Search for low-mass dark matter via bremsstrahlung radiation and the Migdal effect in SuperCDMS
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In this work, we examine driven skyrmion dynamics in systems with inhomogeneous pinning where a strip of strong pinning coexists with a region containing no pinning. For driving parallel to the strip, we find that the initial skyrmion motion is confined to the unpinned region and the skyrmion Hall angle is zero. At larger drives, a transition occurs to a phase in which motion also appears within the pinned region, creating a shear band in the skyrmion velocity, while the skyrmion Hall angle is still zero. As the drive increases further, the flow becomes disordered and the skyrmion Hall angle increases with drive until saturating at the highest drives when the system transitions into a moving crystal phase. The different dynamic phases are associated with velocity and density gradients across the pinning boundaries. We map out the dynamic phases as a function of pinning strength, skyrmion density, and Magnus force strength, and correlate the phase boundaries with features in the velocity-force curves and changes in the local and global ordering of the skyrmion structure. For large Magnus forces, the shear banding instability is replaced by large-scale intermittent flow in the pinned region accompanied by simultaneous motion perpendicular to the direction of the drive, which appears as oscillations in the transport curves. We also examine the case of a drive applied perpendicular to the strip, where we find a jamming effect in which the skyrmion flow is blocked by skyrmion-skyrmion interactions until the drive is large enough to induce plastic flow.
This study presents the executive disruption model (EDM) of tinnitus distress and subsequently validates it statistically using two independent datasets (the Construction Dataset: n = 96 and the Validation Dataset: n = 200). The conceptual EDM was first operationalised as a structural causal model (construction phase). Then multiple regression was used to examine the effect of executive functioning on tinnitus-related distress (validation phase), adjusting for the additional contributions of hearing threshold and psychological distress. For both datasets, executive functioning negatively predicted tinnitus distress score by a similar amount (the Construction Dataset: β = −3.50, p = 0.13 and the Validation Dataset: β = −3.71, p = 0.02). Theoretical implications and applications of the EDM are subsequently discussed; these include the predictive nature of executive functioning in the development of distressing tinnitus, and the clinical utility of the EDM.
α-RuCl 3 , a well-known candidate material for Kitaev quantum spin liquid, is prone to stacking disorder due to the weak van der Waals bonding between the honeycomb layers. After a decade of intensive experimental and theoretical studies, the detailed correlation between stacking degree of freedom, structure transition, magnetic, and thermal transport properties remains unresolved. In this work, we reveal the effects of a small amount of stacking disorder inherent even in high quality α-RuCl 3 crystals. This small amount of stacking disorder results in the variation of the magnetic ordering temperature, and it suppresses the structure transition and thermal conductivity. Crystals with a minimal amount of stacking disorder have a T N > 7.4 K and exhibit a well-defined structure transition around 140 K upon cooling. For those with more stacking faults and a T N below 7 K, the structure transition occurs well below 140 K upon cooling and is incomplete, manifested by the diffuse streaks and the coexistence of both high-temperature and low-temperature phases down to the lowest measurement temperature. Both types of crystals exhibit oscillatory field-dependent thermal conductivity and a plateaulike feature in thermal Hall resistivity in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state. However, α-RuCl 3 crystals with a minimal amount of stacking disorder have a higher thermal conductivity that pushes the thermal Hall conductivity to be closer to the half-integer quantized value. Importantly, these findings demonstrate a strong correlation between layer stacking, structure transition, magnetic, and thermal transport properties, underscoring the importance of interlayer coupling in α-RuCl3 despite the weak van der Waals bonding.
Abstract We report on the design and performance of the B icep3 instrument and its first three-year data set collected from 2016 to 2018. B icep3 is a 52 cm aperture refracting telescope designed to observe the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on degree angular scales at 95 GHz. It started science observation at the South Pole in 2016 with 2400 antenna-coupled transition-edge sensor bolometers. The receiver first demonstrated new technologies such as large-diameter alumina optics, Zotefoam infrared filters, and flux-activated SQUIDs, allowing ∼10× higher optical throughput compared to the Keck design. B icep3 achieved instrument noise equivalent temperatures of 9.2, 6.8, and 7.1 μ K CMB s and reached Stokes Q and U map depths of 5.9, 4.4, and 4.4 μ K arcmin in 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively. The combined three-year data set achieved a polarization map depth of 2.8 μ K arcmin over an effective area of 585 square degrees, which is the deepest CMB polarization map made to date at 95 GHz.
