Search for: All records

Clusters of nitrogen- and carbon-coordinated transition metals dispersed in a carbon matrix (e. g., Fe−N−C) have emerged as an inexpensive class of electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Here, it was shown that optimizing the interaction between the nitrogen-coordinated transition metal clusters embedded in a more stable and corrosion-resistant carbide matrix yielded an ORR electrocatalyst with enhanced activity and stability compared to Fe−N−C catalysts. Utilizing first-principles calculations, an electrostatics-based descriptor of catalytic activity was identified, and nitrogen-coordinated iron (FeN4) clusters embedded in a TiC matrix were predicted to be an efficient platinum-group metal (PGM)-free ORR electrocatalyst. Guided by theory, selectedmore »catalyst formulations were synthesized, and it was demonstrated that the experimentally observed trends in activity fell exactly in line with the descriptor-derived theoretical predictions. The Fe−N−TiC catalyst exhibited enhanced activity (20 %) and durability (3.5-fold improvement) compared to a traditional Fe−N−C catalyst. It was posited that the electrostatics-based descriptor provides a powerful platform for the design of active and stable PGM-free electrocatalysts and heterogenous single-atom catalysts for other electrochemical reactions.« less

We present Grapple, a new and powerful framework for explicit-state model checking on GPUs. Grapple is based on swarm verification (SV), a model-checking technique wherein a collection or swarm of small, memory- and time-bounded verification tests (VTs) are run in parallel to perform state-space exploration. SV achieves high state-space coverage via diversification of the search strategies used by constituent VTs. Grapple represents a swarm implementation for the GPU. In particular, it runs a parallel swarm of internally-parallel VTs, which are implemented in a manner that specifically targets the GPU architecture and the SIMD parallelism its computing cores offer. Grapple alsomore »makes effective use of the GPU shared memory, eliminating costly inter-block communication overhead. We conducted a comprehensive performance analysis of Grapple focused on the various design parameters, including the size of the queue structure, implementation of guard statements, and nondeterministic exploration order. Tests are run with multiple hardware configurations, including on the Amazon cloud. Our results show that Grapple performs favorably compared to the SPIN swarm and a prior non-swarm GPU implementation. Although a recently debuted FPGA swarm is faster, the deployment process to the FPGA is much more complex than Grapple's.« less

A bstract Charged lepton flavor violation is forbidden in the Standard Model but possible in several new physics scenarios. In many of these models, the radiative decays τ ± → ℓ ± γ ( ℓ = e, μ ) are predicted to have a sizeable probability, making them particularly interesting channels to search at various experiments. An updated search via τ ± → ℓ ± γ using full data of the Belle experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 988 fb − 1 , is reported for charged lepton flavor violation. No significant excess over background predictions from the Standardmore »Model is observed, and the upper limits on the branching fractions, $$ \mathcal{B} $$ B ( τ ± → μ ± γ ) ≤ 4 . 2 × 10 − 8 and $$ \mathcal{B} $$ B ( τ ± → e ± γ ) ≤ 5 . 6 × 10 − 8 , are set at 90% confidence level.« less

A bstract We measure the branching fractions and CP asymmetries for the singly Cabibbo-suppressed decays D 0 → π + π − η , D 0 → K + K − η , and D 0 → ϕη , using 980 fb − 1 of data from the Belle experiment at the KEKB e + e − collider. We obtain $$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}\mathcal{B}\left({D}^0\to {\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\eta \right)=\left[1.22\pm 0.02\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.02\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\pm 0.03\left({\mathcal{B}}_{\mathrm{ref}}\right)\right]\times {10}^{-3},\\ {}\mathcal{B}\left({D}^0\to {K}^{+}{K}^{-}\eta \right)=\left[{1.80}_{-0.06}^{+0.07}\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.04\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\pm 0.05\left({\mathcal{B}}_{\mathrm{ref}}\right)\right]\times {10}^{-4},\\ {}\mathcal{B}\left({D}^0\to \phi \eta \right)=\left[1.84\pm 0.09\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.06\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\pm 0.05\left({\mathcal{B}}_{\mathrm{ref}}\right)\right]\times {10}^{-4},\end{array}} $$ B D 0 → π + π − η = 1.22 ± 0.02 stat ± 0.02more »syst ± 0.03 B ref × 10 − 3 , B D 0 → K + K − η = 1.80 − 0.06 + 0.07 stat ± 0.04 syst ± 0.05 B ref × 10 − 4 , B D 0 → ϕη = 1.84 ± 0.09 stat ± 0.06 syst ± 0.05 B ref × 10 − 4 , where the third uncertainty ( $$ \mathcal{B} $$ B ref ) is from the uncertainty in the branching fraction of the reference mode D 0 → K − π + η . The color-suppressed decay D 0 → ϕη is observed for the first time, with very high significance. The results for the CP asymmetries are $$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}{A}_{CP}\left({D}^0\ {\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\eta \right)=\left[0.9\pm 1.2\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.5\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\right]\%,\\ {}{A}_{CP}\left({D}^0\to {K}^{+}{K}^{-}\eta \right)=\left[-1.4\pm 3.3\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 1.1\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\right]\%,\\ {} ACP\ \left({D}^0\to \phi \eta \right)=\left[-1.9\pm 4.4\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.6\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)\right]\%.\end{array}} $$ A CP D 0 π + π − η = 0.9 ± 1.2 stat ± 0.5 syst % , A CP D 0 → K + K − η = − 1.4 ± 3.3 stat ± 1.1 syst % , ACP D 0 → ϕη = − 1.9 ± 4.4 stat ± 0.6 syst % . The results for D 0 → π + π − η are a significant improvement over previous results. The branching fraction and A CP results for D 0 → K + K − η , and the ACP result for D 0 → ϕη , are the first such measurements. No evidence for CP violation is found in any of these decays.« less