82 research outputs found
Resonant thermal transport in semiconductor barrier structures
I report that thermal single-barrier (TSB) and thermal double-barrier (TDB)
structures (formed, for example, by inserting one or two regions of a few Ge
monolayers in Si) provide both a suppression of the phonon transport as well as
a resonant-thermal-transport effect. I show that high-frequency phonons can
experience a traditional double-barrier resonant tunneling in the TDB
structures while the formation of Fabry-Perot resonances (at lower frequencies)
causes quantum oscillations in the temperature variation of both the TSB and
TDB thermal conductances and .Comment: 4 pages. 4 figure.
Kohn Anomalies in Superconductors
I present the detailed behavior of phonon dispersion curves near momenta
which span the electronic Fermi sea in a superconductor. I demonstrate that an
anomaly, similar to the metallic Kohn anomaly, exists in a superconductor's
dispersion curves when the frequency of the phonon spanning the Fermi sea
exceeds twice the superconducting energy gap. This anomaly occurs at
approximately the same momentum but is {\it stronger} than the normal-state
Kohn anomaly. It also survives at finite temperature, unlike the metallic
anomaly. Determination of Fermi surface diameters from the location of these
anomalies, therefore, may be more successful in the superconducting phase than
in the normal state. However, the superconductor's anomaly fades rapidly with
increased phonon frequency and becomes unobservable when the phonon frequency
greatly exceeds the gap. This constraint makes these anomalies useful only in
high-temperature superconductors such as .Comment: 18 pages (revtex) + 11 figures (upon request), NSF-ITP-93-7
Spin Fluctuation and Persistent Current in a Mesoscopic Ring Coupled to a Quantum Dot
We investigate the persistent current influenced by the spin fluctuations in
a mesoscopic ring weakly coupled to a quantum dot. It is shown that the Kondo
effect gives rise to some unusual features of the persistent current in the
limit where the charge transfer between two subsystems is suppressed. Various
aspects of the crossover from a delocalized to a localized dot limit are
discussed in relation with the effect of the coherent response of the Kondo
cloud to the Aharonov-Bohm flux.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
The distribution of heartwater in the highveld of Zimbabwe, 1980-1997
Heartwater, the tick-borne disease caused by the rickettsia Cowdria ruminantium has historically been
confined to the southern and western lowvelds of Zimbabwe. Since 1986, however, cases of heartwater
have been diagnosed with increasing frequency in the central and eastern regions of the previously
heartwater-free highveld plateau. During the same period, collections of the two major tick
vectors of heartwater in Zimbabwe, Amblyomma hebraeum and Amblyomma variegatum, were made
for the first time in these areas, suggesting that spread of these ticks was responsible for the changed
distribution of the disease. The factors associated with this spread have not been determined, but
increased cattle and wildlife movement and reduced intensity of dipping undoubtedly play important
roles. Currently, the distribution of heartwater and its vectors in the highveld is still largely restricted
to the central and eastern regions. The northern regions of the highveld appear to be predominantly
uninfected, though it is likely that, eventually, heartwater will spread further with considerable impact
on livestock production in Zimbabwe.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi.
