326 research outputs found

    Acoustics of tachyon Fermi gas

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    We consider a Fermi gas of free tachyons as a continuous medium and find whether it satisfies the causality condition. There is no stable tachyon matter with the particle density below critical value nTn_T and the Fermi momentum kF<32mk_F<\sqrt{\frac 32}m that depends on the tachyon mass mm. The pressure PP and energy density EE cannot be arbitrary small, but the situation P>EP>E is not forbidden. Existence of shock waves in tachyon gas is also discussed. At low density nT<n<3.45nTn_T<n<3.45n_T the tachyon matter remains stable but no shock wave do survive.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures (color

    Exotic magnetism in the alkali sesquoxides Rb4O6 and Cs4O6

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    Among the various alkali oxides the sesquioxides Rb4O6 and Cs4O6 are of special interest. Electronic structure calculations using the local spin-density approximation predicted that Rb4O6 should be a half-metallic ferromagnet, which was later contradicted when an experimental investigation of the temperature dependent magnetization of Rb4O6 showed a low-temperature magnetic transition and differences between zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) measurements. Such behavior is known from spin glasses and frustrated systems. Rb4O6 and Cs4O6 comprise two different types of dioxygen anions, the hyperoxide and the peroxide anions. The nonmagnetic peroxide anions do not contain unpaired electrons while the hyperoxide anions contain unpaired electrons in antibonding pi*-orbitals. High electron localization (narrow bands) suggests that electronic correlations are of major importance in these open shell p-electron systems. Correlations and charge ordering due to the mixed valency render p-electron-based anionogenic magnetic order possible in the sesquioxides. In this work we present an experimental comparison of Rb4O6 and the related Cs4O6. The crystal structures are verified using powder x-ray diffraction. The mixed valency of both compounds is confirmed using Raman spectroscopy, and time-dependent magnetization experiments indicate that both compounds show magnetic frustration, a feature only previously known from d- and f-electron systems

    Autistic adults benefit from and enjoy learning via social interaction as much as neurotypical adults do

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    Background: Autistic people show poor processing of social signals (i.e. about the social world). But how do they learn via social interaction? // Methods: 68 neurotypical adults and 60 autistic adults learned about obscure items (e.g. exotic animals) over Zoom (i) in a live video-call with the teacher, (ii) from a recorded learner-teacher interaction video and (iii) from a recorded teacher-alone video. Data were analysed via analysis of variance and multi-level regression models. // Results: Live teaching provided the most optimal learning condition, with no difference between groups. Enjoyment was the strongest predictor of learning: both groups enjoyed the live interaction significantly more than other condition and reported similar anxiety levels across conditions. // Limitations: Some of the autistic participants were self-diagnosed—however, further analysis where these participants were excluded showed the same results. Recruiting participants over online platforms may have introduced bias in our sample. Future work should investigate learning in social contexts via diverse sources (e.g. schools). // Conclusions: These findings advocate for a distinction between learning about the social versus learning via the social: cognitive models of autism should be revisited to consider social interaction not just as a puzzle to decode but rather a medium through which people, including neuro-diverse groups, learn about the world around them. // Trial registration: Part of this work has been pre-registered before data collection https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5PGA

    Transparent dense sodium

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    Under pressure, metals exhibit increasingly shorter interatomic distances. Intuitively, this response is expected to be accompanied by an increase in the widths of the valence and conduction bands and hence a more pronounced free-electron-like behaviour. But at the densities that can now be achieved experimentally, compression can be so substantial that core electrons overlap. This effect dramatically alters electronic properties from those typically associated with simple free-electron metals such as lithium and sodium, leading in turn to structurally complex phases and superconductivity with a high critical temperature. But the most intriguing prediction - that the seemingly simple metals Li and Na will transform under pressure into insulating states, owing to pairing of alkali atoms - has yet to be experimentally confirmed. Here we report experimental observations of a pressure-induced transformation of Na into an optically transparent phase at 200 GPa (corresponding to 5.0-fold compression). Experimental and computational data identify the new phase as a wide bandgap dielectric with a six-coordinated, highly distorted double-hexagonal close-packed structure. We attribute the emergence of this dense insulating state not to atom pairing, but to p-d hybridizations of valence electrons and their repulsion by core electrons into the lattice interstices. We expect that such insulating states may also form in other elements and compounds when compression is sufficiently strong that atomic cores start to overlap strongly.Comment: Published in Nature 458, 182-185 (2009

    Upper critical field, lower critical field and critical current density of FeTe0.60Se0.40 single crystal

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    The transport and magnetic studies are performed on high quality FeTe0.60Se0.40 single crystals to determine the upper critical fields (Hc2), lower critical field (Hc1) and the Critical current density (Jc). The value of upper critical field Hc2 are very large, whereas the activation energy as determined from the slope of the Arrhenius plots are was found to be lower than that in the FeAs122 superconductor. The lower critical field was determined in ab direction and c direction of the crystal, and was found to have a anisotropy of 'gamma'{=(Hc1//c) / (Hc1//b)} ~ 4. The magnetic isotherms measured up to 12 Tesla shows the presence of fishtail behavior. The critical current densities at 1.8K of the single crystal was found to almost same in both ab and c direction as 1X105 Amp/cm2 in low field regime.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
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