7,551 research outputs found
Observation of a parity oscillation in the conductance of atomic wires
Using a scanning tunnel microscope or mechanically controlled break
junctions, atomic contacts of Au, Pt and Ir are pulled to form chains of atoms.
We have recorded traces of conductance during the pulling process and averaged
these for a large amount of contacts. An oscillatory evolution of conductance
is observed during the formation of the monoatomic chain suggesting a
dependence on even or odd numbers of atoms forming the chain. This behaviour is
not only present in the monovalent metal Au, as it has been previously
predicted, but is also found in the other metals which form chains suggesting
it to be a universal feature of atomic wires
Comparison of Dissipative Particle Dynamics and Langevin thermostats for out-of-equilibrium simulations of polymeric systems
In this work we compare and characterize the behavior of Langevin and
Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) thermostats in a broad range of
non-equilibrium simulations of polymeric systems. Polymer brushes in relative
sliding motion, polymeric liquids in Poiseuille and Couette flows, and
brush-melt interfaces are used as model systems to analyze the efficiency and
limitations of different Langevin and DPD thermostat implementations. Widely
used coarse-grained bead-spring models under good and poor solvent conditions
are employed to assess the effects of the thermostats. We considered
equilibrium, transient, and steady state examples for testing the ability of
the thermostats to maintain constant temperature and to reproduce the
underlying physical phenomena in non-equilibrium situations. The common
practice of switching-off the Langevin thermostat in the flow direction is also
critically revisited. The efficiency of different weight functions for the DPD
thermostat is quantitatively analyzed as a function of the solvent quality and
the non-equilibrium situation.Comment: 12 pages, introduction improved, references added, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Investigation of the Domain Wall Fermion Approach to Chiral Gauge Theories on the Lattice
We investigate a recent proposal to construct chiral gauge theories on the
lattice using domain wall fermions. We restrict ourselves to the finite volume
case, in which two domain walls are present, with modes of opposite chirality
on each of them. We couple the chiral fermions on only one of the domain walls
to a gauge field. In order to preserve gauge invariance, we have to add a
scalar field, which gives rise to additional light mirror fermion and scalar
modes. We argue that in an anomaly free model these extra modes would decouple
if our model possesses a so-called strong coupling symmetric phase. However,
our numerical results indicate that such a phase most probably does not exist.
---- Note: 9 Postscript figures are appended as uuencoded compressed tar file.Comment: 27p. Latex; UCSD/PTH 93-28, Wash. U. HEP/93-6
Ballistic transport, chiral anomaly and emergence of the neutral electron - hole plasma in graphene
The process of coherent creation of particle - hole excitations by an
electric field in graphene is quantitatively described using a dynamic "first
quantized" approach. We calculate the evolution of current density, number of
pairs and energy in ballistic regime using the tight binding model. The series
in electric field strength up to third order in both DC and AC are
calculated. We show how the physics far from the two Dirac points enters
various physical quantities in linear response and how it is related to the
chiral anomaly. The third harmonic generation and the imaginary part of
conductivity are obtained. It is shown that at certain time scale
the physical behaviour dramatically changes and the
perturbation theory breaks down. Beyond the linear response physics is explored
using an exact solution of the first quantized equations. While for small
electric fields the I-V curve is linear characterized by the universal minimal
resistivity %, at the conductivity grows
fast. The copious pair creation (with rate ), analogous to Schwinger's
electron - positron pair creation from vacuum in QED, leads to creation of the
electron - hole plasma at ballistic times of order . This process is
terminated by a relaxational recombination.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures
The dehydration, rehydration and tectonic setting of greenstone belts in a portion of the northern Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa
High-grade gneiss terranes and low-grade granite-greenstone terranes are well known in several Archaean domains. The geological relationship between these different crustal regions, however, is still controversial. One school of thought favors fundamental genetic differences between high-grade and low-grade terranes while others argue for a depth-controlled crustal evolution. The detailed examination of well-exposed Archaean terranes at different metamorphic grades, therefore, is not only an important source of information about the crustal levels exposed, but also is critical to the understanding of the possible tectonic and metamorphic evolution of greenstone belts with time. Three South African greenstone belts are compared
Improvement and Taste Symmetry Breaking for Staggered Quarks
We compare several improved actions for staggered quarks. We study the effect
of improvement on the taste changing interactions by calculating the splitting
in the pion spectrum. We investigate the effect of the improvement on some
topological properties.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Lattice 2003 proceeding
Reproducibility of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) assessment in endometrial cancer
Aims Lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) in endometrial cancer (EC) is an important prognostic variable impacting on a patient's individual recurrence risk and adjuvant treatment recommendations. Recent work has shown that grading the extent of LVSI further improves its prognostic strength in patients with stage I endometrioid EC. Despite this, there is little information on the reproducibility of LVSI assessment in EC. Therefore, we designed a study to evaluate interobserver agreement in discriminating true LVSI from LVSI mimics (Phase I) and reproducibility of grading extent of LVSI (Phase II). Methods and results Scanned haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) slides of endometrioid EC (EEC) with a predefined possible LVSI focus were hosted on a website and assessed by a panel of six European gynaecological pathologists. In Phase I, 48 H&E slides were included for LVSI assessment and in Phase II, 42 H&E slides for LVSI grading. Each observer was instructed to apply the criteria for LVSI used in daily practice. The degree of agreement was measured using the two-way absolute agreement average-measures intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Reproducibility of LVSI assessment (ICC = 0.64, P < 0.001) and LVSI grading (ICC = 0.62, P < 0.001) in EEC was substantial among the observers. Conclusions Given the good reproducibility of LVSI, this study further supports the important role of LVSI in decision algorithms for adjuvant treatment
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