7,244 research outputs found
Crystal growth and quantum oscillations in the topological chiral semimetal CoSi
We survey the electrical transport properties of the single-crystalline,
topological chiral semimetal CoSi which was grown via different methods.
High-quality CoSi single crystals were found in the growth from tellurium
solution. The sample's high carrier mobility enables us to observe, for the
first time, quantum oscillations (QOs) in its thermoelectrical signals. Our
analysis of QOs reveals two spherical Fermi surfaces around the R point in the
Brillouin zone corner. The extracted Berry phases of these electron orbits are
consistent with the -2 chiral charge as reported in DFT calculations. Detailed
analysis on the QOs reveals that the spin-orbit coupling induced band-splitting
is less than 2 meV near the Fermi level, one order of magnitude smaller than
our DFT calculation result. We also report the phonon-drag induced large Nernst
effect in CoSi at intermediate temperatures
Monetary reward and punishment to response inhibition modulate activation and synchronization within the inhibitory brain network
© 2018 Chikara, Chang, Lu, Lin, Lin and Ko. A reward or punishment can modulate motivation and emotions, which in turn affect cognitive processing. The present simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging-electroencephalography study examines neural mechanisms of response inhibition under the influence of a monetary reward or punishment by implementing a modified stop-signal task in a virtual battlefield scenario. The participants were instructed to play as snipers who open fire at a terrorist target but withhold shooting in the presence of a hostage. The participants performed the task under three different feedback conditions in counterbalanced order: a reward condition where each successfully withheld response added a bonus (i.e., positive feedback) to the startup credit, a punishment condition where each failure in stopping deduced a penalty (i.e., negative feedback), and a no-feedback condition where response outcome had no consequences and served as a control setting. Behaviorally both reward and punishment conditions led to significantly down-regulated inhibitory function in terms of the critical stop-signal delay. As for the neuroimaging results, increased activities were found for the no-feedback condition in regions previously reported to be associated with response inhibition, including the right inferior frontal gyrus and the pre-supplementary motor area. Moreover, higher activation of the lingual gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) and inferior parietal lobule were found in the reward condition, while stronger activation of the precuneus gyrus was found in the punishment condition. The positive feedback was also associated with stronger changes of delta, theta, and alpha synchronization in the PCG than were the negative or no-feedback conditions. These findings depicted the intertwining relationship between response inhibition and motivation networks
Minimal Gaugomaly Mediation
Mixed anomaly and gauge mediation ("gaugomaly'' mediation) gives a natural
solution to the SUSY flavor problem with a conventional LSP dark matter
candidate. We present a minimal version of gaugomaly mediation where the
messenger masses arise directly from anomaly mediation, automatically
generating a messenger scale of order 50 TeV. We also describe a simple
relaxation mechanism that gives rise to realistic mu and B mu terms. B is
naturally dominated by the anomaly-mediated contribution from top loops, so the
mu/B mu sector only depends on a single new parameter. In the minimal version
of this scenario the full SUSY spectrum is determined by two continuous
parameters (the anomaly- and gauge-mediated SUSY breaking masses) and one
discrete parameter (the number of messengers). We show that these simple models
can give realistic spectra with viable dark matter.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures; v2: corrected example generating non-holomorphic
Kahler term
Coherent spinor dynamics in a spin-1 Bose condensate
Collisions in a thermal gas are perceived as random or incoherent as a
consequence of the large numbers of initial and final quantum states accessible
to the system. In a quantum gas, e.g. a Bose-Einstein condensate or a
degenerate Fermi gas, the phase space accessible to low energy collisions is so
restricted that collisions be-come coherent and reversible. Here, we report the
observation of coherent spin-changing collisions in a gas of spin-1 bosons.
