47,162 research outputs found
Numerical Results for the Ground-State Interface in a Random Medium
The problem of determining the ground state of a -dimensional interface
embedded in a -dimensional random medium is treated numerically. Using a
minimum-cut algorithm, the exact ground states can be found for a number of
problems for which other numerical methods are inexact and slow. In particular,
results are presented for the roughness exponents and ground-state energy
fluctuations in a random bond Ising model. It is found that the roughness
exponent , with the related energy
exponent being , in ,
respectively. These results are compared with previous analytical and numerical
estimates.Comment: 10 pages, REVTEX3.0; 3 ps files (separate:tar/gzip/uuencoded) for
figure
Stability of Elastic Glass Phases in Random Field XY Magnets and Vortex Lattices in Type II Superconductors
A description of a dislocation-free elastic glass phase in terms of domain
walls is developed and used as the basis of a renormalization group analysis of
the energetics of dislocation loops added to the system. It is found that even
after optimizing over possible paths of large dislocation loops, their energy
is still very likely to be positive when the dislocation core energy is large.
This implies the existence of an equilibrium elastic glass phase in three
dimensional random field X-Y magnets, and a dislocation free,
bond-orientationally ordered ``Bragg glass'' phase of vortices in dirty Type II
superconductors.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, no figures, submitted to Phys Rev Letter
C-shaped specimen plane strain fracture toughness tests
Test equipment, procedures, and data obtained in the evaluation of C-shaped specimens are presented. Observations reported on include: specimen preparation and dimensional measurement; modifications to the standard ASTM E 399 displacement gage, which permit punch mark gage point engagement; and a measurement device for determining the interior and exterior radii of ring segments. Load displacement ratios were determined experimentally which agreed with analytically determined coefficients for three different gage lengths on the inner surfaces of radially-cracked ring segments
Designing probiotic therapies with broad-spectrum activity against a wildlife pathogen
Host-associated microbes form an important component of immunity that protect
against infection by pathogens. Treating wild individuals with these protective microbes,
known as probiotics, can reduce rates of infection and disease in both wild and captive
settings. However, the utility of probiotics for tackling wildlife disease requires that
they offer consistent protection across the broad genomic variation of the pathogen
that hosts can encounter in natural settings. Here we develop multi-isolate probiotic
consortia with the aim of effecting broad-spectrum inhibition of growth of the lethal
amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) when tested against nine
Bd isolates from two distinct lineages. Though we achieved strong growth inhibition
between 70 and 100% for seven Bd isolates, two isolates appeared consistently
resistant to inhibition, irrespective of probiotic strategy employed. We found no evidence
that genomic relatedness of the chytrid predicted similarity of inhibition scores, nor that
increasing the genetic diversity of the bacterial consortia could offer stronger inhibition
of pathogen growth, even for the two resistant isolates. Our findings have important
consequences for the application of probiotics to mitigate wildlife diseases in the face of
extensive pathogen genomic variation
Fatalism and Future Contingents
In this paper I address issues related to the problem of future contingents and
the metaphysical doctrine of fatalism. Two classical responses to the problem of
future contingents are the third truth value view and the all-false view. According to
the former, future contingents take a third truth value which goes beyond truth and
falsity. According to the latter, they are all false. I here illustrate and discuss two
ways to respectively argue for those two views. Both ways are similar in spirit and
intimately connected with fatalism, in the sense that they engage with the doctrine
of fatalism and accept a large part of a standard fatalistic machinery
Interacting topological phases in multiband nanowires
We show that semiconductor nanowires coupled to an s-wave superconductor
provide a playground to study effects of interactions between different
topological superconducting phases supporting Majorana zero-energy modes. We
consider quasi-one dimensional system where the topological phases emerge from
different transverse subbands in the nanowire. In a certain parameter space, we
show that there is a multicritical point in the phase diagram where the
low-energy theory is equivalent to the one describing two coupled Majorana
chains. We study effect of interactions as well as symmetry-breaking
perturbations on the topological phase diagram in the vicinity of this
multicritical point. Our results shed light on the stability of the topological
phase around the multicritical point and have important implications for the
experiments on Majorana nanowires.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; final version to appear in PR
Metal-superconductor transition at zero temperature: A case of unusual scaling
An effective field theory is derived for the normal metal-to-superconductor
quantum phase transition at T=0. The critical behavior is determined exactly
for all dimensions d>2. Although the critical exponents \beta and \nu do not
exist, the usual scaling relations, properly reinterpreted, still hold. A
complete scaling description of the transition is given, and the physics
underlying the unusual critical behavior is discussed. Quenched disorder leads
to anomalously strong T_c-fluctuations which are shown to explain the
experimentally observed broadening of the transition in low-T_c thin films.Comment: 4 pp., no figs, final version as publishe
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Flow measurement inside a zinc-nickel flow cell battery using FBG based sensor system
Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. A detailed knowledge of the internal flow distribution inside a zinc-nickel flow battery is of critical importance to ensure smooth flow of the electrolyte through the battery cell and better operation of the device. Information of this type can be used as a useful means of early detection of zinc deposition and dendrite formation inside the cell, negative factors which affect the flow and thus which can lead to internal short circuiting, this being a primary failure mode of these types of batteries. This deposition occurs at low pH levels when zinc reacts with the electrolyte to form solid zinc oxide hydroxides. Traditionally, manual inspection is conducted, but this is time consuming and costly, only providing what are often inaccurate results-overall it is an impractical solution especially with the wider use of batteries in the very near future. Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors integrated inside the flow cell offer the advantage of measuring flow changes at multiple locations using a single fibre and that then can be used as an indicator of the correlation between the internal flow distribution and the deposition characteristics. This work presents an initial study, where two networks of FBGs have been installed and used for flow change detection in an active zinc-nickel flow battery. Data have been obtained from the sensor networks and information of battery performance completed and summarized in this paper. The approach shows promising results and thus scope for the future research into the development of this type of sensor system
Low frequency response of a collectively pinned vortex manifold
A low frequency dynamic response of a vortex manifold in type-II
superconductor can be associated with thermally activated tunneling of large
portions of the manifold between pairs of metastable states (two-level
systems). We suggest that statistical properties of these states can be
verified by using the same approach for the analysis of thermal fluctuations
the behaviour of which is well known. We find the form of the response for the
general case of vortex manifold with non-dispersive elastic moduli and for the
case of thin superconducting film for which the compressibility modulus is
always non-local.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, ReVTeX, the final version. Text strongly
modified, all the results unchange
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