arXiv subjects

Michael Marshall

Publications and source records attributed to Michael Marshall.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Towards Atom-by-Atom Fabrication: Mechanosynthetic donation and abstraction

Enabled by inverted-mode scanning tunneling microscopy (IM-STM) and the use of functionalized molecular tools, we demonstrate positionally-controlled mechanosynthetic addition (donation) of carbon and subtraction (abstraction) of silicon atoms on a model build site: atomically clean and crystalline Si(100). The resulting structures represent the first demonstrations of an emerging ability to manipulate radical chemistry with positional control of specific atoms and moieties in 3D. Furthermore, by comparing the behavior of molecular tools designed for atomic donation versus abstraction, we highlight general principles governing molecular tool design for selective and reliable mechanosynthetic functionality.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Atomically precise mechanosynthesis of carbon structures on hydrogenated Si(100) by inverted-mode STM

The ability to build atomically precise structures on surfaces with complete control over both atomic placement and chemical bonding remains a central challenge in nanoscale fabrication. Here, we demonstrate simultaneous spatial and chemical control over the mechanosynthetic fabrication of carbon structures. Using inverted-mode STM, C$_2$ units are donated from surface-deposited molecules to pre-patterned reactive sites on a hydrogen-passivated Si(100) surface. We demonstrate single-site C$_2$ donation, spatially patterned multi-site C$_2$ donation, and the stepwise assembly of polyyne structures through successive C-C bond formation. Together, these results establish controlled mechanosynthetic donation as a foundational capability for programmable atomically precise fabrication.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Inverted-Mode Scanning Tunneling Microscopy for Atomically Precise Fabrication

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) enables fabrication of atomically precise structures with unique properties and growing technological potential. However, reproducible manipulation of covalently bonded atoms requires control over the atomic configuration of both sample and probe - a longstanding challenge in STM. Here, we introduce inverted-mode STM, an approach that enables mechanically controlled chemical reactions for atomically precise fabrication. Tailored molecules on a Si(100) surface image the probe apex, and the usual challenge of understanding the probe structure is effectively solved. The molecules can also react with the probe, with the two sides of the tunnel junction acting as reagents positioned with sub-angstrom precision. This allows abstraction or donation of atoms from or to the probe apex. We demonstrate this by using a novel alkynyl-terminated molecule to reproducibly abstract hydrogen atoms from the probe. The approach is expected to extend to other elements and moieties, opening a new avenue for scalable atomically precise fabrication.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Physical-mass calculation of $\rho(770)$ and $K^*(892)$ resonance parameters via $\pi \pi$ and $K \pi$ scattering amplitudes from lattice QCD

We present our study of the $\rho(770)$ and $K^*(892)$ resonances from lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) employing domain-wall fermions at physical quark masses. We determine the finite-volume energy spectrum in various momentum frames and obtain phase-shift parameterizations via the L\"uscher formalism, and as a final step the complex resonance poles of the $\pi \pi$ and $K \pi$ elastic scattering amplitudes via an analytical continuation of the models. By sampling a large number of representative sets of underlying energy-level fits, we also assign a systematic uncertainty to our final results. This is a significant extension to data-driven analysis methods that have been used in lattice QCD to date, due to the two-step nature of the formalism. Our final pole positions, $M+i\Gamma/2$, with all statistical and systematic errors exposed, are $M_{K^{*}} = 893(2)(8)(54)(2)~\mathrm{MeV}$ and $\Gamma_{K^{*}} = 51(2)(11)(3)(0)~\mathrm{MeV}$ for the $K^*(892)$ resonance and $M_{\rho} = 796(5)(15)(48)(2)~\mathrm{MeV}$ and $\Gamma_{\rho} = 192(10)(28)(12)(0)~\mathrm{MeV}$ for the $\rho(770)$ resonance. The four differently grouped sources of uncertainties are, in the order of occurrence: statistical, data-driven systematic, an estimation of systematic effects beyond our computation (dominated by the fact that we employ a single lattice spacing), and the error from the scale-setting uncertainty on our ensemble.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Light and strange vector resonances from lattice QCD at physical quark masses

