Search for Spatial Structures at Scales Z~1. III. The Effect of Lensing on QSO ?

We carried out a search for peak inhomogeneities in the distribution of matter - namely clumps and voids, within the range Z ~ 1-3. We used a new method, based on the lensing of quasars by a combination of lenses, belonging to the above sought inhomogeneities in the matter distribution. This work confirms the evidence of the existence of inhomogeneities found by us earlier - of a clump (superattractor N.1), and of a void (supervoid). Besides, the existence of a new gigantic clump (superattractor N.2) was also discovered at Z ~ 3. These clumps could well serve as centers of the Bose-condensation in the early Universe; in particular - as Anselm's arion condensate, which leads to the formation of quasiperiodic structures with a period p ~ 100-200 Mpc.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables. submitted to Astrophys.& Space Sc

All-sky Relative Opacity Mapping Using Night Time Panoramic Images

An all-sky cloud monitoring system that generates relative opacity maps over many of the world's premier astronomical observatories is described. Photometric measurements of numerous background stars are combined with simultaneous sky brightness measurements to differentiate thin clouds from sky glow sources such as air glow and zodiacal light. The system takes a continuous pipeline of all-sky images, and compares them to canonical images taken on other nights at the same sidereal time. Data interpolation then yields transmission maps covering almost the entire sky. An implementation of this system is currently operating through the Night Sky Live network of CONCAM3s located at Cerro Pachon (Chile), Mauna Kea (Hawaii), Haleakala (Hawaii), SALT (South Africa) and the Canary Islands (Northwestern Africa).Comment: Accepted for publication in PAS

Berry phases and zero-modes in toroidal topological insulator

An effective Hamiltonian describing the surface states of a toroidal topological insulator is obtained, and it is shown to support both bound-states and charged zero-modes. Actually, the spin connection induced by the toroidal curvature can be viewed as an position-dependent effective vector potential, which ultimately yields the zero-modes whose wave-functions harmonically oscillate around the toroidal surface. In addition, two distinct Berry phases are predicted to take place by the virtue of the toroidal topology.Comment: New version, accepted for publication in EPJB, 6 pages, 1 figur

The role of damped Alfven waves on magnetospheric accretion models of young stars

We examine the role of Alfven wave damping in heating the plasma in the magnetic funnels of magnetospheric accretion models of young stars. We study four different damping mechanisms of the Alfven waves: nonlinear, turbulent, viscous-resistive and collisional. Two different possible origins for the Alfven waves are discussed: 1) Alfven waves generated at the surface of the star by the shock produced by the infalling matter; and 2) Alfven waves generated locally in the funnel by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We find that, in general, the damping lengths are smaller than the tube length. Since thermal conduction in the tube is not efficient, Alfven waves generated only at the star's surface cannot heat the tube to the temperatures necessary to fit the observations. Only for very low frequency Alfven waves ~10^{-5} the ion cyclotron frequency, is the viscous-resistive damping length greater than the tube length. In this case, the Alfven waves produced at the surface of the star are able to heat the whole tube. Otherwise, local production of Alfven waves is required to explain the observations. The turbulence level is calculated for different frequencies for optically thin and thick media. We find that turbulent velocities varies greatly for different damping mechanisms, reaching \~100 km s^{-1} for the collisional damping of small frequency waves.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journa

Density functional investigations of defect induced mid-gap states in graphane

We have carried out ab initio electronic structure calculations on graphane (hydrogenated graphene) with single and double vacancy defects. Our analysis of the density of states reveal that such vacancies induce the mid gap states and modify the band gap. The induced states are due to the unpaired electrons on carbon atoms. Interestingly the placement and the number of such states is found to be sensitive to the distance between the vacancies. Furthermore we also found that in most of the cases the vacancies induce a local magnetic moment.Comment: 15 page

Ground-state configurations in ferromagnetic nanotori

Magnetization ground states are studied in toroidal nanomagnets. The energetics associated to the ferromagnetic, vortex and onion-like configurations are explicitly computed. The analysis reveals that the vortex appears to be the most prominent of such states, minimizing total energy in every torus with internal radius $r\gtrsim10\,{\rm nm}$ (for Permalloy). For $r\lesssim10\,{\rm nm}$ the vortex remains the most favorable pattern whenever $R/\ell_{ex}\gtrsim1.5$ ($R$ is the torus external radius and $\ell_{ex}$ is the exchange length), being substituted by the ferromagnetic state whenever $R/\ell_{ex}\lesssim1.5$.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 3 apendices, Revtex forma

Magnetic monopole and string excitations in a two-dimensional spin ice

We study the magnetic excitations of a square lattice spin-ice recently produced in an artificial form, as an array of nanoscale magnets. Our analysis, based upon the dipolar interaction between the nanomagnetic islands, correctly reproduces the ground-state observed experimentally. In addition, we find magnetic monopole-like excitations effectively interacting by means of the usual Coulombic plus a linear confining potential, the latter being related to a string-like excitation binding the monopoles pairs, what indicates that the fractionalization of magnetic dipoles may not be so easy in two dimensions. These findings contrast this material with the three-dimensional analogue, where such monopoles experience only the Coulombic interaction. We discuss, however, two entropic effects that affect the monopole interactions: firstly, the string configurational entropy may loose the string tension and then, free magnetic monopoles should also be found in lower dimensional spin ices; secondly, in contrast to the string configurational entropy, an entropically driven Coulomb force, which increases with temperature, has the opposite effect of confining the magnetic defects.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted by Journal of Applied Physics (2009

Métodos de aplicação de bactérias diazotróficas em cana-soca para fins de determinação da eficiência agronômica.

bitstream/item/42766/1/COT117-09.pd

Characterization of InGaN and InAlN epilayers by microdiffraction X-Ray reciprocal space mapping

We report a study of InGaN and InAlN epilayers grown on GaN/Sapphire substrates by microfocused three-dimensional X-ray Reciprocal Space Mapping (RSM). The analysis of the full volume of reciprocal space, while probing samples on the microscale with a focused X-ray beam, allows us to gain uniquely valuable information about the microstructure of III-N alloy epilayers. It is found that “seed” InGaN mosaic nanocrystallites are twisted with respect to the ensemble average and strain free. This indicates that the growth of InGaN epilayers follows the Volmer-Weber mechanism with nucleation of “seeds” on strain fields generated by the a-type dislocations which are responsible for the twist of underlying GaN mosaic blocks. In the case of InAlN epilayer formation of composition gradient was observed at the beginning of the epitaxial growth