700 research outputs found
Stress relief as the driving force for self-assembled Bi nanolines
Stress resulting from mismatch between a substrate and an adsorbed material
has often been thought to be the driving force for the self-assembly of
nanoscale structures. Bi nanolines self-assemble on Si(001), and are remarkable
for their straightness and length -- they are often more than 400 nm long, and
a kink in a nanoline has never been observed. Through electronic structure
calculations, we have found an energetically favourable structure for these
nanolines that agrees with our scanning tunneling microscopy and photoemission
experiments; the structure has an extremely unusual subsurface structure,
comprising a double core of 7-membered rings of silicon. Our proposed structure
explains all the observed features of the nanolines, and shows that surface
stress resulting from the mismatch between the Bi and the Si substrate are
responsible for their self-assembly. This has wider implications for the
controlled growth of nanostructures on semiconductor surfaces.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
The causal structure of dynamical charged black holes
We study the causal structure of dynamical charged black holes, with a
sufficient number of massless fields, using numerical simulations. Neglecting
Hawking radiation, the inner horizon is a null Cauchy horizon and a curvature
singularity due to mass inflation. When we include Hawking radiation, the inner
horizon becomes space-like and is separated from the Cauchy horizon, which is
parallel to the out-going null direction. Since a charged black hole must
eventually transit to a neutral black hole, we studied the neutralization of
the black hole and observed that the inner horizon evolves into a space-like
singularity, generating a Cauchy horizon which is parallel to the in-going null
direction. Since the mass function is finite around the inner horizon, the
inner horizon is regular and penetrable in a general relativistic sense.
However, since the curvature functions become trans-Planckian, we cannot
saymore about the region beyond the inner horizon, and it is natural to say
that there is a 'physical' space-like singularity. However, if we assume an
exponentially large number of massless scalar fields, our results can be
extended beyond the inner horizon. In this case, strong cosmic censorship and
black hole complementarity can be violated.Comment: 23 pages, 23 figure
Nearly Massless Electrons in the Silicon Interface with a Metal Film
We demonstrate the realization of nearly massless electrons in the most
widely used device material, silicon, at the interface with a metal film. Using
angle-resolved photoemission, we found that the surface band of a monolayer
lead film drives a hole band of the Si inversion layer formed at the interface
with the film to have nearly linear dispersion with an effective mass about 20
times lighter than bulk Si and comparable to graphene. The reduction of mass
can be accounted for by repulsive interaction between neighboring bands of the
metal film and Si substrate. Our result suggests a promising way to take
advantage of massless carriers in silicon-based thin-film devices, which can
also be applied for various other semiconductor devices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
The no-boundary measure in scalar-tensor gravity
In this article, we study the no-boundary wave function in scalar-tensor
gravity with various potentials for the non-minimally coupled scalar field. Our
goal is to calculate probabilities for the scalar field - and hence the
effective gravitational coupling and cosmological constant - to take specific
values. Most calculations are done in the minisuperspace approximation, and we
use a saddle point approximation for the Euclidean action, which is then
evaluated numerically. We find that for potentials that have several minima,
none of them is substantially preferred by the quantum mechanical
probabilities. We argue that the same is true for the stable and the runaway
solution in the case of a dilaton-type potential. Technically, this is due to
the inclusion of quantum mechanical effects (fuzzy instantons). These results
are in contrast to the often held view that vanishing gravitation or
cosmological constants would be exponentially preferred in quantum cosmology,
and they may be relevant to the cosmological constant problem and the dilaton
stabilization problem.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figure
Dynamical formation and evolution of (2+1)-dimensional charged black holes
In this paper, we investigate the dynamical formation and evolution of 2 +
1-dimensional charged black holes. We numerically study dynamical collapses of
charged matter fields in an anti de Sitter background and note the formation of
black holes using the double-null formalism. Moreover, we include re-normalized
energy-momentum tensors assuming the S-wave approximation to determine
thermodynamical back-reactions to the internal structures. If there is no
semi-classical effects, the amount of charge determines the causal structures.