Adobe Acrobat X Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.United States Agency tor International Development.mn201
Frictional drag between non-equilibrium charged gases
The frictional drag force between separated but coupled two-dimensional
electron gases of different temperatures is studied using the non-equilibrium
Green function method based on the separation of center-of-mass and relative
dynamics of electrons. As the mechanisms of producing the frictional force we
include the direct Coulomb interaction, the interaction mediated via virtual
and real TA and LA phonons, optic phonons, plasmons, and TA and LA
phonon-electron collective modes. We found that, when the distance between the
two electron gases is large, and at intermediate temperature where plasmons and
collective modes play the most important role in the frictional drag, the
possibility of having a temperature difference between two subsystems modifies
greatly the transresistivity.Comment: 8figure
Quantum Phase Transitions in Dissipative Tunnel Junctions
The Ueda-Guinea model of a dissipative tunnel junction is investigated. This
model accounts for final state effects associated with single-electron
tunneling. A quantum phase transition emerges, marking a boundary between
insulating (Coulomb blockade) and conducting phases. The system is analyzed by
large-N techniques, self-consistent harmonic approximation, and Monte Carlo
methods.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure
Non-linear response of a Kondo system: Perturbation approach to the time dependent Anderson impurity model
Nonlinear tunneling current through a quantum dot
(an Anderson impurity system) subject to both constant and alternating
electric fields is studied in the Kondo regime. A systematic diagram technique
is developed for perturbation study of the current in physical systems out of
equilibrium governed by time - dependent Hamiltonians of the Anderson and the
Kondo models. The ensuing calculations prove to be too complicated for the
Anderson model, and hence, a mapping on an effective Kondo problem is called
for. This is achieved by constructing a time - dependent version of the
Schrieffer - Wolff transformation. Perturbation expansion of the current is
then carried out up to third order in the Kondo coupling J yielding a set of
remarkably simple analytical expressions for the current. The zero - bias
anomaly of the direct current differential conductance is shown to be
suppressed by the alternating field while side peaks develop at finite source -
drain voltage. Both the direct component and the first harmonics of the time -
dependent response are equally enhanced due to the Kondo effect, while
amplitudes of higher harmonics are shown to be relatively small. A zero
alternating bias anomaly is found in the alternating current differential
conductance, that is, it peaks around zero alternating bias. This peak is
suppressed by the constant bias. No side peaks show up in the differential
alternating - conductance but their counterpart is found in the derivative of
the alternating current with respect to the direct bias. The results pertaining
to nonlinear response are shown to be valid also below the Kondo temperature.Comment: 55 latex pages 11 ps figure
Numerical study of the thermoelectric power factor in ultra-thin Si nanowires
Low dimensional structures have demonstrated improved thermoelectric (TE)
performance because of a drastic reduction in their thermal conductivity,
{\kappa}l. This has been observed for a variety of materials, even for
traditionally poor thermoelectrics such as silicon. Other than the reduction in
{\kappa}l, further improvements in the TE figure of merit ZT could potentially
originate from the thermoelectric power factor. In this work, we couple the
ballistic (Landauer) and diffusive linearized Boltzmann electron transport
theory to the atomistic sp3d5s*-spin-orbit-coupled tight-binding (TB)
electronic structure model. We calculate the room temperature electrical
conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor of narrow 1D Si nanowires
(NWs). We describe the numerical formulation of coupling TB to those transport
formalisms, the approximations involved, and explain the differences in the
conclusions obtained from each model. We investigate the effects of cross
section size, transport orientation and confinement orientation, and the
influence of the different scattering mechanisms. We show that such methodology
can provide robust results for structures including thousands of atoms in the
simulation domain and extending to length scales beyond 10nm, and point towards
insightful design directions using the length scale and geometry as a design
degree of freedom. We find that the effect of low dimensionality on the
thermoelectric power factor of Si NWs can be observed at diameters below ~7nm,
and that quantum confinement and different transport orientations offer the
possibility for power factor optimization.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures; Journal of Computational Electronics, 201
Seasonal study of concentration of heavy metals in waters from lower São Francisco River basin, Brazil
Analytical approach to bit-string models of language evolution
A formulation of bit-string models of language evolution, based on
differential equations for the population speaking each language, is introduced
and preliminarily studied. Connections with replicator dynamics and diffusion
processes are pointed out. The stability of the dominance state, where most of
the population speaks a single language, is analyzed within a mean-field-like
approximation, while the homogeneous state, where the population is evenly
distributed among languages, can be exactly studied. This analysis discloses
the existence of a bistability region, where dominance coexists with
homogeneity as possible asymptotic states. Numerical resolution of the
differential system validates these findings.Comment: To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
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