93 research outputs found
Magnetic response of carbon nanotubes from ab initio calculations
We present {\it ab initio} calculations of the magnetic susceptibility and of
the C chemical shift for carbon nanotubes, both isolated and in bundles.
These calculations are performed using the recently proposed gauge-including
projector augmented-wave approach for the calculation of magnetic response in
periodic insulating systems. We have focused on the semiconducting zigzag
nanotubes with diameters ranging from 0.6 to 1.6 nm. Both the susceptibility
and the isotropic shift exhibit a dependence with the diameter (D) and the
chirality of the tube (although this dependence is stronger for the
susceptibility). The isotropic shift behaves asymptotically as , where is a different constant for each family of nanotubes.
For a tube diameter of around 1.2 nm, a value normally found in experimental
samples, our results are in excellent agreement with experiments. Moreover, we
calculated the chemical shift of a double-wall tube. We found a diamagnetic
shift of the isotropic lines corresponding to the atoms of the inner tube due
to the effect of the outer tube. This shift is in good agreement with recent
experiments, and can be easily explained by demagnetizing currents circulating
the outer tube.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Simple point-ion electrostatic model explains the cation distribution in spinel oxides
The A2BO4 spinel oxides are distinguished by having either a normal (N) or an inverse (I) distribution of the A, B cations on their sublattices. A point-ion electrostatic model parametrized by the oxygen displacement parameter u and by the relative cation valencies ZA vs ZB provides a simple rule for the structural preference for N or I: if ZA>ZB the structure is normal for u>0.2592 and inverse for u0.2578. This rule is illustrated for the known spinel oxides, proving to be ∼98% successful. © 2010 The American Physical Society
Robust sparse image reconstruction of radio interferometric observations with purify
Next-generation radio interferometers, such as the Square Kilometre Array
(SKA), will revolutionise our understanding of the universe through their
unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. However, to realise these goals
significant challenges in image and data processing need to be overcome. The
standard methods in radio interferometry for reconstructing images, such as
CLEAN, have served the community well over the last few decades and have
survived largely because they are pragmatic. However, they produce
reconstructed inter\-ferometric images that are limited in quality and
scalability for big data. In this work we apply and evaluate alternative
interferometric reconstruction methods that make use of state-of-the-art sparse
image reconstruction algorithms motivated by compressive sensing, which have
been implemented in the PURIFY software package. In particular, we implement
and apply the proximal alternating direction method of multipliers (P-ADMM)
algorithm presented in a recent article. First, we assess the impact of the
interpolation kernel used to perform gridding and degridding on sparse image
reconstruction. We find that the Kaiser-Bessel interpolation kernel performs as
well as prolate spheroidal wave functions, while providing a computational
saving and an analytic form. Second, we apply PURIFY to real interferometric
observations from the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Australia Telescope
Compact Array (ATCA) and find images recovered by PURIFY are higher quality
than those recovered by CLEAN. Third, we discuss how PURIFY reconstructions
exhibit additional advantages over those recovered by CLEAN. The latest version
of PURIFY, with developments presented in this work, is made publicly
available.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, PURIFY code available at
http://basp-group.github.io/purif
Distributed and parallel sparse convex optimization for radio interferometry with PURIFY
Next generation radio interferometric telescopes are entering an era of big
data with extremely large data sets. While these telescopes can observe the sky
in higher sensitivity and resolution than before, computational challenges in
image reconstruction need to be overcome to realize the potential of
forthcoming telescopes. New methods in sparse image reconstruction and convex
optimization techniques (cf. compressive sensing) have shown to produce higher
fidelity reconstructions of simulations and real observations than traditional
