Conductance Fluctuations Near the Two-Dimensional Metal-Insulator Transition

Measurements of conductance $G$ on short, wide, high-mobility Si-MOSFETs reveal both a two-dimensional metal-insulator transition (MIT) at moderate temperatures (1 $<~ T <$ 4~K) and mesoscopic fluctuations of the conductance at low temperatures ($T~ <$ 1~K). Both were studied as a function of chemical potential (carrier concentration $n_s$) controlled by gate voltage ($V_g$) and magnetic field $B$ near the MIT. Fourier analysis of the low temperature fluctuations reveals several fluctuation scales in $V_g$ that vary non-monotonically near the MIT. At higher temperatures, $G(V_g,B)$ is similar to large FETs and exhibits a MIT. All of the observations support the suggestion that the MIT is driven by Coulomb interactions among the carriers.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, physica.sty (slightly modified prabib.sty), Submitted to the 1997 Conference on Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional System

Stark broadening data for spectral lines of rare-earth elements: Nb III

The electron-impact widths for 15 doubly charged Nb ion lines have been theoretically determined by using the modified semiempirical method. Using the obtained results, we considered the influence of the electron-impact mechanism on line shapes in spectra of chemically peculiar stars and white dwarfs.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, accepted in Advances in Space Researc

Crystallite Size and Lattice Distortion Determination of Graphite

A graphite sample was prepared by heating chemically purified petroleum coke powder to 30oo 0c in an argon atmosphere and its structural -characteristics were determined by various X-ray diffraction methods1-s. The validity of the values obtained for the crystallite size and the lattice distortion proportion is discussed

Unit Cell Dimensions Measurement of Less Perfectly Crystallized Artificial Graphite

The precise unit cell dimension measurement of the reactor graphite is difficult because of a small number of the X-ray diffraction lines. One can use only the small angle reflections (100), (110), (002), and (004)

Mesoscopic Behavior Near a Two-Dimensional Metal-Insulator Transition

We study conductance fluctuations in a two-dimensional electron gas as a function of chemical potential (or gate voltage) from the strongly insulating to the metallic regime. Power spectra of the fluctuations decay with two distinct exponents (1/v_l and 1/v_h). For conductivity $\sigma\sim 0.1 e^{2}/h$, we find a third exponent (1/v_i) in the shortest samples, and non-monotonic dependence of v_i and v_l on \sigma. We study the dependence of v_i, v_l, v_h, and the variances of corresponding fluctuations on \sigma, sample size, and temperature. The anomalies near $\sigma\simeq 0.1 e^{2}/h$ indicate that the dielectric response and screening length are critically behaved, i.e. that Coulomb correlations dominate the physics.Comment: Revised according to referee remark

Photo-centric variability of quasars caused by variations in their inner structure: Consequences on Gaia measurements

We study the photocenter position variability due to variations in the quasar inner structure. We consider variability in the accretion disk emissivity and torus structure variability due to different illumination by the central source. We discuss possible detection of these effects by Gaia. Observations of the photocenter variability in two AGNs, SDSS J121855+020002 and SDSS J162011+1724327 have been reported and discussed. With investigation of the variations in the quasar inner structure we explore how much this effect can affect the position determination and whether it can be (or not) detected with Gaia mission. We used (a) a model of a relativistic disk, including the perturbation that can increase brightness of a part of the disk, and consequently offset the photocenter position, and (b) a model of a dusty torus which absorbs and re-emits the incoming radiation from accretion disk. We estimated the value of the photocenter offset due to these two effects. We found that perturbations in the inner structure can significantly offset the photocenter. It depends on the characteristics of perturbation and accretion disk and structure of the torus. In the case of two considered QSOs the observed photocenter offsets cannot be explained by variations in the accretion disk and other effects should be considered. We discussed possibility of exploding stars very close to the AGN source, and also possibility that there are two variable sources in the center of these two AGNs that may indicate a binary super-massive black hole system on a kpc (pc) scale. The Gaia mission seems to be very perspective, not only for astrometry, but also for exploring the inner structure of AGNs. We conclude that variations in the quasar inner structure can affect the observed photocenter (up to several mas). There is a chance to observe such effect in the case of bright and low-redshifted QSOs.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Language improved, typos correcte

Stark broadening of B IV lines for astrophysical and laboratory plasma research

Stark broadening parameters for 36 multiplets of B IV have been calculated using the semi-classical perturbation formalism. Obtained results have been used to investigate the regularities within spectral series and temperature dependence.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, in press in Advances in Space Researc