The creeping motion of a spherical particle normal to a deformable interface

Numerical results are presented for the approach of a rigid sphere normal to a deformable fluid-fluid interface in the velocity range for which inertial effects may be neglected. Both the case of a sphere moving with constant velocity, and that of a sphere moving under the action of a constant non-hydrodynamic body force are considered for several values of the viscosity ratio, density difference and interfacial tension between the two fluids. Two distinct modes of interface deformation are demonstrated: a film drainage mode in which fluid drains away in front of the sphere leaving an ever-thinning film, and a tailing mode where the sphere passes several radii beyond the plane of the initially undeformed interface, while remaining encapsulated by the original surrounding fluid which is connected with its main body by a thin thread-like tail behind the sphere. We consider the influence of the viscosity ratio, density difference, interfacial tension and starting position of the sphere in deter-mining which of these two modes of deformation will occur

Energetic electrons in the midlatitude nighttime E region

Nike Apache 14.439 was launched from Wallops Island at 0003 EST on 1 November 1972, a very disturbed night (K sub P = 8). A Geiger counter in the payload detected electrons ( keV) with a maximum flux of 1086 + or -261/sq cm/sec/ster. The height-averaged ionization rate in the upper E region is calculated from the measured electron density profile and has a value of 35 1/cu/cm/sec. The ionization rate can be reconciled with the observed flux of electrons ( 70 2 keV) if the spectrum ( keV) is of the form J ( E) = J sub O exp(-E/E sub O) with E sub O equal to 8.3 keV. The ionization rate on this and other nights is found to be strongly dependent on geomagnetic activity. It is suggested that energetic electrons are the principal source of ionization at midlatitudes in the upper E region near midnight, even under rather quiet geomagnetic conditions

Hot electrons in low-dimensional phonon systems

A simple bulk model of electron-phonon coupling in metals has been surprisingly successful in explaining experiments on metal films that actually involve surface- or other low-dimensional phonons. However, by an exact application of this standard model to a semi-infinite substrate with a free surface, making use of the actual vibrational modes of the substrate, we show that such agreement is fortuitous, and that the model actually predicts a low-temperature crossover from the familiar T^5 temperature dependence to a stronger T^6 log T scaling. Comparison with existing experiments suggests a widespread breakdown of the standard model of electron-phonon thermalization in metals

Chiral persistent currents and magnetic susceptibilities in the parafermion quantum Hall states in the second Landau level with Aharonov-Bohm flux

Using the effective conformal field theory for the quantum Hall edge states we propose a compact and convenient scheme for the computation of the periods, amplitudes and temperature behavior of the chiral persistent currents and the magnetic susceptibilities in the mesoscopic disk version of the Z_k parafermion quantum Hall states in the second Landau level. Our numerical calculations show that the persistent currents are periodic in the Aharonov-Bohm flux with period exactly one flux quantum and have a diamagnetic nature. In the high-temperature regime their amplitudes decay exponentially with increasing the temperature and the corresponding exponents are universal characteristics of non-Fermi liquids. Our theoretical results for these exponents are in perfect agreement with those extracted from the numerical data and demonstrate that there is in general a non-trivial contribution coming from the neutral sector. We emphasize the crucial role of the non-holomorphic factors, first proposed by Cappelli and Zemba in the context of the conformal field theory partition functions for the quantum Hall states, which ensure the invariance of the annulus partition function under the Laughlin spectral flow.Comment: 14 pages, RevTeX4, 7 figures (eps

Quantum interference and electron-electron interactions at strong spin-orbit coupling in disordered systems

Transport and thermodynamic properties of disordered conductors are considerably modified when the angle through which the electron spin precesses due to spin-orbit interaction (SOI) during the mean free time becomes significant. Cooperon and Diffusion equations are solved for the entire range of strength of SOI. The implications of SOI for the electron-electron interaction and interference effects in various experimental settings are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX, 1 eps.figure Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Indirect coupling between spins in semiconductor quantum dots

The optically induced indirect exchange interaction between spins in two quantum dots is investigated theoretically. We present a microscopic formulation of the interaction between the localized spin and the itinerant carriers including the effects of correlation, using a set of canonical transformations. Correlation effects are found to be of comparable magnitude as the direct exchange. We give quantitative results for realistic quantum dot geometries and find the largest couplings for one dimensional systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Electron cyclotron resonance near the axis of the gas-dynamic trap

Propagation of an extraordinary electromagnetic wave in the vicinity of electron cyclotron resonance surface in an open linear trap is studied analytically, taking into account inhomogeneity of the magnetic field in paraxial approximation. Ray trajectories are derived from a reduced dispersion equation that makes it possible to avoid the difficulty associated with a transition from large propagation angles to the case of strictly longitudinal propagation. Our approach is based on the theory, originally developed by the Zvonkov and Timofeev [1], who used the paraxial approximation for the magnetic field strength, but did not consider the slope of the magnetic field lines, which led to considerable error, as has been recently noted by Gospodchikov and Smolyakova [2]. We have found ray trajectories in analytic form and demonstrated that the inhomogeneity of both the magnetic field strength and the field direction can qualitatively change the picture of wave propagation and significantly affect the efficiency of electron cyclotron heating of a plasma in a linear magnetic trap. Analysis of the ray trajectories has revealed a criterion for the resonance point on the axis of the trap to be an attractor for the ray trajectories. It is also shown that a family of ray trajectories can still reach the resonance point on the axis if the latter generally repels the ray trajectories. As an example, results of general theory are applied to the electron cyclotron resonance heating experiment which is under preparation on the Gas Dynamic Trap in the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics [3]

Phase-Coherent Transport through a Mesoscopic System: A New Probe of Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior

A novel chiral interferometer is proposed that allows for a direct measurement of the phase of the transmission coefficient for transport through a variety of mesoscopic structures in a strong magnetic field. The effects of electron-electron interaction on this phase is investigated with the use of finite-size bosonization techniques combined with perturbation theory resummation. New non-Fermi-liquid phenomena are predicted in the FQHE regime that may be used to distinguish experimentally between Luttinger and Fermi liquids.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Revte

Phonons in a Nanoparticle Mechanically Coupled to a Substrate

The discrete nature of the vibrational modes of an isolated nanometer-scale solid dramatically modifies its low-energy electron and phonon dynamics from that of a bulk crystal. However, nanocrystals are usually coupled--even if only weakly--to an environment consisting of other nanocrystals, a support matrix, or a solid substrate, and this environmental interaction will modify the vibrational properties at low frequencies. In this paper we investigate the modification of the vibrational modes of an insulating spherical nanoparticle caused by a weak {\it mechanical} coupling to a semi-infinite substrate. The phonons of the bulk substrate act as a bath of harmonic oscillators, and the coupling to this reservoir shifts and broadens the nanoparticle's modes. The vibrational density of states in the nanoparticle is obtained by solving the Dyson equation for the phonon propagator, and we show that environmental interaction is especially important at low frequencies. As a probe of the modified phonon spectrum, we consider nonradiative energy relaxation of a localized electronic impurity state in the nanoparticle, for which good agreement with experiment is found.Comment: 10 pages, Revte