Quantitative test of a quantum theory for the resistive transition in a superconducting single-walled carbon nanotube bundle

The phenomenon of superconductivity depends on the coherence of the phase of the superconducting order parameter. The resistive transition in quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) superconductors is broad because of a large phase fluctuation. We show that the resistive transition of a superconducting single-walled carbon nanotube bundle is in quantitative agreement with the Langer-Ambegaokar-McCumber-Halperin (LAMH) theory. We also demonstrate that the resistive transition below T^*_c = 0.89T_c0 is simply proportional to exp [-(3\beta T^*_c/T)(1-T/T^*_c)^3/2], where the barrier height has the same form as that predicted by the LAMH theory and T_c0 is the mean field superconducting transition temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Matter loops corrected modified gravity in Palatini formulation

Recently, corrections to the standard Einstein-Hilbert action are proposed to explain the current cosmic acceleration in stead of introducing dark energy. In the Palatini formulation of those modified gravity models, there is an important observation due to Arkani-Hamed: matter loops will give rise to a correction to the modified gravity action proportional to the Ricci scalar of the metric. In the presence of such term, we show that the current forms of modified gravity models in Palatini formulation, specifically, the 1/R gravity and $\ln R$ gravity, will have phantoms. Then we study the possible instabilities due to the presence of phantom fields. We show that the strong instability in the metric formulation of 1/R gravity indicated by Dolgov and Kawasaki will not appear and the decay timescales for the phantom fields may be long enough for the theories to make sense as effective field theory . On the other hand, if we change the sign of the modification terms to eliminate the phantoms, some other inconsistencies will arise for the various versions of the modified gravity models. Finally, we comment on the universal property of the Palatini formulation of the matter loops corrected modified gravity models and its implications.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figures, References adde

Micromachined membrane particle filters

We report here several particle membrane filters (8 x 8 mm^2) with circular, hexagonal and rectangular through holes. By varying hole dimensions from 6 to 12 pm, opening factors from 4 to 45 % are achieved. In order to improve the filter robustness, a composite silicon nitride/Parylene membrane technology is developed. More importantly, fluid dynamic performance of the filters is also studied by both experiments and numerical simulations. It is found that the gaseous flow through the filters depends strongly on opening factors, and the measured pressure drops are much lower than that from numerical simulation using the Navier-Stokes equation. Interestingly, surface velocity slip can only account for a minor part of the discrepancy. This suggests that a very interesting topic for micro fluid mechanics research is identified

An Efficient Method for GPS Multipath Mitigation Using the Teager-Kaiser-Operator-based MEDLL

An efficient method for GPS multipath mitigation is proposed. The motivation for this proposed method is to integrate the Teager-Kaiser Operator (TKO) with the Multipath Estimating Delay Lock Loop (MEDLL) module to mitigate the GPS multipath efficiently. The general implementation process of the proposed method is that we first utilize the TKO to operate on the received signal’s Auto-Correlation Function (ACF) to get an initial estimate of the multipaths. Then we transfer the initial estimated results to the MEDLL module for a further estimation. Finally, with a few iterations which are less than those of the original MEDLL algorithm, we can get a more accurate estimate of the Line-Of-Sight (LOS) signal, and thus the goal of the GPS multipath mitigation is achieved. The simulation results show that compared to the original MEDLL algorithm, the proposed method can reduce the computation load and the hardware and/or software consumption of the MEDLL module, meanwhile, without decreasing the algorithm accuracy

Cosmological Effects of Nonlinear Electrodynamics

It will be shown that a given realization of nonlinear electrodynamics, used as source of Einstein's equations, generates a cosmological model with interesting features, namely a phase of current cosmic acceleration, and the absence of an initial singularity, thus pointing to a way to solve two important problems in cosmology

Low-lying states in 30^{30}Mg: a beyond relativistic mean-field investigation

The recently developed model of three-dimensional angular momentum projection plus generator coordinate method on top of triaxial relativistic mean-field states has been applied to study the low-lying states of $^{30}$Mg. The effects of triaxiality on the low-energy spectra and E0 and E2 transitions are examined.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, talk presented at the 17th nuclear physics conference "Marie and Pierre Curie" Kazimierz Dolny, 22-26th September 2010, Polan

Mean-field embedding of the dual fermion approach for correlated electron systems

To reduce the rapidly growing computational cost of the dual fermion lattice calculation with increasing system size, we introduce two embedding schemes. One is the real fermion embedding, and the other is the dual fermion embedding. Our numerical tests show that the real fermion and dual fermion embedding approaches converge to essentially the same result. The application on the Anderson disorder and Hubbard models shows that these embedding algorithms converge more quickly with system size as compared to the conventional dual fermion method, for the calculation of both single-particle and two-particle quantities.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Dual Fermion Method for Disordered Electronic Systems

While the coherent potential approximation (CPA) is the prevalent method for the study of disordered electronic systems, it fails to capture non-local correlations and Anderson localization. To incorporate such effects, we extend the dual fermion approach to disordered non-interacting systems using the replica method. Results for single- and two- particle quantities show good agreement with cluster extensions of the CPA; moreover, weak localization is captured. As a natural extension of the CPA, our method presents an alternative to the existing cluster theories. It can be used in various applications, including the study of disordered interacting systems, or for the description of non-local effects in electronic structure calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Covariant description of shape evolution and shape coexistence in neutron-rich nuclei at N\approx60

The shape evolution and shape coexistence phenomena in neutron-rich nuclei at $N\approx60$, including Kr, Sr, Zr, and Mo isotopes, are studied in the covariant density functional theory (DFT) with the new parameter set PC-PK1. Pairing correlations are treated using the BCS approximation with a separable pairing force. Sharp rising in the charge radii of Sr and Zr isotopes at N=60 is observed and shown to be related to the rapid changing in nuclear shapes. The shape evolution is moderate in neighboring Kr and Mo isotopes. Similar as the results of previous Hartree-Fock-Bogogliubov (HFB) calculations with the Gogny force, triaxiality is observed in Mo isotopes and shown to be essential to reproduce quantitatively the corresponding charge radii. In addition, the coexistence of prolate and oblate shapes is found in both $^{98}$Sr and $^{100}$Zr. The observed oblate and prolate minima are related to the low single-particle energy level density around the Fermi surfaces of neutron and proton respectively. Furthermore, the 5-dimensional (5D) collective Hamiltonian determined by the calculations of the PC-PK1 energy functional is solved for $^{98}$Sr and $^{100}$Zr. The resultant excitation energy of $0^+_2$ state and E0 transition strength $\rho^2(E0;0^+_2\rightarrow0^+_1)$ are in rather good agreement with the data. It is found that the lower barrier height separating the two competing minima along the $\gamma$ deformation in $^{100}$Zr gives rise to the larger $\rho^2(E0;0^+_2\rightarrow0^+_1)$ than that in $^{98}$Sr.Comment: 1 table, 11 figures, 23 page