nature 404, 974 (2000)] suggests that surface roughness on a scale of
the width of the thermal pathway is important in the experiment.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
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