26,964 research outputs found
Breakdown of adiabatic invariance in spherical tokamaks
Thermal ions in spherical tokamaks have two adiabatic invariants: the
magnetic moment and the longitudinal invariant. For hot ions, variations in
magnetic-field strength over a gyro period can become sufficiently large to
cause breakdown of the adiabatic invariance. The magnetic moment is more
sensitive to perturbations than the longitudinal invariant and there exists an
intermediate regime, super-adiabaticity, where the longitudinal invariant
remains adiabatic, but the magnetic moment does not. The motion of
super-adiabatic ions remains integrable and confinement is thus preserved.
However, above a threshold energy, the longitudinal invariant becomes
non-adiabatic too, and confinement is lost as the motion becomes chaotic. We
predict beam ions in present-day spherical tokamaks to be super-adiabatic but
fusion alphas in proposed burning-plasma spherical tokamaks to be
non-adiabatic.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
First-principles study of high conductance DNA sequencing with carbon nanotube electrodes
Rapid and cost-effective DNA sequencing at the single nucleotide level might
be achieved by measuring a transverse electronic current as single-stranded DNA
is pulled through a nano-sized pore. In order to enhance the electronic
coupling between the nucleotides and the electrodes and hence the current
signals, we employ a pair of single-walled close-ended (6,6) carbon nanotubes
(CNTs) as electrodes. We then investigate the electron transport properties of
nucleotides sandwiched between such electrodes by using first-principles
quantum transport theory. In particular we consider the extreme case where the
separation between the electrodes is the smallest possible that still allows
the DNA translocation. The benzene-like ring at the end cap of the CNT can
strongly couple with the nucleobases and therefore both reduce conformational
fluctuations and significantly improve the conductance. The optimal molecular
configurations, at which the nucleotides strongly couple to the CNTs, and which
yield the largest transmission, are first identified. Then the electronic
structures and the electron transport of these optimal configurations are
analyzed. The typical tunneling currents are of the order of 50 nA for voltages
up to 1 V. At higher bias, where resonant transport through the molecular
states is possible, the current is of the order of several A. Below 1 V
the currents associated to the different nucleotides are consistently
distinguishable, with adenine having the largest current, guanine the
second-largest, cytosine the third and finally thymine the smallest. We further
calculate the transmission coefficient profiles as the nucleotides are dragged
along the DNA translocation path and investigate the effects of configurational
variations. Based on these results we propose a DNA sequencing protocol
combining three possible data analysis strategies.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, 3 table
Dissociation spectrum of H from a short, intense infrared laser pulse: vibration structure and focal volume effects
The dissociation spectrum of the hydrogen molecular ion by short intense
pulses of infrared light is calculated. The time-dependent Schr\"odinger
equation is discretized and integrated in position and momentum space. For
few-cycle pulses one can resolve vibrational structure that commonly arises in
the experimental preparation of the molecular ion from the neutral molecule. We
calculate the corresponding energy spectrum and analyze the dependence on the
pulse time-delay, pulse length, and intensity of the laser for nm. We conclude that the proton spectrum is a both a sensitive probe of the
vibrational dynamics and the laser pulse. Finally we compare our results with
recent measurements of the proton spectrum for 55 fs pulses using a Ti:Sapphire
laser (nm). Integrating over the laser focal volume, for the
intensity W cm, we find our results are in
excellent agreement with these experiments.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, preprin
Atlas Toolkit: Fast registration of 3D morphological datasets in the absence of landmarks
Image registration is a gateway technology for Developmental Systems Biology, enabling computational analysis of related datasets within a shared coordinate system. Many registration tools rely on landmarks to ensure that datasets are correctly aligned; yet suitable landmarks are not present in many datasets. Atlas Toolkit is a Fiji/ImageJ plugin collection offering elastic group-wise registration of 3D morphological datasets, guided by segmentation of the interesting morphology. We demonstrate the method by combinatorial mapping of cell signalling events in the developing eyes of chick embryos, and use the integrated datasets to predictively enumerate Gene Regulatory Network states
A Methodology for the Diagnostic of Aircraft Engine Based on Indicators Aggregation
Aircraft engine manufacturers collect large amount of engine related data
during flights. These data are used to detect anomalies in the engines in order
to help companies optimize their maintenance costs. This article introduces and
studies a generic methodology that allows one to build automatic early signs of
anomaly detection in a way that is understandable by human operators who make
the final maintenance decision. The main idea of the method is to generate a
very large number of binary indicators based on parametric anomaly scores
designed by experts, complemented by simple aggregations of those scores. The
best indicators are selected via a classical forward scheme, leading to a much
reduced number of indicators that are tuned to a data set. We illustrate the
interest of the method on simulated data which contain realistic early signs of
anomalies.Comment: Proceedings of the 14th Industrial Conference, ICDM 2014, St.
