1,199 research outputs found
Quantum Hall Effect in a Holographic Model
We consider a holographic description of a system of strongly coupled
fermions in 2+1 dimensions based on a D7-brane probe in the background of
D3-branes, and construct stable embeddings by turning on worldvolume fluxes. We
study the system at finite temperature and charge density, and in the presence
of a background magnetic field. We show that Minkowski-like embeddings that
terminate above the horizon describe a family of quantum Hall states with
filling fractions that are parameterized by a single discrete parameter. The
quantization of the Hall conductivity is a direct consequence of the
topological quantization of the fluxes. When the magnetic field is varied
relative to the charge density away from these discrete filling fractions, the
embeddings deform continuously into black-hole-like embeddings that enter the
horizon and that describe metallic states. We also study the thermodynamics of
this system and show that there is a first order phase transition at a critical
temperature from the quantum Hall state to the metallic state.Comment: v2: 27 pages, 12 figures. There is a major revision in the
quantitative analysis. The qualitative results and conclusions are unchanged,
with one exception: we show that the quantum Hall state embeddings, which
exist for discrete values of the filling fraction, deform continuously into
metallic state embeddings away from these filling fraction
Exactly stable non-BPS spinors in heterotic string theory on tori
Considering SO(32) heterotic string theory compactified on a torus of
dimension 4 and less, stability of non-supersymmetric states is studied. A
non-supersymmetric state with robust stability is constructed, and its exact
stability is proven in a large region of moduli space against all the possible
decay mechanisms allowed by charge conservation. Using various T-duality
transform matrices, we translate various selection rules about conserved
charges into simpler problems resembling partition and parity of integers. For
heterotic string on T^4, we give a complete list of BPS atoms with elementary
excitations, and we study BPS and non-BPS molecules with various binding
energies. Using string-string duality, the results are interpreted in terms of
Dirichlet-branes in type IIA string theory compactified on an orbifold limit of
a K3 surface.Comment: 47 pages, 14 figures, LaTe
Electromagnetic wave diffraction by periodic planar metamaterials with nonlinear constituents
We present a theory which explains how to achieve an enhancement of nonlinear
effects in a thin layer of nonlinear medium by involving a planar periodic
structure specially designed to bear a trapped-mode resonant regime. In
particular, the possibility of a nonlinear thin metamaterial to produce the
bistable response at a relatively low input intensity due to a large quality
factor of the trapped-mode resonance is shown. Also a simple design of an
all-dielectric low-loss silicon-based planar metamaterial which can provide an
extremely sharp resonant reflection and transmission is proposed. The designed
metamaterial is envisioned for aggregating with a pumped active medium to
achieve an enhancement of quantum dots luminescence and to produce an
all-dielectric analog of a 'lasing spaser'.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure
Evaluation of Microwave Steam Bags for the Decontamination of Filtering Facepiece Respirators
Reusing filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) has been suggested as a strategy to conserve available supplies for home and healthcare environments during an influenza pandemic. For reuse to be possible, used FFRs must be decontaminated before redonning to reduce the risk of virus transmission; however, there are no approved methods for FFR decontamination. An effective method must reduce the microbial threat, maintain the function of the FFR, and present no residual chemical hazard. The method should be readily available, inexpensive and easily implemented by healthcare workers and the general public. Many of the general decontamination protocols used in healthcare and home settings are unable to address all of the desired qualities of an efficient FFR decontamination protocol. The goal of this study is to evaluate the use of two commercially available steam bags, marketed to the public for disinfecting infant feeding equipment, for FFR decontamination. The FFRs were decontaminated with microwave generated steam following the manufacturers' instructions then evaluated for water absorption and filtration efficiency for up to three steam exposures. Water absorption of the FFR was found to be model specific as FFRs constructed with hydrophilic materials absorbed more water. The steam had little effect on FFR performance as filtration efficiency of the treated FFRs remained above 95%. The decontamination efficacy of the steam bag was assessed using bacteriophage MS2 as a surrogate for a pathogenic virus. The tested steam bags were found to be 99.9% effective for inactivating MS2 on FFRs; however, more research is required to determine the effectiveness against respiratory pathogens
Magnetic properties of holographic multiquarks in the quark-gluon plasma
We study the magnetic properties of the coloured multiquark states in the
quark-gluon plasma where the gluons are deconfined and the chiral symmetry is
still broken, using the Sakai-Sugimoto model. There are two possible magnetized
multiquark configurations. Both configurations converge to the same
configuration at the critical field and temperature before they dissociate
altogether either into less coloured multiquarks or into other phases for a
fixed density. It is also found that the multiquarks with higher colour charges
respond more to the external magnetic field in both the magnetization and the
degree of chiral symmetry breaking. Magnetic field also makes it more difficult
for multiquark states with large colour charges to satisfy the equilibrium
condition of the configuration in the gravity dual picture. As long as the
chemical potential , the magnetized multiquarks phase is
thermodynamically preferred over the magnetized vacuum. Pure pion gradient and
the chiral-symmetric quark-gluon plasma (-QGP) phase for the general
Sakai-Sugimoto model are discussed and compared with the multiquark phase in
the presence of the magnetic field. It is found that at large densities and
moderate fields, the mixed phase of multiquarks and the pion gradient is
thermodynamically preferred over the -QGP.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, revised version with significant changes and
