228 research outputs found
Effects of C, Cu and Be substitutions in superconducting MgB2
Density functional calculations are used to investigate the effects of
partial substitutional alloying of the B site in MgB2 with C and Be alone and
combined with alloying of the Mg site with Cu. The effect of such substitutions
on the electronic structure, electron phonon coupling and superconductivity are
discussed. We find that Be substitution for B is unfavorable for
superconductivity as it leads to a softer lattice and weaker electron-phonon
couplings. Replacement of Mg by Cu leads to an increase in the stiffness and
doping level at the same time, while the carrier concentration can be
controlled by partial replacement of B by C. We estimate that with full
replacement of Mg by Cu and fractional substitution of B by C, Tc values of 50K
may be attainable.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Holographic Normal Ordering and Multi-particle States in the AdS/CFT Correspondence
The general correlator of composite operators of N=4 supersymmetric gauge
field theory is divergent. We introduce a means for renormalizing these
correlators by adding a boundary theory on the AdS space correcting for the
divergences. Such renormalizations are not equivalent to the standard normal
ordering of current algebras in two dimensions. The correlators contain contact
terms that contribute to the OPE; we relate them diagrammatically to
correlation functions of compound composite operators dual to multi-particle
states.Comment: 18 pages, one equation corr., further comments and refs. adde
BMN Operators for N=1 Superconformal Yang-Mills Theories and Associated String Backgrounds
We study a class of near-BPS operators for a complex 2-parameter family of
N=1 superconformal Yang-Mills theories that can be obtained by a
Leigh-Strassler deformation of N=4 SYM theory. We identify these operators in
the large N and large R-charge limit and compute their exact scaling dimensions
using N=1 superspace methods. From these scaling dimensions we attempt to
reverse-engineer the light-cone worldsheet theory that describes string
propagation on the Penrose limit of the dual geometry.Comment: 47 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; v2 a few typos corrected; v3 added
acknowledgements, a reference and improved discussion in section
Tomato: a crop species amenable to improvement by cellular and molecular methods
Tomato is a crop plant with a relatively small DNA content per haploid genome and a well developed genetics. Plant regeneration from explants and protoplasts is feasable which led to the development of efficient transformation procedures.
In view of the current data, the isolation of useful mutants at the cellular level probably will be of limited value in the genetic improvement of tomato. Protoplast fusion may lead to novel combinations of organelle and nuclear DNA (cybrids), whereas this technique also provides a means of introducing genetic information from alien species into tomato. Important developments have come from molecular approaches. Following the construction of an RFLP map, these RFLP markers can be used in tomato to tag quantitative traits bred in from related species. Both RFLP's and transposons are in the process of being used to clone desired genes for which no gene products are known. Cloned genes can be introduced and potentially improve specific properties of tomato especially those controlled by single genes. Recent results suggest that, in principle, phenotypic mutants can be created for cloned and characterized genes and will prove their value in further improving the cultivated tomato.
The state of the Martian climate
60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes
TOI-1268b: The youngest hot Saturn-mass transiting exoplanet
We report the discovery of TOI-1268b, a transiting Saturn-mass planet from the TESS space mission. With an age of less than 1 Gyr, derived from various age indicators, TOI-1268b is the youngest Saturn-mass planet known to date; it contributes to the small sample of well-characterised young planets. It has an orbital period of P = 8.1577080 \ub1 0.0000044 days, and transits an early K-dwarf star with a mass of M∗ = 0.96 \ub1 0.04 M+, a radius of R∗ = 0.92 \ub1 0.06 R+, an effective temperature of Teff = 5300 \ub1 100 K, and a metallicity of 0.36 \ub1 0.06 dex. By combining TESS photometry with high-resolution spectra acquired with the Tull spectrograph at the McDonald Observatory, and the high-resolution spectrographs at the Tautenburg and OndR ejov Observatories, we measured a planetary mass of Mp = 96.4 \ub1 8.3 Mp and a radius of Rp = 9.1 \ub1 0.6 Rp. TOI-1268 is an ideal system for studying the role of star-planet tidal interactions for non-inflated Saturn-mass planets. We used system parameters derived in this paper to constrain the planeta\u27s tidal quality factor to the range of 104.5-5.3. When compared with the sample of other non-inflated Saturn-mass planets, TOI-1268b is one of the best candidates for transmission spectroscopy studies
Should science educators deal with the science/religion issue?
I begin by examining the natures of science and religion before looking at the ways in which they relate to one another. I then look at a number of case studies that centre on the relationships between science and religion, including attempts to find mechanisms for divine action in quantum theory and chaos theory, creationism, genetic engineering and the writings of Richard Dawkins. Finally, I consider some of the pedagogical issues that would need to be considered if the science/religion issue is to be addressed in the classroom. I conclude that there are increasing arguments in favour of science educators teaching about the science/religion issue. The principal reason for this is to help students better to learn science. However, such teaching makes greater demands on science educators than has generally been the case. Certain of these demands are identified and some specific suggestions are made as to how a science educator might deal with the science/religion issue. © 2008 Taylor & Francis
Elliptic hypergeometry of supersymmetric dualities II. Orthogonal groups, knots, and vortices
We consider Seiberg electric-magnetic dualities for 4d SYM
theories with SO(N) gauge group. For all such known theories we construct
superconformal indices (SCIs) in terms of elliptic hypergeometric integrals.
Equalities of these indices for dual theories lead both to proven earlier
special function identities and new conjectural relations for integrals. In
particular, we describe a number of new elliptic beta integrals associated with
the s-confining theories with the spinor matter fields. Reductions of some
dualities from SP(2N) to SO(2N) or SO(2N+1) gauge groups are described.
Interrelation of SCIs and the Witten anomaly is briefly discussed. Possible
applications of the elliptic hypergeometric integrals to a two-parameter
deformation of 2d conformal field theory and related matrix models are
indicated. Connections of the reduced SCIs with the state integrals of the knot
theory, generalized AGT duality for (3+3)d theories, and a 2d vortex partition
function are described.Comment: Latex, 58 pages; paper shortened, to appear in Commun. Math. Phy
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