3,130 research outputs found
Surface Phonons and Other Localized Excitations
The diatomic linear chain of masses coupled by harmonic springs is a
textboook model for vibrational normal modes (phonons) in crystals. In addition
to propagating acoustic and optic branches, this model is known to support a
``gap mode'' localized at the surface, provided the atom at the surface has
light rather than heavy mass. An elementary argument is given which explains
this mode and provides values for the frequency and localization length. By
reinterpreting this mode in different ways, we obtain the frequency and
localization lengths for three other interesting modes: (1) the surface
vibrational mode of a light mass impurity at the surface of a monatomic chain;
(2) the localized vibrational mode of a stacking fault in a diatomic chain; and
(3) the localized vibrational mode of a light mass impurity in a monatomic
chain.Comment: 5 pages with 4 embedded postscript figures. This paper will appear in
the American Journal of Physic
Transient cavities and the excess chemical potentials of hard-spheroid solutes in dipolar hard sphere solvents
Monte Carlo computer simulations are used to study transient cavities and the
solvation of hard-spheroid solutes in dipolar hard sphere solvents. The
probability distribution of spheroidal cavities in the solvent is shown to be
well described by a Gaussian function, and the variations of fit parameters
with cavity elongation and solvent properties are analyzed. The excess chemical
potentials of hard-spheroid solutes with aspect ratios in the range , and with volumes between one and twenty times that of a solvent
molecule, are presented. It is shown that for a given molecular volume and
solvent dipole moment (or temperature) a spherical solute has the lowest excess
chemical potential and hence the highest solubility, while a prolate solute
with aspect ratio should be more soluble than an oblate solute with aspect
ratio . For a given solute molecule, the excess chemical potential
increases with increasing temperature; this same trend is observed in the case
of hydrophobic solvation. To help interpret the simulation results, comparison
is made with a scaled-particle theory that requires prior knowledge of a
solute-solvent interfacial tension and the pure-solvent equation of state,
which parameters are obtained from simulation results for spherical solutes.
The theory shows excellent agreement with simulation results over the whole
range of solute elongations considered.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure
What has NMR taught us about stripes and inhomogeneity?
The purpose of this brief invited paper is to summarize what we have (not)
learned from NMR on stripes and inhomogeneity in La{2-x}Sr{x}CuO{4}. We explain
that the reality is far more complicated than generally accepted.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the LT-23 Conference
(invited
Mixed population of competing TASEPs with a shared reservoir of particles
We introduce a mean-field theoretical framework to describe multiple totally
asymmetric simple exclusion processes (TASEPs) with different lattice lengths,
entry and exit rates, competing for a finite reservoir of particles. We present
relations for the partitioning of particles between the reservoir and the
lattices: these relations allow us to show that competition for particles can
have non-trivial effects on the phase behavior of individual lattices. For a
system with non-identical lattices, we find that when a subset of lattices
undergoes a phase transition from low to high density, the entire set of
lattice currents becomes independent of total particle number. We generalize
our approach to systems with a continuous distribution of lattice parameters,
for which we demonstrate that measurements of the current carried by a single
lattice type can be used to extract the entire distribution of lattice
parameters. Our approach applies to populations of TASEPs with any distribution
of lattice parameters, and could easily be extended beyond the mean-field case.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Quantum Electrical Dipole in Triangular Systems: a Model for Spontaneous Polarity in Metal Clusters
Triangular symmetric molecules with mirror symmetry perpendicular to the
3-fold axis are forbidden to have a fixed electrical dipole moment. However, if
the ground state is orbitally degenerate and lacks inversion symmetry, then a
``quantum'' dipole moment does exist. The system of 3 electrons in D_3h
symmetry is our example. This system is realized in triatomic molecules like
Na_3. Unlike the fixed dipole of a molecule like water, the quantum moment does
not point in a fixed direction, but lies in the plane of the molecule and takes
quantized values +/- mu_0 along any direction of measurement in the plane. An
electric field F in the plane leads to a linear Stark splitting +/- mu_0 F}. We
introduce a toy model to study the effect of Jahn-Teller distortions on the
quantum dipole moment. We find that the quantum dipole property survives when
the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect is included, if the distortion of the molecule
is small. Linear Stark splittings are suppressed in low fields by molecular
rotation, just as the linear Stark shift of water is suppressed, but will be
revealed in moderately large applied fields and low temperatures. Coulomb
correlations also give a partial suppression.Comment: 10 pages with 7 figures included; thoroughly revised with a new
coauthor; final minor change
Octahedral Tilt Instability of ReO_3-type Crystals
The octahedron tilt transitions of ABX_3 perovskite-structure materials lead
to an anti-polar (or antiferroelectric) arrangement of dipoles, with the low
temperature structure having six sublattices polarized along various
crystallographic directions. It is shown that an important mechanism driving
the transition is long range dipole-dipole forces acting on both displacive and
induced parts of the anion dipole. This acts in concert with short range
repulsion, allowing a gain of electrostatic (Madelung) energy, both
dipole-dipole and charge-charge, because the unit cell shrinks when the hard
ionic spheres of the rigid octahedron tilt out of linear alignment.Comment: 4 page with 3 figures included; new version updates references and
clarifies the argument
Temperature dependence of the resistance of metallic nanowires (diameter 15 nm): Applicability of Bloch-Gr\"{u}neisen theorem
We have measured the resistances (and resistivities) of Ag and Cu nanowires
of diameters ranging from 15nm to 200nm in the temperature range 4.2K-300K with
the specific aim to assess the applicability of the Bloch-Gr\"{u}neisen formula
for electron phonon resistivity in these nanowires. The wires were grown within
polymeric templates by electrodeposition. We find that in all the samples the
resistance reaches a residual value at T=4.2K and the temperature dependence of
resistance can be fitted to the Bloch-Gr\"{u}neisen formula in the entire
temperature range with a well defined transport Debye temperature
(). The value of Debye temperature obtained from the fits lie
within 8% of the bulk value for Ag wires of diameter 15nm while for Cu
nanowires of the same diameter the Debye temperature is significantly lesser
than the bulk value. The electron-phonon coupling constants (measured by
or ) in the nanowires were found to have the same
value as that of the bulk. The resistivities of the wires were seen to increase
as the wire diameter was decreased. This increase in the resistivity of the
wires may be attributed to surface scattering of conduction electrons. The
specularity p was estimated to be about 0.5. The observed results allow us to
obtain the resistivities exactly from the resistance and gives us a method of
obtaining the exact numbers of wires within the measured array (grown within
the template).Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
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