Starting with condensates occupying two spin states, a condensate in the third
spin state is coherently and reversibly created by atomic collisions. The
observed dynamics are analogous to Josephson oscillations in weakly connected
superconductors and represent a type of matter-wave four-wave mixing. The
spin-dependent scattering length is determined from these oscillations to be
-1.45(18) Bohr. Finally, we demonstrate coherent control of the evolution of
the system by applying differential phase shifts to the spin states using
magnetic fields.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure
Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a quenched ferromagnetic spinor Bose condensate
A central goal in condensed matter and modern atomic physics is the
exploration of many-body quantum phases and the universal characteristics of
quantum phase transitions in so far as they differ from those established for
thermal phase transitions. Compared with condensed-matter systems, atomic gases
are more precisely constructed and also provide the unique opportunity to
explore quantum dynamics far from equilibrium. Here we identify a second-order
quantum phase transition in a gaseous spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, a
quantum fluid in which superfluidity and magnetism, both associated with
symmetry breaking, are simultaneously realized. Rb spinor condensates
were rapidly quenched across this transition to a ferromagnetic state and
probed using in-situ magnetization imaging to observe spontaneous symmetry
breaking through the formation of spin textures, ferromagnetic domains and
domain walls. The observation of topological defects produced by this symmetry
breaking, identified as polar-core spin-vortices containing non-zero spin
current but no net mass current, represents the first phase-sensitive in-situ
detection of vortices in a gaseous superfluid.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Band structure engineering in (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 ternary topological insulators
Three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TI) are novel quantum
materials with insulating bulk and topologically protected metallic surfaces
with Dirac-like band structure. The spin-helical Dirac surface states are
expected to host exotic topological quantum effects and find applications in
spintronics and quantum computation. The experimental realization of these
ideas requires fabrication of versatile devices based on bulk-insulating TIs
with tunable surface states. The main challenge facing the current TI materials
exemplified by Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 is the significant bulk conduction, which
remains unsolved despite extensive efforts involving nanostructuring, chemical
doping and electrical gating. Here we report a novel approach for engineering
the band structure of TIs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of
(Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 ternary compounds. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
(ARPES) and transport measurements show that the topological surface states
exist over the entire composition range of (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 (x = 0 to 1),
indicating the robustness of bulk Z2 topology. Most remarkably, the systematic
band engineering leads to ideal TIs with truly insulating bulk and tunable
surface state across the Dirac point that behave like one quarter of graphene.
This work demonstrates a new route to achieving intrinsic quantum transport of
the topological surface states and designing conceptually new TI devices with
well-established semiconductor technology.Comment: Minor changes in title, text and figures. Supplementary information
adde
Recommended from our members
A high proportion of the world population of the spoon-billed sandpiper occurs at Tiaozini, China, during the post-breeding Moult
The Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea breeds in arctic and subarctic Russia and migrates to winter on coastal mudflats in south-east Asia. Its world population is probably about 700 individuals. We report Lincoln-Petersen closed-population estimates of the number of Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Tiaozini, a coastal site in Jiangsu Province, China, based upon resightings and scan surveys of individually-marked leg-flagged birds. Surveys were conducted in September-October, when adult Spoon-billed Sandpipers are moulting their primary feathers and long-distance movements are unlikely. We estimated that 220 birds were present at Tiaozini in 2017 and 224 in 2018. Nearly all of them were adults (one-year old or older), so about 40% of the world population of this age class was estimated to be present. Hence, protection of the mudflats and roost sites at Tiaozini is of global importance for the conservation of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.Non
Effect of Dietary Components on Larval Life History Characteristics in the Medfly (Ceratitis capitata: Diptera, Tephritidae)