We present the first ab initio calculation at physical quark masses of scattering amplitudes describing the lightest pseudoscalar mesons interacting via the strong force in the vector channel. Using lattice quantum chromodynamics, we postdict the defining parameters for two short-lived resonances, the $\rho(770)$ and $K^*(892)$, which manifest as complex energy poles in $\pi \pi$ and $K \pi$ scattering amplitudes, respectively. The calculation proceeds by first computing the finite-volume energy spectrum of the two-hadron systems, and then determining the amplitudes from the energies using the L\"uscher formalism. The error budget includes a data-driven systematic error, obtained by scanning possible fit ranges and fit models to extract the spectrum from Euclidean correlators, as well as the scattering amplitudes from the latter. The final results, obtained by analytically continuing multiple parameterizations into the complex energy plane, are $M_\rho = 796(5)(50)~\mathrm{MeV}$, $\Gamma_\rho = 192(10)(31)~\mathrm{MeV}$, $M_{K^*} = 893(2)(54)~\mathrm{MeV}$ and $\Gamma_{K^*} = 51(2)(11)~\mathrm{MeV}$, where the subscript indicates the resonance and $M$ and $\Gamma$ stand for the mass and width, respectively, and where the first bracket indicates the statistical and the second bracket the systematic uncertainty.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Towards $Kπ$ scattering with domain-wall fermions at the physical point using distillation

Resonances play an important role in Standard Model phenomenology. In particular, hadronic resonances feature in $B$ and $D$ decays, which can be central for New Physics searches. Lattice QCD simulations combined with the finite-volume method can nowadays be used to reliably study strongly coupled scattering processes such as $Kπ$ and thus the hadronic resonance $K^*$. In this work, we approach $Kπ$ scattering on a domain-wall $N_f = 2+1$ RBC-UKQCD ensemble at a physical pion mass. We use the distillation method within Grid and Hadrons software to compute sets of operator basis. That allows solving an eigenvalue problem to extract the low-energy finite-volume spectra, which are then translated into scattering information. We update the state of the calculation by reviewing the smearing process, outlining the variational analysis and concluding by showing preliminary data.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Semileptonic $D \rightarrow π\ell ν$, $D \rightarrow K \ell ν$ and $D_s \rightarrow K \ell ν$ decays with 2+1f domain wall fermions

We present the status of our project to calculate $D \to π\ell ν$, $D \to K \ell ν$ and $D_s \to K \ell ν$ semileptonic form factors using domain wall fermions for both heavy and light quarks. Our computations are performed using RBC/UKQCD's set of 2+1 flavour domain wall fermion and Iwasaki gauge field ensembles. We plan to calculate three-point functions covering the full, physically allowed kinematic range. Given that the signal decays faster than the noise, unambiguously and reliably extracting the ground state is critical for success. We include an analysis of operator diagonalisation within several possible $2 \times 2$ operator bases and find an admixture of gauged fixed wall and $\mathbb{Z} \left( 2 \right)$ wall sources to be acceptable at both zero and non-zero momentum. Initial results for semileptonic form factors are presented for first ensembles.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

$K π$ scattering at physical pion mass using distillation

Scattering at physical pion mass is still an exploratory field in lattice QCD. This generally involves the extraction of excited states through multi-particle correlators on systems with resonances. In that context, distillation has been demonstrated to be effective both as a smearing kernel and a computational tool. Motivated by the study of the smearing profile of the distillation operator, we compare stochastic and exact distillation cases for different numbers of Laplacian eigenvectors using an RBC-UKQCD $N_f=2+1$ domain-wall fermion lattice with a physical pion mass.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

BSM $B - \bar{B}$ mixing on JLQCD and RBC/UKQCD $N_f=2+1$ DWF ensembles

We are presenting our ongoing Lattice QCD study on $B - \bar{B}$ mixing on several RBC/UKQCD and JLQCD ensembles with 2+1 dynamical-flavour domain-wall fermions, including physical-pion-mass ensembles. We are extracting bag parameters $B_{B_d}$ and $B_{B_s}$ using the full 5-mixing-operator basis to study both Standard-Model mixing as well as Beyond the Standard Model mixing, using a fully correlated combined fit to two-point functions and ratios of three-point and two-point functions. Using 15 different lattice ensembles we are simulating a range of heavy-quark masses from below the charm-quark mass to just below the bottom-quark mass.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2019

An exploratory study of heavy-light semileptonic form factors using distillation

We present our exploratory study with the aim of simulating heavy-light semileptonic form factors as part of the RBC-UKQCD charm (to bottom) physics programme. We are using a distillation-based setup as a strategy to get optimised plateaus in semileptonic $D_{(s)}$ and $B_{(s)}$ decays, and compare our results to form factors obtained from sequential $Z_2$-Wall propagators. The study is done in a centre-of-mass frame as well as in several moving frames. We use an $N_f=2+1$ domain wall fermion ensemble with a pion mass of $340$ MeV, with the aim of extending the study to a variety of other domain-wall ensembles, including physical-pion mass ensembles.

hep-lat↗