Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Mid-Atlantic Section Fall Meeting 2020
Volume 65, Number 20
Friday–Sunday, December 4–6, 2020; Virtual
Session H01: Poster Session (6:45-8:00pm) |
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Chair: Andrei Sirenko, NJIT |
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H01.00001: Crystal Structures, Phase Stability, and Electronic Properties of Two Dimensional Ferroelectric MXenes. Mo Li, Joshua Young Two-dimensional ferroelectrics, or monolayer materials that display a switchable electric polarization, have attracted attention during recent years due to their advanced electronic properties that can be used in various practical applications. In addition to the widely studied 2D materials like In2Se3 or MoTe2, the MXene Sc2CO2 was also recently predicted to possess ferroelectric properties in a metastable phase. In this work, Density Functional Theory (DFT) and the Berry Phase approach were used to study both the structures and the ferroelectric properties of additional MXene materials. Eight MXenes with chemical formula M2CT2 were carefully studied, where M represents a transition metal (M $=$ Sc, Y), C is carbon, and T represents the surface termination group (T $=$ O, F). We computed the phonon bandstructures and determined the monolayers are dynamically stable. The polarization and the piezoelectric tensors were calculated, and we found that Y2CO2 has a stable ferroelectric ground state and an out-of-plane polarization larger than other materials. Finally, we computed the band gap of each material and found Y2CO2 exhibits a bandgap of 2.07 eV, which gives it potential as an photocatalytic material. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00002: Disorder information from conductance: a quantum inverse problem shardul mukim, Mauro Ferreira It is straightforward to calculate the conductance of a quantum device once all its scattering centers are fully specified. However, to do this in reverse, i.e., to find information about the composition of scatterers in a device from its conductance, is an elusive task. This is particularly more challenging in the presence of disorder. We propose a procedure in which valuable compositional information can be extracted from the seemingly noisy spectral conductance of a two-terminal disordered quantum device. In particular, we put forward an inversion methodology that can identify the nature and respective concentration of randomly-distributed impurities by analyzing energy-dependent conductance fingerprints. Results are shown for graphene nanoribbons as a case in point using both tight-binding and density functional theory simulations, indicating that this inversion technique is general, robust and can be employed to extract structural and compositional information of disordered mesoscopic devices from standard conductance measurements \footnote{s. mukim et al, \textbf{PhysRevB.102.075409}}. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00003: Ongoing Research in the Radiation Surface Science and Engineering Laboratory at Penn State University Matthew Parsons, Teresa Aditya, Camilo Jaramillo, Andrea Restrepo, Hanna Schamis, Meral Sharkass, Muhammad Abdelghany, Michael Lively, Jean Paul Allain The Radiation Surface Science and Engineering Lab (RSSEL) has recently set up shop at Penn State University and is actively engaged in using irradiation synthesis to design surfaces and interfaces in materials from the mesoscale to the nanoscale. Our work is primarily focused on the development of materials for nuclear fusion and biomedical applications. The biomaterials group focuses on the use of plasma irradiation to modify the cell adhesion of surfaces for tissue engineering and biomedical implants. This includes the plasma irradiation of materials ranging from titanium to chitosan, bacterial cellulose, and polyetheretherketone polymers. Ongoing fusion materials projects include the development of in-situ surface characterization tools, development of plasma-facing components for fusion reactors, and modeling of impurity transport at the boundary of tokamaks. These activities are highly collaborative with both domestic and international fusion research programs. Additional computational activities in our group, supported through Penn State’s Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, include multi-scale atomistic simulations of surface nanopatterning, surface morphology, and surface chemistry of materials including high-entropy alloys and fusion-based tungsten alloys. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00004: Insights into the mechanism of recruitment of different membrane-binding domains of Arabidopsis thaliana using computational approaches. Shaneen Singh, Rahimah Ahmad, Ewa Wywial \textit{Arabidopsis thaliana, }commonly known as Mouse Ear Cress, serves as a model organism for understanding various signaling pathways in plants and comparing them with those of other organisms. Although plants share several similarities in signaling mechanisms and pathways with other organisms, an emerging theme is that there are also several instances of striking differences and unique mechanisms that are found only in plants. One of the most understudied signaling pathways in plants are those that involve lipids as second messengers and involve membrane recruitment of signaling proteins as an integral part of the signaling pathway. Important components in lipid signaling are lipid binding domains that recruit their parent proteins to the membrane to carry out the signaling. This study focuses on several membrane targeting domains found in \textit{Arabidopsis thaliana} using computational techniques to elucidate their membrane binding function. We have identified all instances of these domains in the genome of \textit{Arabidopsis thaliana }using manual and automated methods, created three dimensional models for each sequence, and analyzed their biophysical/biochemical properties. Our studies lay the foundation for understanding the role of these domains in plants, which is largely unexplored and contributes to the mechanisms of membrane binding in general. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00005: Protein aggregation and self-assembly into amyloid-like fibrils Sharareh Jalali, Yanxing Yang, Farbod Mahmoudinobar, Cristiano L. Dias Protein-based hydrogels are emerging as important structures for the development of biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility and mechanical properties, which can be engineered by fine-tuning the self-assembly process of the constituent proteins. This process involves the formation of supramolecular structures from alpha-helical or beta-sheet peptides. An understanding of how these structures are formed at the atomic level remains poorly understood. Here, we use all atom molecular dynamics simulations in explicit solvent to investigate the self-assembly process of amphipathic peptides with alternating polar and non-polar residues that form amyloid-like fibril structures. Large size and long-time simulations (up to 10 us) are used for sequences varying in the degree of hydrophobicity of their non-polar residues. We report on the effect of temperature and salt-content on fibril formation. In particular, we highlight the important role of hydrophobicity by showing that increasing temperature accelerates and slows down fibril formation for sequences with high and low hydrophobic characters, respectively. We also show that NaCl can promote fibril formation. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00006: of Raman chemical imaging for quantifying and qualifying membrane fouling$\backslash $fs20 Samar Azizighannad, Worawit Intrchom, Somenath Mitra h $-abstract- $\backslash $\textbf{pard}Operating Membranes in verity of industries such as pharmaceutical, food processing and water purification and desalination. During the membrane process, the pores are covered with foulants which affects flux rate, membrane lifetime and operation time. It is valuable to understand the effect of foulants causing pore blockage in the membranes. In this research Raman Chemical Imaging introduced an effective method to characterize foulants caused by three different salts namely CaSO$_{\mathrm{4}}$, BaSO$_{\mathrm{4}}$ and CaCO$_{\mathrm{3}}$ on the surface of a Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane. Membrane distillation was operated in presence of the mentioned salts and fundamental information about location and distribution of the salts have been achieved. Raman chemical imaging has been introduced an effective method to identify and locate the foulants. It was observed that CaSO$_{\mathrm{4\thinspace }}$tended to agglomerate and settle on the certain areas while BaSO$_{\mathrm{4\thinspace }}$and CaCO$_{\mathrm{3}}$ were distributed over the whole membrane. Information such as this can be used to study the mechanism of fouling.$\backslash $pard/abstract-\tex [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00007: Item Study of cosmic ray spectral hardening using GALPROP Hongyi Wu, Eun-Suk Seo, Vladimir Ptuskin \begin{itemize} \item The cosmic ray experiment AMS-02 confirmed the earlier experimental results of ATIC-2, CREAM and PAMELA measurements on the presence of spectral hardening at about 200 GV magnetic rigidity with high-accuracy measurements of nuclei energy spectra. The secondary nuclei data indicated that the hardening of the source spectrum could be an explanation, but there exist further discrepancies that cannot be explained by the current simple model of cosmic ray propagation. To specify the problems and study the origins of spectral hardening, we use the numerical code GALPROP to compute the propagation of cosmic rays under various assumptions on the rigidity dependence of cosmic ray sources and propagation