1,424 research outputs found
Heat wave propagation in a nonlinear chain
We investigate the propagation of temperature perturbations in an array of
coupled nonlinear oscillators at finite temperature. We evaluate the response
function at equilibrium and show how the memory effects affect the diffusion
properties. A comparison with nonequilibrium simulations reveals that the
telegraph equation provides a reliable interpretative paradigm for describing
quantitatively the propagation of a heat pulse at the macroscopic level. The
results could be of help in understanding and modeling energy transport in
individual nanotubes.Comment: Revised version, 1 fig. adde
Bound States of Conical Singularities in Graphene-Based Topological Insulators
We investigate the electronic structure induced by wedge-disclinations
(conical singularities) in a honeycomb lattice model realizing Chern numbers
. We establish a correspondence between the bound state of (i) an
isolated -flux, (ii) an isolated pentagon or heptagon
defect with an external flux of magnitude through
the center and (iii) an isolated square or octagon defect without external
flux, where is the flux quantum. Due to the above correspondence,
the existence of isolated electronic states bound to the disclinations is
robust against various perturbations. These results are also generalized to
graphene-based time-reversal invariant topological insulators.Comment: 5+4 pages, 4+3 figures, revised introduction and Fig.
Crystallization in Glassy Suspensions of Hard Ellipsoids
We have carried out computer simulations of overcompressed suspensions of
hard monodisperse ellipsoids and observed their crystallization dynamics. The
system was compressed very rapidly in order to reach the regime of slow,
glass-like dynamics. We find that, although particle dynamics become
sub-diffusive and the intermediate scattering function clearly develops a
shoulder, crystallization proceeds via the usual scenario: nucleation and
growth for small supersaturations, spinodal decomposition for large
supersaturations.
In particular, we compared the mobility of the particles in the regions where
crystallization set in with the mobility in the rest of the system. We did not
find any signature in the dynamics of the melt that pointed towards the
imminent crystallization events
Hyperuniform long-range correlations are a signature of disordered jammed hard-particle packings
We show that quasi-long-range (QLR) pair correlations that decay
asymptotically with scaling in -dimensional Euclidean space
, trademarks of certain quantum systems and cosmological
structures, are a universal signature of maximally random jammed (MRJ)
hard-particle packings. We introduce a novel hyperuniformity descriptor in MRJ
packings by studying local-volume-fraction fluctuations and show that
infinite-wavelength fluctuations vanish even for packings with size- and
shape-distributions. Special void statistics induce hyperuniformity and QLR
pair correlations.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; changes to figures and text based on review
process; accepted for publication at Phys. Rev. Let
Curvature Fields, Topology, and the Dynamics of Spatiotemporal Chaos
The curvature field is measured from tracer particle trajectories in a
two-dimensional fluid flow that exhibits spatiotemporal chaos, and is used to
extract the hyperbolic and elliptic points of the flow. These special points
are pinned to the forcing when the driving is weak, but wander over the domain
and interact in pairs at stronger driving, changing the local topology of the
flow. Their behavior reveals a two-stage transition to spatiotemporal chaos: a
gradual loss of spatial and temporal order followed by an abrupt onset of
topological changes.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Tailoring of phononic band structures in colloidal crystals
We report an experimental study of the elastic properties of a
two-dimensional (2D) colloidal crystal subjected to light-induced substrate
potentials. In agreement with recent theoretical predictions [H.H. von
Gruenberg and J. Baumgartl, Phys. Rev. E 75, 051406 (2007)] the phonon band
structure of such systems can be tuned depending on the symmetry and depth of
the substrate potential. Calculations with binary crystals suggest that
phononic band engineering can be also performed by variations of the pair
potential and thus opens novel perspectives for the fabrication of phononic
crystals with band gaps tunable by external fields.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter
Inducing topological order in a honeycomb lattice
We explore the possibility of inducing a topological insulator phase in a
honeycomb lattice lacking spin-orbit interaction using a metallic (or Fermi
gas) environment. The lattice and the metallic environment interact through a
density-density interaction without particle tunneling, and integrating out the
metallic environment produces a honeycomb sheet with in-plane oscillating
long-ranged interactions. We find the ground state of the interacting system in
a variational mean-field method and show that the Fermi wave vector, kF, of the
metal determines which phase occurs in the honeycomb lattice sheet. This is
analogous to the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) mechanism in which the
metal's kF determines the interaction profile as a function of the distance.
Tuning kF and the interaction strength may lead to a variety of ordered phases,
including a topological insulator and anomalous quantum-hall states with
complex next-nearest-neighbor hopping, as in the Haldane and the Kane-Mele
model. We estimate the required range of parameters needed for the topological
state and find that the Fermi vector of the metallic gate should be of the
order of 3Pi/8a (with a being the graphene lattice constant). The net coupling
between the layers, which includes screening in the metal, should be of the
order of the honeycomb lattice bandwidth. This configuration should be most
easily realized in a cold-atoms setting with two interacting Fermionic species.Comment: 7 pages; 2 figures; Version 2 - added references; added an appendix
about screenin
Spinodal decomposition during the hadronization stage at RHIC?
The expansion of strongly interacting matter formed in high-energy nuclear
collisions drives the system through the region of phase coexistence. The
present study examines the associated spinodal instability and finds that the
degree of amplification may be sufficient to raise the prospect of using the
spinodal pattern formation as a diagnostic tool for probing the hadronization
phase transition.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figure
A Note on Charged Black Holes in AdS space and the Dual Gauge Theories
We study the thermodynamics and the phase structures of Reissner-Nordstrom
and Born-Infeld black holes in AdS space by constructing ``off-shell'' free
energies using thermodynamic quantities derived directly from the action. We
then use these results to propose ``off-shell'' effective potentials for the
respective boundary gauge theories. The saddle points of the potentials
describe all the equilibrium phases of the gauge theories.Comment: LaTeX, 21+1 pages, 7 figure
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