Here, we develop a ytopt autotuning framework that leverages Bayesian optimization to explore the parameter space search and compare four different supervised learning methods within Bayesian optimization and evaluate their effectiveness. We select six of the most complex PolyBench benchmarks and apply the newly developed LLVM Clang/Polly loop optimization pragmas to the benchmarks to optimize them. We then use the autotuning framework to optimize the pragma parameters to improve their performance. The experimental results show that our autotuning approach outperforms the other compiling methods to provide the smallest execution time for the benchmarks syr2k, 3mm, heat-3d, lu, and covariance with two large datasets in 200 code evaluations for effectively searching the parameter spaces with up to 170,368 different configurations. We find that the Floyd-Warshall benchmark did not benefit from autotuning. To cope with this issue, we provide some compiler option solutions to improve the performance. Then we present loop autotuning without a user's knowledge using a simple mctree autotuning framework to further improve the performance of the Floyd-Warshall benchmark. We also extend the ytopt autotuning framework to tune a deep learning application.
We present estimates of line-of-sight distortion fields derived from the 95 and 150 GHz data taken by BICEP2, BICEP3, and the Keck Array up to the 2018 observing season, leading to cosmological constraints and a study of instrumental and astrophysical systematics. Cosmological constraints are derived from three of the distortion fields concerning gravitational lensing from large-scale structure, polarization rotation from magnetic fields or an axion-like field, and the screening effect of patchy reionization. We measure an amplitude of the lensing power spectrum ${A}_{L}^{\phi \phi }=0.95\pm 0.20$. We constrain polarization rotation, expressed as the coupling constant of a Chern–Simons electromagnetic term g aγ ≤ 2.6 × 10 -2 /H I , where H I is the inflationary Hubble parameter, and an amplitude of primordial magnetic fields smoothed over 1 Mpc B 1Mpc ≤ 6.6 nG at 95 GHz. We constrain the rms of optical depth fluctuations in a simple "crinkly surface" model of patchy reionization, finding A τ < 0.19 (2σ) for the coherence scale of L c = 100. We show that all of the distortion fields of the 95 and 150 GHz polarization maps are consistent with simulations including lensed ΛCDM, dust, and noise, with no evidence for instrumental systematics. In some cases, the EB and TB quadratic estimators presented here are more sensitive than our previous map-based null tests at identifying and rejecting spurious B-modes that might arise from instrumental effects. Finally, we verify that the standard deprojection filtering in the BICEP/Keck data processing is effective at removing temperature to polarization leakage.
Highlights: • The effect of the on-site Coulomb repulsion and the spin–orbit Rashba coupling lead to the 2D topological semimetal. • The ground state phase diagram is calculated. • The topological semimetal phase is characterized by the zero energy Majorana states. In the framework of mean field approach, we study topological Mott transition in a two band model of spinless fermions on a square lattice at half filling. We consider the combined effect of the on-site Coulomb repulsion and the spin–orbit Rashba coupling. The ground state phase diagram is calculated as a function of the strength of the spin–orbit Rashba coupling and the Coulomb repulsion. The spin–orbit Rashba coupling leads to a distinct phase of matter, the topological semimetal. We study a new type of phase transition between the non-topological insulator and topological semimetal states. Topological phase state is characterized by the zero energy Majorana states, which there are in defined region of the wave vectors and are localized at the boundaries of the sample. The region of existence of the zero energy Majorana states tends to zero at the point of the Mott phase transition. The zero energy Majorana states are dispersionless (they can be considered as flat bands), the Chern number and Hall conductance are equal to zero (note in two dimensional model).
Salt-doped polymers without added solvents have potential as nonflammable, robust electrolytes for batteries but suffer from low ion conductivity. Using bulky anions with delocalized charge may reduce ion agglomeration and increase conduction. However, size asymmetry between ions may increase preferential solvation of cations versus the larger anions, lowering the transference number t + (fraction of conductivity contributed by the cation, relevant to battery performance). We use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, including a 1/r 4 potential to capture size-dependent solvation effects, to relate polymer and ion chemistry to t + and overall conductivity. At low ion size disparity, increasing dielectric constant improves cation conduction due to the mitigation of ion aggregation and correlated cation-anion motion. However, at high ion size disparity, high dielectric medium results in strong preferential solvation of cations, reducing cation mobility and t + . The trade-off between better cation-anion separation and cation preferential solvation suggests that the strategy of developing high dielectric polymers may enhance performance only at low ion size disparity.