extension to other magnetized nuclear phase
Counting all dyons in N =4 string theory
For dyons in heterotic string theory compactified on a six-torus, with
electric charge vector Q and magnetic charge vector P, the positive integer I =
g.c.d.(Q \wedge P) is an invariant of the U-duality group. We propose the
microscopic theory for computing the spectrum of all dyons for all values of I,
generalizing earlier results that exist only for the simplest case of I=1. Our
derivation uses a combination of arguments from duality, 4d-5d lift, and a
careful analysis of fermionic zero modes. The resulting degeneracy agrees with
the black hole degeneracy for large charges and with the degeneracy of
field-theory dyons for small charges. It naturally satisfies several physical
requirements including integrality and duality invariance. As a byproduct, we
also derive the microscopic (0,4) superconformal field theory relevant for
computing the spectrum of five-dimensional Strominger-Vafa black holes in ALE
backgrounds and count the resulting degeneracies
The Virtual Physiological Human: Ten Years After
Biomedical research and clinical practice are struggling to cope with the growing complexity that the progress of health care involves. The most challenging diseases, those with the largest socioeconomic impact (cardiovascular conditions; musculoskeletal conditions; cancer; metabolic, immunity, and neurodegenerative conditions), are all characterized by a complex genotype–phenotype interaction and by a “systemic” nature that poses a challenge to the traditional reductionist approach. In 2005 a small group of researchers discussed how the vision of computational physiology promoted by the Physiome Project could be translated into clinical practice and formally proposed the term Virtual Physiological Human. Our knowledge about these diseases is fragmentary, as it is associated with molecular and cellular processes on the one hand and with tissue and organ phenotype changes (related to clinical symptoms of disease conditions) on the other. The problem could be solved if we could capture all these fragments of knowledge into predictive models and then compose them into hypermodels that help us tame the complexity that such systemic behavior involves. In 2005 this was simply not possible—the necessary methods and technologies were not available. Now, 10 years later, it seems the right time to reflect on the original vision, the results achieved so far, and what remains to be done
Phases of planar 5-dimensional supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory
In this paper we investigate the large- behavior of 5-dimensional
super Yang-Mills with a level Chern-Simons term and an
adjoint hypermultiplet. As in three-dimensional Chern-Simons theories, one must
choose an integration contour to completely define the theory. Using
localization, we reduce the path integral to a matrix model with a cubic action
and compute its free energy in various scenarios. In the limit of infinite
Yang-Mills coupling and for particular choices of the contours, we find that
the free-energy scales as for gauge groups with large values
of the Chern-Simons 't\,Hooft coupling, . If we also
set the hypermultiplet mass to zero, then this limit is a superconformal fixed
point and the behavior parallels other fixed points which have known
supergravity duals. We also demonstrate that gauge groups cannot have
this scaling for their free-energy. At finite Yang-Mills coupling we
establish the existence of a third order phase transition where the theory
crosses over from the Yang-Mills phase to the Chern-Simons phase. The phase
transition exists for any value of , although the details differ
between small and large values of . For pure Chern-Simons
theories we present evidence for a chain of phase transitions as
is increased.
We also find the expectation values for supersymmetric circular Wilson loops
in these various scenarios and show that the Chern-Simons term leads to
different physical properties for fundamental and anti-fundamental Wilson
loops. Different choices of the integration contours also lead to different
properties for the loops.Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures, Minor corrections, Published versio
Room temperature plasmon laser by total internal reflection
Plasmon lasers create and sustain intense and coherent optical fields below
light's diffraction limit with the unique ability to drastically enhance
light-matter interactions bringing fundamentally new capabilities to
bio-sensing, data storage, photolithography and optical communications.
However, these important applications require room temperature operation, which
remains a major hurdle. Here, we report a room temperature semiconductor
plasmon laser with both strong cavity feedback and optical confinement to
1/20th of the wavelength. The strong feedback arises from total internal
reflection of surface plasmons, while the confinement enhances the spontaneous
emission rate by up to 20 times.Comment: 8 Page, 2 Figure
Thermodynamic Properties of Holographic Multiquark and the Multiquark Star
We study thermodynamic properties of the multiquark nuclear matter. The
dependence of the equation of state on the colour charges is explored both
analytically and numerically in the limits where the baryon density is small
and large at fixed temperature between the gluon deconfinement and chiral
symmetry restoration. The gravitational stability of the hypothetical
multiquark stars are discussed using the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation.
Since the equations of state of the multiquarks can be well approximated by
different power laws for small and large density, the content of the multiquark
stars has the core and crust structure. We found that most of the mass of the
star comes from the crust region where the density is relatively small. The
mass limit of the multiquark star is determined as well as its relation to the
star radius. For typical energy density scale of ,
the converging mass and radius of the hypothetical multiquark star in the limit
of large central density are approximately solar mass and 15-27 km.
The adiabatic index and sound speed distributions of the multiquark matter in
the star are also calculated and discussed. The sound speed never exceeds the
speed of light and the multiquark matters are thus compressible even at high
density and pressure.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, 1 table, JHEP versio
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