methods. This article presents distributed and parallel algorithms and
implementations to perform sparse image reconstruction, with significant
practical considerations that are important for implementing these algorithms
for Big Data. We benchmark the algorithms presented, showing that they are
considerably faster than their serial equivalents. We then pre-sample gridding
kernels to scale the distributed algorithms to larger data sizes, showing
application times for 1 Gb to 2.4 Tb data sets over 25 to 100 nodes for up to
50 billion visibilities, and find that the run-times for the distributed
algorithms range from 100 milliseconds to 3 minutes per iteration. This work
presents an important step in working towards computationally scalable and
efficient algorithms and implementations that are needed to image observations
of both extended and compact sources from next generation radio interferometers
such as the SKA. The algorithms are implemented in the latest versions of the
SOPT (https://github.com/astro-informatics/sopt) and PURIFY
(https://github.com/astro-informatics/purify) software packages {(Versions
3.1.0)}, which have been released alongside of this article.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Genetic-algorithm discovery of a direct-gap and optically allowed superstructure from indirect-gap Si and Ge semiconductors
Combining two indirect-gap materials-with different electronic and optical gaps-to create a direct gap material represents an ongoing theoretical challenge with potentially rewarding practical implications, such as optoelectronics integration on a single wafer. We provide an unexpected solution to this classic problem, by spatially melding two indirect-gap materials (Si and Ge) into one strongly dipole-allowed direct-gap material. We leverage a combination of genetic algorithms with a pseudopotential Hamiltonian to search through the astronomic number of variants of Si /Ge /.../Si /Ge superstructures grown on (001) Si Ge . The search reveals a robust configurational motif-SiGe Si Ge SiGe on (001) Si Ge substrate (x≤0.4) presenting a direct and dipole-allowed gap resulting from an enhanced Γ-X coupling at the band edges. © 2012 American Physical Society
A Caching Scheme to Accelerate Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations of Catalytic Reactions
Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations have been instrumental in advancing our fundamental understanding of heterogeneously catalyzed reactions, with particular emphasis on structure sensitivity, ensemble effects, and the interplay between adlayer structure and adsorbate-adsorbate lateral interactions in shaping the observed kinetics. Yet, the computational cost of KMC remains high, thereby motivating the development of acceleration schemes that would improve the simulation effciency. We present an exact such scheme, which implements a caching algorithm along with shared-memory parallelization to improve the computational performance of simulations incorporating long-range adsorbate-adsorbate lateral interactions. This scheme is based on caching information about the energetic interaction patterns associated with the products of each possible lattice process (adsorption, desorption, reaction etc). Thus, every time a reaction occurs ("ongoing reaction") it enables fast updates of the rate constants of "affected reactions", i.e. possible reactions in the region of influence of the "ongoing reaction". Benchmarks on KMC simulations of NOx oxidation/reduction, yield acceleration factors of up to 20× when comparing single-thread runs without caching to runs on 16 threads with caching, for simulations with a cluster expansion Hamiltonian that incorporates up to 8th nearest-neighbor interactions
Cascading on extragalactic background light
High-energy gamma-rays propagating in the intergalactic medium can interact
with background infrared photons to produce e+e- pairs, resulting in the
absorption of the intrinsic gamma-ray spectrum. TeV observations of the distant
blazar 1ES 1101-232 were thus recently used to put an upper limit on the
infrared extragalactic background light density. The created pairs can
upscatter background photons to high energies, which in turn may pair produce,
thereby initiating a cascade. The pairs diffuse on the extragalactic magnetic
field (EMF) and cascade emission has been suggested as a means for measuring
its intensity. Limits on the IR background and EMF are reconsidered taking into
account cascade emissions. The cascade equations are solved numerically.
