Brownian regime of finite- N corrections to particle motion in the XY Hamiltonian mean field model

International audienceWe study the dynamics of the N-particle system evolving in the XY hamiltonian mean field (HMF) model for a repulsive potential, when no phase transition occurs. Starting from a homogeneous distribution, particles evolve in a mean field created by the interaction with all others. This interaction does not change the homogeneous state of the system, and particle motion is approximately ballistic with small corrections. For initial particle data approaching a waterbag, it is explicitly proved that corrections to the ballistic velocities are in the form of independent brownian noises over a time scale diverging not slower than N^(2/5) as N → ∞, which proves the propagation of molecular chaos. Molecular dynamics simulations of the XY-HMF model confirm our analytical findings

Renormalization-Group Theory of 1D quasiperiodic lattice models with commensurate approximants

We develop a renormalization group (RG) description of the localization properties of onedimensional (1D) quasiperiodic lattice models. The RG flow is induced by increasing the unit cell of subsequent commensurate approximants. Phases of quasiperiodic systems are characterized by RG fixed points associated with renormalized single-band models. We identify fixed-points that include many previously reported exactly solvable quasiperiodic models. By classifying relevant and irrelevant perturbations, we show that phase boundaries of more generic models can be determined with exponential accuracy in the approximant's unit cell size, and in some cases analytically. Our findings provide a unified understanding of widely different classes of 1D quasiperiodic systems

Incommensurability-Induced Enhancement of Superconductivity in One Dimensional Critical Systems

We show that incommensurability can enhance superconductivity in one dimensional quasiperiodic systems with s-wave pairing. As a parent model, we use a generalized Aubry-Andr\'e model that includes quasiperiodic modulations both in the potential and in the hoppings. In the absence of interactions, the model contains extended, critical and localized phases for incommensurate modulations. Our results reveal that in a substantial region inside the parent critical phase, there is a significant increase of the superconducting critical temperature compared to the extended phase and the uniform limit without quasiperiodic modulations. We also analyse the results for commensurate modulations with period close to the selected incommensurate one. We find that while in the commensurate case, the scaling of the critical temperature with interaction strength follows the exponentially small weak-coupling BCS prediction for a large enough system size, it scales algebraically in the incommensurate case within the critical and localized parent phases. These qualitatively distinct behaviors lead to a significant incommensurability-induced enhancement of the critical temperature in the weak and intermediate coupling regimes, accompanied by an increase in the superconducting order parameter at zero temperature.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Short-range interactions are irrelevant at the quasiperiodic-driven Luttinger Liquid to Anderson Glass transition

We show that short-range interactions are irrelevant around gapless ground-state delocalization-localization transitions driven by quasiperiodicity in interacting fermionic chains. In the presence of interactions, these transitions separate Luttinger Liquid and Anderson glass phases. Remarkably, close to criticality, we find that excitations become effectively non-interacting. By formulating a many-body generalization of a recently developed method to obtain single-particle localization phase diagrams, we carry out precise calculations of critical points between Luttinger Liquid and Anderson glass phases and find that the correlation length critical exponent takes the value $\nu = 1.001 \pm 0.007$, compatible with $\nu=1$ known exactly at the non-interacting critical point. We also show that other critical exponents, such as the dynamical exponent $z$ and a many-body analog of the fractal dimension are compatible with the exponents obtained at the non-interacting critical point. Noteworthy, we find that the transitions are accompanied by the emergence of a many-body generalization of previously found single-particle hidden dualities. Finally, we show that in the limit of vanishing interaction strength, all finite range interactions are irrelevant at the non-interacting critical point

FORMACIÓN EN NANOTECNOLOGÍA PARA LA EDUCACIÓN SECUNDARIA: ACCIONES Y PERSPECTIVAS DEL PROYECTO LIFENANO-IFSP

En el medio de los desafíos e iniciativas encaminadas para mejorar la enseñanza en diversas áreas del conocimiento en la educación básica, está el perfeccionamiento de la formación docente. Esto viene siendo debatido tanto por el gobierno federal brasileño como por la comunidad académica. Los enfoques metodológicos innovadores orientados a temas de ciencia contemporáneos y las propuestas para la introducción sistemática de conceptos de nanociencia y nanotecnología son aún muy incipientes. Esa situación no se limita a Brasil; se presenta también en otros países iberoamericanos. En este panorama es necesario el uso de estrategias colaborativas con el fin de establecer acciones de difusión y formación en nano-ciencia y nanotecnología. En este trabajo se presentan acciones y perspectivas de un laboratorio para capacitación inter-disciplinar de educadores en nanociencia y nanotecnología en el interior del estado de São Paulo, en Brasil. También se muestra como el laboratorio interactúa con un programa de becas de iniciación a la enseñanza financiado por el gobierno federal brasileño. Finalmente, se discuten las motivaciones de los estudiantes participantes y las potenciales contribuciones del laboratorio para una red internacional orientada a la difusión y a la capacitación en nanociencia y nanotecnología.Among the challenges and initiatives aiming the improvement of teaching in several areas of knowledge in basic education, the enhancement of the formation of teachers plays a key role. Both the Brazilian government and the academic community have debated about this. Innovative methodological approaches devoted to contemporary topics of science are still incipient. This occurs in Brazil as well as in other Iberian American countries. In these conditions, the use of collaborative strategies is necessary towards the diffusion and the education in nanoscience and nanotechnology. This work presents actions and perspectives of the laboratory for the interdisciplinary formation of teachers in nanoscience and nanotechnology in the countryside of the State of São Paulo, in Brazil. It has been shown how this laboratory interacts with an institutional program of fellowships for teaching apprenticeship that is supported by the Brazilian Federal Government. Finally, the motivations of the participating students and the contributions of the laboratory to an international network devoted to the diffusion and education in nanoscience and nanotechnology are discussed

Microstructures, geochemistry, and geochronology of mica fish: Review and advances

Shear zones are one of the most conspicuous structures in orogenic and rifting settings, accommodating high strain, rock displacement and influencing magma emplacement and fluid flow. Since shear zones may be simultaneously or sequentially affected by multiple processes involving mineral reactions, variations in pressure-temperature conditions, fluid-rock interaction, and diffusion, determining the timing of such structures has been one of the major challenges for modern geochronology. Although low- (up to lower greenschist facies) and high-temperature shear zones (above amphibolite facies) are well-dated through low- and high-closure temperature minerals, medium-temperature shear zones developed within the critical temperature window of ∼450–550 °C, in which conventional chronometers such as 40Ar/39Ar and Rb–Sr applied to mica fish may or may not record the timing of deformation for multiple reasons (e.g., grain size, cooling rate, mineral composition, fluid activity, deformation, neo- and recrystallization). Here, we review the current knowledge on the evolution of mica fish and the effect of deformation on its chemical and isotopic systems. We evaluate the effect on the widely deployed in situ 40Ar/39Ar technique. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential to assess mica fish evolution applying high-spatial resolution microstructural and chemical mapping techniques such as electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF–SIMS) and in situ Rb–Sr via triple quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (TQ-ICP-MS) to a case study of medium-temperature mylonites from the well-characterized Taxaquara shear zone, SE Brazil. We show that mica fish display complex microstructures with variable strain intensity, commonly with low strain inner cores and high strain edges and along kink planes. Strain shadows in mica fish are commonly characterized by low-strain fine-grained muscovite, suggesting recrystallization coeval with ductile deformation. Despite being intensely deformed, muscovite fish Rb–Sr retain the protolith age (c. 600 Ma), whereas recrystallized fine-grained muscovite yields the timing of deformation (c. 550–540 Ma). Synthetic shear bands cross-cutting coarse-grained muscovite fish induce muscovite recrystallization consistent with their distinct chemistry, with recrystallized muscovite characterized by higher Fe–Mg and lower Na suggesting fluid-assisted recrystallization under lower temperature compared to the muscovite fish host. We propose that these shear bands across mica fish play an important role by accommodating grain size reduction and subsequent deformation, leading to the formation of smaller individual mica fish. Grain size reduction, likely enhanced by dynamic precipitation (i.e., coeval crystal-plastic deformation and dissolution-precipitation creep), appears as the key recrystallization mechanism that allows low strain muscovite in strain shadows and shear bands to record the timing of deformation in medium-temperature shear zones, consistent with qualitative Sr diffusion modelling

Augmented reality-assisted ultrasound breast biopsy

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world and the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related death. Treatment is effective in the early stages. Thus, a need to screen considerable portions of the population is crucial. When the screening procedure uncovers a suspect lesion, a biopsy is performed to assess its potential for malignancy. This procedure is usually performed using real-time Ultrasound (US) imaging. This work proposes a visualization system for US breast biopsy. It consists of an application running on AR glasses that interact with a computer application. The AR glasses track the position of QR codes mounted on an US probe and a biopsy needle. US images are shown in the user’s field of view with enhanced lesion visualization and needle trajectory. To validate the system, latency of the transmission of US images was evaluated. Usability assessment compared our proposed prototype with a traditional approach with different users. It showed that needle alignment was more precise, with 92.67 ± 2.32° in our prototype versus 89.99 ± 37.49° in a traditional system. The users also reached the lesion more accurately. Overall, the proposed solution presents promising results, and the use of AR glasses as a tracking and visualization device exhibited good performance.This work was funded by the projects “NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000045” and “NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000059", supported by Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). It was also funded by national funds, through the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) and FCT/MCTES in the scope of the project UIDB/05549/2020, UIDP/05549/2020 and LASI-LA/P/0104/2020. The authors also acknowledge FCT, Portugal and the European Social Found, European Union, for funding support through the “Programa Operacional Capital Humano” (POCH) in the scope of the PhD grants SFRH/BD/136721/2018 (Oliveira B.) and SFRH/BD/136670 (Torres H. R.)