For centuries, artisans have harnessed gold nanoparticles to imbue their creations with the vibrant hues that captivate the eye through interactions with visible light. In modern times, these distinct optoelectronic characteristics have pivoted toward the ...
The probability of detecting technosignatures (i.e., evidence of technological activity beyond Earth) increases with their longevity, or the time interval over which they manifest. Therefore, the assumed distribution of longevities has some bearing on the ...
The pyroresistive response of conductive polymer composites (CPCs) has attracted much interest because of its potential applications in many electronic devices requiring a significant responsiveness to changes in external physical parameters such as temper ...
The very concept of high-T-c superconductivity has originated from the discovery of superconductivity in copper oxides by Bednorz and Muller in 1986. Soon after their discovery, cuprates were recognized as undoubtedly complex and radically unconventional s ...
The lack of detection to date of electromagnetic technosignatures implies either that we have been unable to detect them due to incomplete sampling of the search space or that we cannot detect them because the Earth has been located during the entire histo ...
For about the last 60 yr the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has been monitoring the sky for evidence of remotely detectable technological life beyond Earth, with no positive results to date. While the lack of detection can be attributed to the hi ...
The connectedness percolation threshold (phi(c)) for spherically symmetric, randomly distributed fractal aggregates is investigated as a function of the fractal dimension (d(F)) of the aggregates through a mean-field approach. A pair of aggregates (each of ...
To assess the number of life-bearing worlds in astrophysical environments, it is necessary to take the intertwined processes of abiogenesis (birth), extinction (death), and transfer of life (migration) into account. We construct a mathematical model that i ...
The proposition that life can spread from one planetary system to another (interstellar panspermia) has a long history, but this hypothesis is difficult to test through observations. We develop a mathematical model that takes parameters such as the microbi ...
Probabilistic arguments about the existence of technological life beyond Earth traditionally refer to the Drake equation to draw possible estimates of the number of technologically advanced civilizations releasing, either intentionally or not, electromagne ...
One of the major goals for astronomy in the next decades is the remote search for biosignatures (i.e., the spectroscopic evidence of biological activity) in exoplanets. Here we adopt a Bayesian statistical framework to discuss the implications of such futu ...
Rashba spin-orbit coupling emerges in materials lacking of structural inversion symmetry, such as heterostructures, quantum wells, surface alloys and polar materials, just to mention few examples. It yields a coupling between the spin and momentum of elect ...
We report electrical conductivity measurements of polymethyl-methacrylate filled by onion-like carbon particles with a primary particle size of approximate to 5 nm. We show that the conductivity sigma is exceptionally high even at very low loadings and tha ...
The design of functional structures from primary building blocks requires a thorough understanding of how size, shape, and particle-particle interactions steer the assembly process. Specifically, for electrically conductive networks build from carbon nanot ...
A relationship based upon analogy is explored between (i) a lattice-based model for percolation by cylinders that employs distinct site types with unequal occupation probabilities in order to capture heterogeneities in the particle dispersion, and (ii) the ...
The search for technosignatures from hypothetical galactic civilizations is going through a new phase of intense activity. For the first time, a significant fraction of the vast search space is expected to be sampled in the foreseeable future, potentially ...
The recent experimental discovery of three-dimensional (3D) materials hosting a strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling calls for the theoretical investigation of their transport properties. Here we study the zero-temperature dc conductivity of a 3D Rashba metal ...
The lack of evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life, even the simplest forms of animal life, makes it is difficult to decide whether the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is more a high-risk, high-payoff endeavor than a futile att ...