Assuming a power-law intrinsic spectrum, the observed 100 MeV - 100 TeV
spectrum is found as a function of the intrinsic spectral index and the
intensity of the EMF. Cascades emit mainly at or below 100 GeV. The observed
TeV spectrum appears softer than for pure absorption when cascade emission is
taken into account. The upper limit on the IR photon background is found to be
robust. Inversely, the intrinsic spectra needed to fit the TeV data are
uncomfortably hard when cascade emission makes a significant contribution to
the observed spectrum. An EMF intensity around 1e-8 nG leads to a
characteristic spectral hump in the GLAST band. Higher EMF intensities divert
the pairs away from the line-of-sight and the cascade contribution to the
spectrum becomes negligible.Comment: 5 pages, to be published as a research note in A&
Efficient Generalized Spherical CNNs
Many problems across computer vision and the natural sciences require the analysis of spherical data, for which representations may be learned efficiently by encoding equivariance to rotational symmetries. We present a generalized spherical CNN framework that encompasses various existing approaches and allows them to be leveraged alongside each other. The only existing non-linear spherical CNN layer that is strictly equivariant has complexity OpC2L5q, where C is a measure of representational capacity and L the spherical harmonic bandlimit. Such a high computational cost often prohibits the use of strictly equivariant spherical CNNs. We develop two new strictly equivariant layers with reduced complexity OpCL4q and OpCL3 log Lq, making larger, more expressive models computationally feasible. Moreover, we adopt efficient sampling theory to achieve further computational savings. We show that these developments allow the construction of more expressive hybrid models that achieve state-of-the-art accuracy and parameter efficiency on spherical benchmark problems
One-dimensional pair cascade emission in gamma-ray binaries
In gamma-ray binaries such as LS 5039 a large number of electron-positron
pairs are created by the annihilation of primary very high energy (VHE)
gamma-rays with photons from the massive star. The radiation from these
particles contributes to the total high energy gamma-ray flux and can initiate
a cascade, decreasing the effective gamma-ray opacity in the system. The aim of
this paper is to model the cascade emission and investigate if it can account
for the VHE gamma-ray flux detected by HESS from LS 5039 at superior
conjunction, where the primary gamma-rays are expected to be fully absorbed. A
one-dimensional cascade develops along the line-of-sight if the deflections of
pairs induced by the surrounding magnetic field can be neglected. A
semi-analytical approach can then be adopted, including the effects of the
anisotropic seed radiation field from the companion star. Cascade equations are
numerically solved, yielding the density of pairs and photons. In LS 5039, the
cascade contribution to the total flux is large and anti-correlated with the
orbital modulation of the primary VHE gamma-rays. The cascade emission
dominates close to superior conjunction but is too strong to be compatible with
HESS measurements. Positron annihilation does not produce detectable 511 keV
emission. This study provides an upper limit to cascade emission in gamma-ray
binaries at orbital phases where absorption is strong. The pairs are likely to
be deflected or isotropized by the ambient magnetic field, which will reduce
the resulting emission seen by the observer. Cascade emission remains a viable
explanation for the detected gamma-rays at superior conjunction in LS 5039.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysic
The intergalactic magnetic field constrained by Fermi/LAT observations of the TeV blazar 1ES 0229+200
TeV photons from blazars at relatively large distances, interacting with the
optical-IR cosmic background, are efficiently converted into electron-positron
pairs. The produced pairs are extremely relativistic (Lorentz factors of the
order of 1e6 1e7 and promptly loose their energy through inverse Compton
scatterings with the photons of the microwave cosmic background, producing
emission in the GeV band. The spectrum and the flux level of this reprocessed
emission is critically dependent on the intensity of the intergalactic magnetic
field, B, that can deflect the pairs diluting the intrinsic emission over a
large solid angle. We derive a simple relation for the reprocessed spectrum
expected from a steady source. We apply this treatment to the blazar 1ES
0229+200, whose intrinsic very hard TeV spectrum is expected to be
approximately steady. Comparing the predicted reprocessed emission with the
upper limits measured by the Fermi/Large Area Telescope, we constrain the value
of the intergalactic magnetic field to be larger than Gauss, depending on the model of extragalactic background light.Comment: 5 pages 2 figures, revised version accepted for publication in MNRAS
(Letters
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