Thermodynamics of charged Brans–Dicke AdS black holes

It is well known that in four dimensions, black hole solution of the Brans–Dicke–Maxwell equations is just the Reissner–Nordstrom solution with a constant scalar field. However, in n4 dimensions, the solution is not yet the (n+1)-dimensional Reissner–Nordstrom solution and the scalar field is not a constant in general. In this Letter, by applying a conformal transformation to the dilaton gravity theory, we derive a class of black hole solutions in (n+1)-dimensional (n4) Brans–Dicke–Maxwell theory in the background of anti-de Sitter universe. We obtain the conserved and thermodynamic quantities through the use of the Euclidean action method. We find a Smarr-type formula and perform a stability analysis in the canonical ensemble. We find that the solution is thermally stable for small α, while for large α the system has an unstable phase, where α is a coupling constant between the scalar and matter field.     

Hetero-/homogeneous combustion of hydrogen/air mixtures over platinum at pressures up to 10 bar

The hetero-/homogeneous combustion of fuel-lean hydrogen/air premixtures over platinum was investigated experimentally and numerically in the pressure range 1 bar  p  10 bar. Experiments were carried out in an optically accessible channel-flow catalytic reactor and included planar laser induced fluorescence (LIF) of the OH radical for the assessment of homogeneous (gas-phase) ignition, and 1-D Raman measurements of major gas-phase species concentrations for the evaluation of the heterogeneous (catalytic) processes. Simulations were performed with a full-elliptic 2-D model that included detailed heterogeneous and homogeneous chemical reaction schemes. The predictions reproduced the measured catalytic hydrogen consumption, the onset of homogeneous ignition at pressures of up to 3 bar and the diminishing gas-phase combustion at p  4 bar. The suppression of gaseous combustion at elevated pressures bears the combined effects of the intrinsic homogeneous hydrogen kinetics and of the hetero/homogeneous chemistry coupling via the catalytically produced water over the gaseous induction zone. Transport effects, associated with the large diffusivity of hydrogen, have a smaller impact on the limiting pressure above which gaseous combustion is suppressed. It is shown that for practical reactor geometrical confinements, homogeneous combustion is still largely suppressed at p  4 bar even for inlet and wall temperatures as high as 723 and 1250 K, respectively. The lack of appreciable gaseous combustion at elevated pressures is of concern for the reactor thermal management since homogeneous combustion moderates the superadiabatic surface temperatures attained during the heterogeneous combustion of hydrogen.     

Double-quantum NMR spectroscopy of P species submitted to very large CSAs

We introduce an original pulse sequence, , which is a block super-cycled sequence employing as basic element a π pulse sandwiched by ‘window’ intervals. This homonuclear dipolar recoupling method allows the efficient excitation of double-quantum coherences between spin-1/2 nuclei submitted to very large chemical shift anisotropy. We demonstrate that this technique can be employed in double-quantum ↔ single-quantum ³¹P homonuclear correlation experiment at high magnetic field (B₀  14 T) and high MAS frequencies (ν_R  30 kHz). The performances of are compared to those of the double-quantum recoupling methods, such as BABA and bracketed fp-RFDR, which were already employed at fast MAS rates. The sequence displays a higher robustness to CSA and offset than the other existing techniques.     

Surface morphology and composition of c-, a- and m-sapphire surfaces in O2 and H2 environments

This paper reports that monitoring the composition of the c(0 0 0 1), a(11–20) and m(10–10) sapphire surfaces is essential for a proper interpretation of the surface morphologies obtained after annealing at 1253 and 1473 K in ArH₂ or ArO₂ atmospheres. Our experimental investigations, which have used Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) on the surfaces of 99.99% pure sapphire wafers, have led to the following original conclusions: (i) Calcium segregates at the c-surface of sapphire both under ArO₂ and ArH₂. (ii) Potassium adsorption enhances the kinetics of step-bunching on the c-surface under ArO₂. (iii) The step edges on the a-surface may develop a comb-like morphology made of parallel strips along the [10–10] direction. (iv) At 1253 K, clean m-surfaces may be stable. (v) Under ArH₂, alumina surface diffusion is much slower than under ArO₂ for all surface orientations, the surface concentration of impurities is low, and the Al–O ratio of the AES signals at the surface is significantly larger.     

