Spin gap of a pressure-induced superconductor Sr2Ca12Cu24O41 at an optimum pressure of 3.8 GPa

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) on ⁶³Cu nuclei was performed in a pressure-induced superconductor Sr₂Ca₁₂Cu₂₄O₄₁ at an optimum pressure of 3.8 GPa. A pressure of 3.8 GPa was achieved by improving a piston-cylinder-type pressure cell and developing a NMR probe with a steady-load control system. We found that the spin gap still exists even at the optimum pressure. The spin gap was almost the same at pressures below 3.5 GPa on the pressure-temperature phase diagram, whereas it decreased rather drastically above 3.5 GPa.     

Vector WIMP miracle

Weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) is well known to be a good candidate for dark matter, and it is also predicted by many new physics models beyond the standard model at the TeV scale. We found that, if the WIMP is a vector particle (spin-one particle) which is associated with some gauge symmetry broken at the TeV scale, the Higgs mass is often predicted to be 120–125 GeV, which is very consistent with the result of Higgs searches recently reported by ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider experiment. In this Letter, we consider the vector WIMP using a non-linear sigma model in order to confirm this result as general as possible in a bottom-up approach. Near-future prospects to detect the vector WIMP at both direct and indirect detection experiments of dark matter are also discussed.     

Evaluation of zinc self-diffusion at the interface between homoepitaxial ZnO thin films and (0001) ZnO substrates

Isotopic ZnO thin films were deposited on the c-plane of ZnO single crystals by pulsed laser deposition. The isotopic abundance of Zn in the films was determined with a secondary ion mass spectrometry before and after the films was diffusion annealed. The diffusion profiles across the film/substrate interface behaved smooth features. The zinc diffusion coefficient (D_Zn) was obtained by analyzing the slope of the profile in the annealed sample. The temperature dependence of D_Zn was determined to be D_Zn(cm²/s)=8.0×10⁴exp(?417[kJ/mol])/RT, where R and T are gas constant and temperature. The zinc ion diffusion coefficients were of the same order as that in a ZnO single crystal. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical values indicated that the zinc ions diffused in the thin film and the single crystal through a vacancy mechanism.     

Synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure study on oxidative etching of diamond-like carbon films by hyperthermal atomic oxygen

Surface structural changes of a hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) film exposed to a hyperthermal atomic oxygen beam were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES), and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). It was confirmed that the DLC surface was oxidized and etched by high-energy collisions of atomic oxygen. RBS and real-time mass-loss data showed a linear relationship between etching and atomic oxygen fluence. SR-PES data suggested that the oxide layer was restricted to the topmost surface of the DLC film. NEXAFS data were interpreted to mean that the sp² structure at the DLC surface was selectively etched by collisions with hyperthermal atomic oxygen, and an sp³-rich region remained at the topmost DLC surface. The formation of an sp³-rich layer at the DLC surface led to surface roughening and a reduced erosion yield relative to the pristine DLC surface.     

Factors affecting perception thresholds of vertical whole-body vibration in recumbent subjects: Gender and age of subjects, and vibration duration

Some factors that may affect human perception thresholds of the vertical whole-body vibrations were investigated in two laboratory experiments with recumbent subjects. In the first experiment, the effects of gender and age of subjects on perception were investigated with three groups of 12 subjects, i.e., young males, young females and old males. For continuous sinusoidal vibrations at 2, 4, 8, 16, 31.5 and 63 Hz, there were no significant differences in the perception thresholds between male and female subjects, while the thresholds of young subjects tended to be significantly lower than the thresholds of old subjects. In the second experiment, the effect of vibration duration was investigated by using sinusoidal vibrations, at the same frequencies as above, modulated by the Hanning windows with different lengths (i.e., 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 s) for 12 subjects. It was found that the peak acceleration at the threshold tended to decrease with increasing duration of vibration. The perception thresholds were also evaluated by the running root-mean-square (rms) acceleration and the fourth power acceleration method defined in the current standards. The differences in the threshold of the transient vibrations for different durations were less with the fourth power acceleration method. Additionally, the effect of the integration time on the threshold was investigated for the running rms acceleration and the fourth power acceleration. It was found that the integration time that yielded less differences in the threshold of vibrations for different durations depended on the frequency of vibration.     

Zero-point vibration of hydrogen adsorbed on Si and Pt surfaces

Hydrogen atoms adsorbed on Si(111) and Pt(111) were investigated by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) using 1H(15N,alphagamma)12C. From measurements of the NRA spectrum at normal and tilted ion incidences the zero-point vibrational energies of H on Si(111) in the perpendicular and parallel directions were found to be 123.4+/-4.6 and 44.6+/-6.2 meV, respectively, which are consistent with harmonic potentials. The zero-point energies obtained for Pt(111)-H were 80.8+/-3.9 and 62.1+/-6.0 meV for perpendicular and parallel directions, respectively. These results indicate that the stretching mode is harmonic, while the bending mode is strongly anharmonic.     

Opening and Addition Modes in Propagation During Radical Polymerization of Fumaric and Maleic Derivatives

Abstract

Polymers of bis(trimethylsilyl) fumarate, di-tert-amyl fumarate, and methyl tert-amyl fumarate were prepared by radical polymerization at 60 or 120°C. The polymers were converted into poly(dimethyl fumarate) via thermolysis or hydrolysis and subsequent methylation to determine the tacticity using ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. The probabilities of meso addition (P _m) were revealed to be 0.66 (60°C) for the bis(trimethylsilyl) ester, 0.60 (60°C) and 0.52 (120°C) for the di-tert-amyl ester, and 0.54 (60 and 120°C) for the methyl tert-amyl ester. From the temperature dependence of the P _m values, the differences in activation enthalpies and entropies for the meso and racemo additions were evaluated. The microstructure of poly(dimethyl fumarate) derived from poly(maleic anhydride) was also examined. The opening and addition modes in propagation of the fumaric and maleic derivatives were discussed based on the results obtained in the present and previous work.