Intrinsic Localized Modes Observed in the High Temperature Vibrational Spectrum of NaI

Inelastic neutron measurements of the high-temperature lattice excitations in NaI show that in thermal equilibrium at 555 K an intrinsic mode, localized in three dimensions, occurs at a single frequency near the center of the spectral phonon gap, polarized along [111]. At higher temperatures the intrinsic localized mode gains intensity. Higher energy inelastic neutron and x-ray scattering measurements on a room-temperature NaI crystal indicate that the creation energy of the ground state of the intrinsic localized mode is 299 meV.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures Revised version; final versio

Theory of spiral wave dynamics in weakly excitable media: asymptotic reduction to a kinematic model and applications

In a weakly excitable medium, characterized by a large threshold stimulus, the free end of an isolated broken plane wave (wave tip) can either rotate (steadily or unsteadily) around a large excitable core, thereby producing a spiral pattern, or retract causing the wave to vanish at boundaries. An asymptotic analysis of spiral motion and retraction is carried out in this weakly excitable large core regime starting from the free-boundary limit of the reaction-diffusion models, valid when the excited region is delimited by a thin interface. The wave description is shown to naturally split between the tip region and a far region that are smoothly matched on an intermediate scale. This separation allows us to rigorously derive an equation of motion for the wave tip, with the large scale motion of the spiral wavefront slaved to the tip. This kinematic description provides both a physical picture and exact predictions for a wide range of wave behavior, including: (i) steady rotation (frequency and core radius), (ii) exact treatment of the meandering instability in the free-boundary limit with the prediction that the frequency of unstable motion is half the primary steady frequency (iii) drift under external actions (external field with application to axisymmetric scroll ring motion in three-dimensions, and spatial or/and time-dependent variation of excitability), and (iv) the dynamics of multi-armed spiral waves with the new prediction that steadily rotating waves with two or more arms are linearly unstable. Numerical simulations of FitzHug-Nagumo kinetics are used to test several aspects of our results. In addition, we discuss the semi-quantitative extension of this theory to finite cores and pinpoint mathematical subtleties related to the thin interface limit of singly diffusive reaction-diffusion models

Maze solvers demystified and some other thoughts

There is a growing interest towards implementation of maze solving in spatially-extended physical, chemical and living systems. Several reports of prototypes attracted great publicity, e.g. maze solving with slime mould and epithelial cells, maze navigating droplets. We show that most prototypes utilise one of two phenomena: a shortest path in a maze is a path of the least resistance for fluid and current flow, and a shortest path is a path of the steepest gradient of chemoattractants. We discuss that substrates with so-called maze-solving capabilities simply trace flow currents or chemical diffusion gradients. We illustrate our thoughts with a model of flow and experiments with slime mould. The chapter ends with a discussion of experiments on maze solving with plant roots and leeches which show limitations of the chemical diffusion maze-solving approach.Comment: This is a preliminary version of the chapter to be published in Adamatzky A. (Ed.) Shortest path solvers. From software to wetware. Springer, 201

Scroll waves in isotropic excitable media : linear instabilities, bifurcations and restabilized states

Scroll waves are three-dimensional analogs of spiral waves. The linear stability spectrum of untwisted and twisted scroll waves is computed for a two-variable reaction-diffusion model of an excitable medium. Different bands of modes are seen to be unstable in different regions of parameter space. The corresponding bifurcations and bifurcated states are characterized by performing direct numerical simulations. In addition, computations of the adjoint linear stability operator eigenmodes are also performed and serve to obtain a number of matrix elements characterizing the long-wavelength deformations of scroll waves.Comment: 30 pages 16 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Far-Infrared to Millimeter Astrophysical Dust Emission. II: Comparison of the Two-Level Systems (TLS) model with Astronomical Data

In a previous paper we proposed a new model for the emission by amorphous astronomical dust grains, based on solid-state physics. The model uses a description of the Disordered Charge Distribution (DCD) combined with the presence of Two-Level Systems (TLS) defects in the amorphous solid composing the grains. The goal of this paper is to confront this new model to astronomical observations of different Galactic environments in the FIR/submm, in order to derive a set of canonical model parameters to be used as a Galactic reference to be compared to in future Galactic and extragalactic studies. We confront the TLS model with existing astronomical data. We consider the average emission spectrum at high latitudes in our Galaxy as measured with FIRAS and WMAP, as well as the emission from Galactic compact sources observed with Archeops, for which an inverse relationship between the dust temperature and the emissivity spectral index has been evidenced. We show that, unlike models previously proposed which often invoke two dust components at different temperatures, the TLS model successfully reproduces both the shape of the Galactic SED and its evolution with temperature as observed in the Archeops data. The best TLS model parameters indicate a charge coherence length of \simeq 13 nm and other model parameters in broad agreement with expectations from laboratory studies of dust analogs. We conclude that the millimeter excess emission, which is often attributed to the presence of very cold dust in the diffuse ISM, is likely caused solely by TLS emission in disordered amorphous dust grains. We discuss the implications of the new model, in terms of mass determinations from millimeter continuum observations and the expected variations of the emissivity spectral index with wavelength and dust temperature. The implications for the analysis of the Herschel and Planck satellite data are discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (16 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables

