Gravitational wave imprint of new symmetry breaking

It is believed that there are more fundamental gauge symmetries beyond those described by the Standard Model of particle physics. The scales of these new gauge symmetries are usually too high to be reachable by particle colliders. Considering that the phase transition (PT) relating to the spontaneous breaking of new gauge symmetries to the electroweak symmetry might be strongly first order, we propose considering the stochastic gravitational waves (GW) arising from this phase transition as an indirect way of detecting these new fundamental gauge symmetries. As an illustration, we explore the possibility of detecting the stochastic GW generated from the PT of begin{document}$ {bf{B}}-{bf{L}}$end{document} in the space-based interferometer detectors. Our study demonstrates that the GW energy spectrum is reachable by the LISA, Tianqin, Taiji, BBO, and DECIGO experiments only for the case where the spontaneous breaking of begin{document}$ {bf{B}}-{bf{L}}$end{document} is triggered by at least two electroweak singlet scalars.     

Transition probabilities of the X1Σ+, A1Π, B1Δ, C1Σ+, and D1Π states of the AlO+ cation

ABSTRACT

This study computes the potential energy curves of the X¹Σ⁺, A¹Π, B¹Δ, C¹Σ⁺, and D¹Π states of AlO⁺ cation and the transition dipole moments between them. The orders of the rotationless radiative lifetimes are 10–100?μs for the A¹Π state, 1–1000?ms for the B¹Δ state, 10?ns for the first well and 100?ns for the second well of the C¹Σ⁺ state, and 1?μs for the D¹Π state. Emissions of the B¹Δ–A¹Π and D¹Π–C¹Σ⁺ systems are so weak that they are hardly measured via spectroscopy, the emissions of the C¹Σ⁺–X¹Σ⁺, C¹Σ⁺–A¹Π, and D¹Π–X¹Σ⁺ systems are so strong that they can be detected readily, and emissions of the A¹Π–X¹Σ⁺ and D¹Π–A¹Π systems can be observed through spectroscopy only by a significant effort. There is a strong great similarity between spontaneous emissions of the A¹Π–X¹Σ⁺ system of the AlO⁺ cation and the A²Π–X²Σ⁺ system of the AlO radical. The emissions of the A²Π–X²Σ⁺ system of the AlO radical have been measured in outer space Therefore, it is highly possible that the emissions of the A¹Π–X¹Σ⁺ system of the AlO⁺ cation can be detected in the astrophysical media.     

Spontaneous translation of nanodroplet over a heterogeneous surface due to thermal cycles: role of solid–liquid interfacial fluctuations

ABSTRACT

We study the molecular-scale features of the solid surface that result in the spontaneous motion of a nanodroplet due to the periodic variation of temperature. We first employ a thermodynamic model to predict the variation of solid–fluid interfacial properties that can result in the above motion. The model identifies a composite (surface couple) made of two surfaces that are characterised by a large difference between the entropic parts of the solid–liquid interfacial free energies. In order to understand the molecular-scale features of the two surfaces that may form a surface couple, we performed grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations of Lennard Jones fluid and crystalline surfaces made of Lennard Jones-like atoms. We then used the cumulant expansions of the perturbation formulas to divide the interfacial entropy into two parts: The one that is directly affected by the solid–fluid attraction (direct part), and the other (indirect part) that is indirectly affected by the solid–fluid attraction via the alteration of interfacial fluctuations. Our results indicate that two surfaces form a surface couple if the differences between their chemical natures lead to large differences in the indirect part of the interfacial entropy, while the direct part remains relatively unaffected.     

Influence of spin–orbit interaction,Zeeman effect and light polarisation on the electronic and optical properties of pseudo-elliptic quantum rings under magnetic field

ABSTRACT

We theoretically investigated the influences of the magnetic field and light polarisation on the electronic and optical properties of a GaAs/GaAlAs pseudo-elliptic quantum ring, modelled by an outer ellipsis and an inner circle, in the presence of the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions and Zeeman effect. We show that Aharonov-Bohm oscillations of the energy spectrum are not affected by the presence of the Zeeman effect alone but, in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit couplings, the periodicity of certain levels becomes hardly definite. The Zeeman effect generally enhances/diminishes the separation levels produced by Rashba/Dresselhaus interactions (SOI) and when both types of SOI are considered, the effect depends on their relative strength. The magnetic field can trigger spin-flip for each type of spin–orbit interaction and Zeeman effect or their combination through anticrossings in the energy spectra. Our results reveal that the absorption spectra are very sensitive to the magnetic field and light polarisation. For all polarisations considered, the magnetic field increment leads to the redshift or blueshift of some particular peaks (an effect of this ring geometry) and a better separation of the peaks. The x-polarised light determines spectra with many small, but separated peaks while the circular polarised light leads to spectra with large peaks of high amplitude.     

