6,381 research outputs found
Topological States on the Gold Surface
Gold surfaces host special electronic states that have been understood as a
prototype of Shockley surface states (SSs). These SSs are commonly employed to
benchmark the capability of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES)
and scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We find that these Shockley SSs can be
reinterpreted as topologically derived surface states (TDSSs) of a topological
insulator (TI), a recently discovered quantum state. Based on band structure
calculations, the Z2 topological invariant can be well defined to characterize
the nontrivial features of gold that we detect by ARPES. The same TDSSs are
also recognized on surfaces of other well-known noble metals (e.g., silver,
copper, platinum, and palladium). Besides providing a new understanding of
noble metal SSs, finding topological states on late transition metals provokes
interesting questions on the role of topological effects in surface-related
processes, such as adsorption and catalysis.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
The true price of external health effects from food consumption
Although global food consumption costs more in terms of impact on human life than money is spent on it, health costs have not been consistently quantified or included in food prices to date. In this paper, a method to determine the external health costs of nutrition and dietetics is developed by employing the cost-of-illness (COI) and true cost accounting (TCA) approaches. This is done exemplarily for the reference country Germany. The results show that 601.50 € per capita and 50.38 billion € in total external health costs are incurred annually due to nutrition. Overall, most costs are accrued through excessive meat consumption (32.56% of costs), deficient whole grain intake (15.42% of costs), and insufficient uptake of legumes (10.19% of costs). Comparing the external health costs with the external environmental costs in Germany, it can be seen that of the total annual costs of around 153.86 billion €, 67.26% originate from environmental impacts and 32.74% from impacts on human life. In order to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and to increase family as well as public health, there is a need to internalise these external costs into actual food prices
Semiconductor Fab Scheduling with Self-Supervised and Reinforcement Learning
Semiconductor manufacturing is a notoriously complex and costly multi-step
process involving a long sequence of operations on expensive and
quantity-limited equipment. Recent chip shortages and their impacts have
highlighted the importance of semiconductors in the global supply chains and
how reliant on those our daily lives are. Due to the investment cost,
environmental impact, and time scale needed to build new factories, it is
difficult to ramp up production when demand spikes.
This work introduces a method to successfully learn to schedule a
semiconductor manufacturing facility more efficiently using deep reinforcement
and self-supervised learning. We propose the first adaptive scheduling approach
to handle complex, continuous, stochastic, dynamic, modern semiconductor
manufacturing models. Our method outperforms the traditional hierarchical
dispatching strategies typically used in semiconductor manufacturing plants,
substantially reducing each order's tardiness and time until completion. As a
result, our method yields a better allocation of resources in the semiconductor
manufacturing process
Cyclic A_\infty Structures and Deligne's Conjecture
First we describe a class of homotopy Frobenius algebras via cyclic operads
which we call cyclic algebras. We then define a suitable new
combinatorial operad which acts on the Hochschild cochains of such an algebra
in a manner which encodes the homotopy BV structure. Moreover we show that this
operad is equivalent to the cellular chains of a certain topological
(quasi)-operad of CW complexes whose constituent spaces form a homotopy
associative version of the Cacti operad of Voronov. These cellular chains thus
constitute a chain model for the framed little disks operad, proving a cyclic
version of Deligne's conjecture. This chain model contains the
minimal operad of Kontsevich and Soibelman as a suboperad and restriction of
the action to this suboperad recovers their results in the unframed case.
Additionally this proof recovers the work of Kaufmann in the case of a strict
Frobenius algebra. We then extend our results to cyclic categories,
with an eye toward the homotopy BV structure present on the Hochschild cochains
of the Fukaya category of a suitable symplectic manifold.Comment: extended results to cyclic A_infty categories; added additional
citations, motivation, and future directions; to appear in Algebraic &
Geometric Topolog
New neighborhood, old habits? Delivery preferences of residents in new development areas and their assessment of alternative parcel logistics concepts: a case study of Berlin
Various alternative solutions for sustainable last-mile parcel deliveries have been piloted and partially put into operation in Europe in the past decade. However, these delivery concepts have mainly been considered in inner-city areas. There are a few examples of the application of these concepts in peripheral urban areas, where new housing is being built to accommodate high population pressure. However, it is unclear whether the delivery preferences of residents in new neighbourhoods differ from those of the population average. This research conducted a case study in the western outskirts of Berlin, examining two newly built neighbourhoods and one existing residential area. Results from three survey waves of residents (N=645) show that conventional doorstep delivery is preferred by 80% of the respondents. Nonetheless, there is a high willingness to use alternative delivery options, and respondents see benefits in climate-friendly delivery methods. This research also examines the willingness to pay for alternative parcel logistics concepts, which seems to be too low at the moment (at around €1 per shipment) to compensate for the additional costs of an operational change. However, the results also show an increasing awareness of and preferences for new delivery concepts, thus providing practical implications for planners and logistics operators alike