Accuracy of core mass estimates in simulated observations of dust emission

We study the reliability of mass estimates obtained for molecular cloud cores using sub-millimetre and infrared dust emission. We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations and radiative transfer to produce synthetic observations with spatial resolution and noise levels typical of Herschel surveys. We estimate dust colour temperatures using different pairs of intensities, calculate column densities and compare the estimated masses with the true values. We compare these results to the case when all five Herschel wavelengths are available. We investigate the effects of spatial variations of dust properties and the influence of embedded heating sources. Wrong assumptions of dust opacity and its spectral index beta can cause significant systematic errors in mass estimates. These are mainly multiplicative and leave the slope of the mass spectrum intact, unless cores with very high optical depth are included. Temperature variations bias colour temperature estimates and, in quiescent cores with optical depths higher than for normal stable cores, masses can be underestimated by up to one order of magnitude. When heated by internal radiation sources the observations recover the true mass spectra. The shape, although not the position, of the mass spectrum is reliable against observational errors and biases introduced in the analysis. This changes only if the cores have optical depths much higher than expected for basic hydrostatic equilibrium conditions. Observations underestimate the value of beta whenever there are temperature variations along the line of sight. A bias can also be observed when the true beta varies with wavelength. Internal heating sources produce an inverse correlation between colour temperature and beta that may be difficult to separate from any intrinsic beta(T) relation of the dust grains. This suggests caution when interpreting the observed mass spectra and the spectral indices.Comment: Revised version, 17 pages, 17 figures, submitted to A&

Nuclear spin driven quantum relaxation in LiY_0.998Ho_0.002F_4

Staircase hysteresis loops of the magnetization of a LiY_0.998Ho_0.002F_4 single crystal are observed at subkelvin temperatures and low field sweep rates. This behavior results from quantum dynamics at avoided level crossings of the energy spectrum of single Ho^{3+} ions in the presence of hyperfine interactions. Enhanced quantum relaxation in constant transverse fields allows the study of the relative magnitude of tunnel splittings. At faster sweep rates, non-equilibrated spin-phonon and spin-spin transitions, mediated by weak dipolar interactions, lead to magnetization oscillations and additional steps.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures, using RevTe

ISM Properties in Low-Metallicity Environments II. The Dust Spectral Energy Distribution of NGC 1569

We present new 450 and 850 microns SCUBA data of the dwarf galaxy NGC 1569. We construct the mid-infrared to millimeter SED of NGC 1569, using ISOCAM, ISOPHOT, IRAS, KAO, SCUBA and MAMBO data, and model the SED in order to explore the nature of the dust in low metallicity environments. The detailed modeling is performed in a self-consistent way, synthesizing the global ISRF of the galaxy using an evolutionary synthesis model with further constraints provided by the observed MIR ionic lines and a photoionisation model. Our results show that the dust properties are different in this low metallicity galaxy compared to other more metal rich galaxies. The results indicate a paucity of PAHs probably due to the destructive effects of the ISRF penetrating a clumpy environment and a size-segregation of grains where the emission is dominated by small grains of size ~3 nm, consistent with the idea of shocks having a dramatic effect on the dust properties in NGC 1569. A significant millimetre excess is present in the dust SED which can be explained by the presence of ubiquitous very cold dust (T = 5-7 K). This dust component accounts for 40 to 70 % of the total dust mass in the galaxy (1.6 - 3.4 10^5 Msol) and could be distributed in small clumps (size a few pc) throughout the galaxy. We find a gas-to-dust mass ratio of 740 - 1600, larger than that of the Galaxy and a dust-to-metals ratio of 1/4 to 1/7. We generate an extinction curve for NGC 1569, consistent with the modeled dust size distribution. This extinction curve has relatively steep FUV rise and smaller 2175 Angstroms bump, resembling the observed extinction curve of some regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures, accepted by A&

Sub-millimeter to centimeter excess emission from the Magellanic Clouds. I. Global spectral energy distribution

In order to reconstruct the global SEDs of the Magellanic Clouds over eight decades in spectral range, we combined literature flux densities representing the entire LMC and SMC respectively, and complemented these with maps extracted from the WMAP and COBE databases covering the missing the 23--90 GHz (13--3.2 mm) and the poorly sampled 1.25--250 THz (240--1.25 micron). We have discovered a pronounced excess of emission from both Magellanic Clouds, but especially the SMC, at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths. We also determined accurate thermal radio fluxes and very low global extinctions for both LMC and SMC. Possible explanations are briefly considered but as long as the nature of the excess emission is unknown, the total dust masses and gas-to-dust ratios of the Magellanic Clouds cannot reliably be determined.Comment: Accepted for publication by A&