Desktop supercomputer: what can it do?

The paper addresses the issues of solving complex problems that require using supercomputers or multiprocessor clusters available for most researchers nowadays. Efficient distribution of high performance computing resources according to actual application needs has been a major research topic since high-performance computing (HPC) technologies became widely introduced. At the same time, comfortable and transparent access to these resources was a key user requirement. In this paper we discuss approaches to build a virtual private supercomputer available at user’s desktop: a virtual computing environment tailored specifically for a target user with a particular target application. We describe and evaluate possibilities to create the virtual supercomputer based on light-weight virtualization technologies, and analyze the efficiency of our approach compared to traditional methods of HPC resource management.     

How fast can cracks propagate?

We have performed atomic simulations of crack propagation along a weak interface joining two harmonic crystals. The simulations show that a mode II shear dominated crack can accelerate to the Rayleigh wave speed and then nucleate an intersonic daughter that travels at the longitudinal wave speed. This contradicts the general belief that a crack can travel no faster than the Rayleigh speed.     

How long does it take to pull an ideal polymer into a small hole?

We present scaling estimates for characteristic times taulin and taubr of pulling ideal linear and randomly branched polymers of N monomers into a small hole by a force f. We show that the absorbtion process develops as sequential straightening of folds of the initial polymer configuration. By estimating the typical size of the fold involved into the motion, we arrive at the following predictions, taulin(N) approximately N3/2/f and taubr(N)approximately N5/4/f, and we also confirm them by the molecular dynamics experiment.     

How narrow can a meniscus be?

A water meniscus naturally forms in air between an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip and a substrate. This nanoscale meniscus produces a capillary force on the AFM, and also serves as a molecular transport channel in dip-pen nanolithography (DPN). A stable meniscus is a necessary condition for DPN and for the validity of the Kelvin equation commonly applied to AFM experiments. Lattice gas Monte Carlo simulations show that, due to thermal fluctuation, a stable meniscus has a lower limit in width. We find a minimum width of 5 molecular diameters (1.9 nm) when the tip becomes atomically sharp (terminated by a single atom).     

Nematics with quenched disorder: how long will it take to heal?

Nematics with quenched disorder have been repeatedly predicted to form glass phases. Here we present turbidity experiments and computer simulations aimed at studying glass key features such as dynamics and history dependence in randomly perturbed nematics. Electric field-cooling alignment has been employed to prepare samples in suitably oriented starting states. Remarkable remnant order and slow dynamics are found both by experiment and simulations, indicating that random disorder can, by itself, induce a nematic glass state even without perturber restructuring.     

How complex a dynamical network can be?

Positive Lyapunov exponents measure the asymptotic exponential divergence of nearby trajectories of a dynamical system. Not only they quantify how chaotic a dynamical system is, but since their sum is an upper bound for the rate of information production, they also provide a convenient way to quantify the complexity of a dynamical network. We conjecture based on numerical evidences that for a large class of dynamical networks composed by equal nodes, the sum of the positive Lyapunov exponents is bounded by the sum of all the positive Lyapunov exponents of both the synchronization manifold and its transversal directions, the last quantity being in principle easier to compute than the latter. As applications of our conjecture we: (i) show that a dynamical network composed of equal nodes and whose nodes are fully linearly connected produces more information than similar networks but whose nodes are connected with any other possible connecting topology; (ii) show how one can calculate upper bounds for the information production of realistic networks whose nodes have parameter mismatches, randomly chosen; (iii) discuss how to predict the behavior of a large dynamical network by knowing the information provided by a system composed of only two coupled nodes.     

How far can one send a photon?

The answer to the question How far can one send a photon? depends heavily on what one means by a photon and on what one intends to do with that photon. For direct quantum communication, the limit is approximately 500 km. For terrestrial quantum communication, near-future technologies based on quantum teleportation and quantum memories will soon enable quantum repeaters that will turn the development of a world-wide-quantum-web (WWQW) into a highly non-trivial engineering problem. For Device-Independent Quantum Information Processing, near-future qubit amplifiers (i.e., probabilistic heralded amplification of the probability amplitude of the presence of photonic qubits) will soon allow demonstrations over a few tens of kilometers.     

