12,274 research outputs found
Oscillatory Magneto-Thermopower and Resonant Phonon Drag in a High-Mobility 2D Electron Gas
Experimental and theoretical evidence is presented for new low-magnetic-field
( kG) 1/B-oscillations in the thermoelectric power of a high-mobility
GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional (2D) electron gas. The oscillations result from
inter-Landau-Level resonances of acoustic phonons carrying a momentum equal to
twice the Fermi wavenumber at . Numerical calculations show that both 3D
and 2D phonons can contribute to this effect.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Axigluons cannot explain the observed top quark forward-backward asymmetry
We study an SU(3)^2 axigluon model introduced by Frampton, Shu, and Wang to
explain the recent Fermilab Tevatron observation of a significant positive
enhancement in the top quark forward-backward asymmetry relative to standard
model predictions. First, we demonstrate that data on neutral B_d-meson mixing
excludes the region of model parameter space where the top asymmetry is
predicted to be the largest. Keeping the gauge couplings below the critical
value that would lead to fermion condensation imposes further limits at large
axigluon mass, while precision electroweak constraints on the model are
relatively mild. Furthermore, by considering an extension to an SU(3)^3 color
group, we demonstrate that embedding the model in an extra-dimensional
framework can only dilute the axigluon effect on the forward-backward
asymmetry. We conclude that axigluon models are unlikely to be the source of
the observed top quark asymmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 7 eps figures included. Minor changes to conform with
published versio
Clostridium difficile colitis in patients after kidney and pancreas-kidney transplantation
Limited data exist about Clostridium difficile colitis (CDC) in solid organ transplant patients. Between 1/1/99 and 12/31/02, 600 kidney and 102 pancreas–kidney allograft recipients were transplanted. Thirty-nine (5.5%) of these patients had CDC on the basis of clinical and laboratory findings. Of these 39 patients, 35 have information available for review. CDC developed at a median of 30 days after transplantation, and the patients undergoing pancreas–kidney transplantation had a slightly higher incidence of CDC than recipients of kidney alone (7.8% vs. 4.5%, P> 0.05). All but one patient presented with diarrhea. Twenty-four patients (64.9%) were diagnosed in the hospital, and CDC occurred during first hospitalization in 14 patients (40%). Treatment was with oral metronidazole (M) in 33 patients (94%)and M + oral vancomycin (M + V) in 2 patients. Eight patients had recurrent CDC, which occurred at a median of 30 days (range 15–314) after the first episode. Two patients (5.7%) developed fulminant CDC, presented with toxic megacolon, and underwent colectomy. One of them died; the other patient survived after colectomy. CDC should be considered as a diagnosis in transplant patients with history of diarrhea after antibiotic use, and should be treated aggressively before the infection becomes complicated
Spin-dependent transport in molecular tunnel junctions
We present measurements of magnetic tunnel junctions made using a
self-assembled-monolayer molecular barrier. Ni/octanethiol/Ni samples were
fabricated in a nanopore geometry. The devices exhibit significant changes in
resistance as the angle between the magnetic moments in the two electrodes is
varied, demonstrating that low-energy electrons can traverse the molecular
barrier while maintaining spin coherence. An analysis of the voltage and
temperature dependence of the data suggests that the spin-coherent transport
signals can be degraded by localized states in the molecular barriers.Comment: 4 pages, 5 color figure
Conicoid Mirrors
The first order equation relating object and image location for a mirror of
arbitrary conic-sectional shape is derived. It is also shown that the parabolic
reflecting surface is the only one free of aberration and only in the limiting
case of distant sources.Comment: 9 page
Sea-level records at ~80 ka from tectonically stable platforms: Florida and Bermuda
Studies from tectonically active coasts on New Guinea and Barbados have suggested that sea level at ~80 ka was significantly lower than present, whereas data from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America indicate an ~80 ka sea level close to that of the present. We determined ages of corals from a shallow submerged reef off the Florida Keys and an emergent marine deposit on Bermuda. Both localities are on tectonically stable platforms distant from plate boundaries. Uranium-series ages show that corals at both localities grew during the ~80 ka sea-level highstand, and geologic data show that sea level at that time was no lower than 7–9 m below present (Florida) and may have been 1–2 m above present (Bermuda). The ice-volume discrepancy of the 80 ka sea-level estimates is greater than the volume of the Greenland or West Antarctic ice sheets. Comparison of our ages with high-latitude insolation values indicates that the sea-level stand near the present at ~80 ka could have been orbitally forced
Probing the Atmospheres of Planets Orbiting Microlensed Stars via Polarization Variability
We present a new method to identify and probe planetary companions of stars
in the Galactic Bulge and Magellanic Clouds using gravitational microlensing.
While spectroscopic studies of these planets is well beyond current
observational techniques, monitoring polarization fluctuations during high
magnification events induced by binary microlensing events will probe the
composition of the planetary atmospheres, an observation which otherwise is
currently unattainable even for nearby planetary systems.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letter
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