5,284 research outputs found
A Dense Gas Trigger for OH Megamasers
HCN and CO line diagnostics provide new insight into the OH megamaser (OHM)
phenomenon, suggesting a dense gas trigger for OHMs. We identify three physical
properties that differentiate OHM hosts from other starburst galaxies: (1) OHMs
have the highest mean molecular gas densities among starburst galaxies; nearly
all OHM hosts have = 10^3-10^4 cm^-3 (OH line-emitting clouds likely
have n(H2) > 10^4 cm^-3). (2) OHM hosts are a distinct population in the
nonlinear part of the IR-CO relation. (3) OHM hosts have exceptionally high
dense molecular gas fractions, L(HCN)/L(CO)>0.07, and comprise roughly half of
this unusual population. OH absorbers and kilomasers generally follow the
linear IR-CO relation and are uniformly distributed in dense gas fraction and
L(HCN), demonstrating that OHMs are independent of OH abundance. The fraction
of non-OHMs with high mean densities and high dense gas fractions constrains
beaming to be a minor effect: OHM emission solid angle must exceed 2 pi
steradians. Contrary to conventional wisdom, IR luminosity does not dictate OHM
formation; both star formation and OHM activity are consequences of tidal
density enhancements accompanying galaxy interactions. The OHM fraction in
starbursts is likely due to the fraction of mergers experiencing a temporal
spike in tidally driven density enhancement. OHMs are thus signposts marking
the most intense, compact, and unusual modes of star formation in the local
universe. Future high redshift OHM surveys can now be interpreted in a star
formation and galaxy evolution context, indicating both the merging rate of
galaxies and the burst contribution to star formation.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted by ApJ Letter
Relaxation at late stages in an entropy barrier model for glassy systems
The ground state dynamics of an entropy barrier model proposed recently for
describing relaxation of glassy systems is considered. At stages of evolution
the dynamics can be described by a simple variant of the Ehrenfest urn model.
Analytical expression for the relaxation times from an arbitrary state to the
ground state is derived. Upper and lower bounds for the relaxation times as a
function of system size are obtained.Comment: 9 pages no figures. to appear in J.Phys. A: Math. and Ge
Thickness-dependent thermal properties of amorphous insulating thin films measured by photoreflectance microscopy
In this work, we report on the measurement of the thermal conductivity of thin insulating films of SiO2 obtained by thermal oxidation, and Al2O3 grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD), both on Si wafers. We used photoreflectance microscopy to determine the thermal properties of the films as a function of thickness in the 2 nm to 1000 nm range. The effective thermal conductivity of the Al2O3 layer is shown to decrease with thickness down to 70% for the thinnest layers. The data were analyzed upon considering that the change in the effective thermal conductivity corresponds to an intrinsic thermal conductivity associated to an additional interfacial thermal resistance. The intrinsic conductivity and interfacial thermal resistance of SiO2 were found to be equal to 0.95 W/m·K and 5.1 Ă 10â 9 m2K/W respectively; those of Al2O3 were found to be 1.56 W/m·K and 4.3 Ă 10â 9 m2K/W
High-dimensional quantum dynamics of adsorption and desorption of H at Cu(111)
We performed high-dimensional quantum dynamical calculations of the
dissociative adsorption and associative desorption of hydrogen on Cu(111). The
potential energy surface (PES) is obtained from density functional theory
calculations. Two regimes of dynamics are found, at low energies sticking is
determined by the minimum energy barrier, at high energies by the distribution
of barrier heights. Experimental results are well-reproduced qualitatively, but
some quantitative discrepancies are identified as well.Comment: 4 two column pages, revtex, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Potential Energy Surface for H_2 Dissociation over Pd(100)
The potential energy surface (PES) of dissociative adsorption of H_2 on
Pd(100) is investigated using density functional theory and the full-potential
linear augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. Several dissociation pathways are
identified which have a vanishing energy barrier. A pronounced dependence of
the potential energy on ``cartwheel'' rotations of the molecular axis is found.
