Surface roughness during depositional growth and sublimation of ice crystals

Full version of an earlier discussion paper (Chou et al. 2018)Ice surface properties can modify the scattering properties of atmospheric ice crystals and therefore affect the radiative properties of mixed-phase and cirrus clouds. The Ice Roughness Investigation System (IRIS) is a new laboratory setup designed to investigate the conditions under which roughness develops on single ice crystals, based on their size, morphology and growth conditions (relative humidity and temperature). Ice roughness is quantified through the analysis of speckle in 2-D light-scattering patterns. Characterization of the setup shows that a supersaturation of 20 % with respect to ice and a temperature at the sample position as low as-40 °C could be achieved within IRIS. Investigations of the influence of humidity show that higher supersaturations with respect to ice lead to enhanced roughness and irregularities of ice crystal surfaces. Moreover, relative humidity oscillations lead to gradual ratcheting-up of roughness and irregularities, as the crystals undergo repeated growth-sublimation cycles. This memory effect also appears to result in reduced growth rates in later cycles. Thus, growth history, as well as supersaturation and temperature, influences ice crystal growth and properties, and future atmospheric models may benefit from its inclusion in the cloud evolution process and allow more accurate representation of not just roughness but crystal size too, and possibly also electrification properties.Peer reviewe

The infrared conductivity of Nax_xCoO2_2: evidence of gapped states

We present infrared ab-plane conductivity data for the layered cobaltate Na$_x$CoO$_2$ at three different doping levels ($x=0.25, 0.50$, and 0.75). The Drude weight increases monotonically with hole doping, $1-x$. At the lowest hole doping level $x$=0.75 the system resembles the normal state of underdoped cuprate superconductors with a scattering rate that varies linearly with frequency and temperature and there is an onset of scattering by a bosonic mode at 600 \cm. Two higher hole doped samples ($x=0.50$ and 0.25) show two different-size gaps (110 \cm and 200 \cm, respectively) in the optical conductivities at low temperatures and become insulators. The spectral weights lost in the gap region of 0.50 and 0.25 samples are shifted to prominent peaks at 200 \cm and 800 \cm, respectively. We propose that the two gapped states of the two higher hole doped samples ($x$=0.50 and 0.25) are pinned charge ordered states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Spectral Weights, d-wave Pairing Amplitudes, and Particle-hole Tunneling Asymmetry of a Strongly Correlated Superconductor

The spectral weights (SW's) for adding and removing an electron of the Gutzwiller projected d-wave superconducting (SC) state of the t-J-type models are studied numerically on finite lattices. Restrict to the uniform system but treat exactly the strong correlation between electrons, we show that the product of weights is equal to the pairing amplitude squared, same as in the weakly coupled case. In addition, we derive a rigorous relation of SW with doping in the electron doped system and obtain particle-hole asymmetry of the conductance-proportional quantity within the SC gap energy and, also, the anti-correlation between gap sizes and peak heights observed in tunneling spectroscopy on high Tc cuprates.Comment: 4 Revtex pages and 4 .eps figures. Published versio

Origin of the Immirzi Parameter

Using quadratic spinor techniques we demonstrate that the Immirzi parameter can be expressed as ratio between scalar and pseudo-scalar contributions in the theory and can be interpreted as a measure of how Einstein gravity differs from a generally constructed covariant theory for gravity. This interpretation is independent of how gravity is quantized. One of the important advantage of deriving the Immirzi parameter using the quadratic spinor techniques is to allow the introduction of renormalization scale associated with the Immirzi parameter through the expectation value of the spinor field upon quantization

Experimental evidence for a two-gap structure of superconducting NbSe_2: a specific heat study in external magnetic fields

To resolve the discrepancies of the superconducting order parameter in quasi-two-dimensional NbSe_2, comprehensive specific-heat measurements have been carried out. By analyzing both the zero-field and mixed-state data with magnetic fields perpendicular to and parallel to the c axis of the crystal and using the two-gap model, we conclude that (1) more than one energy scale of the order parameter is required for superconducting NbSe_2 due to the thermodynamic consistency; (2)delta_L=1.26 meV and delta_S=0.73 meV are obtained; (3) N_S(0)/N(0)=11%~20%; (4) The observation of the kink in gamma(H) curve suggests that the two-gap scenario is more favorable than the anisotropic s-wave model to describe the gap structure of NbSe_2; and (5)delta_S is more isotropic and has a three-dimensional-like feature and is located either on the Se or the bonding Nb Fermi sheets.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Correlation of high energy muons with primary composition in extensive air shower

An experimental investigation of high energy muons above 200 GeV in extensive air showers has been made for studying high energy interaction and primary composition of cosmic rays of energies in the range 10 to the 14th power approx. 10 to the 15th power eV. The muon energies are estimated from the burst sizes initiated by the muons in the rock, which are measured by four layers of proportional counters, each of area 5 x 2.6 sq m, placed at 30 m.w.e. deep, Funasaka tunnel vertically below the air shower array. These results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations based on the scaling model and the fireball model for two primary compositions, all proton and mixed