Blowing out the Candle: How to Quench Galaxies at High Redshift -- an Ensemble of Rapid Starbursts, AGN Feedback and Environment
Recent observations with JWST and ALMA have revealed extremely massive
quiescent galaxies at redshifts of z=3 and higher, indicating both rapid onset
and quenching of star formation. Using the cosmological simulation suite
Magneticum Pathfinder we reproduce the observed number densities and stellar
masses, with 36 quenched galaxies of stellar mass larger than 3e10Msun at
z=3.42. We find that these galaxies are quenched through a rapid burst of
star-formation and subsequent AGN feedback caused by a particularly isotropic
collapse of surrounding gas, occurring on timescales of around 200Myr or
shorter. The resulting quenched galaxies host stellar components which are
kinematically fast rotating and alpha-enhanced, while exhibiting a steeper
metallicity and flatter age gradient compared to galaxies of similar stellar
mass. The gas of the galaxies has been metal enriched and ejected. We find that
quenched galaxies do not inhabit the densest nodes, but rather sit in local
underdensities. We analyze observable metrics to predict future quenching at
high redshifts, finding that on shorter timescales <500Myr the ratio M_bh/M_*
is the best predictor, followed by the burstiness of the preceding
star-formation, t50-t90 (time to go from 50% to 90% stellar mass). On longer
timescales, >1Gyr, the environment becomes the strongest predictor, followed by
t50-t90, indicating that at high redshifts the consumption of old and lack of
new gas are more relevant for long-term prevention of star-formation than the
presence of a massive AGN. We predict that relics of such high-z quenched
galaxies should best be characterized by a strong alpha enhancement.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, Submitted to ApJ, Comments welcom
Vertical bonding distances and interfacial band structure of PTCDA on a Sn-Ag surface alloy
Molecular materials enable a vast variety of functionalities for novel
electronic and spintronic devices. The unique possibility to alter or
substitute organic molecules or metallic substrates offers the opportunity to
modify and optimize interfacial properties for almost any desired field of
application. For this reason, we extend the successful approach to control
molecular interfaces by surface alloying. We present a comprehensive
characterization of the structural and electronic properties of the interface
formed between the prototypical molecule PTCDA and a Sn-Ag surface alloy grown
on an Ag(111) single crystal surface. We monitor the changes of adsorption
height of the surface alloy atoms and electronic valence band structure upon
adsorption of one layer of PTCDA using the normal incidence x-ray standing wave
technique in combination with momentum-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. We
find that the vertical buckling and the surface band structure of the SnAg
surface alloy is not altered by the adsorption of one layer of PTCDA, in
contrast to our recent study of PTCDA on a PbAg surface alloy [Phys. Rev.
Lett. 117, 096805 (2016)] . In addition, the vertical adsorption geometry of
PTCDA and the interfacial energy level alignment indicate the absence of any
chemical interaction between the molecule and the surface alloy. We attribute
the different interactions at these PTCDA/surface alloy interfaces to the
presence or absence of local -bonds between the PTCDA oxygen atoms and
the surface atoms. Combining our findings with results from literature, we are
able to propose an empiric rule for engineering the surface band structure of
alloys by adsorption of organic molecules
Simulating the LOcal Web (SLOW) -- III: Synchrotron Emission from the Local Cosmic Web
Aims: Detecting diffuse synchrotron emission from the cosmic web is still a
challenge for current radio telescopes. We aim to make predictions for the
detectability of cosmic web filaments from simulations. Methods: We present the
first cosmological MHD simulation of a 500 Mpc volume with an
on-the-fly spectral cosmic ray (CR) model. This allows us to follow the
evolution of populations of CR electrons and protons within every resolution
element of the simulation. We model CR injection at shocks, while accounting
for adiabatic changes to the CR population and high energy loss processes of
electrons. The synchrotron emission is then calculated from the aged electron
population, using the simulated magnetic field, as well as different models for
origin and amplification of magnetic fields. We use constrained initial
conditions, which closely resemble the local Universe and compare the results
of the cosmological volume to zoom-in simulation of the Coma cluster, to study
the impact of resolution and turbulent re-acceleration of CRs on the results.
Results: We find consistent injection of CRs at accretion shocks onto cosmic
web filaments and galaxy clusters. This leads to diffuse emission from
filaments of the order Jy beam for a potential
LOFAR observation at 144 MHz, when assuming the most optimistic magnetic field
model and the inclusion of an on-the-fly treatment of re-acceleration of
electrons by turbulence. The flux can be increased by up-to two orders of
magnitude for different choices of CR injection parameters. This can bring the
flux within a factor of 10 of the current limits for direct detection. We find
a spectral index of the simulated synchrotron emission from filaments of
{\alpha} {\approx} 1.0 - 1.5.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, submitted to A&A. Comments welcome
A symplectic proof of a theorem of Franks
A celebrated theorem in two-dimensional dynamics due to John Franks asserts
that every area preserving homeomorphism of the sphere has either two or
infinitely many periodic points. In this work we reprove Franks' theorem under
the additional assumption that the map is smooth. Our proof uses only tools
from symplectic topology and thus differs significantly from all previous
proofs. A crucial role is played by the results of Ginzburg and Kerman
concerning resonance relations for Hamiltonian diffeomorpisms.Comment: 15 pages. Minor changes. Final version to appear in Compositio
Mathematic
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