Static dielectric response and Born effective charge of BN nanotubes from {\it ab initio} finite electric field calculations

{\it Ab initio} investigations of the full static dielectric response and Born effective charge of BN nanotubes (BN-NTs) have been performed for the first time using finite electric field method. It is found that the ionic contribution to the static dielectric response of BN-NTs is substantial and also that a pronounced chirality-dependent oscillation is superimposed on the otherwise linear relation between the longitudinal electric polarizability and the tube diameter ($D$), as for a thin dielectric cylinderical shell. In contrast, the transverse dielectric response of the BN-NTs resemble the behavior of a thin (non-ideal) conducting cylindrical shell of a diameter of $D+4$\AA$$, with a screening factor of 2 for the inner electric field. The medium principal component $Z_y^*$ of the Born effective charge corresponding to the transverse atomic displacement tangential to the BN-NT surface, has a pronounced $D$-dependence (but independent of chirality), while the large longitudinal component $Z_z^*$ exhibits a clear chirality dependence (but nearly $D$-independent), suggesting a powerful way to characterize the diameter and chirality of a BN-NT.Comment: submitted to PR

Planetary Formation Scenarios Revistied: Core-Accretion Versus Disk Instability

The core-accretion and disk instability models have so far been used to explain planetary formation. These models have different conditions, such as planet mass, disk mass, and metallicity for formation of gas giants. The core-accretion model has a metallicity condition ([Fe/H] > −1.17 in the case of G-type stars), and the mass of planets formed is less than 6 times that of the Jupiter mass MJ. On the other hand, the disk instability model does not have the metallicity condition, but requires the disk to be 15 times more massive compared to the minimum mass solar nebulae model. The mass of planets formed is more than 2MJ. These results are compared to the 161 detected planets for each spectral type of the central stars. The results show that 90% of the detected planets are consistent with the core-accretion model regardless of the spectral type. The remaining 10% are not in the region explained by the core-accretion model, but are explained by the disk instability model. We derived the metallicity dependence of the formation probability of gas giants for the core-accretion model. Comparing the result with the observed fraction having gas giants, they are found to be consistent. On the other hand, the observation cannot be explained by the disk instability model, because the condition for gas giant formation is independent of the metallicity. Consequently, most of planets detected so far are thought to have been formed by the core-accretion process, and the rest by the disk instability process.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Phonon-driven ultrafast exciton dissociation at donor-acceptor polymer heterojunctions

A quantum-dynamical analysis of phonon-driven exciton dissociation at polymer heterojunctions is presented, using a hierarchical electron-phonon model parameterized for three electronic states and 24 vibrational modes. Two interfering decay pathways are identified: a direct charge separation, and an indirect pathway via an intermediate bridge state. Both pathways depend critically on the dynamical interplay of high-frequency C=C stretch modes and low-frequency ring-torsional modes. The ultrafast, highly non-equilibrium dynamics is consistent with time-resolved spectroscopic observations

Analysis of quantum conductance of carbon nanotube junctions by the effective mass approximation

The electron transport through the nanotube junctions which connect the different metallic nanotubes by a pair of a pentagonal defect and a heptagonal defect is investigated by Landauer's formula and the effective mass approximation. From our previous calculations based on the tight binding model, it has been known that the conductance is determined almost only by two parameters,i.e., the energy in the unit of the onset energy of more than two channels and the ratio of the radii of the two nanotubes. The conductance is calculated again by the effective mass theory in this paper and a simple analytical form of the conductance is obtained considering a special boundary conditions of the envelop wavefunctions. The two scaling parameters appear naturally in this treatment. The results by this formula coincide fairly well with those of the tight binding model. The physical origin of the scaling law is clarified by this approach.Comment: RevTe

Electron Correlations in the Quasi-Two-Dimensional Organic Conductor θ\theta-(BEDT-TTF)2_{2}I3_{3} investigated by 13^{13}C NMR

We report a $^{13}$C-NMR study on the ambient-pressure metallic phase of the layered organic conductor $\theta$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$I$_{3}$ [BEDT-TTF: bisethylenedithio-tetrathiafulvalene], which is expected to connect the physics of correlated electrons and Dirac electrons under pressure. The orientation dependence of the NMR spectra shows that all BEDT-TTF molecules in the unit cell are to be seen equivalent from a microscopic point of view. This feature is consistent with the orthorhombic symmetry of the BEDT-TTF sublattice and also indicates that the monoclinic $I_{3}$ sublattice, which should make three molecules in the unit cell nonequivalent, is not practically influential on the electronic state in the conducting BEDT-TTF layers at ambient pressure. There is no signature of charge disproportionation in opposition to most of the $\theta$-type BEDT-TTF salts. The analyses of NMR Knight shift, $K$, and the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate, $1/T_{1}$, revealed that the degree of electron correlation, evaluated by the Korringa ratio [$\varpropto 1/(T_{1}TK^{2}$)], is in an intermediate regime. However, NMR relaxation rate $1/T_{1}$ is enhanced above $\sim$ 200K, which possibly indicates that the system enters into a quantum critical regime of charge-order fluctuations as suggested theoretically.Comment: 19pages, 6figure

Topological Phases in Graphitic Cones

The electronic structure of graphitic cones exhibits distinctive topological features associated with the apical disclinations. Aharonov-Bohm magnetoconductance oscillations (period Phi_0) are completely absent in rings fabricated from cones with a single pentagonal disclination. Close to the apex, the local density of states changes qualitatively, either developing a cusp which drops to zero at the Fermi energy, or forming a region of nonzero density across the Fermi energy, a local metalization of graphene.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4, 3 PostScript figure

Where Are the Baryons? II: Feedback Effects

Numerical simulations of the intergalactic medium have shown that at the present epoch a significant fraction (40-50%) of the baryonic component should be found in the (T~10^6K) Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) - with several recent observational lines of evidence indicating the validity of the prediction. We here recompute the evolution of the WHIM with the following major improvements: (1) galactic superwind feedback processes from galaxy/star formation are explicitly included; (2) major metal species (O V to O IX) are computed explicitly in a non-equilibrium way; (3) mass and spatial dynamic ranges are larger by a factor of 8 and 2, respectively, than in our previous simulations. Here are the major findings: (1) galactic superwinds have dramatic effects, increasing the WHIM mass fraction by about 20%, primarily through heating up warm gas near galaxies with density 10^{1.5}-10^4 times the mean density. (2) the fraction of baryons in WHIM is increased modestly from the earlier work but is ~40-50%. (3) the gas density of the WHIM is broadly peaked at a density 10-20 times the mean density, ranging from underdense regions to regions that are overdense by 10^3-10^4. (4) the median metallicity of the WHIM is 0.18 Zsun for oxygen with 50% and 90% intervals being (0.040,0.38) and (0.0017,0.83).Comment: 44 pages, 17 figures, high res version at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~cen/baryonII.ps.g

Quantum Phonon Optics: Coherent and Squeezed Atomic Displacements

In this paper we investigate coherent and squeezed quantum states of phonons. The latter allow the possibility of modulating the quantum fluctuations of atomic displacements below the zero-point quantum noise level of coherent states. The expectation values and quantum fluctuations of both the atomic displacement and the lattice amplitude operators are calculated in these states---in some cases analytically. We also study the possibility of squeezing quantum noise in the atomic displacement using a polariton-based approach.Comment: 6 pages, RevTe