Integrated Educational Project of Theoretical, Experimental, and Computational Analyses

This research demonstrates how to design an integrated capstone project by including theoretical, experimental and computational analyses of a truss bridge. The project mainly focused on leading students to approach engineering problems with various methods and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The students applied three methods to acquire the values of stresses and deflections of members in the given truss bridge. First, they calculated the stresses and deformations theoretically. Second, they actually conducted an experiment of the truss bridge with electronic measuring equipment. Lastly, they built two simulation models with Autodesk Inventor and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks. From the comparisons of above three methods, students were guided to the validation of assumptions of theories.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Wilson lines and UV sensitivity in magnetic compactifications

We investigate the ultraviolet (UV) behaviour of 6D N=1 supersymmetric effective (Abelian) gauge theories compactified on a two-torus ($T_2$) with magnetic flux. To this purpose we compute offshell the one-loop correction to the Wilson line state self-energy. The offshell calculation is actually necessary to capture the usual effective field theory expansion in powers of $(\partial/\Lambda)$. Particular care is paid to the regularization of the (divergent) momentum integrals, which is relevant for identifying the corresponding counterterm(s). We find a counterterm which is a new higher dimensional effective operator of dimension d=6, that is enhanced for a larger compactification area (where the effective theory applies) and is consistent with the symmetries of the theory. Its consequences are briefly discussed and comparison is made with orbifold compactifications without flux.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure; (v2: added references and paragraph on page 7

Spectral Broadening of Radiation from Relativistic Collapsing Objects

We study light curves and the spectral broadening of the radiation emitted during the finite interval of time by a surface of a collapsing object. We study a simplified model of monochromatic radiations from a spherical surface which is assumed to be falling freely. We discuss the possible way how to infer the physical parameters, such as the mass and radii of emission, from the light curves and spectral broadenings.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Typos are corrected and substantial parts of main text are rephrased for more better presentation. 1 reference is adde

Intrinsic Spin Torque Without Spin-Orbit Coupling

We derive an intrinsic contribution to the non-adiabatic spin torque for non-uniform magnetic textures. It differs from previously considered contributions in several ways and can be the dominant contribution in some models. It does not depend on the change in occupation of the electron states due to the current flow but rather is due to the perturbation of the electronic states when an electric field is applied. Therefore it should be viewed as electric-field-induced rather than current-induced. Unlike previously reported non-adiabatic spin torques, it does not originate from extrinsic relaxation mechanisms nor spin-orbit coupling. This intrinsic non-adiabatic spin torque is related by a chiral connection to the intrinsic spin-orbit torque that has been calculated from the Berry phase for Rashba systems.Comment: 1 figure, 11 page

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of two-dimensional Rashba ferromagnets

We compute the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy within two-dimensional Rashba models. For a ferromagnetic free-electron Rashba model, the magnetic anisotropy is exactly zero regardless of the strength of the Rashba coupling, unless only the lowest band is occupied. For this latter case, the model predicts in-plane anisotropy. For a more realistic Rashba model with finite band width, the magnetic anisotropy evolves from in-plane to perpendicular and back to in-plane as bands are progressively filled. This evolution agrees with first-principles calculations on the interfacial anisotropy, suggesting that the Rashba model captures energetics leading to anisotropy originating from the interface provided that the model takes account of the finite Brillouin zone. The results show that the electron density modulation by doping or an external voltage is more important for voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy than the modulation of the Rashba parameter.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

Current induced torques and interfacial spin-orbit coupling: Semiclassical Modeling

In bilayer nanowires consisting of a ferromagnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer with strong spin-orbit coupling, currents create torques on the magnetization beyond those found in simple ferromagnetic nanowires. The resulting magnetic dynamics appear to require torques that can be separated into two terms, damping-like and field-like. The damping-like torque is typically derived from models describing the bulk spin Hall effect and the spin transfer torque, and the field-like torque is typically derived from a Rashba model describing interfacial spin-orbit coupling. We derive a model based on the Boltzmann equation that unifies these approaches. We also consider an approximation to the Boltzmann equation, the drift-diffusion model, that qualitatively reproduces the behavior, but quantitatively fails to reproduce the results. We show that the Boltzmann equation with physically reasonable parameters can match the torques for any particular sample, but in some cases, it fails to describe the experimentally observed thickness dependences

Current-induced torques and interfacial spin-orbit coupling

In bilayer systems consisting of an ultrathin ferromagnetic layer adjacent to a metal with strong spin-orbit coupling, an applied in-plane current induces torques on the magnetization. The torques that arise from spin-orbit coupling are of particular interest. Here, we calculate the current-induced torque in a Pt-Co bilayer to help determine the underlying mechanism using first principles methods. We focus exclusively on the analogue to the Rashba torque, and do not consider the spin Hall effect. The details of the torque depend strongly on the layer thicknesses and the interface structure, providing an explanation for the wide variation in results found by different groups. The torque depends on the magnetization direction in a way similar to that found for a simple Rashba model. Artificially turning off the exchange spin splitting and separately the spin-orbit coupling potential in the Pt shows that the primary source of the "field-like" torque is a proximate spin-orbit effect on the Co layer induced by the strong spin-orbit coupling in the Pt.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure