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1. Plasmonically enhanced mid-IR light source based on tunable spectrally and directionally selective thermal emission from nanopatterned graphene

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73582-3  

   Shabbir, Muhammad Waqas ; Leuenberger, Michael N. ( October 2020 , Scientific Reports)

   We present a proof of concept for a spectrally selective thermal mid-IR source based on nanopatterned graphene (NPG) with a typical mobility of CVD-grown graphene (up to 3000$$\hbox {cm}^2\,\hbox {V}^{-1}\,\hbox {s}^{-1}$$${\text{cm}}^2{\text{V}}^{-1}{\text{s}}^{-1}$), ensuring scalability to large areas. For that, we solve the electrostatic problem of a conducting hyperboloid with an elliptical wormhole in the presence of anin-planeelectric field. The localized surface plasmons (LSPs) on the NPG sheet, partially hybridized with graphene phonons and surface phonons of the neighboring materials, allow for the control and tuning of the thermal emission spectrum in the wavelength regime from$$\lambda =3$$$\lambda =3$to 12$$\upmu$$$\mu$m by adjusting the size of and distance between the circular holes in a hexagonal or square lattice structure. Most importantly, the LSPs along with an optical cavity increase the emittance of graphene from about 2.3% for pristine graphene to 80% for NPG, thereby outperforming state-of-the-art pristine graphene light sources operating in the near-infrared by at least a factor of 100. According to our COMSOL calculations, a maximum emission power per area of$$11\times 10^3$$$11\times {10}^3$W/$$\hbox {m}^2$$${\text{m}}^2$at$$T=2000$$$T=2000$K for a bias voltage of$$V=23$$$V=23$V is achieved by controlling the temperature of the hot electrons through the Joule heating. By generalizing Planck’s theory to any grey body and deriving the completely general nonlocal fluctuation-dissipation theorem with nonlocal response of surface plasmons in the random phase approximation, we show that the coherence length of the graphene plasmons and the thermally emitted photons can be as large as 13$$\upmu$$$\mu$m and 150$$\upmu$$$\mu$m, respectively, providing the opportunity to create phased arrays made of nanoantennas represented by the holes in NPG. The spatial phase variation of the coherence allows for beamsteering of the thermal emission in the range between$$12^\circ$$${12}^{\circ }$and$$80^\circ$$${80}^{\circ }$by tuning the Fermi energy between$$E_F=1.0$$$E_F=1.0$eV and$$E_F=0.25$$$E_F=0.25$eV through the gate voltage. Our analysis of the nonlocal hydrodynamic response leads to the conjecture that the diffusion length and viscosity in graphene are frequency-dependent. Using finite-difference time domain calculations, coupled mode theory, and RPA, we develop the model of a mid-IR light source based on NPG, which will pave the way to graphene-based optical mid-IR communication, mid-IR color displays, mid-IR spectroscopy, and virus detection.

    

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2. Eulerian Walks in Temporal Graphs

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00453-022-01021-y  

   Marino, Andrea ; Silva, Ana ( August 2022 , Algorithmica)

   An Eulerian walk (or Eulerian trail) is a walk (resp. trail) that visits every edge of a graphGat least (resp. exactly) once. This notion was first discussed by Leonhard Euler while solving the famous Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem in 1736. But what if Euler had to take a bus? In a temporal graph$$\varvec{(G,\lambda )}$$$(G,\lambda )$, with$$\varvec{\lambda : E(G)}\varvec{\rightarrow } \varvec{2}^{\varvec{[\tau ]}}$$$\lambda :E\left(G\right)\to 2^{\left[\tau \right]}$, an edge$$\varvec{e}\varvec{\in } \varvec{E(G)}$$$e\in E\left(G\right)$is available only at the times specified by$$\varvec{\lambda (e)}\varvec{\subseteq } \varvec{[\tau ]}$$$\lambda \left(e\right)\subseteq \left[\tau \right]$, in the same way the connections of the public transportation network of a city or of sightseeing tours are available only at scheduled times. In this paper, we deal with temporal walks, local trails, and trails, respectively referring to edge traversal with no constraints, constrained to not repeating the same edge in a single timestamp, and constrained to never repeating the same edge throughout the entire traversal. We show that, if the edges are always available, then deciding whether$$\varvec{(G,\lambda )}$$$(G,\lambda )$has a temporal walk or trail is polynomial, while deciding whether it has a local trail is$$\varvec{\texttt {NP}}$$$\mathrm{NP}$-complete even if$$\varvec{\tau = 2}$$$\tau =2$. In contrast, in the general case, solving any of these problems is$$\varvec{\texttt {NP}}$$$\mathrm{NP}$-complete, even under very strict hypotheses. We finally give$$\varvec{\texttt {XP}}$$$\mathrm{XP}$algorithms parametrized by$$\varvec{\tau }$$$\tau$for walks, and by$$\varvec{\tau +tw(G)}$$$\tau +tw\left(G\right)$for trails and local trails, where$$\varvec{tw(G)}$$$tw\left(G\right)$refers to the treewidth of$$\varvec{G}$$$G$.