Petersburg : Russian Federation (2014
Quantum and classical resonant escapes of a strongly-driven Josephson junction
The properties of phase escape in a dc SQUID at 25 mK, which is well below
quantum-to-classical crossover temperature , in the presence of strong
resonant ac driving have been investigated. The SQUID contains two
Nb/Al-AlO/Nb tunnel junctions with Josephson inductance much larger than
the loop inductance so it can be viewed as a single junction having adjustable
critical current. We find that with increasing microwave power and at
certain frequencies and /2, the single primary peak in the
switching current distribution, \textrm{which is the result of macroscopic
quantum tunneling of the phase across the junction}, first shifts toward lower
bias current and then a resonant peak develops. These results are explained
by quantum resonant phase escape involving single and two photons with
microwave-suppressed potential barrier. As further increases, the primary
peak gradually disappears and the resonant peak grows into a single one while
shifting further to lower . At certain , a second resonant peak appears,
which can locate at very low depending on the value of . Analysis
based on the classical equation of motion shows that such resonant peak can
arise from the resonant escape of the phase particle with extremely large
oscillation amplitude resulting from bifurcation of the nonlinear system. Our
experimental result and theoretical analysis demonstrate that at ,
escape of the phase particle could be dominated by classical process, such as
dynamical bifurcation of nonlinear systems under strong ac driving.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl
Velocity Statistics in the Two-Dimensional Granular Turbulence
We studied the macroscopic statistical properties on the freely evolving
quasi-elastic hard disk (granular) system by performing a large-scale (up to a
few million particles) event-driven molecular dynamics systematically and found
that remarkably analogous to an enstrophy cascade process in the decaying
two-dimensional fluid turbulence. There are four typical stages in the freely
evolving inelastic hard disk system, which are homogeneous, shearing (vortex),
clustering and final state. In the shearing stage, the self-organized
macroscopic coherent vortices become dominant. In the clustering stage, the
energy spectra are close to the expectation of Kraichnan-Batchelor theory and
the squared two-particle separation strictly obeys Richardson law.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in PR
Infrared luminosities of galaxies in the Local Volume
Near-infrared properties of 451 galaxies with distances D \leq 10 Mpc are
considered basing on the all-sky two micron survey (2MASS). A luminosity
function of the galaxies in the K-band is derived within [-25,-11] mag. The
local (D < 8 Mpc) luminosity density is estimated to be 6.8*10^8 L_sun/Mpc^3
that exceeds (1.5+-0.1) times the global cosmic density in the K-band. Virial
mass-to-K-luminosity ratios are determined for nearby groups and clusters. In
the luminosity range of (5*10^{10} - 2*10^{13})L_sun, the groups and clusters
follow the relation \lg(M/L_K) propto (0.27+-0.03) lg(L_K) with a scatter of
\~0.1 comparable to errors of the observables. The mean ratio ~=
(20-25) M_sun/L_sun for the galaxy systems turns out to be significantly lower
than the global ratio, (80-90)M_sun/L_sun, expected in the standard
cosmological model with the matter density of Omega_m =0.27. This discrepancy
can be resolved if most of dark matter in the universe is not associated with
galaxies and their systems.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Astronomy Letters, submitte
High-pressure phase and transition phenomena in ammonia borane NH3BH3 from X-ray diffraction, Landau theory, and ab initio calculations
Structural evolution of a prospective hydrogen storage material, ammonia
borane NH3BH3, has been studied at high pressures up to 12 GPa and at low
temperatures by synchrotron powder diffraction. At 293 K and above 1.1 GPa a
disordered I4mm structure reversibly transforms into a new ordered phase. Its
Cmc21 structure was solved from the diffraction data, the positions of N and B
atoms and the orientation of NH3 and BH3 groups were finally assigned with the
help of density functional theory calculations. Group-theoretical analysis
identifies a single two-component order parameter, combining ordering and
atomic displacement mechanisms, which link an orientationally disordered parent
phase I4mm with ordered distorted Cmc21, Pmn21 and P21 structures. We propose a
generic phase diagram for NH3BH3, mapping three experimentally found and one
predicted (P21) phases as a function of temperature and pressure, along with
the evolution of the corresponding structural distortions. Ammonia borane
belongs to the class of improper ferroelastics and we show that both
temperature- and pressure-induced phase transitions can be driven to be of the
second order. The role of N-H...H-B dihydrogen bonds and other intermolecular
interactions in the stability of NH3BH3 polymorphs is examined.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure
Double exchange-driven spin pairing at the (001) surface of manganites
The (001) surface of La_{1-x}Ca_xMnO_3 system in various magnetic orderings
is studied by first principle calculations. A general occurrence is that z^2
dangling bond charge -- which is ``invisible'' in the formal valence picture --
is promoted to the bulk gap/Fermi level region. This drives a
double-exchange-like process that serves to align the surface Mn spin with its
subsurface neighbor, regardless of the bulk magnetic order. For heavy doping,
the locally ``ferromagnetic'' coupling is very strong and the moment enhanced
by as much as 30% over the bulk value.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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