Pseudo Goldstone Bosons Phenomenology in Minimal Walking Technicolor

We construct the non-linear realized Lagrangian for the Goldstone Bosons associated to the breaking pattern of SU(4) to SO(4). This pattern is expected to occur in any Technicolor extension of the standard model featuring two Dirac fermions transforming according to real representations of the underlying gauge group. We concentrate on the Minimal Walking Technicolor quantum number assignments with respect to the standard model symmetries. We demonstrate that for, any choice of the quantum numbers, consistent with gauge and Witten anomalies the spectrum of the pseudo Goldstone Bosons contains electrically doubly charged states which can be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

Electrical activity of carbon-hydrogen centers in Si

The electrical activity of Cs-H defects in Si has been investigated in a combined modeling and experimental study. High-resolution Laplace capacitance spectroscopy with the uniaxial stress technique has been used to measure the stress-energy tensor and the results are compared with theoretical modeling. At low temperatures, implanted H is trapped as a negative-U center with a donor level in the upper half of the gap. However, at higher temperatures, H migrates closer to the carbon impurity and the donor level falls, crossing the gap. At the same time, an acceptor level is introduced into the upper gap making the defect a positive-U center

Persistence of chlorpropham (CIPC) in the concrete flooring of potato stores

The loss of the sprout suppressant, chlorpropham (CIPC), to the fabric of potato stores is currently of concern due to the risk of potential cross contamination of other crops subsequently housed in these stores. HPLC UV/VIS and GCMS methods were successfully employed to detect CIPC in the concrete flooring of research and commercial potato stores with histories of between 1 and 26 years of use. The concentrations in identical research stores, with different numbers of applications, were in the range 0.58–5.7 and 3.4–112 μg g−1, suggesting the magnitude of contamination was influenced by the number of applications. Commercial store A, with a history of 18 seasons of applications (estimate of total CIPC applied 2040 kg), had concentrations varying between 6 and 48 μg g−1 in the top three centimetres, with more than 92% within the top centimetre. In contrast, commercial store B, with a history of less than five seasons of applications (estimate of total CIPC applied 319 kg), had concentrations varying between 0.58 and 304 μg g−1 in the top four centimetres, with less than 47% within the top centimetre. The difference in depth distributions between A and B may be due to the structural integrity of the concrete, which was much poorer in B. CIPC was persistent in all stores irrespective of the total quantities of CIPC applied and date of the final application

Doping of Si nanoparticles: the effect of oxidation

The preferred location of boron and phosphorus in oxidized free-standing Si nanoparticles was investigated using a first-principles density functional approach. The calculated formation energies indicate that P should segregate to the silicon core, whereas B is equally stable in the Si and SiO_2 regions. Our models thus suggest that, in contrast with nanocrystals with H-terminated surfaces, the efficiency of phosphorus incorporation in oxidized Si nanoparticles can be improved by thermal annealing

Bromination of Graphene and Graphite

We present a density functional theory study of low density bromination of graphene and graphite, finding significantly different behaviour in these two materials. On graphene we find a new Br2 form where the molecule sits perpendicular to the graphene sheet with an extremely strong molecular dipole. The resultant Br+-Br- has an empty pz-orbital located in the graphene electronic pi-cloud. Bromination opens a small (86meV) band gap and strongly dopes the graphene. In contrast, in graphite we find Br2 is most stable parallel to the carbon layers with a slightly weaker associated charge transfer and no molecular dipole. We identify a minimum stable Br2 concentration in graphite, finding low density bromination to be endothermic. Graphene may be a useful substrate for stabilising normally unstable transient molecular states

Adatoms and nanoengineering of carbon

We present a new and general mechanism for inter-conversion of carbon structures via a catalytic exchange process, which operates under conditions of Frenkel pair generation. The mechanism typically lowers reaction barriers by a factor of four compared to equivilent uncatalysed reactions. We examine the relevance of this mechanism for fullerene growth, carbon onions and nanotubes, and dislocations in irradiated graphite.Comment: 3 Figures, 5 Page letter accepted for publication in Chemical Physics Letter

Inducing energy gaps in graphene monolayer and bilayer

In this paper we propose a mechanism for the induction of energy gaps in the spectrum of graphene and its bilayer, when both these materials are covered with water and ammonia molecules. The energy gaps obtained are within the range 20-30 meV, values compatible to those found in experimental studies of graphene bilayer. We further show that the binding energies are large enough for the adsorption of the molecules to be maintained even at room temperature