Constitutive model for plasticity in an amorphous polycarbonate

A constitutive model for describing the mechanical response of an amorphous glassy polycarbonate is proposed. The model is based on an isotropic elastic phase surrounded by an SO(3) continuum of plastic phases onto which the elastic phase can collapse under strain. An approximate relaxed energy is developed for this model on the basis of physical considerations and extensive numerical testing, and it is shown that it corresponds to an ideal elastic-plastic behavior. Kinetic effects are introduced as rate-independent viscoplasticity, and a comparison with experimental data is presented, showing that the proposed model is able to capture the main features of the plastic behavior of amophous glassy polycarbonate

Computational modelling of single crystals

The physical basis of computationally tractable models of crystalline plasticity is reviewed. A statistical mechanical model of dislocation motion through forest dislocations is formulated. Following Franciosi and co-workers (1980-88) the strength of the short-range obstacles introduced by the forest dislocations is allowed to depend on the mode of interaction. The kinetic equations governing dislocation motion are solved in closed form for monotonic loading, with transients in the density of forest dislocations accounted for. This solution, coupled with suitable equations of evolution for the dislocation densities, provides a complete description of the hardening of crystals under monotonic loading. Detailed comparisons with experiment demonstrate the predictive capabilities of the theory. An adaptive finite element formulation for the analysis of ductile single crystals is also developed. Calculations of the near-tip fields in Cu single crystals illustrate the versatility of the method

Unsupervised Emergence of Egocentric Spatial Structure from Sensorimotor Prediction

Despite its omnipresence in robotics application, the nature of spatial knowledgeand the mechanisms that underlie its emergence in autonomous agents are stillpoorly understood. Recent theoretical works suggest that the Euclidean structure ofspace induces invariants in an agent’s raw sensorimotor experience. We hypothesizethat capturing these invariants is beneficial for sensorimotor prediction and that,under certain exploratory conditions, a motor representation capturing the structureof the external space should emerge as a byproduct of learning to predict futuresensory experiences. We propose a simple sensorimotor predictive scheme, applyit to different agents and types of exploration, and evaluate the pertinence of thesehypotheses. We show that a naive agent can capture the topology and metricregularity of its sensor’s position in an egocentric spatial frame without any a prioriknowledge, nor extraneous supervision

The Adiabatic Theorem for Quantum Systems with Spectral Degeneracy

By stating the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics in a clear and rigorous way, we establish a necessary condition and a sufficient condition for its validity, where the latter is obtained employing our recently developed adiabatic perturbation theory. Also, we simplify further the sufficient condition into a useful and simple practical test at the expenses of its mathematical rigor. We present results for the most general case of quantum systems, i.e., those with degenerate energy spectra. These conditions are of upmost importance to assess the validity of practical implementations of non-Abelian braiding and adiabatic quantum computation. To illustrate the degenerate adiabatic approximation, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for its validity, we analyze in depth an exactly solvable time-dependent degenerate problem.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, RevTex4-1; v2: published versio

Adiabatic Perturbation Theory and Geometric Phases for Degenerate Systems

We introduce an adiabatic perturbation theory for quantum systems with degenerate energy spectra. This perturbative series enables one to rigorously establish conditions for the validity of the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics for degenerate systems. The same formalism can be used to find non-adiabatic corrections to the non-Abelian Wilczek-Zee geometric phase. These corrections are relevant to assess the validity of the practical implementation of the concept of fractional exchange statistics. We illustrate the formalism by exactly solving a time-dependent problem and comparing its solution to the perturbative one.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, RevTex4; v2: published versio

A recursive-faulting model of distributed damage in confined brittle materials

We develop a model of distributed damage in brittle materials deforming in triaxial compression based on the explicit construction of special microstructures obtained by recursive faulting. The model aims to predict the effective or macroscopic behavior of the material from its elastic and fracture properties; and to predict the microstructures underlying the microscopic behavior. The model accounts for the elasticity of the matrix, fault nucleation and the cohesive and frictional behavior of the faults. We analyze the resulting quasistatic boundary value problem and determine the relaxation of the potential energy, which describes the macroscopic material behavior averaged over all possible fine-scale structures. Finally, we present numerical calculations of the dynamic multi-axial compression experiments on sintered aluminum nitride of Chen and Ravichandran [1994. Dynamic compressive behavior of ceramics under lateral confinement. J. Phys. IV 4, 177–182; 1996a. Static and dynamic compressive behavior of aluminum nitride under moderate confinement. J. Am. Soc. Ceramics 79(3), 579–584; 1996b. An experimental technique for imposing dynamic multiaxial compression with mechanical confinement. Exp. Mech. 36(2), 155–158; 2000. Failure mode transition in ceramics under dynamic multiaxial compression. Int. J. Fracture 101, 141–159]. The model correctly predicts the general trends regarding the observed damage patterns; and the brittle-to-ductile transition resulting under increasing confinement

A bilayer Double Semion Model with Symmetry-Enriched Topological Order

We construct a new model of two-dimensional quantum spin systems that combines intrinsic topo- logical orders and a global symmetry called flavour symmetry. It is referred as the bilayer Doubled Semion model (bDS) and is an instance of symmetry-enriched topological order. A honeycomb bi- layer lattice is introduced to combine a Double Semion Topolgical Order with a global spin-flavour symmetry to get the fractionalization of its quasiparticles. The bDS model exhibits non-trival braid- ing self-statistics of excitations and its dual model constitutes a Symmetry-Protected Topological Order with novel edge states. This dual model gives rise to a bilayer Non-Trivial Paramagnet that is invariant under the flavour symmetry and the well-known spin flip symmetry.Comment: revtex4 file, color figure