18,869 research outputs found
X-Ray Flares from Postmerger Millisecond Pulsars
Recent observations support the suggestion that short-duration gamma-ray
bursts are produced by compact star mergers. The X-ray flares discovered in two
short gamma-ray bursts last much longer than the previously proposed postmerger
energy release time scales. Here we show that they can be produced by
differentially rotating, millisecond pulsars after the mergers of binary
neutron stars. The differential rotation leads to windup of interior poloidal
magnetic fields and the resulting toroidal fields are strong enough to float up
and break through the stellar surface. Magnetic reconnection--driven explosive
events then occur, leading to multiple X-ray flares minutes after the original
gamma-ray burst.Comment: 10 pages, published in Scienc
Image Properties of Embedded Lenses
We give analytic expressions for image properties of objects seen around
point mass lenses embedded in a flat CDM universe. An embedded lens in
an otherwise homogeneous universe offers a more realistic representation of the
lens's gravity field and its associated deflection properties than does the
conventional linear superposition theory. Embedding reduces the range of the
gravitational force acting on passing light beams thus altering all quantities
such as deflection angles, amplifications, shears and Einstein ring sizes.
Embedding also exhibits the explicit effect of the cosmological constant on
these same lensing quantities. In this paper we present these new results and
demonstrate how they can be used. The effects of embedding on image properties,
although small i.e., usually less than a fraction of a percent, have a more
pronounced effect on image distortions in weak lensing where the effects can be
larger than 10%. Embedding also introduces a negative surface mass density for
both weak and strong lensing, a quantity altogether absent in conventional
Schwarzschild lensing. In strong lensing we find only one additional quantity,
the potential part of the time delay, which differs from conventional lensing
by as much as 4%, in agreement with our previous numerical estimates.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Lateral in-plane coupling between graphene nanoribbons: a density functional study
Properties brought about by lateral in-plane coupling between graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are investigated using the first-principle total energy calculations. It is found that, when two GNRs approach each other, the lateral coupling between the two brings about edge state splitting. Between zigzag-edged graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs), the coupling mainly results from Coulomb and spin-spin interaction, while for armchair-edged graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs), it is from Coulomb interaction only. It is further found that the maximum inter-ribbon distance for effective coupling depends on the type of ribbons, which is ∼10 Å for ZGNRs, but ∼6 Å for AGNRs. Also, displacements of the GNRs along the ribbon direction are found to affect the electronic properties of the coupled GNRs. The results may be important for the microminiaturization of future nanoelectronic and spintronic devices based on graphene. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio
Two-Dimensional Inversion Asymmetric Topological Insulators in Functionalized III-Bi Bilayers
The search for inversion asymmetric topological insulators (IATIs) persists
as an effect for realizing new topological phenomena. However, so for only a
few IATIs have been discovered and there is no IATI exhibiting a large band gap
exceeding 0.6 eV. Using first-principles calculations, we predict a series of
new IATIs in saturated Group III-Bi bilayers. We show that all these IATIs
preserve extraordinary large bulk band gaps which are well above
room-temperature, allowing for viable applications in room-temperature
spintronic devices. More importantly, most of these systems display large bulk
band gaps that far exceed 0.6 eV and, part of them even are up to ~1 eV, which
are larger than any IATIs ever reported. The nontrivial topological situation
in these systems is confirmed by the identified band inversion of the band
structures and an explicit demonstration of the topological edge states.
Interestingly, the nontrivial band order characteristics are intrinsic to most
of these materials and are not subject to spin-orbit coupling. Owning to their
asymmetric structures, remarkable Rashba spin splitting is produced in both the
valence and conduction bands of these systems. These predictions strongly
revive these new systems as excellent candidates for IATI-based novel
applications.Comment: 17 pages,5figure
Hyperaccretion Disks around Neutron Stars
(Abridged) We here study the structure of a hyperaccretion disk around a
neutron star. We consider a steady-state hyperaccretion disk around a neutron
star, and as a reasonable approximation, divide the disk into two regions,
which are called inner and outer disks. The outer disk is similar to that of a
black hole and the inner disk has a self-similar structure. In order to study
physical properties of the entire disk clearly, we first adopt a simple model,
in which some microphysical processes in the disk are simplified, following
Popham et al. and Narayan et al. Based on these simplifications, we
analytically and numerically investigate the size of the inner disk, the
efficiency of neutrino cooling, and the radial distributions of the disk
density, temperature and pressure. We see that, compared with the black-hole
disk, the neutron star disk can cool more efficiently and produce a much higher
neutrino luminosity. Finally, we consider an elaborate model with more physical
considerations about the thermodynamics and microphysics in the neutron star
disk (as recently developed in studying the neutrino-cooled disk of a black
hole), and compare this elaborate model with our simple model. We find that
most of the results from these two models are basically consistent with each
other.Comment: 44 pages, 10 figures, improved version following the referees'
comments, main conclusions unchanged, accepted for publication in Ap
Memory effects of carbon nanotubes as charge storage nodes for floating gate memory applications
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