2,133 research outputs found
First-principles calculation of phase equilibrium of V-Nb, V-Ta, and Nb-Ta alloys
In this paper, we report the calculated phase diagrams of V-Nb, V-Ta, and Nb-Ta alloys computed by combining the total energies of 40–50 configurations for each system (obtained using density functional theory) with the cluster expansion and Monte Carlo techniques. For V-Nb alloys, the phase diagram computed with conventional cluster expansion shows a miscibility gap with consolute temperature T_c=1250 K. Including the constituent strain to the cluster expansion Hamiltonian does not alter the consolute temperature significantly, although it appears to influence the solubility of V- and Nb-rich alloys. The phonon contribution to the free energy lowers T_c to 950 K (about 25%). Our calculations thus predicts an appreciable miscibility gap for V-Nb alloys. For bcc V-Ta alloy, this calculation predicts a miscibility gap with T_c=1100 K. For this alloy, both the constituent strain and phonon contributions are found to be significant. The constituent strain increases the miscibility gap while the phonon entropy counteracts the effect of the constituent strain. In V-Ta alloys, an ordering transition occurs at 1583 K from bcc solid solution phase to the V_(2)Ta Laves phase due to the dominant chemical interaction associated with the relatively large electronegativity difference. Since the current cluster expansion ignores the V_(2)Ta phase, the associated chemical interaction appears to manifest in making the solid solution phase remain stable down to 1100 K. For the size-matched Nb-Ta alloys, our calculation predicts complete miscibility in agreement with experiment
Conductance length autocorrelation in quasi one-dimensional disordered wires
Employing techniques recently developed in the context of the Fokker--Planck
approach to electron transport in disordered systems we calculate the
conductance length correlation function
for quasi 1d wires. Our result is valid for arbitrary lengths L and .
In the metallic limit the correlation function is given by a squared
Lorentzian. In the localized regime it decays exponentially in both L and
. The correlation length is proportional to L in the metallic regime
and saturates at a value approximately given by the localization length
as .Comment: 23 pages, Revtex, two figure
A model of driven and decaying magnetic turbulence in a cylinder
Using mean-field theory, we compute the evolution of the magnetic field in a
cylinder with outer perfectly conducting boundaries, an imposed axial magnetic
and electric field. The thus injected magnetic helicity in the system can be
redistributed by magnetic helicity fluxes down the gradient of the local
current helicity of the small-scale magnetic field. A weak reversal of the
axial magnetic field is found to be a consequence of the magnetic helicity flux
in the system. Such fluxes are known to alleviate so-called catastrophic
quenching of the {\alpha}-effect in astrophysical applications. Application to
the reversed field pinch in plasma confinement devices is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Four problems with global carbon markets: a critical review
This article offers a critique of global carbon markets and trading, with a special focus on the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. It explores
problems with the use of tradable permits to address climate change revolving around four areas: homogeneity, justice, gaming, and information. Homogeneity problems arise from the non-linear nature of climate change and sensitivity of emissions, which complicate attempts to calculate carbon offsets. Justice problems involve issues of dependency and the concentration of wealth among the rich, meaning carbon trading often counteracts attempts to reduce poverty. Gaming problems include pressures to promote high-volume, least-cost projects and the
consequences of emissions leakage. Information problems encompass transaction costs related to carbon trading and market participation and the comparatively weak institutional capacity of project evaluators
Self-limited oxide formation in Ni(111) oxidation
The oxidation of the Ni(111) surface is studied experimentally with low
energy electron microscopy and theoretically by calculating the electron
reflectivity for realistic models of the NiO/Ni(111) surface with an ab-initio
scattering theory. Oxygen exposure at 300 K under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions
leads to the formation of a continuous NiO(111)-like film consisting of
nanosized domains. At 750 K, we observe the formation of a nano-heterogeneous
film composed primarily of NiO(111)-like surface oxide nuclei, which exhibit
virtually the same energy-dependent reflectivity as in the case of 300 K and
which are separated by oxygen-free Ni(111) terraces. The scattering theory
explains the observed normal incidence reflectivity R(E) of both the clean and
the oxidized Ni(111) surface. At low energies R(E) of the oxidized surface is
determined by a forbidden gap in the k_parallel=0 projected energy spectrum of
the bulk NiO crystal. However, for both low and high temperature oxidation a
rapid decrease of the reflectivity in approaching zero kinetic energy is
experimentally observed. This feature is shown to characterize the thickness of
the oxide layer, suggesting an average oxide thickness of two NiO layers.Comment: 10 pages (in journal format), 9 figure
Inertial range scaling in numerical turbulence with hyperviscosity
Numerical turbulence with hyperviscosity is studied and compared with direct
simulations using ordinary viscosity and data from wind tunnel experiments. It
is shown that the inertial range scaling is similar in all three cases.
Furthermore, the bottleneck effect is approximately equally broad (about one
order of magnitude) in these cases and only its height is increased in the
hyperviscous case--presumably as a consequence of the steeper decent of the
spectrum in the hyperviscous subrange. The mean normalized dissipation rate is
found to be in agreement with both wind tunnel experiments and direct
simulations. The structure function exponents agree with the She-Leveque model.
Decaying turbulence with hyperviscosity still gives the usual t^{-1.25} decay
law for the kinetic energy, and also the bottleneck effect is still present and
about equally strong.Comment: Final version (7 pages
A Few Considerations on Structural and Logical Composition in Specification Theories
Over the last 20 years a large number of automata-based specification
theories have been proposed for modeling of discrete,real-time and
probabilistic systems. We have observed a lot of shared algebraic structure
between these formalisms. In this short abstract, we collect results of our
work in progress on describing and systematizing the algebraic assumptions in
specification theories.Comment: In Proceedings FIT 2010, arXiv:1101.426
The "zeroth law" of turbulence: Isotropic turbulence simulations revisited
The dimensionless kinetic energy dissipation rate C_epsilon is estimated from
numerical simulations of statistically stationary isotropic box turbulence that
is slightly compressible. The Taylor microscale Reynolds number Re_lambda range
is 20 < Re_lambda < 220 and the statistical stationarity is achieved with a
random phase forcing method. The strong Re_lambda dependence of C_epsilon
abates when Re_lambda approx. 100 after which C_epsilon slowly approaches
approx 0.5 a value slightly different to previously reported simulations but in
good agreement with experimental results. If C_epsilon is estimated at a
specific time step from the time series of the quantities involved it is
necessary to account for the time lag between energy injection and energy
dissipation. Also, the resulting value can differ from the ensemble averaged
value by up to +-30%. This may explain the spread in results from previously
published estimates of C_epsilon.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Kinematic alpha effect in isotropic turbulence simulations
Using numerical simulations at moderate magnetic Reynolds numbers up to 220
it is shown that in the kinematic regime, isotropic helical turbulence leads to
an alpha effect and a turbulent diffusivity whose values are independent of the
magnetic Reynolds number, \Rm, provided \Rm exceeds unity. These turbulent
coefficients are also consistent with expectations from the first order
smoothing approximation. For small values of \Rm, alpha and turbulent
diffusivity are proportional to \Rm. Over finite time intervals meaningful
values of alpha and turbulent diffusivity can be obtained even when there is
small-scale dynamo action that produces strong magnetic fluctuations. This
suggests that small-scale dynamo-generated fields do not make a correlated
contribution to the mean electromotive force.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter
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