A survey of surface tension,molar volume and density for Sn–Ag–Cu–Bi–Sb quinary alloys as lead-free solders

ABSTRACT

By applying the geometric models and the theoretical equation, the surface tension, the molar volume and the density were studied. The empirical calculations were carried out in temperature range 623?K?≤?T?≤?1123?K. Only few thermophysical properties were estimated for eight quinary alloys: Sn3.55Ag0.5Cu3Bi3Sb, Sn3.48Ag0.5Cu3Bi5Sb, Sn3.48 Ag0.5Cu5Bi3Sb, Sn3.40 Ag0.5Cu5Bi5Sb, Sn3.53Ag1Cu3Bi3Sb, Sn3.46Ag1Cu3Bi5Sb, Sn3.46Ag1Cu5Bi3Sb, Sn3.38Ag1Cu5Bi5Sb. The results show that surface tension and density have a linear appearance for all temperatures. We have also studied the influence of the composition and temperature in the studied alloys. The obtained theoretical results are compared with the experimental ones and with the conventional Pb–Sn welds.     

Effect of Zr concentration on the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of NbIr3 intermetallic compounds from theoretical estimations

ABSTRACT

The iridium is an important metal which has excellent resistance to corrosion at high temperature. L1₂ intermetallic compounds i.e. Ir₃Nb and Ir₃Zr, with similar lattice parameters are ideal for working at high temperature. They are fully soluble due to their low lattice misfit. A first-principle investigation into the effect of doping Zr with different concentrations on the electronic structure, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of NbIr₃ has been studied to prompt the development of novel high-temperature materials. Nine Zr_xNb_8?xIr₂₄ compounds are carefully considered. The results show that adding Zr into these compounds can strengthen their structural stability and ductility. Nevertheless, it reduces the elastic modulus and elastic stiffness. Simultaneously, with the increase of Zr content, the thermodynamic properties of these compounds decrease. It is also found that the changes of elastic modulus are mainly attributed to the variations of bonds in these compounds.     

The electronic properties and electron transport of sawtooth penta-graphene nanoribbon under uniaxial strain: ab-initio study

ABSTRACT

The electronic properties and electron transport of a sawtooth penta-graphene nanoribbon (SSPGNR) under uniaxial strains are theoretically studied by density-functional theory (DFT) in combination with the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. We investigated the electronic structures and the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the SSPGNRs under a sequence of uniaxial strains in range from 10% compression to 10% stretch. In this strained range, carbon atoms still keep a pentagon network, but with the changing bond lengths. The C–C bond lengths change almost linearly with the tolerable strain. The value of the band gap of SSPGNRs can be depicted as a parabola under uniaxial strain. Our calculations show that the current is monotonous increase with compressive strain at the same applied bias voltage. In case of tensile strain, the variable rule of the current is different that it increases at first and decrease later. The fundamental physical properties (band structure, I–V characteristic) of SSPGNRs seem to be more sensitive to compressive strain than the stretch strain. The current intensity of the compressive-SSPGNR is by 2 orders of magnitude compared to that of the tensile-SSPGNR at the same strain in range from 6% to 10%. The results obtained from our calculations are beneficial to practical applications of these strained structures in SSPGNRs-based electromechanical devices.     

Effects on the evolution of microstructure and properties of low-silicon cast aluminum alloys in service

ABSTRACT

The microstructure evolution and property change of four kinds of low silicon cast aluminum alloy exposed to heat for 0–50?h at 200°C were studied by means of Brinell hardness test, tensile property test, friction and wear property test and XRD analysis. The results show that with increasing thermal exposure time, the tensile strength of each group of samples decreased and the amount of wear increased. The tensile strength of samples with more Si content decreased slowly. When the time increased to 50?h, the increase of wear loss was the largest. The hardness of samples after thermal exposure increases compared with that before thermal exposure. The residual stress of (311) diffraction crystal surface of AlSi3.5Mg0.66 under different thermal exposure time was measured. The type of residual stress changed from residual tensile stress to residual compressive stress after thermal exposure. There is an abnormal phenomenon that the hardness of the sample increased and the amount of wear increased, and it is evident that the distribution of residual stress was inhomogeneous after thermal exposure. It is found that with increasing thermal exposure time to 50?h, the average lattice distortion ε of the low-index crystal plane and the high-index crystal plane in the aluminum alloys gradually increased.     

Miura transformation for the “good” Boussinesq equation

It is well known that each solution of the modified Korteveg–de Vries (mKdV) equation gives rise, via the Miura transformation, to a solution of the Korteveg–de Vries (KdV) equation. In this work, we show that a similar Miura-type transformation exists also for the “good” Boussinesq equation. This transformation maps solutions of a second-order equation to solutions of the fourth-order Boussinesq equation. Just like in the case of mKdV and KdV, the correspondence exists also at the level of the underlying Riemann–Hilbert problems and this is in fact how we construct the new transformation.