Nodeless superconductivity in Ir1−x_{1-x}Ptx_xTe2_2 with strong spin-orbital coupling

The thermal conductivity $\kappa$ of superconductor Ir$_{1-x}$Pt$_{x}$Te$_2$ ($x$ = 0.05) single crystal with strong spin-orbital coupling was measured down to 50 mK. The residual linear term $\kappa_0/T$ is negligible in zero magnetic field. In low magnetic field, $\kappa_0/T$ shows a slow field dependence. These results demonstrate that the superconducting gap of Ir$_{1-x}$Pt$_{x}$Te$_2$ is nodeless, and the pairing symmetry is likely conventional s-wave, despite the existence of strong spin-orbital coupling and a quantum critical point.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

A novel fast fractal image compression method based on distance clustering in high dimensional sphere surface

Fractal encoding method becomes an effective image compression method because of its high compression ratio and short decompressing time. But one problem of known fractal compression method is its high computational complexity and consequent long compressing time. To address this issue, in this paper, distance clustering in high dimensional sphere surface is applied to speed up the fractal compression method. Firstly, as a preprocessing strategy, an image is divided into blocks, which are mapped on high dimensional sphere surface. Secondly, a novel image matching method is presented based on distance clustering on high dimensional sphere surface. Then, the correctness and effectiveness properties of the mentioned method are analyzed. Finally, experimental results validate the positive performance gain of the method

Specific heat and thermal conductivity of ferromagnetic magnons in Yttrium Iron Garnet

The specific heat and thermal conductivity of the insulating ferrimagnet Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ (Yttrium Iron Garnet, YIG) single crystal were measured down to 50 mK. The ferromagnetic magnon specific heat $C$$_m$ shows a characteristic $T^{1.5}$ dependence down to 0.77 K. Below 0.77 K, a downward deviation is observed, which is attributed to the magnetic dipole-dipole interaction with typical magnitude of 10$^{-4}$ eV. The ferromagnetic magnon thermal conductivity $\kappa_m$ does not show the characteristic $T^2$ dependence below 0.8 K. To fit the $\kappa_m$ data, both magnetic defect scattering effect and dipole-dipole interaction are taken into account. These results complete our understanding of the thermodynamic and thermal transport properties of the low-lying ferromagnetic magnons.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Properties of superconducting MgB_2 wires: "in-situ" versus "ex-situ" reaction technique

We have fabricated a series of iron-sheathed superconducting wires prepared by the powder-in-tube technique from (MgB_2)_{1-x}:(Mg+2B)_x initial powder mixtures taken with different proportions, so that x varies from 0 to 1. It turned out that "ex-situ" prepared wire (x = 0) has considerable disadvantages compared to all the other wires in which "in-situ" assisted (0 < x < 1) or pure "in-situ" (x = 1) preparation was used due to weaker inter-grain connectivity. As a result, higher critical current densities J_c were measured over the entire range of applied magnetic fields B_a for all the samples with x > 0. Pinning of vortices in MgB_2 wires is shown to be due to grain boundaries. J_c(B_a) behavior is governed by an interplay between the transparency of grain boundaries and the amount of "pinning" grain boundaries. Differences between thermo-magnetic flux-jump instabilities in the samples and a possible threat to practical applications are also discussed.Comment: To be published in Supercond. Sci. Technol. (2003), in pres

Hurst parameter analysis of radio pulsar timing noise

We present an analysis of timing residual (noise) of 54 pulsars obtained from 25-m radio telescope at Urumqi Observatory with a time span of 5~8 years, dealing with statistics of the Hurst parameter. The majority of these pulsars were selected to have timing noise that look like white noise rather than smooth curves. The results are compared with artificial series of different constant pairwise covariances. Despite the noise like appearance, many timing residual series showed Hurst parameters significantly deviated from that of independent series. We concluded that Hurst parameter may be capable of detecting dependence in timing residual and of distinguishing chaotic behavior from random processes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to MNRA