Magnetic polarization induced by nonmagnetic impurities in high Tc cuprates

The magnetic polarization induced by nonmagnetic impurities such as Zn in high Tc cuprate compounds is studied by the variational Monte Carlo simulation. The variational wave function is constructed from the eigenstates obtained from Bogoliubov de Gennes mean field Hamiltonian for the two-dimensional t-J model. A Jastrow factor is introduced to account for the induced magnetic moment and the repulsion between holes and the impurity. A substantial energy gain is obtained by forming an antiferromagnetic polarization covering 4 or 5 lattice sites around the impurity. We also found the doping dependence for the induced magnetic moment consistent with experiments.Comment: 14(text) + 5(figure) pages. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Influence of Inelastic Collisions with Hydrogen Atoms on the Formation of Al I and Si I Lines in Stellar Spectra

The non-LTE line formation for Al I and Si I was calculated with model atmospheres corresponding to F-G-K type stars of different metallicity. To account for inelastic collisions with H I, for the first time we applied the cross sections calculated by Belyaev et al. using model approaches within the formalism of the Born-Oppenheimer quantum theory. For Al I non-LTE leads to overionization in the line formation layers and to weakened spectral lines, in line with earlier non-LTE studies. However, in contrast to the previuos studies, our results predict smaller magnitude of the non-LTE effects for the subordinate lines. Owing to large cross sections, the ion-pair production and mutual neutralization processes Al I(nl) + H I(1s) $\leftrightarrow$ Al~II(3s^2) + H^- provide a close coupling of high-excitation Al I levels to the Al II ground state, which causes smaller deviations from the TE populations compared to the case of pure electron collisions. For three metal-poor stars, the Al abundance was determined from seven lines in different models of their formation. In LTE and in non-LTE calculations with pure electron collisions, the Al I 3961 A resonance line gives a 0.25-0.45 dex lower abundance than the mean from the subordinate lines. The difference is removed by accounting for the collisions with H I, and the rms error of the abundance from all seven lines decreases by a factor of 1.5-3 compared to LTE. We calculated the non-LTE abundance corrections for six Al I lines depending on Teff (4500-6500 K), log g (3.0-4.5), and [Fe/H] (0, -1, -2, -3). For Si I including the collisions with H I leads to TE populations in the line formation layers and to minor departures from LTE in spectral lines.Comment: 17 pages, 3 tables, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy Letters, vol. 42 (2016

Magnesium and magnesium alloys as degradable metallic biomaterials

Drawbacks associated with permanent metallic implants lead to the search for degradable metallic biomaterials. Magnesium has been considered as it is essential to bodies and has a high biodegradation potential. For magnesium and its alloys to be used as biodegradable implant materials, their degradation rates should be consistent with the rate of healing of the affected tissue, and the release of the degradation products should be within the body's acceptable absorption levels. Conventional magnesium degrades rapidly, which is undesirable. In this study, biodegradation behaviours of high purity magnesium and commercial purity magnesium alloy AZ31 in both static and dynamic Hank's solution have been systematically investigated. The results show that magnesium purification and selective alloying are effective approaches to reduce the degradation rate of magnesium. In the static condition, the corrosion products accumulate on the materials surface as a protective layer, which results in a lower degradation rate than the dynamic condition. Anodised coating can significantly further reduce the degradation rate of magnesium. This study indicates that magnesium can be used as degradable implant materials as long as the degradation is controlled at a low rate. Magnesium purification, selective alloying and anodised coating are three effective approaches to reduce the rate of degradation

Homogeneous nucleation in spatially inhomogeneous systems

Homogeneous nucleation of a vapor in the presence of the loss of clusters by diffusion and thermophoretic drift is investigated. Analytical results are obtained for the cluster size distribution and the rate of nucleation by solving the modified kinetic equation for nucleation. The implications of cluster loss by diffusion and phoretic drift on the onset of the homogeneous nucleation of silicon vapor in the horizontal epitaxial chemical vapor deposition reactor is discussed. The range of conditions under which the loss of subcritical clusters by diffusion and drift becomes important for the interpretation of diffusion cloud chamber experimental data of the onset conditions of the homogeneous nucleation of vapors is also delineated