Abstract. Glyoxal (CHOCHO), the simplest dicarbonyl in the troposphere, is a potential precursor for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and brown carbon (BrC) affecting air quality and climate. The airborne measurement of CHOCHO concentrations during the KORUS-AQ (KORea–US Air Quality study) campaign in 2016 enables detailed quantification of loss mechanisms pertaining to SOA formation in the real atmosphere. The production of this molecule was mainly from oxidation of aromatics (59 %) initiated by hydroxyl radical (OH). CHOCHO loss to aerosol was found to be the most important removal path (69 %) and contributed to roughly ∼ 20 % (3.7 µg sm−3 ppmv−1 h−1, normalized with excess CO) of SOA growth in the first 6 h in Seoul Metropolitan Area. A reactive uptake coefficient (γ) of ∼ 0.008 best represents the loss of CHOCHO by surface uptake during the campaign. To our knowledge, we show the first field observation of aerosol surface-area-dependent (Asurf) CHOCHO uptake, which diverges from the simple surface uptake assumption as Asurf increases in ambient condition. Specifically, under the low (high) aerosol loading, the CHOCHO effective uptake rate coefficient, keff,uptake, linearly increases (levels off) with Asurf; thus, the irreversible surface uptake is a reasonable (unreasonable) approximation for simulating CHOCHO loss to aerosol. Dependence on photochemical impact and changes in the chemical and physical aerosol properties “free water”, as well as aerosol viscosity, are discussed as other possible factors influencing CHOCHO uptake rate. Our inferred Henry's law coefficient of CHOCHO, 7.0×108 M atm−1, is ∼ 2 orders of magnitude higher than those estimated from salting-in effects constrained by inorganic salts only consistent with laboratory findings that show similar high partitioning into water-soluble organics, which urges more understanding on CHOCHO solubility under real atmospheric conditions.
Here, two new approaches to measure Np concentration in dissolved used nuclear fuel simulant (aqueous feed for PUREX process) by spectrophotometry are developed. The first approach is based on chemical reduction of Np in the feed to its tetravalent state using ascorbic acid with simultaneous conversion of Pu(IV) to Pu(III). Interfering effects from light absorbing fission and corrosion products are accounted for by measuring optical absorbance spectrum of aqueous raffinate after extraction of U, Np, and Pu by tributyl phosphate in dodecane. The second approach uses no chemical treatment at all and relies on spontaneous valency adjustment of Np to Np(V) by dilution of the feed with water to reduce its acidity to low decimolar range of nitric acid concentration. Results of Np determination in the feed by spectrophotometry are in good agreement with its concentration measured by ICP-MS.
Lattice deformations in graphene couple to the low-energy electronic degrees of freedom as effective scalar and gauge fields. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the optical component of the displacement field, i.e., the relative motion of different sublattices, contributes at equal order as the acoustic component and effectively screens the pseudogauge fields. In particular, we consider twisted bilayer graphene and corrugated monolayer graphene. In both cases, optical lattice displacements significantly reduce the overall magnitude of the pseudomagnetic fields. For corrugated graphene, optical contributions also reshape the pseudomagnetic field and significantly modify the electronic bands near charge neutrality. Previous studies based on continuum elasticity, which ignores this effect, have therefore systematically overestimated the strength of the strain-induced pseudomagnetic field. Furthermore, our results have important consequences for the interpretation of experiments and design of straintronic applications.
Photocatalytic dye degradation leverages sunlight to break down dyes and pigments into safer, simpler molecules. Using a material that can absorb a broad range of the solar spectrum optimizes the speed and efficiency of this process. In this study, we explore a series of new, narrow bandgap copper iodide semiconductors (1.5–1.7 eV) with various dimensionalities (0D to 3D) to evaluate their photocatalytic efficiency in dye degradation. The most effective material achieved 95% degradation within just 27 minutes. Mass spectrometry provided a detailed insight and in-depth understanding into the degradation mechanism. All materials demonstrated excellent stability under ambient conditions, highlighting their promise as eco-friendly candidates for dye degradation in water purification.