Morphological and electro-optical responses of dichroic polymer dispersed liquid crystal films

Dichroic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (DPDLC) films containing different concentration of dichroic dye have been prepared by polymerization induced phase separation technique using nematic liquid crystal material in UV curable polymer NOA 65 and anthraquinone dichroic dye. The effects of applied voltage and temperature on the LC droplet morphology and its optical characteristics were studied in detail. Liquid crystal droplets containing low concentration of dye (0.25%) in polymer matrix exhibit bipolar configuration at lower applied voltage (10 V) whereas at relatively higher voltage (15 V) maltese type liquid crystal droplets were seen. In addition, low concentration DPDLC film shows better optical transmission and higher contrast ratio.     

A comparative study of coordination between host polymers and Li ions in UV-cured gel polymer electrolytes

Crosslinked gel polymer electrolytes are prepared via free radical photo-polymerization of 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) or tri(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (TEGDA) with 1 M LiClO₄ dissolved in a solvent mixture of ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC). TEGDA-based gel polymer electrolytes containing a polar moiety of ethylene oxide exhibit relatively high ionic conductivities over a temperature range from − 15 to 65 °C in comparison to those based on HDDA. The coordination structure between polar moieties of a polymer backbone and Li⁺ ions is examined using a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The results of FT-IR analyses manifest that the CO and COC groups of TEGDA-based polymer matrix form the complex with Li⁺ ions.     

Development of surface-textured hydrogenated ZnO:Al thin-films for μc-Si solar cells

This study addresses the optimization of rf magnetron-sputtered hydrogenated ZnO:Al (HAZO) films as front contacts in microcrystalline silicon solar cells. The front contact of a solar cell has to be highly conductive and highly transparent to visible and infrared radiation. Furthermore, it has to scatter the incident light efficiently in order for the light to be effectively trapped in the underlying silicon layers. In this research, HAZO films were rf-magnetron-sputtered on glass substrates from a ceramic (98 wt% ZnO, 2 wt% Al₂O₃) target. Various compositions of AZO films on glass substrates were prepared by changing the H₂/(Ar + H₂) ratio of the sputtering gas. The resulting smooth films exhibited high transparencies (T  85% for visible light including all reflection losses) and excellent electrical properties (ρ = 2.7 × 10⁻⁴ Ω · cm). Depending on their structural properties, these films developed different surface textures upon post-deposition etching using diluted hydrochloric acid. The light-scattering properties of these films could be controlled simply by varying the etching time. Moreover, the electrical properties of the films were not affected by the etching process. Therefore, within certain limits, it is possible to optimize the electro-optical and light-scattering properties separately. The microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H)-based p–i–n solar cells prepared using these new texture-etched AZO:H substrates showed high quantum efficiencies in the long wavelength range, thereby demonstrating effective light trapping. Using the optimum AZO:H thin-film textured surface, we achieved a p–i–n μc-Si solar cell efficiency of 7.78%.     

Calculation of axial optical forces exerted on medium-sized particles by optical trap

Optical trapping has become an efficient technique of trapping and manipulating micrometer and sub-micrometer dimension particles. Particles in the range between the applicable regime of ray optics theory (ROT) and the Rayleigh regime (so-called medium-sized particles) are focused on. By using ROT and the generalized Lorenz–Mie theory (GLMT), axial optical forces and their dependences on particle sizes and beam waists are presented. Furthermore, by comparing the numerical results of these two theories, the applicability of the GLMT to particles of arbitrary size and the limit of ROT in the region of small particles are analyzed. A new criterion of the applicable region of ROT is obtained, i.e. the relative particle size β=2πa/λ20, where a is the particle radius and λ is the wavelength of light. The theoretical results will be of great help to the design and optimization of the most efficient optical trap.     

