arXiv subjects

Gabriel Gil

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriel Gil.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Quantized plasmon modes for metallic nanoparticles of arbitrary shape with a generic dielectric function

In this work we introduce an effective approach to quantize the electromagnetic response of plasmonic metallic nanostructures. Their shape is arbitrary and they feature a realistic description of the frequency-dependent metal dielectric function that is based on experimental data. The derived quantum modes correctly reproduce the linear response macroscopic polarization of the nanoparticle upon external drive according to classical macroscopic Maxwell equations in the quasistatic limit. We further investigate the coupling of these modes to a quantum-chemical molecular description. The presented methodology paves the way for accurate modeling of plexcitonic system, where strong plasmon-molecule coupling and/or strong-driving fields call for a quantized description of the plasmonic response.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2025

Multiscale transform based seismic reflectivity inversion using convolutional neural network

The Multiscale Fourier Transform of a seismic trace performs time-frequency analyses over a range of window lengths. The variation in window length captures local and global relative amplitudes between events, thereby allowing reflectivity inversion that is independent of the amplitude spectrum of the seismic wavelet. As the temporal and spatial variation of the actual seismic wavelet in seismic reflection data is poorly known, this approach has many advantages over conventional seismic reflectivity inversion. No wavelet extraction is performed. Thus, the inversion for reflectivity can be conducted without well control, seismic ties, or time-depth functions. The inversion is sparse, so no starting model is needed. Furthermore, as no wavelet is required, the inversion can be applied directly to depth migrated data. The phase of the wavelet is constrained by the assumption of sparse reflectivity and thus works best when earth impedance structure is blocky. Trace integration of the inverted reflectivity provides bandlimited impedance which compares very favorably to well-log bandlimited impedance for both synthetic and real data cases.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2023

A new mean field approach to finite spin systems

It is shown that a spin system is equivalent to a set of constrained harmonic oscillators. For finite, but large, systems, a continuous approximation to the density of states can be used, and the oscillator frequencies can be exactly computed. In the phase transition, the effective frequency of the lowest mode passes through zero, that is, it becomes an inverted oscillator. In the small oscillations regime, the oscillators can be treated as independent and the thermodynamic magnitudes can be computed. We show explicit calculations in a disordered, frustrated, high coordination number Blume Capel model with 60,000 spins.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

A new channel for excitonic transport in the FMO complex

We expose a new excitation transport channel in FMO, consisting of the 7 intramonomeric pigments and their 2nd nearest intermonomeric counterpart. Such a channel outcompetes the standard alternative, where intramonomeric pigments partner with their closest intermonomeric pigment. The efficient performance of the new channel lies at the interplay between incoherent energy transfer and the capacity of quantum coherence to build optimal acceptor levels. Finally, the differential fitness and peculiarity of the new over the alternative channel highlights its possible role within natural selection.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

LayerPCM: An implicit scheme for dielectric screening from layered substrates

We present LayerPCM, an extension of the polarizable-continuum model coupled to real-time time-dependent density-functional theory for an efficient and accurate description of the electrostatic interactions between molecules and multilayered dielectric substrates on which they are physisorbed. The former are modelled quantum-mechanically, while the latter are treated as polarizable continua characterized by their dielectric constants. The proposed approach is purposely designed to simulate complex hybrid heterostructures, with nano-engineered substrates including a stack of anisotropic layers. LayerPCM is suitable to describe the polarization-induced renormalization of frontier energy levels of the adsorbates in the static regime. Moreover, it can be reliably applied to simulating laser-induced ultrafast dynamics of the molecules through the inclusion of electric fields generated by Fresnel-reflection at the substrate. Depending on the complexity of the underlying layer structure, such reflected fields can assume non-trivial shapes and profoundly affect the dynamics of the photo-excited charge carriers in the molecule. In particular, the interaction with the substrate can give rise to strong delayed fields which lead to interference effects resembling those of multi-pulse-based spectroscopy. The robustness of the implementation and the above-mentioned features are demonstrated with a number of examples, ranging from intuitive models to realistic systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Estimating undocumented Covid-19 infections in Cuba by means of a hybrid mechanistic-statistical approach

We adapt the hybrid mechanistic-statistical approach of Ref. [1] to estimate the total number of undocumented Covid-19 infections in Cuba. This scheme is based on the maximum likelihood estimation of a SIR-like model parameters for the infected population, assuming that the detection process matches a Bernoulli trial. Our estimations show that (a) 60% of the infections were undocumented, (b) the real epidemics behind the data peaked ten days before the reports suggested, and (c) the reproduction number swiftly vanishes after 80 epidemic days.

q-bio.PE↗

arXiv2020

Enhanced light-harvesting of protein-pigment complexes assisted by a quantum dot antenna

We predict the enhanced light harvesting of a protein-pigment complex when assembled to a quantum dot (QD) antenna. Our prototypical nanoassembly setup is composed of a Fenna-Mattews-Olson system hosting 8 Bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) a dyes, and a near-infrared emitting CdSe$_x$Te$_{(1-x)}$/ZnS alloy-core/shell nanocrystal. BChl a has two wide windows of poor absorption in the green and orange-red bands, precisely where most of the sunlight energy lies. The selected QD is able to collect sunlight efficiently in a broader band and funnel its energy by a (non-radiative) F\"orster resonance energy transfer mechanism to the dyes embedded in the protein. By virtue of the coupling between the QD and the dyes, the nanoassembly absorption is dramatically improved in the poor absorption window of the BChl a.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2020