parameters in Galactic models. \end{itemize} [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00008: Sensitivity of BEACON to Point Sources of Tau Neutrinos Andrew Zeolla Tau neutrinos are expected to comprise one third of both the astrophysical and cosmogenic neutrino flux, but currently the flavor ratio is poorly constrained and the expected flux at energies \textgreater 100 PeV is low. A new concept -- the Beamforming Elevated Array for COsmic Neutrinos (BEACON) -- based on searching for tau neutrino interactions in the Earth from atop a mountain with a radio interferometer, takes advantage of the large viewing areas available at high elevations and the long propagation lengths, high duty cycles, and precision pointing available to radio techniques. When Earth-skimming tau neutrinos interact within the Earth, they generate upgoing tau leptons that can decay in the atmosphere, forming extensive air showers. The BEACON concept is sensitive to the radio emission from the extended air showers induced by these tau leptons, using a compact antenna array situated upon a high elevation mountain. The prototype is located at the White Mountain Research Station and consists of 4 dual-polarized antennas operating in the 30-80 MHz range whose signals are coherently summed at the trigger level. We present the sensitivity of the current prototype design, as well as proposed future designs, to both transient and steady point sources of tau neutrinos. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00009: Charging of interplanetary dust in astrophysical magnetospheres. M Nigam, Matthew Daddino, Adrian Wiley The charging of interplanetary dust due to its interaction with cosmic plasma and radiation is investigated. In this two-way dust-plasma interaction [1], the plasma charges the dust particles, the charged dust grains in turn alter the electromagnetic environment [2, 3], this Debye shielding then shapes the spatial and size distribution of the grains themselves. The study involves studying the evolution of charge using the charge continuity equation and the underlying processes like charging of isolated grains as a function of plasma property, secondary and photoelectron emissions [3, 4]. References \begin{enumerate} \item M. Horanyi, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 34, 383-418 (1996) \item C.K. Goertz, Rev. Geophys., 27. 271-292 (1989) \item N. Meyer-Vernet, Astron. Astrophys., 105, 98-106 (1982) \item Ingrid Mann, Hiroshi Kimura, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 10317-10328 (2000) \end{enumerate} [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00010: Electron Dynamics in the Falling-Tone Chorus Wave Field Ilya Kuzichev, Angel Rualdo Soto-Chavez Whistler-mode chorus waves are one of the most intense wave phenomena in the Earth's inner magnetosphere. They are considered to be a major driver of the outer radiation belt dynamics, as they can efficiently scatter and energize electrons via resonant wave-particle interaction. These waves are observed as series of discrete coherent structures with rising or falling frequencies in the whistler frequency range (just below local electron cyclotron frequency). Such frequency chirping results in an additional term in the resonance Hamiltonian which describes particle dynamics in the given wave field. This term contributes to the total inhomogeneity parameter which determines acceleration of the particles trapped by the wave. In this report, we present the results of the test particle simulations of the electron dynamics in the field of a chirped wave. A general curvilinear relativistic code is developed to address the particle dynamics in the wave field, pre-determined from the simplified wave equations. We demonstrate that particle acceleration is controlled by the competition between the effective inhomogeneity related to frequency chirping and spatial inhomogeneity of the Earth's magnetic field. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00011: Whistler Instabilities in the Solar Wind: Linear Analysis Joseph Torsiello, Ilya Kuzichev, Ivan Vasko Whistler waves in the solar wind and at interplanetary shocks have drawn a lot of attention due to their potential role in the heat flux regulation and electron scattering that results in formation of typical solar wind electron velocity distribution functions (eVDF). Modern satellite measurements provided conclusive evidence that whistler waves are generated locally via whistler heat flux instabilities. Such experimental successes have driven theoretical and modelling efforts to understand the influence of locally generated whistler waves on the particles, which demonstrated different roles played by parallel, anti-parallel, and oblique waves. But so far, observational evidence for oblique and anti-parallel whistler waves in the solar wind is rather scarce, whereby the majority are parallel. At the same time, eVDF observations often demonstrate that hot electrons have temperature anisotropy that may drive the generation of anti-parallel whistler waves. In this report, we present the results of the linear stability analysis of a large dataset of eVDFs observed by the Wind spacecraft. We analyze the conditions for generation of parallel and anti-parallel waves and provide quasilinear estimates for the saturated amplitudes. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00012: Investigation antiviral effects of cold atmospheric plasma Milad Rasouli, Elaheh Amini Gas plasma has wide applications in medical science such as cancer treatment, virus inactivation, and wound healing. A typical plasma plume is generated by feeding a noble gas through a pair of electrodes with a couple of kV sinusoidal waves. Cold atmospheric plasma as a cocktail of physical and chemical factors provides a solution for the drawbacks of common antiviral methods. Gas plasma technology provides a perspective for the general audience of the chances and opportunities for supporting healthcare during viral pandemics such as the COVID-19 crisis. Plasma with complex constituents such as the emission of UV radiation and reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen species (RONS) have the most important antimicrobial properties and is a novel, efficient, and clean solution for virus inactivation. Here, we aim to investigate virus inactivation efficiency of cold plasma on SARS-CoV-2 model viruses. Besides, we measure the concentration of long-lived reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) to elucidate the chemical effects of cold plasma. We will perform Ethidium monoazide (EMA)-coupled RT-qPCR for investigating the inactivation performance of non-thermal plasma. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00013: Design and Construction of Electronics for Measuring Superconducting-to-Normal State Switching Statistics of a Josephson Junction Erik Cauley Escape of a Josephson phase particle from the zero-voltage state of a current-biased, hysteretic Josephson junction has been extensively studied experimentally, in agreement with the classic Kramers theory for the escape of a Brownian particle from a potential well. The dynamics of the junction is analogous to that of a phase particle confined to a one-dimensional, tilted cosine potential or washboard potential. The effect has been investigated in Josephson junctions based on single-gap superconductors such as Al and Nb, high-Tc superconductors, and multi-gap superconductors such as MgB$_{\mathrm{2}}$. These experiments are typically studied using sophisticated cryogenics instrumentation such as dilution refrigerators. We report on progress in designing and building electronics that would allow physics undergraduates to perform similar experiments using a 2 Kelvin cryocooler. The electronics consist of current ramp and a Schmidt trigger detection circuit that amplifies and measures the switching of voltage of a Josephson junction, and a universal time interval counter to measure switching statistics, which is plotted on a switching histogram. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00014: Characterization and Automation of Quantum Electronics for Qubit-based Dark Matter Detector Michael Zaidel, Rakshya Khatiwada, Mohamed Hassan, Daniel Bowring The hypothetical axion particle is not only a potential solution to the strong CP problem of quantum chromodynamics but also is a compelling cold dark matter candidate. Searching for axions requires sensitivity that is achievable only with superconducting qubits and other quantum-noise limited devices. This work focuses on the characterization of one such device, a Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifier (TWPA). This was accomplished through developing techniques for remote control and operation of various electronics and the TWPA used in qubit-based dark matter searches. [Preview Abstract] |
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H01.00015: How to do Physics Outreach during the COVID Pandemic Dan Fauni, Keeran Ramanathan, Ryan Hess, Steven Simpkins, Matthew Becker, Roberto Ramos The COVID pandemic has thrown cold water over many face-to-face events, including educational outreach in physics. I report on an educational physics outreach which our student chapter of the Society of Physics Students did to engage high school students. Communicating via Zoom and using primarily household materials such as garden hoses, vegetable oil, toy tops, laser pointers, we performed physics demonstrations of principles in hydrostatics, optics, and even made home-made lava lamps to an audience of high school students. I discuss the challenges of doing virtual outreach and outline suggestions and examples of delivering compelling physics outreach in effective but safe ways during this pandemic. [Preview Abstract] |
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