17,030 research outputs found
Generalized Berreman's model of the elastic surface free energy of a nematic liquid crystal on a sawtoothed substrate
In this paper we present a generalization of Berreman's model for the elastic
contribution to the surface free-energy density of a nematic liquid crystal in
presence of a sawtooth substrate which favours homeotropic anchoring, as a
function of the wavenumber of the surface structure , the tilt angle
and the surface anchoring strength . In addition to the previously
reported non-analytic contribution proportional to , due to the
nucleation of disclination lines at the wedge bottoms and apexes of the
substrate, the next-to-leading contribution is proportional to for a given
substrate roughness, in agreement with Berreman's predictions. We characterise
this term, finding that it has two contributions: the deviations of the nematic
director field with respect to the corresponding to the isolated disclination
lines, and their associated core free energies. Comparison with the results
obtained from the Landau-de Gennes model shows that our model is quite accurate
in the limit , when strong anchoring conditions are effectively achieved.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures; revised version submitted to Phys. Rev.
Pressure dependence of the melting mechanism at the limit of overheating in Lennard-Jones crystals
We study the pressure dependence of the melting mechanism of a surface free
Lennard-Jones crystal by constant pressure Monte Carlo simulation. The
difference between the overheating temperature() and the
thermodynamical melting point() increase for increasing pressure. When
particles move into the repulsive part of the potential the properties at
change. There is a crossover pressure where the volume jump becomes
pressure-independent. The overheating limit is pre-announced by thermal
excitation of big clusters of defects. The temperature zone where the system is
dominated by these big clusters of defects increases with increasing pressure.
Beyond the crossover pressure we find that excitation of defects and clusters
of them start at the same temperature scale related with .Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Diffusion dynamics on multiplex networks
We study the time scales associated to diffusion processes that take place on
multiplex networks, i.e. on a set of networks linked through interconnected
layers. To this end, we propose the construction of a supra-Laplacian matrix,
which consists of a dimensional lifting of the Laplacian matrix of each layer
of the multiplex network. We use perturbative analysis to reveal analytically
the structure of eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the complete network in terms
of the spectral properties of the individual layers. The spectrum of the
supra-Laplacian allows us to understand the physics of diffusion-like processes
on top of multiplex networks.Comment: 6 Pages including supplemental material. To appear in Physical Review
Letter
Binary Black Hole Mergers in 3d Numerical Relativity
The standard approach to the numerical evolution of black hole data using the
ADM formulation with maximal slicing and vanishing shift is extended to
non-symmetric black hole data containing black holes with linear momentum and
spin by using a time-independent conformal rescaling based on the puncture
representation of the black holes. We give an example for a concrete three
dimensional numerical implementation. The main result of the simulations is
that this approach allows for the first time to evolve through a brief period
of the merger phase of the black hole inspiral.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, REVTeX; expanded discussion, results unchange
Broad N2H+ emission towards the protostellar shock L1157-B1
We present the first detection of N2H+ towards a low-mass protostellar
outflow, namely the L1157-B1 shock, at about 0.1 pc from the protostellar
cocoon. The detection was obtained with the IRAM 30-m antenna. We observed
emission at 93 GHz due to the J = 1-0 hyperfine lines. The analysis of the
emission coupled with the HIFI CHESS multiline CO observations leads to the
conclusion that the observed N2H+(1-0) line originates from the dense (> 10^5
cm-3) gas associated with the large (20-25 arcsec) cavities opened by the
protostellar wind. We find a N2H+ column density of few 10^12 cm-2
corresponding to an abundance of (2-8) 10^-9. The N2H+ abundance can be matched
by a model of quiescent gas evolved for more than 10^4 yr, i.e. for more than
the shock kinematical age (about 2000 yr). Modelling of C-shocks confirms that
the abundance of N2H+ is not increased by the passage of the shock. In summary,
N2H+ is a fossil record of the pre-shock gas, formed when the density of the
gas was around 10^4 cm-3, and then further compressed and accelerated by the
shock.Comment: ApJ, in pres
A dynamical inconsistency of Horava gravity
The dynamical consistency of the non-projectable version of Horava gravity is
investigated by focusing on the asymptotically flat case. It is argued that for
generic solutions of the constraint equations the lapse must vanish
asymptotically. We then consider particular values of the coupling constants
for which the equations are tractable and in that case we prove that the lapse
must vanish everywhere -- and not only at infinity. Put differently, the
Hamiltonian constraints are generically all second-class. We then argue that
the same feature holds for generic values of the couplings, thus revealing a
physical inconsistency of the theory. In order to cure this pathology, one
might want to introduce further constraints but the resulting theory would then
lose much of the appeal of the original proposal by Horava. We also show that
there is no contradiction with the time reparametrization invariance of the
action, as this invariance is shown to be a so-called "trivial gauge symmetry"
in Horava gravity, hence with no associated first-class constraints.Comment: 28 pages, 2 references adde
