50,616 research outputs found
Threading the spindle: a geometric study of chiral liquid crystal polymer microparticles
Polymeric particles are strong candidates for designing artificial materials
capable of emulating the complex twisting-based functionality observed in
biological systems. In this letter, we provide the first detailed investigation
of the swelling behavior of bipolar polymer liquid crystalline microparticles.
Deswelling from the spherical bipolar configuration causes the microparticle to
contract anisotropically and twist in the process, resulting in a twisted
spindle shaped structure. We propose a model to describe the observed spiral
patterns and twisting behavior
Biases on cosmological parameters by general relativity effects
General relativistic corrections to the galaxy power spectrum appearing at
the horizon scale, if neglected, may induce biases on the measured values of
the cosmological parameters. In this paper, we study the impact of general
relativistic effects on non standard cosmologies such as scenarios with a time
dependent dark energy equation of state, with a coupling between the dark
energy and the dark matter fluids or with non-Gaussianities. We then explore
whether general relativistic corrections affect future constraints on
cosmological parameters in the case of a constant dark energy equation of state
and of non-Gaussianities. We find that relativistic corrections on the power
spectrum are not expected to affect the foreseen errors on the cosmological
parameters nor to induce large biases on them.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, one added figure, results of Tab. I revised,
version accepted for publication in PR
Cross-Dimensional relaxation in Bose-Fermi mixtures
We consider the equilibration rate for fermions in Bose-Fermi mixtures
undergoing cross-dimensional rethermalization. Classical Monte Carlo
simulations of the relaxation process are performed over a wide range of
parameters, focusing on the effects of the mass difference between species and
the degree of initial departure from equilibrium. A simple analysis based on
Enskog's equation is developed and shown to be accurate over a variety of
different parameter regimes. This allows predictions for mixtures of commonly
used alkali atoms.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, uses Revtex 4. This is a companion paper to [PRA
70, 021601(R) (2004)] (cond-mat/0405419
Single-photon signals at LEP in supersymmetric models with a light gravitino
We study the single-photon signals expected at LEP in models with a very
light gravitino. The dominant process is neutralino-gravitino production (e+e-
-> chi+ G) with subsequent neutralino decay via chi->gamma+G, giving a
gamma+E_miss signal. We first calculate the cross section at arbitrary
center-of-mass energies and provide new analytic expressions for the
differential cross section valid for general neutralino compositions. We then
consider the constraints on the gravitino mass from LEP 1 and LEP161
single-photon searches, and possible such searches at the Tevatron. We show
that it is possible to evade the stringent LEP 1 limits and still obtain an
observable rate at LEP 2, in particular in the region of parameter space that
may explain the CDF e+e+gamma+gamma+E_T,miss event. As diphoton events from
neutralino pair-production would not be kinematically accessible in this
scenario, the observation of whichever photonic signal will discriminate among
the various light-gravitino scenarios in the literature. We also perform a
Monte Carlo simulation of the expected energy and angular distributions of the
emitted photon, and of the missing invariant mass expected in the events.
Finally we specialize the results to the case of a recently proposed
one-parameter no-scale supergravity model.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX, 14 figures (included
Crosstalk between nanotube devices: contact and channel effects
At reduced dimensionality, Coulomb interactions play a crucial role in
determining device properties. While such interactions within the same carbon
nanotube have been shown to have unexpected properties, device integration and
multi-nanotube devices require the consideration of inter-nanotube
interactions. We present calculations of the characteristics of planar carbon
nanotube transistors including interactions between semiconducting nanotubes
and between semiconducting and metallic nanotubes. The results indicate that
inter-tube interactions affect both the channel behavior and the contacts. For
long channel devices, a separation of the order of the gate oxide thickness is
necessary to eliminate inter-nanotube effects. Because of an exponential
dependence of this length scale on dielectric constant, very high device
densities are possible by using high-k dielectrics and embedded contacts
POISSON project - III - Investigating the evolution of the mass accretion rate
As part of the POISSON project (Protostellar Optical-Infrared Spectral Survey
on NTT), we present the results of the analysis of low-resolution NIR spectra
0.9-2.4 um) of two samples of YSOs in Lupus and Serpens (52 and 17 objects),
with masses 0.1-2.0 Msun and ages from 10^5 to a few 10^7 yr. After determining
the accretion parameters of the Lup and Ser targets by analysing their HI
near-IR emission features, we added the results to those from previous regions
(investigated in POISSON with the same methodology). We obtained a final
catalogue (143 objects) of mass accretion rates (Macc) derived in a homogeneous
fashion and analysed how Macc correlates with M* and how it evolves in time. We
derived the accretion luminosity (Lacc) and Macc for Lup and Ser objects from
the Br_gamma line by using relevant empirical relationships from the literature
that connect HI line luminosity and Lacc. To minimise the biases and also for
self-consistency, we re-derived mass and age for each source using the same set
of evolutionary tracks. We observe a correlation MaccM*^2.2, similarly to what
has previously been observed in several star-forming clouds. The time variation
of Macc is roughly consistent with the expected evolution in viscous disks,
with an asymptotic decay that behaves as t^-1.6. However, Macc values are
characterised by a large scatter at similar ages and are on average higher than
the predictions of viscous models. Although part of the scattering may be
related to the employed empirical relationship and to uncertainties on the
single measurements, the general distribution and decay trend of the Macc
points are real. These findings might be indicative of a large variation in the
initial mass of the disks, of fairly different viscous laws among disks, of
varying accretion regimes, and of other mechanisms that add to the dissipation
of the disks, such as photo-evaporation.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted by A&
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