Lancaster University

About: Lancaster University is a education organization based out in Lancaster, Lancashire, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 13080 authors who have published 44563 publications receiving 1692277 citations. The organization is also known as: The University of Lancaster & Lancaster University.

Student learning and perceptions of the academic environment

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of the organisation of curricula, teaching, and assessment on student learning and looks at the different demands which different academic environments make on their students. After a brief review of research into learning contexts in higher education, data from a course perceptions questionnaire are presented. The principal dimensions which students themselves use to characterise academic environments are identified. The perceptions of students in six departments at one British university are compared; it is concluded that students in different subject areas see themselves to be studying in markedly different environments. The results also suggest students' evaluations of the teaching and the courses in each department.

Twist-controlled resonant tunnelling in graphene/boron nitride/graphene heterostructures

Abstract: Recent developments in the technology of van der Waals heterostructures1, 2 made from two-dimensional atomic crystals3, 4 have already led to the observation of new physical phenomena, such as the metal–insulator transition5 and Coulomb drag6, and to the realization of functional devices, such as tunnel diodes7, 8, tunnel transistors9, 10 and photovoltaic sensors11. An unprecedented degree of control of the electronic properties is available not only by means of the selection of materials in the stack12, but also through the additional fine-tuning achievable by adjusting the built-in strain and relative orientation of the component layers13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Here we demonstrate how careful alignment of the crystallographic orientation of two graphene electrodes separated by a layer of hexagonal boron nitride in a transistor device can achieve resonant tunnelling with conservation of electron energy, momentum and, potentially, chirality. We show how the resonance peak and negative differential conductance in the device characteristics induce a tunable radiofrequency oscillatory current that has potential for future high-frequency technology.

Thermal inflation and the moduli problem.

Abstract: In supersymmetric theories a field can develop a vacuum expectation value M\ensuremath{\gg}${10}^{3}$ GeV, even though its mass m is of order ${10}^{2}$ to ${10}^{3}$ GeV. The finite temperature in the early Universe can hold such a field at zero, corresponding to a false vacuum with an energy density ${\mathit{V}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\sim}${\mathit{m}}^{2}$${\mathit{M}}^{2}$. When the temperature falls below ${\mathit{V}}_{0}^{1/4}$, the thermal energy density becomes negligible and an era of thermal inflation begins. It ends when the field rolls away from zero at a temperature of order m, corresponding to of order 10 e-folds of inflation which does not affect the density perturbation generated during ordinary inflation. Thermal inflation can solve the Polonyi or moduli problem if M is within one or two orders of magnitude of ${10}^{12}$ GeV. Parametric resonance may lead to rapid partial reheating giving a high enough temperature for a variety of methods of baryogenesis. One can also have double thermal inflation which can solve the Polonyi or moduli problem even more efficiently. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Muon reconstruction performance of the ATLAS detector in proton–proton collision data at √ s =13 TeV

Abstract: This article documents the performance of the ATLAS muon identification and reconstruction using the first LHC dataset recorded at s√ = 13 TeV in 2015. Using a large sample of J/ψ→μμ and Z→μμ decays from 3.2 fb−1 of pp collision data, measurements of the reconstruction efficiency, as well as of the momentum scale and resolution, are presented and compared to Monte Carlo simulations. The reconstruction efficiency is measured to be close to 99% over most of the covered phase space (|η| 2.2, the pT resolution for muons from Z→μμ decays is 2.9% while the precision of the momentum scale for low-pT muons from J/ψ→μμ decays is about 0.2%.