Background: The ability to respond to heterogenous nutritional resources is an important factor in the adaptive radiation of insects such as the highly polyphagous Medfly. Here we examined the breadth of the Medfly’s capacity to respond to different developmental conditions, by experimentally altering diet components as a proxy for host quality and novelty. Methodology/Principal Findings: We tested responses of larval life history to diets containing protein and carbohydrate components found in and outside the natural host range of this species. A 40% reduction in the quantity of protein caused a significant increase in egg to adult mortality by 26.5%±6% in comparison to the standard baseline diet. Proteins and carbohydrates had differential effects on larval versus pupal development and survival. Addition of a novel protein source, casein (i.e. milk protein), to the diet increased larval mortality by 19.4%±3% and also lengthened the duration of larval development by 1.93±0.5 days in comparison to the standard diet. Alteration of dietary carbohydrate, by replacing the baseline starch with simple sugars, increased mortality specifically within the pupal stage (by 28.2%±8% and 26.2%±9% for glucose and maltose diets, respectively). Development in the presence of the novel carbohydrate lactose (milk sugar) was successful, though on this diet there was a decrease of 29.8±1.6 µg in mean pupal weight in comparison to pupae reared on the baseline diet. Conclusions: The results confirm that laboratory reared Medfly retain the ability to survive development through a wide range of fluctuations in the nutritional environment. We highlight new facets of the responses of different stages of holometabolous life histories to key dietary components. The results are relevant to colonisation scenarios and key to the biology of this highly invasive species
Darkroom prone provocative testing in primary angle closure suspects and those with open angles
PURPOSE: To describe the results of darkroom prone provocative testing (DRPPT) in primary angle closure suspects (PACS) and to compare the findings to controls with open angles. METHODS: 889 subjects with PACS in the Zhongshan Angle Closure Prevention Trial (a randomised controlled trial to compare prophylactic laser iridotomy to no treatment in PACS) and 89 with open angles in the 5-year follow-up of Liwan Eye Study were placed in a darkroom face down for 15 min. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured immediately before and after DRPPT. RESULTS: PACS participants were of similar age than controls (59.3 vs 60.5), more often female (82.9% vs 58.4%) and had lower IOP (14.3 vs 15.2 mm Hg). The average IOP increases after DRPPT was 4.3±3 mm Hg in PACS and 5.2±2.8 in controls (p<0.05). 20.5% of controls and 13.9 % of those with PACS developed an IOP spike ≥8 mm Hg after DRPPT (p<0.05). Among PACS, 15.8 % of those with all four quadrants closed had an IOP elevation of ≥ 8 mm Hg as opposed to 10.0%-12.4 % with two or three closed quadrants (p<0.05). DRPPT failed to predict who would reach a clinical trial endpoint over 6-year follow-up of those with PACS. CONCLUSIONS: A modified DRPPT failed to separate PACS from those with open angle. Although the test resulted in greater IOP elevation among those PACS participants with all four quadrants closed than in those with two or three closed quadrants, it did not offer any insight into the risk of developing acute or chronic angle closure disease over 6-year follow-up
Tutte polynomial of pseudofractal scale-free web
The Tutte polynomial of a graph is a 2-variable polynomial which is quite
important in both combinatorics and statistical physics. It contains various
numerical invariants and polynomial invariants, such as the number of spanning
trees, the number of spanning forests, the number of acyclic orientations, the
reliability polynomial, chromatic polynomial and flow polynomial. In this
paper, we study and gain recursive formulas for the Tutte polynomial of
pseudofractal scale-free web (PSW) which implies logarithmic complexity
algorithm is obtained to calculate the Tutte polynomial of PSW although it is
NP-hard for general graph. We also obtain the rigorous solution for the the
number of spanning trees of PSW by solving the recurrence relations derived
from Tutte polynomial, which give an alternative approach for explicitly
determining the number of spanning trees of PSW. Further more, we analysis the
all-terminal reliability of PSW and compare the results with that of Sierpinski
gasket which has the same number of nodes and edges with PSW. In contrast with
the well-known conclusion that scale-free networks are more robust against
removal of nodes than homogeneous networks (e.g., exponential networks and
regular networks). Our results show that Sierpinski gasket (which is a regular
network) are more robust against random edge failures than PSW (which is a
scale-free network). Whether it is true for any regular networks and scale-free
networks, is still a unresolved problem.Comment: 19pages,7figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1006.533
- …