35,213 research outputs found
Resonant tunneling through protected quantum dots at phosphorene edges
We theoretically investigate phosphorene zigzag nanorribons as a platform for
constriction engineering. In the presence of a constriction at the upper edge,
quantum confinement of edge protected states reveals resonant tunnelling
Breit-Wigner transmission peaks, if the upper edge is uncoupled to the lower
edge. Coupling between edges in thin constrictions gives rise to Fano-like and
anti-resonances in the transmission spectrum of the system.Comment: 8 pages,7 figure
Torsion and Gravitation: A new view
According to the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, curvature and
torsion are two equivalent ways of describing the same gravitational field.
Despite equivalent, however, they act differently: whereas curvature yields a
geometric description, in which the concept of gravitational force is absent,
torsion acts as a true gravitational force, quite similar to the Lorentz force
of electrodynamics. As a consequence, the right-hand side of a
spinless-particle equation of motion (which would represent a gravitational
force) is always zero in the geometric description, but not in the teleparallel
case. This means essentially that the gravitational coupling prescription can
be minimal only in the geometric case. Relying on this property, a new
gravitational coupling prescription in the presence of curvature and torsion is
proposed. It is constructed in such a way to preserve the equivalence between
curvature and torsion, and its basic property is to be equivalent with the
usual coupling prescription of general relativity. According to this view, no
new physics is connected with torsion, which appears as a mere alternative to
curvature in the description of gravitation. An application of this formulation
to the equations of motion of both a spinless and a spinning particle is madeComment: To appear on IJMP
A Herschel Study of 24 micron-Selected AGNs and Their Host Galaxies
We present a sample of 290 24-micron-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs)
mostly at z ~ 0.3 -- 2.5, within 5.2 square degrees distributed as 25' X 25'
fields around each of 30 galaxy clusters in the Local Cluster Substructure
Survey (LoCuSS). The sample is nearly complete to 1 mJy at 24 microns, and has
a rich multi-wavelength set of ancillary data; 162 are detected by Herschel. We
use spectral templates for AGNs, stellar populations, and infrared emission by
star forming galaxies to decompose the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of
these AGNs and their host galaxies, and estimate their star formation rates
(SFRs), AGN luminosities, and host galaxy stellar masses. The set of templates
is relatively simple: a standard Type-1 quasar template; another for the
photospheric output of the stellar population; and a far infrared star-forming
template. For the Type-2 AGN SEDs, we substitute templates including internal
obscuration, and some Type-1 objects require a warm component (T > 50 K). The
individually Herschel- detected Type-1 AGNs and a subset of 17 Type-2 ones
typically have luminosities > 10^{45} ergs/s, and supermassive black holes of ~
3 X 10^8 Msun emitting at ~ 10% of the Eddington rate. We find them in about
twice the numbers of AGN identified in SDSS data in the same fields, i.e., they
represent typical high luminosity AGN, not an infrared-selected minority. These
AGNs and their host galaxies are studied further in an accompanying paper
All-sky Relative Opacity Mapping Using Night Time Panoramic Images
An all-sky cloud monitoring system that generates relative opacity maps over
many of the world's premier astronomical observatories is described.
Photometric measurements of numerous background stars are combined with
simultaneous sky brightness measurements to differentiate thin clouds from sky
glow sources such as air glow and zodiacal light. The system takes a continuous
pipeline of all-sky images, and compares them to canonical images taken on
other nights at the same sidereal time. Data interpolation then yields
transmission maps covering almost the entire sky. An implementation of this
system is currently operating through the Night Sky Live network of CONCAM3s
located at Cerro Pachon (Chile), Mauna Kea (Hawaii), Haleakala (Hawaii), SALT
(South Africa) and the Canary Islands (Northwestern Africa).Comment: Accepted for publication in PAS
Can drug safety be predicted and animal experiments reduced by using isolated mitochondrial fractions?
Mitochondrial toxicity has resulted in the withdrawal of several drugs from the market. One particular example is nefazodone, an anti-depressant withdrawn in the USA due to hepatoxicity caused by drug-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Drug development and safety testing can involve the use of large numbers of laboratory animals, which, without a decisive pre-screening for mitochondrial toxicity, are often unable to pre-empt higher mortality rates in some patient groups. The use of isolated mitochondria as a screening tool for drug safety can decrease the number of laboratory animals used in pre-clinical studies, thus improving animal welfare and healthcare outcomes and costs. Novel techniques involving high-throughput methods can be used to investigate whether a molecule is a mitochondrial toxicant. Moreover, these screens are mechanistically-based, since the effects of the drug on oxidative phosphorylation, calcium homeostasis and mitochondrial genetics can be assessed. This review is intended to demonstrate that isolated mitochondrial fractions are suitable for predicting drug and general chemical safety in toxicological screenings, thus contributing to the refinement and reduction of animal use in laboratory research
High-pressure study of the non-Fermi liquid material U_2Pt_2In
The effect of hydrostatic pressure (p<= 1.8 GPa) on the non-Fermi liquid
state of U_2Pt_2In is investigated by electrical resistivity measurements in
the temperature interval 0.3-300 K. The experiments were carried out on
single-crystals with the current along (I||c) and perpendicular (I||a) to the
tetragonal axis. The pressure effect is strongly current-direction dependent.
For I||a we observe a rapid recovery of the Fermi-liquid T^2-term with
pressure. The low-temperature resistivity can be analysed satisfactorily within
the magnetotransport theory of Rosch, which provides strong evidence for the
location of U_2Pt_2In at an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point. For I||c
the resistivity increases under pressure, indicating the enhancement of an
additional scattering mechanism. In addition, we have measured the pressure
dependence of the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature (T_N= 37.6 K) of the
related compound U_2Pd_2In. A simple Doniach-type diagram for U_2Pt_2In and
U_2Pd_2In under pressure is presented.Comment: 21 pages (including 5 figures); pdf forma
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