Inertial and dimensional effects on the instability of a thin film

We consider here the effects of inertia on the instability of a flat liquid film under the effects of capillary and intermolecular forces (van der Waals interaction). Firstly, we perform the linear stability analysis within the long wave approximation, which shows that the inclusion of inertia does not produce new regions of instability other than the one previously known from the usual lubrication case. The wavelength, $\lambda_m$, corresponding to he maximum growth, $\omega_m$, and the critical (marginal) wavelength do not change at all. The most affected feature of the instability under an increase of the Laplace number is the noticeable decrease of the growth rates of the unstable modes. In order to put in evidence the effects of the bidimensional aspects of the flow (neglected in the long wave approximation), we also calculate the dispersion relation of the instability from the linearized version of the complete Navier-Stokes (N-S) equation. Unlike the long wave approximation, the bidimensional model shows that $\lambda_m$ can vary significantly with inertia when the aspect ratio of the film is not sufficiently small. We also perform numerical simulations of the nonlinear N-S equations and analyze to which extent the linear predictions can be applied depending on both the amount of inertia involved and the aspect ratio of the film

Application du système d'acquisition de données Plurimat 20 en physique

Deux applications du système d'acquisition de données Plurimat 20 sont présentées. L'une concerne un appareil destiné à l'enregistrement automatique sur minicassette de 48 paramètres indépendants, quasi simultanément, provenant de mesures de grandeurs physiques (telles que des températures) codées en fréquence. L'échantillonnage des paramètres et le couplage de la minicassette au Plurimat 20 sont décrits. L'autre application a trait à l'acquisition d'événements corrélés en Physique Nucléaire ; une expérience de corrélation angulaire α-γ, par la réaction 18O(t, αγ) 17N, est décrite dans sa partie technique

Hitch-hiking effect and linkage disequilibrium: the example of two closely linked loci in the pig, Halothane Sensitivity (HAL) and Phosphohexose Isomerase (PHI)

International audienc

Relative contributions of solid skeleton visco-plasticity and water viscosity to the poro-mechanics behavior of callovo-oxfordian claystone

The Callovo-Oxfordian claystone is a saturated porous medium. Its transfer properties, including its low permeability [16] make it an interesting candidate for underground radioactive waste disposal. The drained tests performed on the claystone, collected by ANDRA1 from samples at 500 meters depth [16, 9], exhibits a damageable visco-elasto-plastic behavior. This viscous behavior includes both the viscosity of the skeleton and the water. In existing models [5, 6, 11, 1], the creep phenomena are attributed either to the water permeability, to the skeleton visco-plasticity or sometimes both [13]. In a first step, a simplified analysis is proposed to understand the contribution of each phenomenon with respect to the consolidation time. This study indicates that the apparent characteristic time is the sum of those related to the skeleton and water permeability. To handle both non-linear and viscous phenomena, the damage law [15], coupled with the basic creep model [14] is used to characterize the solid skeleton of the claystone. The fluid behavior is integrated with the poro-mechanical model [7] implemented in the finite element code CAST3M [4]. The proposed model (visco-elastic damageable skeleton + saturating fluid) is used to simulate an excavation from the ANDRA underground laboratory (located in Bure–France). This application allows the understanding of how both viscous phenomena combine at each step of the calculation. Just after the excavation, water overpressure decreases near the gallery approaching zero due to the damage and then increases the permeability. The viscosity is then controlled by the solid skeleton creep rates. Later, the redistribution of hydraulic pressure is of more importance and permeability again plays a major role

Formation of quantum dots in the potential fluctuations of InGaAs heterostructures probed by scanning gate microscopy

The disordered potential landscape in an InGaAs/InAlAs two-dimensional electron gas patterned into narrow wires is investigated by means of scanning gate microscopy. It is found that scanning a negatively charged tip above particular sites of the wires produces conductance oscillations that are periodic in the tip voltage. These oscillations take the shape of concentric circles whose number and diameter increase for more negative tip voltages until full depletion occurs in the probed region. These observations cannot be explained by charging events in material traps, but are consistent with Coulomb blockade in quantum dots forming when the potential fluctuations are raised locally at the Fermi level by the gating action of the tip. This interpretation is supported by simple electrostatic simulations in the case of a disorder potential induced by ionized dopants. This work represents a local investigation of the mechanisms responsible for the disorder-induced metal-to-insulator transition observed in macroscopic two-dimensional electron systems at low enough density

Local Density of States in Mesoscopic Samples from Scanning Gate Microscopy

We study the relationship between the local density of states (LDOS) and the conductance variation $\Delta G$ in scanning-gate-microscopy experiments on mesoscopic structures as a charged tip scans above the sample surface. We present an analytical model showing that in the linear-response regime the conductance shift $\Delta G$ is proportional to the Hilbert transform of the LDOS and hence a generalized Kramers-Kronig relation holds between LDOS and $\Delta G$. We analyze the physical conditions for the validity of this relationship both for one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems when several channels contribute to the transport. We focus on realistic Aharonov-Bohm rings including a random distribution of impurities and analyze the LDOS-$\Delta G$ correspondence by means of exact numerical simulations, when localized states or semi-classical orbits characterize the wavefunction of the system.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Scanning Gate Spectroscopy of transport across a Quantum Hall Nano-Island

We explore transport across an ultra-small Quantum Hall Island (QHI) formed by closed quan- tum Hall edge states and connected to propagating edge channels through tunnel barriers. Scanning gate microscopy and scanning gate spectroscopy are used to first localize and then study a single QHI near a quantum point contact. The presence of Coulomb diamonds in the spectroscopy con- firms that Coulomb blockade governs transport across the QHI. Varying the microscope tip bias as well as current bias across the device, we uncover the QHI discrete energy spectrum arising from electronic confinement and we extract estimates of the gradient of the confining potential and of the edge state velocity.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Imaging Electron Wave Functions Inside Open Quantum Rings

Combining Scanning Gate Microscopy (SGM) experiments and simulations, we demonstrate low temperature imaging of electron probability density $|\Psi|^{2}(x,y)$ in embedded mesoscopic quantum rings (QRs). The tip-induced conductance modulations share the same temperature dependence as the Aharonov-Bohm effect, indicating that they originate from electron wavefunction interferences. Simulations of both $|\Psi|^{2}(x,y)$ and SGM conductance maps reproduce the main experimental observations and link fringes in SGM images to $|\Psi|^{2}(x,y)$.Comment: new titl