Agricultural productivity in the United States: catching-up and the business cycle

This paper examines the relation between the business cycle and convergence in levels of total factor productivity (TFP) across states. First, we find evidence of convergence in TFP levels across the different phases of the business cycle, but the speed of convergence was much greater during periods of contraction in economic activity than during periods of expansion. Second, we find that technology embodied in capital was an important source of productivity growth in agriculture. As with the rate of catch-up, the embodiment effect was much stronger during low economic activity phases of the business cycle.Agriculture, Convergence, Total factor productivity

Stacking boundaries and transport in bilayer graphene

Pristine bilayer graphene behaves in some instances as an insulator with a transport gap of a few meV. This behaviour has been interpreted as the result of an intrinsic electronic instability induced by many-body correlations. Intriguingly, however, some samples of similar mobility exhibit good metallic properties, with a minimal conductivity of the order of $2e^2/h$. Here we propose an explanation for this dichotomy, which is unrelated to electron interactions and based instead on the reversible formation of boundaries between stacking domains (`solitons'). We argue, using a numerical analysis, that the hallmark features of the previously inferred many-body insulating state can be explained by scattering on boundaries between domains with different stacking order (AB and BA). We furthermore present experimental evidence, reinforcing our interpretation, of reversible switching between a metallic and an insulating regime in suspended bilayers when subjected to thermal cycling or high current annealing.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures. Published version (Nano Letters

Resonance induced by repulsive interactions in a model of globally-coupled bistable systems

We show the existence of a competition-induced resonance effect for a generic globally coupled bistable system. In particular, we demonstrate that the response of the macroscopic variable to an external signal is optimal for a particular proportion of repulsive links. Furthermore, we show that a resonance also occurs for other system parameters, like the coupling strength and the number of elements. We relate this resonance to the appearance of a multistable region, and we predict the location of the resonance peaks, by a simple spectral analysis of the Laplacian matrix

The three-body problem and the Hannay angle

The Hannay angle has been previously studied for a celestial circular restricted three-body system by means of an adiabatic approach. In the present work, three main results are obtained. Firstly, a formal connection between perturbation theory and the Hamiltonian adiabatic approach shows that both lead to the Hannay angle; it is thus emphasised that this effect is already contained in classical celestial mechanics, although not yet defined nor evaluated separately. Secondly, a more general expression of the Hannay angle, valid for an action-dependent potential is given; such a generalised expression takes into account that the restricted three-body problem is a time-dependent, two degrees of freedom problem even when restricted to the circular motion of the test body. Consequently, (some of) the eccentricity terms cannot be neglected {\it a priori}. Thirdly, we present a new numerical estimate for the Earth adiabatically driven by Jupiter. We also point out errors in a previous derivation of the Hannay angle for the circular restricted three-body problem, with an action-independent potential.Comment: 11 pages. Accepted by Nonlinearit

Hall-effect and resistivity measurements in CdTe and ZnTe at high pressure: Electronic structure of impurities in the zincblende phase and the semi-metallic or metallic character of the high-pressure phases

We carried out high-pressure resistivity and Hall-effect measurements in single crystals of CdTe and ZnTe up to 12 GPa. Slight changes of transport parameters in the zincblende phase of CdTe are consitent with the shallow character of donor impurities. Drastic changes in all the transport parameters of CdTe were found around 4 GPa, i.e. close to the onset of the cinnabar to rock-salt transition. In particular, the carrier concentration increases by more than five orders of magnitude. Additionally, an abrupt decrease of the resistivity was detected around 10 GPa. These results are discussed in comparison with optical, thermoelectric, and x-ray diffraction experiments. The metallic character of the Cmcm phase of CdTe is confirmed and a semi-metallic character is determined for the rock-salt phase. In zincblende ZnTe, the increase of the hole concentration by more than two orders of magnitude is proposed to be due to a deep-to-shallow transformation of the acceptor levels. Between 9 and 11 GPa, transport parameters are consistent with the semiconducting character of cinnabar ZnTe. A two orders of magnitude decrease of the resistivity and a carrier-type inversion occurs at 11 GPa, in agreement with the onset of the transition to the Cmcm phase of ZnTe. A metallic character for this phase is deduced.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Competing symmetries and broken bonds in superconducting vortex-antivortex molecular crystals

Hall probe microscopy has been used to image vortex-antivortex molecules induced in superconducting Pb films by the stray fields from square arrays of magnetic dots. We have directly observed spontaneous vortex-antivortex pairs and studied how they interact with added free (anti)fluxons in an applied magnetic field. We observe a variety of phenomena arising from competing symmetries which either drive added antivortices to join antivortex shells around dots or stabilize the translationally symmetric antivortex lattice between the dots. Added vortices annihilate antivortex shells, leading first to a stable “nulling state” with no free fluxons and then, at high densities, to vortex shells around the dots stabilized by the asymmetric antipinning potential. Our experimental findings are in good agreement with Ginzburg-Landau calculations

Agricultural productivity in the United States: catching-up and the business cycle

This paper examines the relation between the business cycle and convergence in levels of total factor productivity (TFP) across states. First, we find evidence of convergence in TFP levels across the different phases of the business cycle, but the speed of convergence was much greater during periods of contraction in economic activity than during periods of expansion. Second, we find that technology embodied in capital was an important source of productivity growth in agriculture. As with the rate of catch-up, the embodiment effect was much stronger during low economic activity phases of the business cycle

Observation-assisted optimal control of quantum dynamics

This paper explores the utility of instantaneous and continuous observations in the optimal control of quantum dynamics. Simulations of the processes are performed on several multilevel quantum systems with the goal of population transfer. Optimal control fields are shown to be capable of cooperating or fighting with observations to achieve a good yield, and the nature of the observations may be optimized to more effectively control the quantum dynamics. Quantum observations also can break dynamical symmetries to increase the controllability of a quantum system. The quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects induced by observations are the key operating principles in these processes. The results indicate that quantum observations can be effective tools in the control of quantum dynamics

Novel effects of strains in graphene and other two dimensional materials

The analysis of the electronic properties of strained or lattice deformed graphene combines ideas from classical condensed matter physics, soft matter, and geometrical aspects of quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spaces. Recent theoretical and experimental work shows the influence of strains in many properties of graphene not considered before, such as electronic transport, spin-orbit coupling, the formation of Moir\'e patterns, optics, ... There is also significant evidence of anharmonic effects, which can modify the structural properties of graphene. These phenomena are not restricted to graphene, and they are being intensively studied in other two dimensional materials, such as the metallic dichalcogenides. We review here recent developments related to the role of strains in the structural and electronic properties of graphene and other two dimensional compounds.Comment: 75 pages, 15 figures, review articl

Importance of single nodes in dynamics on networks

Identifying key players in collective dynamics remains a challenge in several research fields, from the efficient dissemination of ideas to drug target discovery in biomedical problems. The difficulty lies at several levels: how to single out the role of individual elements in such intermingled systems, or which is the best way to quantify their importance. Centrality measures describe a node's importance by its position in a network. The key issue obviated is that the contribution of a node to the collective behavior is not uniquely determined by the structure of the system but it is a result of the interplay between dynamics and network structure