Nonequilibrium Solvent Polarization Effects in Real-Time Electronic Dynamics of Solute Molecules Subject to Time-Dependent Electric Fields: A New Feature of the Polarizable Continuum Model

We develop an extension of the time-dependent equation-of-motion formulation of the polarizable continuum model (EOM-TDPCM) to introduce nonequilibrium cavity field effects in quantum mechanical calculations of solvated molecules subject to time-dependent electric fields. This method has been implemented in Octopus, a state-of-the-art code for real-space, real-time time-dependent density functional theory (RT-TDDFT) calculations. To show the potential of our methodology, we perform EOM-TDPCM/RT-TDDFT calculations of trans-azobenzene in water and in other model solvents with shorter relaxation times. Our results for the optical absorption spectrum of trans-azobenzene show (i) that cavity field effects have a clear impact in the overall spectral shape and (ii) that an accurate description of the solute shape (as the one provided within PCM) is key to correctly account for cavity field effects.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2019

Quantum Optimal Control Theory for Solvated Systems

In this work, we extend the quantum optimal control theory of molecules subject to ultrashort laser pulses to the case of solvated systems, explicitly including the solvent dielectric properties in the system Hamiltonian. A reliable description of the solvent polarization is accounted for within the Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM). The electronic dynamics for the molecule in solution is coupled with the dynamics of the surrounding polarizable environment, that affects the features of the optimized light pulse. Examples on test molecules are presented and discussed to illustrate such effects.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2019

Octopus, a computational framework for exploring light-driven phenomena and quantum dynamics in extended and finite systems

Over the last years extraordinary advances in experimental and theoretical tools have allowed us to monitor and control matter at short time and atomic scales with a high-degree of precision. An appealing and challenging route towards engineering materials with tailored properties is to find ways to design or selectively manipulate materials, especially at the quantum level. To this end, having a state-of-the-art ab initio computer simulation tool that enables a reliable and accurate simulation of light-induced changes in the physical and chemical properties of complex systems is of utmost importance. The first principles real-space-based Octopus project was born with that idea in mind, providing an unique framework allowing to describe non-equilibrium phenomena in molecular complexes, low dimensional materials, and extended systems by accounting for electronic, ionic, and photon quantum mechanical effects within a generalized time-dependent density functional theory framework. The present article aims to present the new features that have been implemented over the last few years, including technical developments related to performance and massive parallelism. We also describe the major theoretical developments to address ultrafast light-driven processes, like the new theoretical framework of quantum electrodynamics density-functional formalism (QEDFT) for the description of novel light-matter hybrid states. Those advances, and other being released soon as part of the Octopus package, will enable the scientific community to simulate and characterize spatial and time-resolved spectroscopies, ultrafast phenomena in molecules and materials, and new emergent states of matter (QED-materials).

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2017

Predicting signatures of anisotropic resonance energy transfer in dye-functionalized nanoparticles

Resonance energy transfer (RET) is an inherently anisotropic process. Even the simplest, well-known F\"orster theory, based on the transition dipole-dipole coupling, implicitly incorporates the anisotropic character of RET. In this theoretical work, we study possible signatures of the fundamental anisotropic character of RET in hybrid nanomaterials composed of a semiconductor nanoparticle (NP) decorated with molecular dyes. In particular, by means of a realistic kinetic model, we show that the analysis of the dye photoluminescence difference for orthogonal input polarizations reveals the anisotropic character of the dye-NP RET which arises from the intrinsic anisotropy of the NP lattice. In a prototypical core/shell wurtzite CdSe/ZnS NP functionalized with cyanine dyes (Cy3B), this difference is predicted to be as large as 75\% and it is strongly dependent in amplitude and sign on the dye-NP distance. We account for all the possible RET processes within the system, together with competing decay pathways in the separate segments. In addition, we show that the anisotropic signature of RET is persistent up to a large number of dyes per NP.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2014

The NIST compilation of ionization potentials revisited (I): From He-like to Xe-like ions

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database on ionization potentials for neutral atoms and ions is examined. For each isoelectronic sequence, we construct a regularized perturbative series that exactly matches the large-$Z$ and $Z\approx N-1$ regions. Comparison of the NIST data with this series allows the identification of problematic values in the reported data.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Atoms in the anionic domain, Z < N

We study atoms with N electrons, and nuclear charge Z. It is well known that the cationic regime, Z > N is qualitatively described by Thomas-Fermi theory. The anionic regime, Z < N, on the other hand, is characterized by an instability threshold at Z_c <~ N-1, below which the atom spontaneously emits an electron. We compute the slope of the energy curve at Z=N-1 by means of a simple model that depends on the electron affinity and the covalent radius of the neutral atom with N-1 electrons. This slope is used in order to estimate Z_c, which is compared with previous numerical results. Extrapolation of the linear behaviour in the opposite direction, up to Z=N, allows us to estimate the ionization potential of the atom with N electrons. The fact that the obtained ionization potentials are qualitatively correct is an indication that, with regard to certain properties, neutral atoms are closer to the anionic instability threshold than they are to the Thomas-Fermi, large Z, regime. A regularized series is written for the ionization potential that fits both, the large Z and Z\to Z_c regimes.

physics.atom-ph↗