Radial flow has little effect on clusterization at intermediate energies in the framework of the Lattice Gas Model

The Lattice Gas Model was extended to incorporate the effect of radial flow. Contrary to popular belief, radial flow has little effect on the clusterization process in intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions except adding an ordered motion to the particles in the fragmentation source. We compared the results from the lattice gas model with and without radial flow to experimental data. We found that charge yields from central collisions are not significantly affected by inclusion of any reasonable radial flow.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRC; Minor update and resubmitted to PR

Thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions in protective coating systems

A study of the aluminization of Ni from packs containing various percentages of unalloyed Al confirmed that the surface aluminum content of specimens aluminized tends to decrease with time and consequently a simple parabolic law for the weight-gain vs. time relationship is not obeyed. The diffusivity-composition relationship in NiAl was examined, and a set of curves is presented. A numerical method for the calculation of coating dissolution rates was developed and applied to NiAl-Ni3Al type of coatings

Bc spectroscopy in a quantum-chromodynamic potential model

We have investigated $B_c$ spectroscopy with the use of a quantum-chromodynamic potential model which was recently used by us for the light-heavy quarkonia. We give our predictions for the energy levels and the $E$1 transition widths. We also find, rather surprisingly, that although $B_c$ is not a light-heavy system, the heavy quark effective theory with the inclusion of the $m_b^{-1}$ and $m_b^{-1}\ln m_b$ corrections is as successful for $B_c$ as it is for $B$ and $B_s$.Comment: 10 page ReVTeX pape

Quantum-Chromodynamic Potential Model for Light-Heavy Quarkonia and the Heavy Quark Effective Theory

We have investigated the spectra of light-heavy quarkonia with the use of a quantum-chromodynamic potential model which is similar to that used earlier for the heavy quarkonia. An essential feature of our treatment is the inclusion of the one-loop radiative corrections to the quark-antiquark potential, which contribute significantly to the spin-splittings among the quarkonium energy levels. Unlike $c\bar{c}$ and $b\bar{b}$, the potential for a light-heavy system has a complicated dependence on the light and heavy quark masses $m$ and $M$, and it contains a spin-orbit mixing term. We have obtained excellent results for the observed energy levels of $D^0$, $D_s$, $B^0$, and $B_s$, and we are able to provide predicted results for many unobserved energy levels. Our potential parameters for different quarkonia satisfy the constraints of quantum chromodynamics. We have also used our investigation to test the accuracy of the heavy quark effective theory. We find that the heavy quark expansion yields generally good results for the $B^0$ and $B_s$ energy levels provided that $M^{-1}$ and $M^{-1}\ln M$ corrections are taken into account in the quark-antiquark interactions. It does not, however, provide equally good results for the energy levels of $D^0$ and $D_s$, which indicates that the effective theory can be applied more accurately to the $b$ quark than the $c$ quark.Comment: 17 pages of LaTeX. To appear in Physical Review D. Complete PostScript file is available via WWW at http://gluon.physics.wayne.edu/wsuhep/jim/heavy.p

Nanocrystallization and Amorphization Induced by Reactive Nitrogen Sputtering in Iron and Permalloy

Thin films of iron and permalloy Ni80Fe20 were prepared using an Ar+N2 mixture with magnetron sputtering technique at ambient temperature. The nitrogen partial pressure, during sputtering process was varied in the range of 0 to 100%, keeping the total gas flow at constant. At lower nitrogen pressures RN2<33% both Fe and NiFe, first form a nanocrystalline structure and an increase in nitrogen partail pressure results in formation of an amorphous structure. At intermediate nitrogen partial pressures, nitrides of Fe and NiFe were obtained while at even higher nitrogen partial pressures, nitrides themselves became nanocrystalline or amorphous. The surface, structural and magnetic properties of the deposited films were studied using x-ray reflection and diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, polarized neutron reflectivity and using a DC extraction magnetometer. The growth behavior for amorphous film was found different as compared with poly or nanocrystalline films. The soft-magnetic properties of FeN were improved on nanocrystallization while those of NiFeN were degraded. A mechanism inducing nanocrystallization and amorphization in Fe and NiFe due to reactive nitrogen sputtering is discussed in the present article.Comment: 13 Pages, 15 Figure

Tracking the phase-transition energy in disassembly of hot nuclei

In efforts to determine phase transitions in the disintegration of highly excited heavy nuclei, a popular practice is to parametrise the yields of isotopes as a function of temperature in the form $Y(z)=z^{-\tau}f(z^{\sigma}(T-T_0))$, where $Y(z)$'s are the measured yields and $\tau, \sigma$ and $T_0$ are fitted to the yields. Here $T_0$ would be interpreted as the phase transition temperature. For finite systems such as those obtained in nuclear collisions, this parametrisation is only approximate and hence allows for extraction of $T_0$ in more than one way. In this work we look in detail at how values of $T_0$ differ, depending on methods of extraction. It should be mentioned that for finite systems, this approximate parametrisation works not only at the critical point, but also for first order phase transitions (at least in some models). Thus the approximate fit is no guarantee that one is seeing a critical phenomenon. A different but more conventional search for the nuclear phase transition would look for a maximum in the specific heat as a function of temperature $T_2$. In this case $T_2$ is interpreted as the phase transition temperature. Ideally $T_0$ and $T_2$ would coincide. We invesigate this possibility, both in theory and from the ISiS data, performing both canonical ($T$) and microcanonical ($e=E^*/A$) calculations. Although more than one value of $T_0$ can be extracted from the approximate parmetrisation, the work here points to the best value from among the choices. Several interesting results, seen in theoretical calculations, are borne out in experiment.Comment: Revtex, 10 pages including 8 figures and 2 table

Temperature determination from the lattice gas model

Determination of temperature from experimental data has become important in searches for critical phenomena in heavy ion collisions. Widely used methods are ratios of isotopes (which rely on chemical and thermal equilibrium), population ratios of excited states etc. Using the lattice gas model we propose a new observable: $n_{ch}/Z$ where $n_{ch}$ is the charge multiplicity and $Z$ is the charge of the fragmenting system. We show that the reduced multiplicity is a good measure of the average temperature of the fragmenting system.Comment: 11 pages, 2 ps file

Zone center phonons of the orthorhombic RMnO3 (R = Pr, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho) perovskites

A short range force constant model (SRFCM) has been applied for the first time to investigate the phonons in RMnO3 (R = Pr, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho) perovskites in their orthorhombic phase. The calculations with 17 stretching and bending force constants provide good agreement for the observed Raman frequencies. The infrared frequencies have been assigned for the first time. PACS Codes: 36.20.Ng, 33.20.Fb, 34.20.CfComment: 8 pages, 1 figur