1,721,039 research outputs found

    Axionic and nonaxionic electrodynamics in plane and circular geometry

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    Various aspects of axion electrodynamics in the presence of a homogeneous and isotropic dielectric medium are discussed. First, we consider the "antenna-like"property of a planar dielectric surface in axion electrodynamics, elaborating on the treatment given earlier on this topic by Millar et al. [J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2017) 061.JCAPBP1475-751610.1088/1475-7516/2017/01/061]. We calculate the electromagnetic energy transmission coefficient for a dielectric plate, and compare with the conventional expression in ordinary electrodynamics. Second, we consider the situation where the medium exterior to the plate, assumed elastic, is "bent back"and glued together, so that we obtain a circular dielectric string in which the waves can propagate clockwise or counterclockwise. As will be shown, a stationary wave pattern is permitted by the formalism, and we show how the amplitudes for the two counterpropagating waves can be found. Third, as a special case, by omitting axions for a moment, we analyze the Casimir effect for the string, showing its similarity as well as its difference from the Casimir effect of a scalar field for a piecewise uniform string [I. Brevik and H. B. Nielsen, Phys. Rev. D 41, 1185 (1990).PRVDAQ0556-282110.1103/PhysRevD.41.1185]. Finally, including axions again we analyze the enhancement of the surface-generated electromagnetic radiation near the center of a cylindrical haloscope, where the interior region is a vacuum and the exterior region a high refractive index medium. This enhancement is caused by the curvature of the boundary, and is mathematically a consequence of the behavior of the Hankel function of the second kind for small arguments. A simple estimate shows that enhancement may be quite significant, and can therefore be of experimental interest. The presence of an absorber in the center and the possibility of adopting it to search for axions with mass in the THz region, and possibly the GHz region too, is also discussed. This proposal is suggested as an alternative to the reflector arrangement in a similar arrangement recently discussed by Liu et al. [, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 131801 (2022).PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.128.131801]

    Sign of the Casimir-Polder interaction between atoms and oil-water interfaces: Subtle dependence on dielectric properties

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    We demonstrate that Casimir-Polder energies between noble gas atoms (dissolved in water) and oil-water interfaces are highly surface specific. Both repulsion (e.g., hexane) and attraction (e.g., glycerine and cyclodecane) is found with different oils. For several intermediate oils (e.g., hexadecane, decane, and cyclohexane) both attraction and repulsion can be found in the same system. Near these oil-water interfaces the interaction is repulsive in the nonretarded limit and turns attractive at larger distances as retardation becomes important. These highly surface specific interactions may have a role to play in biological systems where the surface may be more or less accessible to dissolved atoms

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Ice Particles Sink below the Water Surface Due to a Balance of Salt, van der Waals, and Buoyancy Forces

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    According to the classical Archimedes’ principle, ice floats in water and has a fraction of its volume above the water surface. However, for very small ice particles, other competing forces such as van der Waals forces due to fluctuating charge distributions and ionic forces due to salt ions and charge on the ice surface also contribute to the force balance. The latter crucially depends on both the pH of the water and the salt concentration. We show that a bulge in the air–water interface due to interaction of surface tension with the rising ice particle becomes significant when the particle radius is greater than 50–100 μm. The role of these forces in governing the initial stages of ice condensation has never been considered. Here, we show that small ice particles can only form below an exclusion zone, from 2 nm (in high salt concentrations) up to 1 μm (in pure water at pH 7) thick, under the water surface. This distance is defined by an equilibrium of upward buoyancy forces and repulsive van der Waals forces. Ionic forces due to salt and ice surface charge push this zone further down. Only after growing to a radius larger than 10 μm, will the ice particles eventually float toward the water surface in agreement with the simple intuition based on Archimedes’ principle. Our result is the first prediction of observable repulsive van der Waals forces between ice particles and the water surface outside a laboratory setting. We posit that it has consequences on the biology of ice water as we predict an exclusion zone free of ice particles near the water surface which is sufficient to support the presence of bacteria

    Non-perturbative theory of dispersion interactions

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    Some open questions exist with fluctuation-induced forces between extended dipoles. Conventional intuition derives from large-separation perturbative approximations to dispersion force theory. Here, we present a full non-perturbative theory. In addition, we discuss how one can take into account finite dipole size corrections. It is of fundamental value to investigate the limits of validity of the perturbative dispersion force theory

    Ultrathin metallic coatings can induce quantum levitation between nanosurfaces

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    here is an attractive Casimir-Lifshitz force between two silica surfaces in a liquid (bromobenze or toluene). We demonstrate that adding an ultrathin (5-50 angstrom) metallic nanocoating to one of the surfaces results in repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz forces above a critical separation. The onset of such quantum levitation comes at decreasing separations as the film thickness decreases. Remarkably, the effect of retardation can turn attraction into repulsion. From that we explain how an ultrathin metallic coating may prevent nanoelectromechanical systems from crashing together

    Fluid-sensitive nanoscale switching with quantum levitation controlled by α -Sn/ β -Sn phase transition

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    We analyze the Lifshitz pressure between silica and tin separated by a liquid mixture of bromobenzene and chlorobenzene. We show that the phase transition from semimetallic α−Sn to metallic β−Sn can switch Lifshitz forces from repulsive to attractive. This effect is caused by the difference in dielectric functions of α−Sn and β−Sn, giving both attractive and repulsive contributions to the total Lifshitz pressure in different frequency regions controlled by the composition of the intervening liquid mixture. In this way, one may be able to produce phase-transition-controlled quantum levitation in a liquid medium
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