If the charge is sufficiently small, the causal structure has a space-like
singularity. However, as the charge increases, an inner Cauchy horizon appears.
If we have sufficient charge, we see a space-like outer horizon and a time-like
inner horizon, and if we give excessive charge, black hole horizons disappear.
We have some circumstantial evidences that weak cosmic censorship is still
satisfied, even for such excessive charge cases. Also, we confirm that there is
mass inflation along the inner horizon, although the properties are quite
different from those of four-dimensional cases. Semi-classical back-reactions
will not affect the outer horizon, but they will affect the inner horizon. Near
the center, there is a place where negative energy is concentrated. Thus,
charged black holes in three dimensions have two types of curvature
singularities in general: via mass inflation and via a concentration of
negative energy. Finally, we classify possible causal structures.Comment: 40 pages, 15 figure
Modeling the series of (n x 2) Si-rich reconstructions of beta-SiC(001): a prospective atomic wire?
We perform ab initio plane wave supercell density functional calculations on
three candidate models of the (3 x 2) reconstruction of the beta-SiC(001)
surface. We find that the two-adlayer asymmetric-dimer model (TAADM) is
unambiguously favored for all reasonable values of Si chemical potential. We
then use structures derived from the TAADM parent to model the silicon lines
that are observed when the (3 x 2) reconstruction is annealed (the (n x 2)
series of reconstructions), using a tight-binding method. We find that as we
increase n, and so separate the lines, a structural transition occurs in which
the top addimer of the line flattens. We also find that associated with the
separation of the lines is a large decrease in the HOMO-LUMO gap, and that the
HOMO state becomes quasi-one-dimensional. These properties are qualititatively
and quantitatively different from the electronic properties of the original (3
x 2) reconstruction.Comment: 22 pages, including 6 EPS figure
Nature of the broken-symmetry phase of the one-dimensional metallic In/Si(111) surface
The horizon-entropy increase law for causal and quasi-local horizons and conformal field redefinitions
We explicitly prove the horizon-entropy increase law for both causal and
quasi-locally defined horizons in scalar-tensor and gravity theories.
Contrary to causal event horizons, future outer trapping horizons are not
conformally invariant and we provide a modification of trapping horizons to
complete the proof, using the idea of generalised entropy. This modification
means they are no longer foliated by marginally outer trapped surfaces but
fixes the location of the horizon under a conformal transformation. We also
discuss the behaviour of horizons in "veiled" general relativity and show,
using this new definition, how to locate cosmological horizons in flat
Minkowski space with varying units, which is physically identified with a
spatially flat FLRW spacetime.Comment: 23 page
Responses of the Brans-Dicke field due to gravitational collapses
We study responses of the Brans-Dicke field due to gravitational collapses of
scalar field pulses using numerical simulations. Double-null formalism is
employed to implement the numerical simulations. If we supply a scalar field
pulse, it will asymptotically form a black hole via dynamical interactions of
the Brans-Dicke field. Hence, we can observe the responses of the Brans-Dicke
field by two different regions. First, we observe the late time behaviors after
the gravitational collapse, which include formations of a singularity and an
apparent horizon. Second, we observe the fully dynamical behaviors during the
gravitational collapse and view the energy-momentum tensor components. For the
late time behaviors, if the Brans-Dicke coupling is greater (or smaller) than
-1.5, the Brans-Dicke field decreases (or increases) during the gravitational
collapse. Since the Brans-Dicke field should be relaxed to the asymptotic value
with the elapse of time, the final apparent horizon becomes time-like (or
space-like). For the dynamical behaviors, we observed the energy-momentum
tensors around ~ -1.5. If the Brans-Dicke coupling is greater than
-1.5, the component can be negative at the outside of the black hole.
This can allow an instantaneous inflating region during the gravitational
collapse. If the Brans-Dicke coupling is less than -1.5, the oscillation of the
component allows the apparent horizon to shrink. This allows a
combination that violates weak cosmic censorship. Finally, we discuss the
implications of the violation of the null energy condition and weak cosmic
censorship.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figure
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