885 research outputs found
Mechanical properties of carbynes investigated by ab initio total-energy calculations
As sp carbon chains (carbynes) are relatively rigid molecular objects, can we
exploit them as construction elements in nanomechanics? To answer this
question, we investigate their remarkable mechanical properties by ab-initio
total-energy simulations. In particular, we evaluate their linear response to
small longitudinal and bending deformations and their failure limits for
longitudinal compression and elongation.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
AFM Dissipation Topography of Soliton Superstructures in Adsorbed Overlayers
In the atomic force microscope, the nanoscale force topography of even
complex surface superstructures is extracted by the changing vibration
frequency of a scanning tip. An alternative dissipation topography with similar
or even better contrast has been demonstrated recently by mapping the
(x,y)-dependent tip damping but the detailed damping mechanism is still
unknown. Here we identify two different tip dissipation mechanisms: local
mechanical softness and hysteresis. Motivated by recent data, we describe both
of them in a onedimensional model of Moire' superstructures of incommensurate
overlayers. Local softness at "soliton" defects yields a dissipation contrast
that can be much larger than the corresponding density or corrugation contrast.
At realistically low vibration frequencies, however, a much stronger and more
effective dissipation is caused by the tip-induced nonlinear jumping of the
soliton, naturally developing bistability and hysteresis. Signatures of this
mechanism are proposed for experimental identification.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Phys Rev B 81, 045417 (2010
Solitons and exact velocity quantization of incommensurate sliders
We analyze in some detail the recently discovered velocity quantization
phenomena in the classical motion of an idealized one-dimensional solid
lubricant, consisting of a harmonic chain interposed between two periodic
sliders. The ratio w = v_cm/v_ext of the chain center-of-mass velocity to the
externally imposed relative velocity of the sliders is pinned to exact
``plateau'' values for wide ranges of parameters, such as sliders corrugation
amplitudes, external velocity, chain stiffness and dissipation, and is strictly
determined by the commensurability ratios alone. The phenomenon is caused by
one slider rigidly dragging the density solitons (kinks/antikinks) that the
chain forms with the other slider. Possible consequences of these results for
some real systems are discussed.Comment: 12 pages 6 figures. Small fixup after Referee's comments. In print in
J. Phys.: Condens. Matte
Hysteresis from dynamically pinned sliding states
We report a surprising hysteretic behavior in the dynamics of a simple
one-dimensional nonlinear model inspired by the tribological problem of two
sliding surfaces with a thin solid lubricant layer in between. In particular,
we consider the frictional dynamics of a harmonic chain confined between two
rigid incommensurate substrates which slide with a fixed relative velocity.
This system was previously found, by explicit solution of the equations of
motion, to possess plateaus in parameter space exhibiting a remarkable
quantization of the chain center-of-mass velocity (dynamic pinning) solely
determined by the interface incommensurability. Starting now from this
quantized sliding state, in the underdamped regime of motion and in analogy to
what ordinarily happens for static friction, the dynamics exhibits a large
hysteresis under the action of an additional external driving force F_ext. A
critical threshold value F_c of the adiabatically applied force F_ext is
required in order to alter the robust dynamics of the plateau attractor. When
the applied force is decreased and removed, the system can jump to intermediate
sliding regimes (a sort of ``dynamic'' stick-slip motion) and eventually
returns to the quantized sliding state at a much lower value of F_ext. On the
contrary no hysteretic behavior is observed as a function of the external
driving velocity.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, ECOSS 200
Static friction on the fly: velocity depinning transitions of lubricants in motion
The dragging velocity of a model solid lubricant confined between sliding
periodic substrates exhibits a phase transition between two regimes,
respectively with quantized and with continuous lubricant center-of-mass
velocity. The transition, occurring for increasing external driving force F_ext
acting on the lubricant, displays a large hysteresis, and has the features of
depinning transitions in static friction, only taking place on the fly.
Although different in nature, this phenomenon appears isomorphic to a static
Aubry depinning transition in a Frenkel-Kontorova model, the role of particles
now taken by the moving kinks of the lubricant-substrate interface. We suggest
a possible realization in 2D optical lattice experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, revtex, in print in Phys. Rev. Let
Axial collective excitations of a degenerate Fermi gas in the BEC to unitarity crossover
We show that, with reasonable hypotheses leading to a simple modeling,a link
can be obtained from experiments on the axial low frequency collective modes
between the molecular scattering length and the energy parameter of the gas at the unitarity limit. We also point out that, in
order to reach the range where the features of the Bose limit can be clearly
seen, experiments have to go to more dilute situations than have been achieved
presently.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 2 figure
Exactly quantized dynamics of classical incommensurate sliders
We report peculiar velocity quantization phenomena in the classical motion of
an idealized 1D solid lubricant, consisting of a harmonic chain interposed
between two periodic sliders. The ratio v_cm/v_ext of the chain center-of-mass
velocity to the externally imposed relative velocity of the sliders stays
pinned to exact "plateau" values for wide ranges of parameters, such as sliders
corrugation amplitudes, external velocity, chain stiffness and dissipation, and
is strictly determined by the commensurability ratios alone. The phenomenon is
explained by one slider rigidly dragging the kinks that the chain forms with
the other slider. Possible consequences of these results for some real systems
are discussed.Comment: 5 pags 4 fig
The Phase Diagram of Correlated Electrons in a Lattice of Berry Molecules
A model for correlated electrons in a lattice with local additional spin--1
degrees of freedom inducing constrained hopping, is studied both in the low
density limit and at quarter filling. We show that in both 1D and 2D two
particles form a bound state even in presence of a repulsive U<U_c. A picture
of a dilute Bose gas, leading to off-diagonal long range order (LRO) in 2D
(quasi-LRO in 1D), is supported by quantitative calculations in 1D which allow
for a determination of the phase diagram.Comment: 7 pages + 2 ps figures, published versio
Large Spatial Scale Variability in Bathyal Macrobenthos Abundance, Biomass, a- and b-Diversity along the Mediterranean Continental Margin
The large-scale deep-sea biodiversity distribution of the benthic fauna was explored in the Mediterranean Sea, which can beseen as a miniature model of the oceans of the world. Within the framework of the BIOFUN project (ââBiodiversity andEcosystem Functioning in Contrasting Southern European Deep-sea Environments: from viruses to megafaunaââ), weinvestigated the large spatial scale variability (over .1,000 km) of the bathyal macrofauna communities that inhabit theMediterranean basin, and their relationships with the environmental variables. The macrofauna abundance, biomass,community structure and functional diversity were analysed and the a-diversity and b-diversity were estimated across sixselected slope areas at different longitudes and along three main depths. The macrobenthic standing stock and a-diversitywere lower in the deep-sea sediments of the eastern Mediterranean basin, compared to the western and central basins. Themacrofaunal standing stock and diversity decreased significantly from the upper bathyal to the lower bathyal slope stations.The major changes in the community composition of the higher taxa and in the trophic (functional) structure occurred atdifferent longitudes, rather than at increasing water depth. For the b-diversity, very high dissimilarities emerged at all levels:(i) between basins; (ii) between slopes within the same basin; and (iii) between stations at different depths; this thereforedemonstrates the high macrofaunal diversity of the Mediterranean basins at large spatial scales. Overall, the food sources(i.e., quantity and quality) that characterised the west, central and eastern Mediterranean basins, as well as sediment grainsize, appear to influence the macrobenthic standing stock and the biodiversity along the different slope areas
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