The calculated PES shows no indication of the presence of a precursor state in
front of the surface. Both results indicate that steering effects determine the
observed decrease of the sticking coefficient at low energies of the H_2
molecules. We show that the topology of the PES is related to the dependence of
the covalent H(s)-Pd(d) interactions on the orientation of the H_2 molecule.Comment: RevTeX, 8 pages, 5 figures in uufiles forma
Random division of an interval
The well-known relation between random division of an interval and the Poisson process is interpreted as a Laplace transformation. With the use of this interpretation a number of (in part known) results is derived very easily
Volume contraction at the Jahn-Teller transition of LaMnO
We have studied the volume collapse of LaMnO at the Jahn- Teller (JT)
transition temperature T=750 K which has recently been found in high
temperature powder x- ray and neutron diffraction experiments. We construct a
model Hamiltonian involving the pseudospin of Mn e states, the
staggered JT distortion and the volume strain coordinate. We show that the
anharmonic coupling between these primary and secondary order parameters leads
to the first order JT phase transition associated with a comparatively large
reduction of the unit cell volume of V/V 10. We explain
the temperature dependence of JT distortions and volume strain and discuss the
volume change as function of the anharmonic coupling constant. A continuous
change to a second order transition as function of model parameters is
obtained. This behaviour is also observed under Ba doping.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Electrostatic Patch Effect in Cylindrical Geometry. III. Torques
We continue to study the effect of uneven voltage distribution on two close
cylindrical conductors with parallel axes started in our papers [1] and [2],
now to find the electrostatic torques. We calculate the electrostatic potential
and energy to lowest order in the gap to cylinder radius ratio for an arbitrary
relative rotation of the cylinders about their symmetry axis. By energy
conservation, the axial torque, independent of the uniform voltage difference,
is found as a derivative of the energy in the rotation angle. We also derive
both the axial and slanting torques by the surface integration method: the
torque vector is the integral over the cylinder surface of the cross product of
the electrostatic force on a surface element and its position vector. The
slanting torque consists of two parts: one coming from the interaction between
the patch and the uniform voltages, and the other due to the patch interaction.
General properties of the torques are described. A convenient model of a
localized patch suggested in [2] is used to calculate the torques explicitly in
terms of elementary functions. Based on this, we analyze in detail patch
interaction for one pair of patches, namely, the torque dependence on the patch
parameters (width and strength) and their mutual positions. The effect of the
axial torque is then studied for the experimental conditions of the STEP
mission.Comment: 28 pages, 6 Figures. Submitted to Classical Quantum Gravit
Exact Maximal Height Distribution of Fluctuating Interfaces
We present an exact solution for the distribution P(h_m,L) of the maximal
height h_m (measured with respect to the average spatial height) in the steady
state of a fluctuating Edwards-Wilkinson interface in a one dimensional system
of size L with both periodic and free boundary conditions. For the periodic
case, we show that P(h_m,L)=L^{-1/2}f(h_m L^{-1/2}) for all L where the
function f(x) is the Airy distribution function that describes the probability
density of the area under a Brownian excursion over a unit interval. For the
free boundary case, the same scaling holds but the scaling function is
different from that of the periodic case. Numerical simulations are in
excellent agreement with our analytical results. Our results provide an exactly
solvable case for the distribution of extremum of a set of strongly correlated
random variables.Comment: 4 pages revtex (two-column), 1 .eps figure include
Studying changes in the practice of two teachers developing assessment for learning
This paper describes changes in the practice of two teachers, observed over an eighteen month period, who were participating in a study intended to support teachers in developing their use of assessment in support of learning. The design of the intervention allowed each teacher to choose for themselves which aspects of their practice to develop. Analysis of lesson observations, journal entries and interviews indicate that both teachers were keen to change their practice, but were concerned about the disruption to their established routines, and in particular about the potential for loss of control of their classes. Both teachers did effect significant changes in their classrooms, but these tended to be developments of existing preferred ways of working, rather than radical innovations. In conclusion, it is suggested that to be most effective, teacher professional development needs to be structured strongly enough to afford teacher growth, but flexible enough to allow different teachers to take their practice in different ways
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