7,984 research outputs found
Ground-State Roughness of the Disordered Substrate and Flux Line in d=2
We apply optimization algorithms to the problem of finding ground states for
crystalline surfaces and flux lines arrays in presence of disorder. The
algorithms provide ground states in polynomial time, which provides for a more
precise study of the interface widths than from Monte Carlo simulations at
finite temperature. Using systems up to size , with a minimum of
realizations at each size, we find very strong evidence for a
super-rough state at low temperatures.Comment: 10 pages, 3 PS figures, to appear in PR
Statistical Topography of Glassy Interfaces
Statistical topography of two-dimensional interfaces in the presence of
quenched disorder is studied utilizing combinatorial optimization algorithms.
Finite-size scaling is used to measure geometrical exponents associated with
contour loops and fully packed loops. We find that contour-loop exponents
depend on the type of disorder (periodic ``vs'' non-periodic) and they satisfy
scaling relations characteristic of self-affine rough surfaces. Fully packed
loops on the other hand are unaffected by disorder with geometrical exponents
that take on their pure values.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX, 4 figures included. Further information can be
obtained from [email protected]
Energetics and geometry of excitations in random systems
Methods for studying droplets in models with quenched disorder are critically
examined. Low energy excitations in two dimensional models are investigated by
finding minimal energy interior excitations and by computing the effect of bulk
perturbations. The numerical data support the assumptions of compact droplets
and a single exponent for droplet energy scaling. Analytic calculations show
how strong corrections to power laws can result when samples and droplets are
averaged over. Such corrections can explain apparent discrepancies in several
previous numerical results for spin glasses.Comment: 4 pages, eps files include
Motion-base simulator study of control of an externally blown flap STOL transport aircraft after failure of an outboard engine during landing approach
A moving-base simulator investigation of the problems of recovery and landing of a STOL aircraft after failure of an outboard engine during final approach was made. The approaches were made at 75 knots along a 6 deg glide slope. The engine was failed at low altitude and the option to go around was not allowed. The aircraft was simulated with each of three control systems, and it had four high-bypass-ratio fan-jet engines exhausting against large triple-slotted wing flaps to produce additional lift. A virtual-image out-the-window television display of a simulated STOL airport was operating during part of the investigation. Also, a simple heads-up flight director display superimposed on the airport landing scene was used by the pilots to make some of the recoveries following an engine failure. The results of the study indicated that the variation in visual cues and/or motion cues had little effect on the outcome of a recovery, but they did have some effect on the pilot's response and control patterns
Computational Complexity of Determining the Barriers to Interface Motion in Random Systems
The low-temperature driven or thermally activated motion of several condensed
matter systems is often modeled by the dynamics of interfaces (co-dimension-1
elastic manifolds) subject to a random potential. Two characteristic
quantitative features of the energy landscape of such a many-degree-of-freedom
system are the ground-state energy and the magnitude of the energy barriers
between given configurations. While the numerical determination of the former
can be accomplished in time polynomial in the system size, it is shown here
that the problem of determining the latter quantity is NP-complete. Exact
computation of barriers is therefore (almost certainly) much more difficult
than determining the exact ground states of interfaces.Comment: 8 pages, figures included, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Interface Motion in Random Media at Finite Temperature
We have studied numerically the dynamics of a driven elastic interface in a
random medium, focusing on the thermal rounding of the depinning transition and
on the behavior in the pinned phase. Thermal effects are quantitatively
more important than expected from simple dimensional estimates. For sufficient
low temperature the creep velocity at a driving force equal to the
depinning force exhibits a power-law dependence on , in agreement with
earlier theoretical and numerical predictions for CDW's. We have also examined
the dynamics in the pinned phase resulting from slowly increasing the
driving force towards threshold. The distribution of avalanche sizes
decays as , with , in agreement with
recent theoretical predictions.Comment: harvmac.tex, 30 pages, including 9 figures, available upon request.
SU-rm-94073
EARLY IMPACT MELTING AND SPACE EXPOSURE HISTORY OF THE PAT91501 LCHONDRITE
Collisions probably occurred frequently in the early history of the asteroid belt. Their effects, which should be recorded in meteorites, must have included heating and melting along with shock alteration of mineral textures. Some non-chondritic meteorite types e.g., eucrites and IIE and IAB irons - do indeed give evidence of extensive impact heating more than 3.4 Gyr ago. The ordinary chondrites, in contrast, show little evidence of early impact heating. The Ar-Ar and Rb-Sr ages of ordinary chondrites that experienced intense shock are for the most part relatively young, many less than 1.5 Gyr. The numerous L-chondrites with Ar- Ar ages clustering near 0.5 Gy are a well-known example. One of them, the 105-kg Chico Lchondrite, shows the effects of unusually intense heating. It is approximately 60% impact melt and likely formed as a dyke beneath a large crater when the L-chondrite parent body underwent a very large impact approximately 0.5 Gyr ago. In rare instances, older shock dates are indicated for ordinary chondrites. Dixon et al show early impact resetting of Ar-Ar ages of a few LL-chondrites including MIL 99301 at 4.23 0.03 Gyr, but in none of these stones did shock lead to extensive melting. As of 2003, searches for chondritic melts attributable to early shock had turned up only the Shaw L-chondrite, which has an Ar-Ar age of approximately 4.42 Gyr. PAT91501 is an 8.55-kg L-chondrite containing vesicles and metal-troilite nodules. It is a unique, near-total impact melt, unshocked, depleted in siderophile and chalcophile elements, and contains only approximately 10% relic chondritic material. The authors conclude that PAT91501 crystallized rapidly and from a much more homogeneous melt than did Shaw. They suggest that PAT resembles Chico and likely formed as an impact melt vein within an impact crater. To define the history of PAT, we have determined its Ar-39-Ar-40 age and measured several radioactive and stable nuclides produced during its space exposure to cosmic rays
Simulation of the Zero Temperature Behavior of a 3-Dimensional Elastic Medium
We have performed numerical simulation of a 3-dimensional elastic medium,
with scalar displacements, subject to quenched disorder. We applied an
efficient combinatorial optimization algorithm to generate exact ground states
for an interface representation. Our results indicate that this Bragg glass is
characterized by power law divergences in the structure factor . We have found numerically consistent values of the coefficient for
two lattice discretizations of the medium, supporting universality for in
the isotropic systems considered here. We also examine the response of the
ground state to the change in boundary conditions that corresponds to
introducing a single dislocation loop encircling the system. Our results
indicate that the domain walls formed by this change are highly convoluted,
with a fractal dimension . We also discuss the implications of the
domain wall energetics for the stability of the Bragg glass phase. As in other
disordered systems, perturbations of relative strength introduce a new
length scale beyond which the perturbed ground
state becomes uncorrelated with the reference (unperturbed) ground state. We
have performed scaling analysis of the response of the ground state to the
perturbations and obtain . This value is consistent with the
scaling relation , where characterizes the
scaling of the energy fluctuations of low energy excitations.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figure
Viscoelastic Depinning of Driven Systems: Mean-Field Plastic Scallops
We have investigated the mean field dynamics of an overdamped viscoelastic
medium driven through quenched disorder. The model introduced incorporates
coexistence of pinned and sliding degrees of freedom and can exhibit continuous
elastic depinning or first order hysteretic depinning. Numerical simulations
indicate mean field instabilities that correspond to macroscopic stick-slip
events and lead to premature switching. The model is relevant for the dynamics
of driven vortex arrays in superconductors and other extended disordered
systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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