Spin moiré superlattices (SMSs) have been proposed as a magnetic analog of crystallographic moiré systems and a source of electron minibands offering vector-field moiré tunability and Berry curvature effects. However, it has proven challenging to realize an SMS in which a large exchange coupling J is transmitted between conduction electrons and localized spins. Furthermore, most systems have carrier mean free paths l mfp shorter than their spin moiré lattice constant a spin , inhibiting miniband formation. Here, we discover that the layered magnetic semimetal EuAg 4 Sb 2 overcomes these challenges by forming an interface with J ~ 100 milli–electron volts transferred between a Eu triangular lattice and anionic Ag 2 Sb bilayers hosting a two-dimensional electron band in the ballistic regime (l mfp >> a spin ). The system realizes an SMS with a spin commensurate with the Fermi momentum, leading to a marked quenching of the transport response from miniband formation. Our findings demonstrate an approach to magnetically engineering moiré superlattices and a potential route to an emergent spin-driven quantum Hall state.
This study investigates vibration mitigation of dynamic subsea cables through passive bi-stable nonlinear energy sinks (B-NESs). These devices suppress vibration energy in a broadband way, and can be regarded as extensions of classical linear tuned mass dampers (TMDs) which are narrowband devices. Through the open-source MoorDyn library, we simulated the vibrations of a vertical subsea cable equipped with a set of B-NESs. Multi-objective optimization was performed to detect the B-NES parameters for optimal mitigation of the cable vibrations. Advanced signal processing verified the efficacy of the optimized B-NESs not only to rapidly absorb and locally dissipate vibration energy, but also to nonlinearly scatter vibration energy from low to high frequencies within the cable itself. This last feature is especially beneficial for vibration mitigation of the undersea cable, as at higher frequencies the cable vibrations exhibit drastically reduced amplitudes and are more effectively dissipated by inherent structural damping and hydrodynamic radiation damping. This contrasts with traditional TMDs which can mitigate vibration only at a single frequency. Furthermore, our robustness study confirms the B-NES's effectiveness under even varying environmental conditions. Overall, the B-NES's capacity for broadband vibration mitigation renders it a promising retrofit solution for improving the performance and operational safety of dynamic power cables in offshore wind farms and other marine applications.
To effectively manage the terrestrial firefighting fleet in a forest fire scenario, namely, to optimize its displacement in the field, it is crucial to have a well-structured and accurate mapping of rural roads. The landscape’s complexity, mainly due to severe shadows cast by the wild vegetation and trees, makes it challenging to extract rural roads based on processing aerial or satellite images, leading to heterogeneous results. This article proposes a method to improve the automatic detection of rural roads and the extraction of their centerlines from aerial images. This method has two main stages: (i) the use of a deep learning model (DeepLabV3+) for predicting rural road segments; (ii) an optimization strategy to improve the connections between predicted rural road segments, followed by a morphological approach to extract the rural road centerlines using thinning algorithms, such as those proposed by Zhang–Suen and Guo–Hall. After completing these two stages, the proposed method automatically detected and extracted rural road centerlines from complex rural environments. This is useful for developing real-time mapping applications.
Sucrose is the current baseline additive at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant in Washington, USA to control foaming during waste feed to glass transitions and the redox state of the glass melt. Alternative reductants are being investigated to alleviate strain on effluent treatment from toxic acetonitrile production from incomplete combustion of sucrose. This study evaluates ceramic additive options including B4C, B6Si, SiC and VB2 in simulated low-activity waste feed, as well as coke dust, probing the feed volume expansion during melting as well as the gas evolution. All alternative reductant options examined significantly reduced acetonitrile production, however there was variability in their effectiveness as foam-reducing agents. VB2 and coke at the appropriate ratios were similarly effective as sucrose in controlling both foam volume and glass redox state, but with considerably less acetonitrile production. B4C, B6Si and SiC showed more promising foam control and very little acetonitrile production, however all of the final glasses were over reduced, i.e., Fe2+/FeT = 0.5. These alternative reductant studies provide operational flexibility to the operation of the vitrification plant, as well as options for alternative raw materials in industrial glass melting.
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