Tetra-σ bonding adsorption of pyridine on Si(1 0 0)-2 × 1

We studied adsorption of pyridine on Si(1 0 0) at room temperature using high resolution photoemission spectroscopy (PES) and near edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) in the partial electron yield (PEY) mode. The Si 2p, C 1s, N 1s spectra of pyridine on Si(1 0 0) showed that pyridine is chemisorbed on Si(1 0 0)-2 × 1 through the formation of the tetra-σ-bonded structure with the N atom and three C atoms. NEXAFS was conducted to characterize the adsorption geometry of pyridine on Si(1 0 0). The π* orbital of CC bond showed a good angle dependence in C K-edge NEXAFS spectra, and we were able to estimate the adsorption angle between chemisorbed pyridine of CC bond and the Si(1 0 0) surface using an analytical solution of NEXAFS intensity. We find the coexistence of two different tight bridges with the adsorption angles 42 ± 2° and 45 ± 2° with almost equal abundance.     

Radiation sensitivity of natural organic matter: Clay mineral association effects in the Callovo-Oxfordian argillite

Clay-rich low-organic carbon formations (e.g., Callovo-Oxfordian argillite in France and Opalinus Clay in Switzerland) are considered as host rocks for radioactive waste disposal. The clay-organic carbon has a strong impact on the chemical stability of the clays. For this reason, the nature of the clay-organic carbon, the release of hydrophilic organic compounds, namely, humic (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) and the radiation sensitivity of the undisturbed host rock organics was investigated. The clay sample originates from Oxfordian argillite (447 m depth, borehole EST 104). HA and FA were extracted following the standard International Humic Substance Society (IHSS) isolation procedure. Synchrotron based (C-, K-, Ca-, O- and Fe-edge XANES) scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) and FT-IR microspectroscopy was used to identify under high spatial resolution the distribution of clay-organic matter with different functionality using principal component and cluster analysis. The results show that in this old (Jurassic) geological formation, small parts of the organic inventory (1–5%) keeps the structure/functionality and can be mobilized as hydrophilic humic substance type material (HA and FA). Target spectra analysis shows best correlation for isolated humic acids with organics found in smectite-rich regions, whereas the extractable FA has better spectral similarities with the illite mixed layer minerals (MLM) regions. After radiation of 1.7 GGy under helium atmosphere the same rock sample area was investigated for radiation damage. Radiation damage in the smectite and illite–MLM associated organic matter is comparably low with 20–30% total oxygen mass loss and 13–18% total carbon mass loss. A critical dose d_c of 2.5 GGy and a optical density after infinite radiation (OD_∝) of 54% was calculated under room temperature conditions. C(1s) XANES show a clear increase in CC bonds especially in the illite–MLM associated organics. This results suggests a combination of the formation of CC bond due to crosslinking via polymerization and mass loss due to bond breaking (scissioning) in the main chain or in side groups of the organic macromolecules upon irradiation.     

Exceptional sensitivity to neutrino parameters with a two-baseline Beta-beam set-up

We examine the reach of a Beta-beam experiment with two detectors at carefully chosen baselines for exploring neutrino mass parameters. Locating the source at CERN, the two detectors and baselines are: (a) a 50 kton iron calorimeter (ICAL) at a baseline of around 7150 km which is roughly the magic baseline, e.g., ICAL@INO, and (b) a 50 kton Totally Active Scintillator Detector at a distance of 730 km, e.g., at Gran Sasso. We choose ⁸B and ⁸Li source ions with a boost factor γ of 650 for the magic baseline while for the closer detector we consider ¹⁸Ne and ⁶He ions with a range of Lorentz boosts. We find that the locations of the two detectors complement each other leading to an exceptional high sensitivity. With γ=650 for ⁸B/⁸Li and γ=575 for ¹⁸Ne/⁶He and total luminosity corresponding to 5×(1.1×10¹⁸) and 5×(2.9×10¹⁸) useful ion decays in neutrino and antineutrino modes respectively, we find that the two-detector set-up can probe maximal CP violation and establish the neutrino mass ordering if sin²2θ₁₃ is 1.4×10⁻⁴ and 2.7×10⁻⁴, respectively, or more. The sensitivity reach for sin²2θ₁₃ itself is 5.5×10⁻⁴. With a factor of 10 higher luminosity, the corresponding sin²2θ₁₃ reach of this set-up would be 1.8×10⁻⁵, 4.6×10⁻⁵ and 5.3×10⁻⁵ respectively for the above three performance indicators. CP violation can be discovered for 64% of the possible δ_CP values for sin²2θ₁₃10⁻³ (8×10⁻⁵), for the standard luminosity (10 times enhanced luminosity). Comparable physics performance can be achieved in a set-up where data from CERN to INO@ICAL is combined with that from CERN to the Boulby mine in United Kingdom, a baseline of 1050 km.     

