1,641 research outputs found
Evidence for mechanical coupling and strong Indian lower crust beneath southern Tibet
How surface deformation within mountain ranges relates to tectonic processes at depth is not well understood. The upper crust of the Tibetan Plateau is generally thought to be poorly coupled to the underthrusting Indian crust because of an intervening low-viscosity channel. Here, however, we show that the contrast in tectonic regime between primarily strike-slip faulting in northern Tibet and dominantly normal faulting in southern Tibet requires mechanical coupling between the upper crust of southern Tibet and the underthrusting Indian crust. Such coupling is inconsistent with the presence of active ‘channel flow’ beneath southern Tibet, and suggests that the Indian crust retains its strength as it underthrusts the plateau. These results shed new light on the debates regarding the mechanical properties of the continental lithosphere, and the deformation of Tibet
A Signal-To-Noise Ratio Comparison fo Ultrasonic Transducers for C-Scan Imaging in Titanium
Digital data acquisition and the C-scan imaging of ultrasonic data offer improvements over analog recording techniques, such as strip-chart recording. As a result, peak-detected C-scan imaging is becoming the preferred method for the inspection of large titanium parts such as those found in the aircraft engine industry. The effectiveness of the inspection, however, still depends on the transducer. For this reason, a study of the effect of different transducer parameters on the sensitivity for detection of simulated defects in titanium specimens was conducted. Due to the increased emphasis on C-scan imaging, sensitivity is measured as an image-based signal-to-noise ratio
A Neutron Elastic Diffuse Scattering Study of PMN
We have performed elastic diffuse neutron scattering studies on the relaxor
Pb(MgNb)O (PMN). The measured intensity distribution near a
(100) Bragg peak in the (hk0) scattering plane assumes the shape of a butterfly
with extended intensity in the (110) and (10) directions. The
temperature dependence of the diffuse scattering shows that both the size of
the polar nanoregions (PNR) and the integrated diffuse intensity increase with
cooling even for temperatures below the Curie temperature K.Comment: Submitted to PR
Revisiting Static and Dynamic Spin Ice Correlations in Ho2Ti2O7
Elastic and inelastic neutron scattering studies have been carried out on the
pyrochlore magnet Ho2Ti2O7. Measurements in zero applied magnetic field show
that the disordered spin ice ground state of Ho2Ti2O7 is characterized by a
pattern of rectangular diffuse elastic scattering within the [HHL] plane of
reciprocal space, which closely resembles the zone boundary scattering seen in
its sister compound Dy2Ti2O7. Well-defined peaks in the zone boundary
scattering develop only within the spin ice ground state below ~ 2 K. In
contrast, the overall diffuse scattering pattern evolves on a much higher
temperature scale of ~ 17 K. The diffuse scattering at small wavevectors below
[001] is found to vanish on going to Q=0, an explicit signature of expectations
for dipolar spin ice. Very high energy-resolution inelastic measurements reveal
that the spin ice ground state below ~ 2 K is also characterized by a
transition from dynamic to static spin correlations on the time scale of
10^{-9} seconds. Measurements in a magnetic field applied along the
[10] direction in zero-field cooled conditions show that the system
can be broken up into orthogonal sets of polarized alpha chains along
[10] and quasi-one-dimensional beta chains along [110]. Three
dimensional correlations between beta chains are shown to be very sensitive to
the precise alignment of the [10] externally applied magnetic field.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Submitted for publicatio
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Crustal Deformation and Fault Strength of the Sulawesi Subduction Zone
This paper investigates the seismicity and rheology of the North-Sulawesi subduction zone. Body-wave modeling is used to estimate focal mechanisms and centroid depths of moderate magnitude (M5–M6.5) earthquakes on the North Sulawesi megathrust and surrounding region. The slip vectors of megathrust earthquakes radiate outward from Sulawesi, indicating motion that is incompatible with the relative motion of two rigid plates. Instead, the observed deformation implies lateral spreading of high topography, controlled by gravitational potential energy contrasts. This finding suggests that the observed deformation of Sulawesi results from stresses transmitted through the lithosphere, rather than basal tractions due to circulation in the mantle. Our modeling of the force balance on the megathrust shows that the subduction megathrust is weak, with an average shear stress of ∼13 MPa and an effective coefficient of friction of 0.03. Elsewhere in Sulawesi, slip vectors of other earthquakes suggest similar potential-energy-driven deformation is present, but at significantly slower rates. Our results show the importance of lateral rheology contrasts in determining deformation rate, and hence seismic hazard, in response to a given driving force.Newton Institutional Links
Leverhulme Fellowshi
Towards a Microscopic Model of Magnetoelectric Interactions in Ni3V2O8
We develop a microscopic magnetoelectric coupling in NiVO (NVO)
which gives rise to the trilinear phenomenological coupling used previously to
explain the phase transition in which magnetic and ferroelectric order
parameters appear simultaneously. Using combined neutron scattering
measurements and first-principles calculations of the phonons in NVO, we
determine eleven phonons which can induce the observed spontaneous
polarization. Among these eleven phonons, we find that a few of them can
actually induce a significant dipole moment. Using the calculated atomic
charges, we find that the required distortion to induce the observed dipole
moment is very small (~0.001 \AA) and therefore it would be very difficult to
observe the distortion by neutron-powder diffraction. Finally, we identify the
derivatives of the exchange tensor with respect to atomic displacements which
are needed for a microscopic model of a spin-phonon coupling in NVO and which
we hope will be obtained from a fundamental quantum calculation such as LDA+U.
We also analyze two toy models to illustrate that the Dzyaloskinskii-Moriya
interaction is very important for coexisting of magnetic and ferroelectric
order but it is not the only mechanism when the local site symmetry of the
system is low enough.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure
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