    

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3. On the rigorous derivation of the incompressible Euler equation from Newton’s second law

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11005-023-01630-w  

   Rosenzweig, Matthew ( January 2023 , Letters in Mathematical Physics)

   A long-standing problem in mathematical physics is the rigorous derivation of the incompressible Euler equation from Newtonian mechanics. Recently, Han-Kwan and Iacobelli (Proc Am Math Soc 149:3045–3061, 2021) showed that in the monokinetic regime, one can directly obtain the Euler equation from a system ofNparticles interacting in$${\mathbb {T}}^d$$$T^d$,$$d\ge 2$$$d\ge 2$, via Newton’s second law through asupercritical mean-field limit. Namely, the coupling constant$$\lambda $$$\lambda$in front of the pair potential, which is Coulombic, scales like$$N^{-\theta }$$$N^{-\theta }$for some$$\theta \in (0,1)$$$\theta \in (0,1)$, in contrast to the usual mean-field scaling$$\lambda \sim N^{-1}$$$\lambda \sim N^{-1}$. Assuming$$\theta \in (1-\frac{2}{d(d+1)},1)$$$\theta \in (1-\frac{2}{d(d+1)},1)$, they showed that the empirical measure of the system is effectively described by the solution to the Euler equation as$$N\rightarrow \infty $$$N\to \infty$. Han-Kwan and Iacobelli asked if their range for$$\theta $$$\theta$was optimal. We answer this question in the negative by showing the validity of the incompressible Euler equation in the limit$$N\rightarrow \infty $$$N\to \infty$for$$\theta \in (1-\frac{2}{d},1)$$$\theta \in (1-\frac{2}{d},1)$. Our proof is based on Serfaty’s modulated-energy method, but compared to that of Han-Kwan and Iacobelli, crucially uses an improved “renormalized commutator” estimate to obtain the larger range for$$\theta $$$\theta$. Additionally, we show that for$$\theta \le 1-\frac{2}{d}$$$\theta \le 1-\frac{2}{d}$, one cannot, in general, expect convergence in the modulated energy notion of distance.

    

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4. Evaporation-controlled dripping-onto-substrate (DoS) extensional rheology of viscoelastic polymer solutions

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08448-x  

   Robertson, Benjamin P. ; Calabrese, Michelle A. ( March 2022 , Scientific Reports)

   Extensional flow properties of polymer solutions in volatile solvents govern many industrially-relevant coating processes, but existing instrumentation lacks the environment necessary to control evaporation. To mitigate evaporation during dripping-onto-substrate (DoS) extensional rheology measurements, we developed a chamber to enclose the sample in an environment saturated with solvent vapor. We validated the evaporation-controlled DoS device by measuring a model high molecular weight polyethylene oxide (PEO) in various organic solvents both inside and outside of the chamber. Evaporation substantially increased the extensional relaxation time$$\lambda _{E}$$${\lambda }_E$for PEO in volatile solvents like dichloromethane and chloroform. PEO/chloroform solutions displayed an over 20-fold increase in$$\lambda _{E}$$${\lambda }_E$due to the formation of an evaporation-induced surface film; evaporation studies confirmed surface features and skin formation reminiscent of buckling instabilities commonly observed in drying polymer solutions. Finally, the relaxation times of semi-dilute PEO/chloroform solutions were measured with environmental control, where$$\lambda _{E}$$${\lambda }_E$scaled with concentration by the exponent$$m=0.62$$$m=0.62$. These measurements validate the evaporation-controlled DoS environment, and confirm that chloroform is a good solvent for PEO, with a Flory exponent of$$\nu =0.54$$$\nu =0.54$. Our results are the first to control evaporation during DoS extensional rheology, and provide guidelines establishing when environmental control is necessary to obtain accurate rheological parameters.

    

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5. Forming molecular states with hadronic rescattering

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-021-00650-1  

   Ilten, Philip ; Utheim, Marius ( January 2022 , The European Physical Journal A)

   A method for modelling the prompt production of molecular states using the hadronic rescattering framework of the general-purpose Pythia event generator is introduced. Production cross sections of possible exotic hadronic molecules via hadronic rescattering at the LHC are calculated for the$$\chi _{c1}(3872)$$${\chi }_{c1}\left(3872\right)$resonance, a possible tetraquark state, as well as three possible pentaquark states,$$P_c^+(4312)$$$P_c^{+}\left(4312\right)$,$$P_c^+(4440)$$$P_c^{+}\left(4440\right)$, and$$P_c^+(4457)$$$P_c^{+}\left(4457\right)$. For the$$P_c^+$$$P_c^{+}$states, the expected cross section from$$\Lambda _b$$${\Lambda }_b$decays is compared to the hadronic-rescattering production. The$$\chi _{c1}(3872)$$${\chi }_{c1}\left(3872\right)$cross section is compared to the fiducial$$\chi _{c1}(3872)$$${\chi }_{c1}\left(3872\right)$cross-section measurement by LHCb and found to contribute at a level of$${\mathcal {O}({1\%})}$$$O\left(1\%\right)$. Finally, the expected yields of$$\mathrm {P_c^{+}}$$$P_c^{+}$production from hadronic rescattering during Run 3 of LHCb are estimated. The prompt background is found to be significantly larger than the prompt$$\mathrm {P_c^{+}}$$$P_c^{+}$signal from hadronic rescattering.

    

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