8,381 research outputs found
Peer Evaluation of Video Lab Reports in a Blended Introductory Physics Course
The Georgia Tech blended introductory calculus-based mechanics course
emphasizes scientific communication as one of its learning goals, and to that
end, we gave our students a series of four peer-evaluation assignments intended
to develop their abilities to present and evaluate scientific arguments. Within
these assignments, we also assessed students' evaluation abilities by comparing
their evaluations to a set of expert evaluations. We summarize our development
efforts and describe the changes we observed in student evaluation behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, 2 figures, submitted to Summer 2014 PERC
Proceeding
Pregenomic RNA encapsidation analysis of eleven missense and nonsense polymerase mutants of human hepatitis B virus
We characterized 11 DNA polymerase mutants of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) which contain single missense or nonsense mutations in the various domains within this gene. Except for mutant 738, a tight association between DNA replication and RNA packaging of these missense pol mutants was observed. Further analysis of HBV core particle-associated RNA indicated that only the 3.5-kb core-specific RNA, but not the precore-specific RNA, is selectively packaged in this tissue culture system. Previously, we have demonstrated that only the 3.5-kb core-specific RNA can serve as an efficient template for pol translation. Taken together, our results suggest that selectivity of HBV RNA packaging occurs as a result of selective translation of pol-containing mRNAs. Furthermore, our data suggest that the RNA encapsidation domain of pol overlaps with all of the domains of pol involved in the synthesis of terminal protein, as well as DNA replication. Finally, on the basis of gradient centrifugation analysis, a pol defect appeared to have no negative effect on the assembly or stability of core particles. A new method to assay RNA encapsidation, as well as potential RNase H activity, is reported
The Initial State of Students Taking an Introductory Physics MOOC
As part of a larger research project into massively open online courses
(MOOCs), we have investigated student background, as well as student
participation in a physics MOOC with a laboratory component. Students completed
a demographic survey and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation at the
beginning of the course. While the course is still actively running, we have
tracked student participation over the first five weeks of the eleven-week
course.Comment: Accepted to PERC Proceedings 201
The mixed black hole partition function for the STU model
We evaluate the mixed partition function for dyonic BPS black holes using the
recently proposed degeneracy formula for the STU model. The result factorizes
into the OSV mixed partition function times a proportionality factor. The
latter is in agreement with the measure factor that was recently conjectured
for a class of N=2 black holes that contains the STU model.Comment: 14 page
Finite resolution measurement of the non-classical polarization statistics of entangled photon pairs
By limiting the resolution of quantum measurements, the measurement induced
changes of the quantum state can be reduced, permitting subsequent measurements
of variables that do not commute with the initially measured property. It is
then possible to experimentally determine correlations between non-commuting
variables. The application of this method to the polarization statistics of
entangled photon pairs reveals that negative conditional probabilities between
non-orthogonal polarization components are responsible for the violation of
Bell's inequalities. Such negative probabilities can also be observed in finite
resolution measurements of the polarization of a single photon. The violation
of Bell's inequalities therefore originates from local properties of the
quantum statistics of single photon polarization.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures and 1 table, new figure to illustrate results,
improved explanation of statistical analysi
d-Wave Pairing Correlation in the Two-Dimensional t-J Model
The pair-pair correlation function of the two-dimensional t-J model is
studied by using the power-Lanczos method and an assumption of monotonic
behavior. In comparison with the results of the ideal Fermi gas, we conclude
that the 2D t-J model does not have long range d-wave superconducting
correlation in the interesting parameter range of . Implications
of this result will also be discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, accepted by PR
Low energy physical properties of high-Tc superconducting Cu oxides: A comparison between the resonating valence bond and experiments
In a recent review by Anderson and coworkers\cite{Vanilla}, it was pointed
out that an early resonating valence bond (RVB) theory is able to explain a
number of unusual properties of high temperature superconducting (SC)
Cu-oxides. Here we extend previous calculations \cite{anderson87,FC
Zhang,Randeria} to study more systematically low energy physical properties of
the plain vanilla d-wave RVB state, and to compare results with the available
experiments. We use a renormalized mean field theory combined with variational
Monte Carlo and power Lanczos methods to study the RVB state of an extended
model in a square lattice with parameters suitable for the hole doped
Cu-oxides. The physical observable quantities we study include the specific
heat, the linear residual thermal conductivity, the in-plane magnetic
penetration depth, the quasiparticle energy at the antinode , the
superconducting energy gap, the quasiparticle spectra and the Drude weight. The
traits of nodes (including , the Fermi velocity and the velocity
along Fermi surface ), as well as the SC order parameter are also
studied. Comparisons of the theory and the experiments in cuprates show an
overall qualitative agreement, especially on their doping dependences.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, 1 tabl
Singularities of N=1 Supersymmetric Gauge Theory and Matrix Models
In N=1 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory with adjoint matter and
polynomial tree-level superpotential , the massless fluctuations about
each quantum vacuum are generically described by gauge theory for some
n. However, by tuning the parameters of to non-generic values, we can
reach singular vacua where additional fields become massless. Using both the
matrix model prescription and the strong-coupling approach, we study in detail
three examples of such singularities: the singularities of the n=1 branch,
intersections of n=1 and n=2 branches, and a class of N=1 Argyres-Douglas
points. In all three examples, we find that the matrix model description of the
low-energy physics breaks down in some way at the singularity.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure. Revised section 1, fixed misprints in section
3.1, added clarifications and reference
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