Exotic phases of finite temperature gauge theories

We calculate the phase diagrams at high temperature of SU(N) gauge theories with massive fermions by minimizing the one-loop effective potential. Considering fermions in the adjoint (Adj) representation at various N we observe a variety of phases when N_f2 Majorana flavours and periodic boundary conditions are applied to fermions. Also the confined phase is perturbatively accessible. For N=3, we add Fundamental (F) representation fermions with antiperiodic boundary conditions to adjoint QCD to show how the Z(3)-symmetry breaks in the confined phase.     

Phase transition in the spanning-hyperforest model on complete hypergraphs

By using our novel Grassmann formulation we study the phase transition of the spanning-hyperforest model of the k-uniform complete hypergraph for any k2. The case k=2 reduces to the spanning-forest model on the complete graph. Different k are studied at once by using a microcanonical ensemble in which the number of hypertrees is fixed. The low-temperature phase is characterized by the appearance of a giant hyperforest. The phase transition occurs when the number of hyperforests is a fraction (k−1)/k of the total number of vertices. The behaviour at criticality is also studied by means of the coalescence of two saddle points. As the Grassmann formulation exhibits a global supersymmetry we show that the phase transition is second order and is associated to supersymmetry breaking and we explore the pure thermodynamical phase at low temperature by introducing an explicit breaking field.     

Si-nanostructures formation in amorphous silicon nitride SiNx:H deposited by remote PECVD

The formation of silicon nanoclusters embedded in amorphous silicon nitride (SiN_x:H) can be of great interest for optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. Here amorphous SiN_x:H layers have been deposited by remote microwave-assisted chemical vapor deposition at 300 °C substrate temperature and with different ammonia [NH₃]/silane [SiH₄] gas flow ratios (R=0.5−5). Post-thermal annealing was carried out at 700 °C during 30 min to form the silicon nanoclusters. The composition of the layers was determined by Rutherford back scattering (RBS) and elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that the densities of SiH (2160 cm⁻¹) and NH (3330 cm⁻¹) molecules are reduced after thermal annealing for SiN:H films deposited at flow gas ratio R>1.5. Breaking the SiH bonding provide Si atoms in excess in the bulk of the layer, which can nucleate and form Si nanostructures. The analysis of the photoluminescence (PL) spectra for different stoichiometric layers showed a strong dependence of the peak characteristics (position, intensity, etc.) on the gas flow ratio. On the other hand, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis proves the presence of silicon nanoclusters embedded in the films deposited at a gas flow ratio of R=2 and annealed at 700 °C (30 min).     

Dielectric/piezoelectric properties and temperature dependence of domain structure evolution in lead free single crystal

(K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃ (KNN) single crystals were grown using a high temperature flux method. The dielectric permittivity was measured as a function of temperature for [001]-oriented KNN single crystals. The ferroelectric phase transition temperatures, including the rhombohedral–orthorhombic T_R−O, orthorhombic–tetragonal T_O−T and tetragonal–cubic T_C were found to be located at −149  C, 205 C and 393 C, respectively. The domain structure evolution with an increasing temperature in [001]-oriented KNN single crystal was observed using polarized light microscopy (PLM), where three distinguished changes of the domain structures were found to occur at −150  C, 213 C and 400 C, corresponding to the three phase transition temperatures.     

