21,221 research outputs found
Theory of Type-II Superconductors with Finite London Penetration Depth
Previous continuum theory of type-II superconductors of various shapes with
and without vortex pinning in an applied magnetic field and with transport
current, is generalized to account for a finite London penetration depth
lambda. This extension is particularly important at low inductions B, where the
transition to the Meissner state is now described correctly, and for films with
thickness comparable to or smaller than lambda. The finite width of the surface
layer with screening currents and the correct dc and ac responses in various
geometries follow naturally from an equation of motion for the current density
in which the integral kernel now accounts for finite lambda. New geometries
considered here are thick and thin strips with applied current, and `washers',
i.e. thin film squares with a slot and central hole as used for SQUIDs.Comment: 14 pages, including 15 high-resolution figure
Statics and Dynamics of Vortex Liquid Crystals
Using numerical simulations we examine the static and dynamic properties of
the recently proposed vortex liquid crystal state. We confirm the existence of
a smectic-A phase in the absence of pinning. Quenched disorder can induce a
smectic state even at T=0. When an external drive is applied, a variety of
anisotropic dynamical flow states with distinct voltage signatures occur,
including elastic depinning in the hard direction and plastic depinning in the
easy direction. We discuss the implications of the anisotropic transport for
other systems which exhibit depinning phenomena, such as stripes and electron
liquid crystals.Comment: 4 pages, 4 postscript figure
Analytic Solution for the Critical State in Superconducting Elliptic Films
A thin superconductor platelet with elliptic shape in a perpendicular
magnetic field is considered. Using a method originally applied to circular
disks, we obtain an approximate analytic solution for the two-dimensional
critical state of this ellipse. In the limits of the circular disk and the long
strip this solution is exact, i.e. the current density is constant in the
region penetrated by flux. For ellipses with arbitrary axis ratio the obtained
current density is constant to typically 0.001, and the magnetic moment
deviates by less than 0.001 from the exact value. This analytic solution is
thus very accurate. In increasing applied magnetic field, the penetrating flux
fronts are approximately concentric ellipses whose axis ratio b/a < 1 decreases
and shrinks to zero when the flux front reaches the center, the long axis
staying finite in the fully penetrated state. Analytic expressions for these
axes, the sheet current, the magnetic moment, and the perpendicular magnetic
field are presented and discussed. This solution applies also to
superconductors with anisotropic critical current if the anisotropy has a
particular, rather realistic form.Comment: Revtex file and 13 postscript figures, gives 10 pages of text with
figures built i
Meissner-London currents in superconductors with rectangular cross section
Exact analytic solutions are presented for the magnetic moment and screening
currents in the Meissner state of superconductor strips with rectangular cross
section in a perpendicular magnetic field and/or with transport current. The
extension to finite London penetration is achieved by an elegant numerical
method which works also for disks. The surface current in the specimen corners
diverges as l^(-1/3) where l is the distance from the corner. This enhancement
reduces the barrier for vortex penetration and should increase the nonlinear
Meissner effect in d-wave superconductors
ROSAT monitoring of persistent giant and rapid variability in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809
We report evidence for persistent giant and rapid X-ray variability in the
radio-quiet, ultrasoft, strong Fe II, narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS
13224-3809. Within a 30 day ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI) monitoring
observation at least five giant amplitude count rate variations are visible,
with the maximum observed amplitude of variability being about a factor of 60.
We detect a rise by a factor of about 57 in just two days. IRAS 13224-3809
appears to be the most X-ray variable Seyfert known, and its variability is
probably nonlinear. We carefully check the identification of the highly
variable X-ray source with the distant galaxy, and it appears to be secure. We
examine possible explanations for the giant variability. Unusually strong
relativistic effects and partial covering by occulting structures on an
accretion disc can provide plausible explanations of the X-ray data, and we
explore these two scenarios. Relativistic boosting effects may be relevant to
understanding the strong X-ray variability of some steep spectrum Seyferts more
generally.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to MNRA
Etching of High Purity Zinc
A method of etching high purity zinc to reveal various etch figures on {101¯0} planes is presented in this
paper. Etch figures are formed by polishing in a dichromic acid solution after the introduction of mercury
to the crystal surface. No measurable aging time is required to form etch figures at newly formed dislocation
sites when mercury is on the surface prior to deformation. The mercury concentrates at the sites
where etch figures form and may be removed by vacuum distillation and chemical polishing before it appreciably
affects the purity of the bulk of the crystal
A Neural Network Gravitational Arc Finder based on the Mediatrix filamentation Method
Automated arc detection methods are needed to scan the ongoing and
next-generation wide-field imaging surveys, which are expected to contain
thousands of strong lensing systems. Arc finders are also required for a
quantitative comparison between predictions and observations of arc abundance.
Several algorithms have been proposed to this end, but machine learning methods
have remained as a relatively unexplored step in the arc finding process. In
this work we introduce a new arc finder based on pattern recognition, which
uses a set of morphological measurements derived from the Mediatrix
Filamentation Method as entries to an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). We show
a full example of the application of the arc finder, first training and
validating the ANN on simulated arcs and then applying the code on four Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) images of strong lensing systems. The simulated arcs use
simple prescriptions for the lens and the source, while mimicking HST
observational conditions. We also consider a sample of objects from HST images
with no arcs in the training of the ANN classification. We use the training and
validation process to determine a suitable set of ANN configurations, including
the combination of inputs from the Mediatrix method, so as to maximize the
completeness while keeping the false positives low. In the simulations the
method was able to achieve a completeness of about 90% with respect to the arcs
that are input to the ANN after a preselection. However, this completeness
drops to 70% on the HST images. The false detections are of the order of
3% of the objects detected in these images. The combination of Mediatrix
measurements with an ANN is a promising tool for the pattern recognition phase
of arc finding. More realistic simulations and a larger set of real systems are
needed for a better training and assessment of the efficiency of the method.Comment: Updated to match published versio
Dislocations and etch figures in high purity zinc
A method of etching high purity zinc single crystals to reveal various etch figures on {1010} planes is presented in the preceding paper. The procedure involves the introduction of mercury to the crystal surface prior to a chemical polish with dichromic acid. The mercury was found to be concentrated at the etch figures. This paper presents the results of several experiments which support the conclusion that there exists a one-to-one correspondence between etch figures and dislocations. Some observations of slip on (0001) basal planes and {1212} pyramidal planes, and of twinning in zinc are also presented
Stiffness and energy losses in cylindrically symmetric superconductor levitating systems
Stiffness and hysteretic energy losses are calculated for a magnetically
levitating system composed of a type-II superconductor and a permanent magnet
when a small vibration is produced in the system. We consider a cylindrically
symmetric configuration with only vertical movements and calculate the current
profiles under the assumption of the critical state model. The calculations,
based on magnetic energy minimization, take into account the demagnetization
fields inside the superconductor and the actual shape of the applied field. The
dependence of stiffness and hysteretic energy losses upon the different
important parameters of the system such as the superconductor aspect ratio, the
relative size of the superconductor-permanent magnet, and the critical current
of the superconductor are all systematically studied. Finally, in view of the
results, we provide some trends on how a system such as the one studied here
could be designed in order to optimize both the stiffness and the hysteretic
losses.Comment: 8 pages; 8 figure
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