Tasting edge effects

We show that the baking of potato wedges constitutes a crunchy example of edge effects, which are usually demonstrated in electrostatics. A simple model of the diffusive transport of water vapor around the potato wedges shows that the water vapor flux diverges at the sharp edges in analogy with its electrostatic counterpart. This increased evaporation at the edges leads to the crispy taste of these parts of the potatoes.Comment: to appear in American Journal of Physic

Generalized nonlinear sigma model approach to alternating spin chains and ladders

We generalize the nonlinear sigma model treatment of quantum spin chains to cases including ferromagnetic bonds. When these bonds are strong enough, the classical ground state is no longer the standard Neel order and we present an extension of the known formalism to deal with this situation. We study the alternating ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic spin chain introduced by Hida. The smooth crossover between decoupled dimers and the Haldane phase is semi-quantitatively reproduced. We study also a spin ladder with diagonal exchange couplings that interpolates between the gapped phase of the two-leg spin ladder and the Haldane phase. Here again we show that there is good agreement between DMRG data and our analytical results.Comment: 10 pages, 5 encapsulated figures, REVTeX 3.

Effective interactions and phase behaviour for a model clay suspension in an electrolyte

Since the early observation of nematic phases of disc-like clay colloids by Langmuir in 1938, the phase behaviour of such systems has resisted theoretical understanding. The main reason is that there is no satisfactory generalization for charged discs of the isotropic DLVO potential describing the effective interactions between a pair of spherical colloids in an electrolyte. In this contribution, we show how to construct such a pair potential, incorporating approximately both the non-linear effects of counter-ion condensation (charge renormalization) and the anisotropy of the charged platelets. The consequences on the phase behaviour of Laponite dispersions (thin discs of 30 nm diameter and 1 nm thickness) are discussed, and investigation into the mesostructure via Monte Carlo simulations are presented.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 11 figure

Nuclear Matter in Intense Magnetic Field and Weak Processes

We study the effect of magnetic field on the dominant neutrino emission processes in neutron stars.The processes are first calculated for the case when the magnetic field does not exceed the critical value to confine electrons to the lowest Landau state.We then consider the more important case of intense magnetic field to evaluate the direct URCA and the neutronisation processes. In order to estimate the effect we derive the composition of cold nuclear matter at high densities and in beta equilibrium, a situation appropriate for neutron stars. The hadronic interactions are incorporated through the exchange of scalar and vector mesons in the frame work of relativistic mean field theory. In addition the effects of anomalous magnetic moments of nucleons are also considered.Comment: 29 pages (LaTeX) including 7 figure

Sedimentation of active colloidal suspensions

In this paper, we investigate experimentally the non-equilibrium steady state of an active colloidal suspension under gravity field. The active particles are made of chemically powered colloids, showing self propulsion in the presence of an added fuel, here hydrogen peroxide. The active suspension is studied in a dedicated microfluidic device, made of permeable gel microstructures. Both the microdynamics of individual colloids and the global stationary state of the suspension under gravity - density profiles, number fluctuations - are measured with optical microscopy. This allows to connect the sedimentation length to the individual self-propelled dynamics, suggesting that in the present dilute regime the active colloids behave as 'hot' particles. Our work is a first step in the experimental exploration of the out-of-equilibrium properties of artificial active systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

On the Maximum Mass of Differentially Rotating Neutron Stars

We construct relativistic equilibrium models of differentially rotating neutron stars and show that they can support significantly more mass than their nonrotating or uniformly rotating counterparts. We dynamically evolve such ``hypermassive'' models in full general relativity and show that there do exist configurations which are dynamically stable against radial collapse and bar formation. Our results suggest that the remnant of binary neutron star coalescence may be temporarily stabilized by differential rotation, leading to delayed collapse and a delayed gravitational wave burst.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, uses emulateapj.sty; to appear in ApJ Letter