Impurity and boundary effects in one and two-dimensional inhomogeneous Heisenberg antiferromagnets

We calculate the ground-state energy of one and two-dimensional spatially inhomogeneous antiferromagnetic Heisenberg models for spins 1/2, 1, 3/2 and 2. Our calculations become possible as a consequence of the recent formulation of density-functional theory for Heisenberg models. The method is similar to spin-density-functional theory, but employs a local-density-type approximation designed specifically for the Heisenberg model, allowing us to explore parameter regimes that are hard to access by traditional methods, and to consider complications that are important specifically for nanomagnetic devices, such as the effects of impurities, finite-size, and boundary geometry, in chains, ladders, and higher-dimensional systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Poynting Vector Flow in a Circular Circuit

A circuit is considered in the shape of a ring, with a battery of negligible size and a wire of uniform resistance. A linear charge distribution along the wire maintains an electrostatic field and a steady current, which produces a constant magnetic field. Earlier studies of the Poynting vector and the rate of flow of energy considered only idealized geometries in which the Poynting vector was confined to the space within the circuit. But in more realistic cases the Poynting vector is nonzero outside as well as inside the circuit. An expression is obtained for the Poynting vector in terms of products of integrals, which are evaluated numerically to show the energy flow. Limiting expressions are obtained analytically. It is shown that the total power generated by the battery equals the energy flowing into the wire per unit time.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

An infinite-period phase transition versus nucleation in a stochastic model of collective oscillations

A lattice model of three-state stochastic phase-coupled oscillators has been shown by Wood et al (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 145701) to exhibit a phase transition at a critical value of the coupling parameter, leading to stable global oscillations. We show that, in the complete graph version of the model, upon further increase in the coupling, the average frequency of collective oscillations decreases until an infinite-period (IP) phase transition occurs, at which point collective oscillations cease. Above this second critical point, a macroscopic fraction of the oscillators spend most of the time in one of the three states, yielding a prototypical nonequilibrium example (without an equilibrium counterpart) in which discrete rotational (C_3) symmetry is spontaneously broken, in the absence of any absorbing state. Simulation results and nucleation arguments strongly suggest that the IP phase transition does not occur on finite-dimensional lattices with short-range interactions.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Energy of bond defects in quantum spin chains obtained from local approximations and from exact diagonalization

We study the influence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic bond defects on the ground-state energy of antiferromagnetic spin chains. In the absence of translational invariance, the energy spectrum of the full Hamiltonian is obtained numerically, by an iterative modification of the power algorithm. In parallel, approximate analytical energies are obtained from a local-bond approximation, proposed here. This approximation results in significant improvement upon the mean-field approximation, at negligible extra computational effort.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. Manuscript accepted by Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, special issue for LAWMMM 2007 conferenc

Dynamic range of hypercubic stochastic excitable media

We study the response properties of d-dimensional hypercubic excitable networks to a stochastic stimulus. Each site, modelled either by a three-state stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered-susceptible system or by the probabilistic Greenberg-Hastings cellular automaton, is continuously and independently stimulated by an external Poisson rate h. The response function (mean density of active sites rho versus h) is obtained via simulations (for d=1, 2, 3, 4) and mean field approximations at the single-site and pair levels (for all d). In any dimension, the dynamic range of the response function is maximized precisely at the nonequilibrium phase transition to self-sustained activity, in agreement with a reasoning recently proposed. Moreover, the maximum dynamic range attained at a given dimension d is a decreasing function of d.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Indicadores de risco do desenvolvimento das nanotecnologias: uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão.

Resumo: A nanotecnologia representa atualmente um negócio mundial que movimenta mais de 100 bilhões de dólares e atrai cada vez mais recursos humanos e financeiros, devido ao seu enorme potencial de aplicação. Assim, metodologias que permitam avaliar a segurança dos nanoprodutos, especialmente aqueles que já encontram-se no mercado, são de fundamental importância. No entanto, a área do conhecimento que envolve as avaliações de riscos das nanotecnologias encontra-se ainda bastante incipiente no Brasil. A criação de uma metodologia para a Avaliação dos Riscos das nanotecnologias representa uma medida mitigatória eficaz para enfrentar os desafios cada vez maiores identificados pelos cientistas e legisladores, podendo atuar em três momentos: prevenindo, monitorando e restaurando. Desta forma, são apresentados nesse trabalho 14 indicadores para a avaliar o potencial de risco. Esses foram validados pelos especialistas da área de nanotecnologia por meio da Técnica Delphi de consulta aos especialistas. Segundo eles, esses indicadores representam de modo mais completo os aspectos mais críticos relacionados ao desenvolvimento da Nanotecnologia. Estes indicadores, de modo geral, têm a finalidade de auxiliar os desenvolvedores desta tecnologia para que reavaliem as metodologias empregadas para o desenvolvimento das nanotecnologias com a finalidade de mitigar um provável risco