Detection of a Spin Accumulation in Nondegenerate Semiconductors

Electrical detection of a spin accumulation in a nondegenerate semiconductor using a tunnel barrier and ferromagnetic contact is shown to be fundamentally affected by the energy barrier associated with the depletion region. This prevents the ferromagnet from probing the spin accumulation directly, strongly suppresses the magnetoresistance in current or potentiometric detection, and introduces nonmonotonic variation of spin signals with voltage and temperature. Having no analogue in metallic systems, we identify energy mismatch as an obstacle for spin detection, necessitating control of the energy landscape of spin-tunnel contacts to semiconductors

Accurate and efficient algorithm for Bader charge integration

We propose an efficient, accurate method to integrate the basins of attraction of a smooth function defined on a general discrete grid, and apply it to the Bader charge partitioning for the electron charge density. Starting with the evolution of trajectories in space following the gradient of charge density, we derive an expression for the fraction of space neighboring each grid point that flows to its neighbors. This serves as the basis to compute the fraction of each grid volume that belongs to a basin (Bader volume), and as a weight for the discrete integration of functions over the Bader volume. Compared with other grid-based algorithms, our approach is robust, more computationally efficient with linear computational effort, accurate, and has quadratic convergence. Moreover, it is straightforward to extend to non-uniform grids, such as from a mesh-refinement approach, and can be used to both identify basins of attraction of fixed points and integrate functions over the basins.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Sign of tunnel spin polarization of low-work-function Gd/Co nanolayers in a magnetic tunnel junction

Magnetic tunnel junctions having a low-work-function Gd/Co nanolayer at the interface with an Al2O3 tunnel barrier are shown to exhibit both positive and negative values of the tunnel magnetoresistance. The sign of the tunnel spin polarization of the Gd/Co nanolayer electrode depends on the thickness of the Gd and Co layers, temperature, and applied voltage. This reflects the nature of the interaction between the conduction electrons of the rare-earth and transition metals. \u

Test vectors for Rankin-Selberg LL-functions

We study the local zeta integrals attached to a pair of generic representations $(\pi,\tau)$ of $GL_n\times GL_m$, $n>m$, over a $p$-adic field. Through a process of unipotent averaging we produce a pair of corresponding Whittaker functions whose zeta integral is non-zero, and we express this integral in terms of the Langlands parameters of $\pi$ and $\tau$. In many cases, these Whittaker functions also serve as a test vector for the associated Rankin-Selberg (local) $L$-function.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1804.0772

Effects of edge magnetism and external electric field on energy gaps in multilayer graphene nanoribbons

Using first-principles density-functional theory, we study the electronic structure of multilayer graphene nanoribbons as a function of the ribbon width and the external electric field, applied perpendicular to the ribbon layers. We consider two types of edges (armchair and zigzag), each with two edge alignments (referred to as alpha- and beta-alignments). We show that, as in monolayer and bilayer armchair nanoribbons, multilayer armchair nanoribbons exhibit three classes of energy gaps which decrease with increasing width. Nonmagnetic multilayer zigzag nanoribbons have band structures that are sensitive to the edge alignments and the number of layers, indicating different magnetic properties and resulting energy gaps. We find that energy gaps can be induced in ABC-stacked ribbons with a perpendicular external electric field while in other stacking sequences, the gaps decrease or remain closed as the external electric field increases.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, text revised, last version before publicatio

Publicness, Privacy and Confidentiality in the Single-Serving Quantum Broadcast Channel

The 2-receiver broadcast channel is studied: a network with three parties where the transmitter and one of the receivers are the primarily involved parties and the other receiver considered as third party. The messages that are determined to be communicated are classified into public, private and confidential based on the information they convey. The public message contains information intended for both parties and is required to be decoded correctly by both of them, the private message is intended for the primary party only, however, there is no secrecy requirement imposed upon it meaning that it can possibly be exposed to the third party and finally the confidential message containing information intended exclusively for the primary party such that this information must be kept completely secret from the other receiver. A trade-off arises between the rates of the three messages, when one of the rates is high, the other rates may need to be reduced to guarantee the reliable transmission of all three messages. The encoder performs the necessary equivocation by virtue of dummy random numbers whose rate is assumed to be limited and should be considered in the trade-off as well. We study this trade-off in the one-shot regime of a quantum broadcast channel by providing achievability and (weak) converse regions. In the achievability, we prove and use a conditional version of the convex-split lemma as well as position-based decoding. By studying the asymptotic behaviour of our bounds, we will recover several well-known asymptotic results in the literature.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure, journa

Atmospheric Chemistry for Astrophysicists: A Self-consistent Formalism and Analytical Solutions for Arbitrary C/O

We present a self-consistent formalism for computing and understanding the atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets from the viewpoint of an astrophysicist. Starting from the first law of thermodynamics, we demonstrate that the van't Hoff equation (which describes the equilibrium constant), Arrhenius equation (which describes the rate coefficients) and procedures associated with the Gibbs free energy (minimisation, rescaling) have a common physical and mathematical origin. We address an ambiguity associated with the equilibrium constant, which is used to relate the forward and reverse rate coefficients, and restate its two definitions. By necessity, one of the equilibrium constants must be dimensionless and equate to an exponential function involving the Gibbs free energy, while the other is a ratio of rate coefficients and must therefore possess physical units. We demonstrate that the Arrhenius equation takes on a functional form that is more general than previously stated without recourse to tagging on ad hoc functional forms. Finally, we derive analytical models of chemical systems, in equilibrium, with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. We include acetylene and are able to reproduce several key trends, versus temperature and carbon-to-oxygen ratio, published in the literature. The rich variety of behavior that mixing ratios exhibit as a function of the carbon-to-oxygen ratio is merely the outcome of stoichiometric book-keeping and not the direct consequence of temperature or pressure variations.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 9 pages, 4 figure

Kinetics and thermodynamics of ceramic/metal interface reactions related to high T(sub c) superconducting applications

Superconducting ceramic materials, no matter what their form, size or shape, must eventually make contact with non-superconducting materials in order to accomplish current transfer to other parts of a real operating system, or for testing and measurement of properties. Thus, whether the configuration is a clad wire, a bulk superconducting disc, tape, or a thick or thin superconducting film on a substrate, the physical and mechanical behavior of interface (interconnections, joints, etc.) between superconductors and normal conductor materials of all kinds is of extreme importance to the technological development of these systems. Fabrication heat treatments associated with the particular joining process allow possible reactions between the superconducting ceramic and the contact to occur, and consequently influence properties at the interface region. The nature of these reactions is therefore of great broad interest, as these may be a primary determinant for the real capability of these materials. Research related both to fabrication of composite sheathed wire products, and the joining contacts for physical property measurements, as well as, a review of other related literature in the field are described. Comparison are made between 1-2-3, Bi-, and Tl-based ceramic superconductors joined to a variety of metals including Cu, Ni, Fe, Cr, Ag, Ag-Pd, Au, In, and Ga. The morphology of reaction products and the nature of interface degradation as a function of time will be highlighted