How can soundscapes affect the preferred walking pace?

In this paper we describe an experiment whose goal is to investigate the role of the footstep sounds and soundscapes to affect the pace of a person walking in place (mimicking the act of walking without leaving the current position). Subjects were exposed to different simulated footstep sounds and soundscapes, generated in realtime while walking in place. The results show that, indeed, participants adapted their walking pace to the presented sounds, and not only footstep sounds but also soundscapes affect the walking pace. We could observe as well that perceived ease of walking correlates with the perceived naturalness of ambient sounds.     

How entangled can a multi-party system possibly be?

The geometric measure of entanglement of a pure quantum state is defined to be its distance to the space of pure product (separable) states. Given an n-partite system composed of subsystems of dimensions $d_1,\dots ,d_n$, an upper bound for maximally allowable entanglement is derived in terms of geometric measure of entanglement. This upper bound is characterized exclusively by the dimensions $d_1,\dots ,d_n$ of composite subsystems. Numerous examples demonstrate that the upper bound appears to be reasonably tight.     

How much charm can \bar PANDA produce?

We consider the production of charmed baryons and mesons in the proton-antiproton binary reactions at the energies of the future $\bar P$ ANDA experiment. To describe these processes in terms of hadronic interaction models, one needs strong couplings of the initial nucleons with the intermediate and final charmed hadrons. Similar couplings enter the models of binary reactions with strange hadrons. For both charmed and strange hadrons we employ the strong couplings and their ratios calculated from QCD light-cone sum rules. In this method finite masses of c and s quarks are taken into account. Employing the Kaidalov??s quark-gluon string model with Regge poles and adjusting the normalization of the amplitudes in this model to the calculated strong couplings, we estimate the production cross-section of charmed hadrons. For $p\bar p \to \Lambda _c \bar \Lambda _c$ it can reach several tens of nb at p _lab = 15 GeV, whereas the cross-sections of ?? _c and D pair production are predicted to be smaller.     

How M?ssbauer spectroscopy can improve Li-ion batteries

In the domain of Li-ion batteries, M?ssbauer spectroscopy is mainly used for the characterization of electrode materials and the analysis of electrochemical reactions. Depending on the properties under investigation, different approaches are often considered, which are based on ex situ, in situ and operando measurements. The specific electrochemical cells and sample preparations used for such measurements are described in this paper. Applications to selected examples of cathode and anode materials are presented in order to show how M?ssbauer spectroscopy, when associated with other techniques, provides essential information to understand the mechanisms and improves the performances of Li-ion batteries.     

How can the neutrino interact with the electromagnetic field?

Maxwell electrodynamics in the fixed Minkowski space-time background can be described in an equivalent way in a curved Riemannian geometry that depends on the electromagnetic field and that we call the electromagnetic metric(e-metric for short). After showing such geometric equivalence we investigate the possibility that new processes dependent on the e-metric are allowed. In particular, for very high values of the field, a direct coupling of uncharged particles to the electromagnetic field may appear.     

How thin can a microfiber be and still guide light?

For the adiabatically deformed optical fiber the intermode transmission amplitudes and loss vanish exponentially with the characteristic length of the fiber's nonuniformity. For this reason smoothly deformed optical fiber tapers can have very small losses. However, losses dramatically increase with a thinning of the microfiber down to a diameter much smaller than the radiation wavelength. The theory of nonadiabatic intermode transitions is briefly discussed and, by using this theory, the problem of the smallest diameter of a microfiber that can transmit evanescent radiation is studied. It is shown that even for an extremely high uniformity of microfiber the ability of light transmission does not leave much space for microfiber thinning: the propagating mode vanishes at a threshold value of the microfiber's diameter, that is smaller than the radiation wavelength by only an order of magnitude.     

How can we test the neutrino mass seesaw mechanism experimentally?

The seesaw mechanism for the small neutrino mass has been a popular paradigm, yet it has been believed that there is no way to test it experimentally. We present a conceivable outcome from future experiments that would convince us of the seesaw mechanism. It would involve data from the CERN Large Hadron Collider, International Linear Collider, cosmology, underground, and low-energy flavor experiments to establish the case.