17,862 research outputs found
Symmetry breaking and clustering in a vibrated granular gas with several macroscopically connected compartments
The spontaneous symmetry breaking in a vibro-fluidized low-density granular
gas in three connected compartments is investigated. When the total number of
particles in the system becomes large enough, particles distribute themselves
unequally among the three compartments. Particles tend to concentrate in one of
the compartments, the other two having the (relatively small) same average
number of particles. A hydrodynamical model that accurately predicts the
bifurcation diagram of the system is presented. The theory can be easily
extended to the case of an arbitrary number of connected compartments
Optical absorption of divalent metal tungstates: Correlation between the band-gap energy and the cation ionic radius
We have carried out optical-absorption and reflectance measurements at room
temperature in single crystals of AWO4 tungstates (A = Ba, Ca, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sr,
and Zn). From the experimental results their band-gap energy has been
determined to be 5.26 eV (BaWO4), 5.08 eV (SrWO4), 4.94 eV (CaWO4), 4.15 eV
(CdWO4), 3.9-4.4 eV (ZnWO4), 3.8-4.2 eV (PbWO4), and 2.3 eV (CuWO4). The
results are discussed in terms of the electronic structure of the studied
tungstates. It has been found that those compounds where only the s electron
states of the A2+ cation hybridize with the O 2p and W 5d states (e.g BaWO4)
have larger band-gap energies than those where also p, d, and f states of the
A2+ cation contribute to the top of the valence band and the bottom of the
conduction band (e.g. PbWO4). The results are of importance in view of the
large discrepancies existent in prevoiusly published data.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Emergence of simple patterns in many-body systems: from macroscopic objects to the atomic nucleus
Strongly correlated many-body systems often display the emergence of simple
patterns and regular behaviour of their global properties. Phenomena such as
clusterization, collective motion and appearance of shell structures are
commonly observed across different size, time, and energy scales in our
universe. Although at the microscopic level their individual parts are
described by complex interactions, the collective behaviour of these systems
can exhibit strikingly regular patterns. This contribution provides an overview
of the experimental signatures that are commonly used to identify the emergence
of shell structures and collective phenomena in distinct physical systems.
Examples in macroscopic systems are presented alongside features observed in
atomic nuclei. The discussion is focused on the experimental trends observed
for exotic nuclei in the vicinity of nuclear closed-shells, and the new
challenges that recent experiments have posed in our understanding of emergent
phenomena in nuclei.Comment: Invited contribution prepared for the special issue of "The tower of
effective (field) theories and the emergence of nuclear phenomen
Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the characterization of pigments in prehistoric rock art
Non-linear response of single-molecule magnets: field-tuned quantum-to-classical crossovers
Quantum nanomagnets can show a field dependence of the relaxation time very
different from their classical counterparts, due to resonant tunneling via
excited states (near the anisotropy barrier top). The relaxation time then
shows minima at the resonant fields H_{n}=n D at which the levels at both sides
of the barrier become degenerate (D is the anisotropy constant). We showed that
in Mn12, near zero field, this yields a contribution to the nonlinear
susceptibility that makes it qualitatively different from the classical curves
[Phys. Rev. B 72, 224433 (2005)]. Here we extend the experimental study to
finite dc fields showing how the bias can trigger the system to display those
quantum nonlinear responses, near the resonant fields, while recovering an
classical-like behaviour for fields between them. The analysis of the
experiments is done with heuristic expressions derived from simple balance
equations and calculations with a Pauli-type quantum master equation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B, brief report
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