2,632 research outputs found
Quantifying the rural-urban gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
This paper addresses the deceptively simple question: What is the rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? It argues that rurality is a gradient, not a dichotomy, and nominates two dimensions to that gradient: population density and remoteness from large metropolitan areas. It uses geographically referenced population data (from the Gridded Population of the World, version 3) to tabulate the distribution of populations in Latin America and in individual countries by population density and by remoteness. It finds that the popular perception of Latin America as a 75 percent urban continent is misleading. Official census criteria, though inconsistent between countries, tend to classify as"urban"small settlements of less than 2,000 people. Many of these settlements are however embedded in an agriculturally based countryside. The paper finds that about 13 percent of Latin America populations live at ultra-low densities of less than 20 per square kilometer. Essentially these people are more than an hour's distance from a large city, and more than half live more than four hours'distance. A quarter of the population of Latin America is estimated to live at densities below 50, again essentially all of them more than an hour's distance from a large city. Almost half (46 pecent) of Latin America live at population densities below 150 (a conventional threshold for urban areas), and more than 90 percent of this group is at least an hour's distance from a city; about one-third of them (18 percent of the total) are more than four hours distance from a large city.Agricultural Research,Demographics,Health Indicators,,Health Information&Communications Technologies
Coherent Electron Optics with Ballistically Coupled Quantum Point Contacts
The realization of integrated quantum circuits requires precise on-chip control of charge carriers. Aiming at the coherent coupling of distant nanostructures at zero magnetic field, here we study the ballistic electron transport through two quantum point contacts (QPCs) in series in a three terminal configuration. We enhance the coupling between the QPCs by electrostatic focusing using a field effect lens. To study the emission and collection properties of QPCs in detail we combine the electrostatic focusing with magnetic deflection. Comparing our measurements with quantum mechanical and classical calculations we discuss generic features of the quantum circuit and demonstrate how the coher
Nonequilibrium theory of Coulomb blockade in open quantum dots
We develop a non-equilibrium theory to describe weak Coulomb blockade effects
in open quantum dots. Working within the bosonized description of electrons in
the point contacts, we expose deficiencies in earlier applications of this
method, and address them using a 1/N expansion in the inverse number of
channels. At leading order this yields the self-consistent potential for the
charging interaction. Coulomb blockade effects arise as quantum corrections to
transport at the next order. Our approach unifies the phase functional and
bosonization approaches to the problem, as well as providing a simple picture
for the conductance corrections in terms of renormalization of the dot's
elastic scattering matrix, which is obtained also by elementary perturbation
theory. For the case of ideal contacts, a symmetry argument immediately allows
us to conclude that interactions give no signature in the averaged conductance.
Non-equilibrium applications to the pumped current in a quantum pump are worked
out in detail.Comment: Published versio
How many young star clusters exist in the Galactic center?
We study the evolution and observability of young compact star clusters
within about 200pc of the Galactic center. Calculations are performed using
direct N-body integration on the GRAPE-4, including the effects of both stellar
and binary evolution and the external influence of the Galaxy. The results of
these detailed calculations are used to calibrate a simplified model applicable
over a wider range of cluster initial conditions. We find that clusters within
200 pc from the Galactic center dissolve within about 70 Myr. However, their
projected densities drop below the background density in the direction of the
Galactic center within 20 Myr, effectively making these clusters undetectable
after that time. Clusters farther from the Galactic center but at the same
projected distance are more strongly affected by this selection effect, and may
go undetected for their entire lifetimes. Based on these findings, we conclude
that the region within 200 pc of the Galactic center could easily harbor some
50 clusters with properties similar to those of the Arches or the Quintuplet
systems.Comment: ApJ Letters in pres
Fine Structure in Energy Spectra of Ultrasmall Au Nanoparticles
We have studied tunneling into individual Au nanoparticles of estimated
diameters 2-5 nm, at dilution refrigerator temperatures. The I-V curves
indicate resonant tunneling via discrete energy levels of the particle. Unlike
previously studied normal metal particles of Au and Al, in these samples we
find that the lowest energy tunneling resonances are split into clusters of
2-10 subresonances. Such effects appear to be increasingly important in smaller
grains, as might be expected from the larger characteristic energies.Comment: 1 pdf fil
Topological classification of adiabatic processes
Certain band insulators allow for the adiabatic pumping of quantized charge
or spin for special time-dependences of the Hamiltonian. These "topological
pumps" are closely related to two dimensional topological insulating phases of
matter upon rolling the insulator up to a cylinder and threading it with a time
dependent flux. In this article we extend the classification of topological
pumps to the Wigner Dyson and chiral classes, coupled to multi-channel leads.
The topological index distinguishing different topological classes is
formulated in terms of the scattering matrix of the system. We argue that
similar to topologically non-trivial insulators, topological pumps are
characterized by the appearance of protected gapless end states during the
course of a pumping cycle. We show that this property allows for the pumping of
quantized charge or spin in the weak coupling limit. Our results may also be
applied to two dimensional topological insulators, where they give a physically
transparent interpretation of the topologically non-trivial phases in terms of
scattering matrices.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Predictions for Triple Stars with and without a Pulsar in Star Clusters
Though about 80 pulsar binaries have been detected in globular clusters so
far, no pulsar has been found in a triple system in which all three objects are
of comparable mass. Here we present predictions for the abundance of such
triple systems, and for the most likely characteristics of these systems. Our
predictions are based on an extensive set of more than 500 direct simulations
of star clusters with primordial binaries, and a number of additional runs
containing primordial triples. Our simulations employ a number N_{tot} of equal
mass stars from N_{tot}=512 to N_{tot}=19661 and a primordial binary fraction
from 0-50%. In addition, we validate our results against simulations with
N=19661 that include a mass spectrum with a turn-off mass at 0.8 M_{sun},
appropriate to describe the old stellar populations of galactic globular
clusters. Based on our simulations, we expect that typical triple abundances in
the core of a dense cluster are two orders of magnitude lower than the binary
abundances, which in itself already suggests that we don't have to wait too
long for the first comparable-mass triple with a pulsar to be detected.Comment: 11 pages, minor changes to match MNRAS accepted versio
- …