Combustion of nano-aluminum and liquid water

An experimental investigation on the combustion behavior of nano-aluminum (nAl) and liquid water has been conducted. In particular, linear and mass-burning rates of quasi-homogeneous mixtures of nAl and liquid water as a function of pressure, mixture composition, particle size, and oxide layer thickness were measured. This study is the first reported self-deflagration on nAl and liquid water without the use of any additional gelling agent. Steady-state burning rates were obtained at room temperature (25 °C) using a windowed vessel for a pressure range of 0.1–4.2 MPa in an argon atmosphere, particle diameters of 38–130 nm, and overall mixture equivalence ratios () from 0.5 to 1.25. At the highest pressure studied, the linear burning rate was found to be 8.6 ± 0.4 cm/s, corresponding to a mass-burning rate per unit area of 6.1 g/cm² s. The pressure exponent at room temperature was 0.47, which was independent of the overall mixture equivalence ratio for all of the cases considered. The mass-burning rate per unit area increased from 1.0 to 5.8 g/cm² s for an equivalence ratio range of 0.5–1.25. It varied inversely to particle diameter, increasing by 157% when the particle diameter was decreased from 130 to 50 nm at  = 1.0.     

Laser gain by electron collisional pumping of Ar VII–V XII

Gain coefficients have been calculated for transitions of singlet levels ns–np of orbital n=4 and n=5 in magnesium-like ions with atomic numbers Z=18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23. Population inversions for 4p and 5p levels in these ions were also calculated, via electron collisional excitation, for electron temperature range of 93–231 eV and electron density range of 10¹⁶–10¹⁷ cm⁻³. Under these plasma conditions, the maximum gain that occurred for 4s–4p transition was at electron temperature of 231 eV and electron density of 4×10¹⁷ cm⁻³. Scaling of the maximum gain coefficients with atomic number Z and the plasma parameters is also presented.     

Estimation of relative order tensors, and reconstruction of vectors in space using unassigned RDC data and its application

Advances in NMR instrumentation and pulse sequence design have resulted in easier acquisition of Residual Dipolar Coupling (RDC) data. However, computational and theoretical analysis of this type of data has continued to challenge the international community of investigators because of their complexity and rich information content. Contemporary use of RDC data has required a-priori assignment, which significantly increases the overall cost of structural analysis. This article introduces a novel algorithm that utilizes unassigned RDC data acquired from multiple alignment media (nD-RDC, n  3) for simultaneous extraction of the relative order tensor matrices and reconstruction of the interacting vectors in space.Estimation of the relative order tensors and reconstruction of the interacting vectors can be invaluable in a number of endeavors. An example application has been presented where the reconstructed vectors have been used to quantify the fitness of a template protein structure to the unknown protein structure. This work has other important direct applications such as verification of the novelty of an unknown protein and validation of the accuracy of an available protein structure model in drug design. More importantly, the presented work has the potential to bridge the gap between experimental and computational methods of structure determination.     

Dimensional evolution of silicon nanowires synthesized by Au–Si island-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition

This study explores the nucleation and morphological evolution of silicon nanowires (Si-NWs) on Si (0 0 1) and (1 1 1) substrates synthesized using nanoscale Au–Si island-catalyzed rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition. The Au–Si islands are formed by Au thin film (1.2–3.0 nm) deposition at room temperature followed by annealing at 700 °C, which are employed as a liquid-droplet catalysis during the growth of the Si-NWs. The Si-NWs are grown by exposing the substrates with Au–Si islands to a mixture of gasses SiH₄ and H₂. The growth temperatures and the pressures are 500–600 °C and 0.1–1.0 Torr, respectively. We found a critical thickness of the Au film for Si-NWs nucleation at a given growth condition. Also, we observed that the dimensional evolution of the NWs significantly depends on the growth pressure and temperature. The resulting NWs are 30–100 nm in diameter and 0.4–12.0 μm in length. For Si (0 0 1) substrates 80% of the NWs are aligned along the 1 1 1 direction which are 30° and 60° with respect to the substrate surface while for Si (1 1 1) most of the NWs are aligned vertically along the 1 1 1 direction. In particular, we observed that there appears to be two types of NWs; one with a straight and another with a tapered shape. The morphological and dimensional evolution of the Si-NWs is significantly related to atomic diffusion kinetics and energetics in the vapor–liquid–solid processes.