Formation of asymmetric arms in barred galaxies
ABSTRACTWe establish a dynamical mechanism to explain the origin of the asymmetry between the arms observed in some barred disc galaxies, where one of the two arms emanating from the bar ends is very well defined, while the second one displays a ragged structure, extending between its ridge and the bar. To this purpose, we study the invariant manifolds associated with the Lyapunov periodic orbits around the unstable equilibrium points at the ends of the bar. Matter from the galaxy centre is transported along these manifolds to the periphery, forming this way the spiral arms that emanate from the bar ends. If the mass distribution in the galaxy centre is not homogeneous, because of an asymmetric bar with one side stronger than the other, or because of a non-centred bulge, the dynamics about the two unstable Lagrange points at the ends of the bar will not be symmetric as well. One of their invariant manifolds becomes more extended than the other, enclosing a smaller section and the escaping orbits on it are fewer and dispersed in a wider region. The result is a weaker arm and more ragged than the one at the other end of the bar
The connection between the radio jet and the gamma-ray emission in the radio galaxy 3C 120
We present the analysis of the radio jet evolution of the radio galaxy 3C 120
during a period of prolonged gamma-ray activity detected by the Fermi satellite
between December 2012 and October 2014. We find a clear connection between the
gamma-ray and radio emission, such that every period of gamma-ray activity is
accompanied by the flaring of the mm-VLBI core and subsequent ejection of a new
superluminal component. However, not all ejections of components are associated
with gamma-ray events detectable by Fermi. Clear gamma-ray detections are
obtained only when components are moving in a direction closer to our line of
sight.This suggests that the observed gamma-ray emission depends not only on
the interaction of moving components with the mm-VLBI core, but also on their
orientation with respect to the observer. Timing of the gamma-ray detections
and ejection of superluminal components locate the gamma-ray production to
within almost 0.13 pc from the mm-VLBI core, which was previously estimated to
lie about 0.24 pc from the central black hole. This corresponds to about twice
the estimated extension of the broad line region, limiting the external photon
field and therefore suggesting synchrotron self Compton as the most probable
mechanism for the production of the gamma-ray emission. Alternatively, the
interaction of components with the jet sheath can provide the necessary photon
field to produced the observed gamma-rays by Compton scattering.Comment: Already accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Exploring high temperature magnetic order in CeTi_1-xSc_xGe
Most of magnetic transitions related to Ce ordering are found below
T_ord~12K. Among the few cases exceeding that temperature, two types of
behaviors can be distinguished. One of them is related to the rare cases of Ce
binary compounds formed in BCC structures, with a quartet ground state, whose
degeneracy is reduced by undergoing different types of transitions mostly
structural. The other group shows evidences of itinerant character with the
outstanding example of CeRh_3B_2 showing the highest T_ord=115K. The second
highest ordering temperature has been reported for CeScGe with T_ord=47K, but
the nature of this magnetic state has not been investigated very deeply. In
order to shed more light into this unusual high temperature ordering we studied
the structural, magnetic, transport and thermal properties of CeTi_1-xSc_xGe
alloys in the stability range of the CeScSi-type structure 0.25<x<1 This system
presents a rich variety of magnetic behaviors along this concentration range,
with the magnetic ordering growing from ferromagnetic (FM) T_C~7K up to an
antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at T_N=47K. The different regions show the
following characteristics: i) on the Ti rich side (0.25<x<0.50) it exhibits a
FM ground state (GS) with large saturation magnetization values M_sat up to
~1.15 mu_B. ii) Around x=0.60, the first crystal electric field excited doublet
starts to contribute to the GS magnetic properties. Furthermore an AFM
component with a connected metamagnetic transition appears. iii) At x=0.65 a
clear change in the GS nature is associated to a critical point above which the
GS properties can be described like for an itinerant system (with decreasing
M_sat) and an effective GS degeneracy N_eff=4. iv) For x>0.65, the magnetic
phase boundary splits into two transitions, with an intermediate phase
presenting incommensurate spin density waves features.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure
Optical spectra of selected Chamaeleon I young stellar objects
We present optical spectra of eight candidate brown dwarfs and a previously
known T Tauri star (Sz 33) of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud. We derived spectral
types based on the strength of the TiO or VO absorption bands present in the
spectra of these objects as well as on the PC3 index of Martin et al. (1999).
Photometric data from the literature are used to estimate the bolometric
luminosities for these sources. We apply D'Antona & Mazzitelli (1997) pre-main
sequence evolutionary tracks and isochrones to derive masses and ages. Based on
the presence of Halpha in emission, we confirm that most of the candidates are
young objects. Our sample however includes two sources for which we can only
provide upper limits for the emission in Halpha; whereas these two objects are
most likely foreground/background stars, higher resolution spectra are required
to confirm their true nature. Among the likely cloud members, we detect one new
sub-stellar object and three transition stellar/sub-stellar sources.Comment: 22 pages - manuscript forma
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