Different Behavior of Magnetic Impurities in Crystalline and Ammorphous States of Superconductors

It has been observed that the effect of magnetic impurities in a superconductor is drastically different depending on whether the host superconductor is in a crystalline or an amorphous state. Based on the recent theory of Kim and Overhauser (KO), it is shown that as the system is getting disordered, the initial slope of the $T_{c}$ depression is decreasing by a factor $\sqrt{\ell/\xi_{0}}$, when the mean free path $\ell$ becomes smaller than the BCS coherence length $\xi_{0}$, which is in agreement with experimental findings. In addition, for a superconductor in a crystalline state in the presence of magnetic impurities the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ drops sharply from about 50% of $T_{c0}$ (for a pure system) to zero near the critical impurity concentration. This {\sl pure limit behavior} was indeed found by Roden and Zimmermeyer in crystalline Cd. Recently, Porto and Parpia have also found the same {\sl pure limit behavior} in superfluid He-3 in aerogel, which may be understood within the framework of the KO theory.Comment: 7 figures, 20 pages, latex, to appear in Superconductor Science and Technolog

Population of dipole states via isoscalar probes: the splitting of pygmy dipole resonance in 124^{124}Sn}

Inelastic $\alpha$-scattering excitation cross sections are calculated for electric dipole excitations in $^{124}$Sn based on the transition densities obtained from the relativistic quasiparticle time-blocking approximation (RQTBA) in the framework of a semiclassical model. The calculation provides the missing link to directly compare the results from the microscopic RQTBA calculations to recent experimental data measured via the $(\alpha ,\alpha '\gamma)$ reaction, which show a structural splitting of the low-lying E1 strength often denoted as pygmy dipole resonance (PDR). The experimentally observed splitting is reproduced by the cross section calculations, which allows to draw conclusion on the structure of the PDR.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures; accepted in Phys. Rev C as Rapid Communicatio

Large-Scale Pairwise Sequence Alignments on a Large-Scale GPU Cluster

This paper presents design of a GPU kernel for performing pairwise sequence alignments for large-scale short sequence datasets generated by nextgeneration sequencers. This kernel principally performs batch Needleman– Wunsch global alignments. When used with its MPI-based host software, the kernel is scalable and is capable of achieving high throughput alignment when run on a CPU-GPU cluster

On the design of dynamic associative neural memories

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We consider the design problem for a class of discrete-time and continuous-time neural networks. We obtain a characterization of all connection weights that store a given set of vectors into the network; that is, each given vector becomes an equilibrium point of the network. We also give sufficient conditions that guarantee the asymptotic stability of these equilibrium points

High count rate {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy with LaBr3:Ce scintillation detectors

The applicability of LaBr3:Ce detectors for high count rate {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy is investigated. A 3"x3" LaBr3:Ce detector is used in a test setup with radioactive sources to study the dependence of energy resolution and photo peak efficiency on the overall count rate in the detector. Digitized traces were recorded using a 500 MHz FADC and analysed with digital signal processing methods. In addition to standard techniques a pile-up correction method is applied to the data in order to further improve the high-rate capabilities and to reduce the losses in efficiency due to signal pile-up. It is shown, that {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy can be performed with high resolution at count rates even above 1 MHz and that the performance can be enhanced in the region between 500 kHz and 10 MHz by using pile-up correction techniques

The decay of quadrupole-octupole 1−1^- states in 40^{40}Ca and 140^{140}Ce

Background: Two-phonon excitations originating from the coupling of two collective one-phonon states are of great interest in nuclear structure physics. One possibility to generate low-lying $E1$ excitations is the coupling of quadrupole and octupole phonons. Purpose: In this work, the $\gamma$-decay behavior of candidates for the $(2_1^+\otimes 3_1^-)_{1^-}$ state in the doubly-magic nucleus $^{40}$Ca and in the heavier and semi-magic nucleus $^{140}$Ce is investigated. Methods: $(\vec{\gamma},\gamma')$ experiments have been carried out at the High Intensity $\gamma$-ray Source (HI${\gamma}$S) facility in combination with the high-efficiency $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy setup $\gamma^3$ consisting of HPGe and LaBr$_3$ detectors. The setup enables the acquisition of $\gamma$-$\gamma$ coincidence data and, hence, the detection of direct decay paths. Results: In addition to the known ground-state decays, for $^{40}$Ca the decay into the $3^-_1$ state was observed, while for $^{140}$Ce the direct decays into the $2^+_1$ and the $0^+_2$ state were detected. The experimentally deduced transition strengths and excitation energies are compared to theoretical calculations in the framework of EDF theory plus QPM approach and systematically analyzed for $N=82$ isotones. In addition, negative parities for two $J=1$ states in $^{44}$Ca were deduced simultaneously. Conclusions: The experimental findings together with the theoretical calculations support the two-phonon character of the $1^-_1$ excitation in the light-to-medium-mass nucleus $^{40}$Ca as well as in the stable even-even $N=82$ nuclei.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted in Phys. Rev.

Fragmentation and systematics of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance in the stable N=82 isotones

The low-lying electric dipole (E1) strength in the semi-magic nucleus 136Xe has been measured which finalizes the systematic survey to investigate the so-called pygmy dipole resonance (PDR) in all stable even N=82 isotones with the method of nuclear resonance fluorescence using real photons in the entrance channel. In all cases, a fragmented resonance-like structure of E1 strength is observed in the energy region 5 MeV to 8 MeV. An analysis of the fragmentation of the strength reveals that the degree of fragmentation decreases towards the proton-deficient isotones while the total integrated strength increases indicating a dependence of the total strength on the neutron-to-proton ratio. The experimental results are compared to microscopic calculations within the quasi-particle phonon model (QPM). The calculation includes complex configurations of up to three phonons and is able to reproduce also the fragmentation of the E1 strength which allows to draw conclusions on the damping of the PDR. Calculations and experimental data are in good agreement in the degree of fragmentation and also in the integrated strength if the sensitivity limit of the experiments is taken into account