429 research outputs found
Where surface physics and fluid dynamics meet: rupture of an amphiphile layer by fluid flow
We investigate the fluctuating pattern created by a jet of fluid impingent
upon an amphiphile-covered surface. This microscopically thin layer is
initially covered with 50 m floating particles so that the layer can be
visualized. A vertical jet of water located below the surface and directed
upward drives a hole in this layer. The hole is particle-free and is surrounded
by the particle-laden amphiphile region. The jet ruptures the amphiphile layer
creating a particle-free region that is surrounded by the particle-covered
surface. The aim of the experiment is to understand the (fluctuating) shape of
the ramified interface between the particle-laden and particle-free regions.Comment: published in Journal of Chemical Physic
Folding Langmuir Monolayers
The maximum pressure a two-dimensional surfactant monolayer is able to
withstand is limited by the collapse instability towards formation of
three-dimensional material. We propose a new description for reversible
collapse based on a mathematical analogy between the formation of folds in
surfactant monolayers and the formation of Griffith Cracks in solid plates
under stress. The description, which is tested in a combined microscopy and
rheology study of the collapse of a single-phase Langmuir monolayer of
2-hydroxy-tetracosanoic acid (2-OH TCA), provides a connection between the
in-plane rheology of LM's and reversible folding
Static Scaling Behavior of High-Molecular-Weight Polymers in Dilute Solution: A Reexamination
Previous theories of dilute polymer solutions have failed to distinguish
clearly between two very different ways of taking the long-chain limit: (I) at fixed temperature , and (II) ,
with fixed. I argue that the modern
two-parameter theory (continuum Edwards model) applies to case II --- not case
I --- and in fact gives exactly the crossover scaling functions for
modulo two nonuniversal scale factors. A Wilson-type renormalization group
clarifies the connection between crossover scaling functions and continuum
field theories. [Also contains a general discussion of the connection between
the Wilson and field-theoretic renormalization groups. Comments solicited.]Comment: 10 pages including 1 figure, 181159 bytes Postscript
(NYU-TH-93/05/01
Avoided Critical Behavior in O(n) Systems
Long-range frustrating interactions, even if their strength is infinitesimal,
can give rise to a dramatic proliferations of ground or near-ground states. As
a consequence, the ordering temperature can exhibit a discontinuous drop as a
function of the frustration. A simple model of the doped Mott insulator, where
the short-range tendency of the holes to phase separate competes with
long-range Coulomb effects, exhibits this "avoided critical" behavior. This
model may serve as a paradigm for many other systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Reversible Random Sequential Adsorption of Dimers on a Triangular Lattice
We report on simulations of reversible random sequential adsorption of dimers
on three different lattices: a one-dimensional lattice, a two-dimensional
triangular lattice, and a two-dimensional triangular lattice with the nearest
neighbors excluded. In addition to the adsorption of particles at a rate K+, we
allow particles to leave the surface at a rate K-. The results from the
one-dimensional lattice model agree with previous results for the continuous
parking lot model. In particular, the long-time behavior is dominated by
collective events involving two particles. We were able to directly confirm the
importance of two-particle events in the simple two-dimensional triangular
lattice. For the two-dimensional triangular lattice with the nearest neighbors
excluded, the observed dynamics are consistent with this picture. The
two-dimensional simulations were motivated by measurements of Ca++ binding to
Langmuir monolayers. The two cases were chosen to model the effects of changing
pH in the experimental system.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
Interface dynamics for layered structures
We investigate dynamics of large scale and slow deformations of layered
structures. Starting from the respective model equations for a non-conserved
system, a conserved system and a binary fluid, we derive the interface
equations which are a coupled set of equations for deformations of the
boundaries of each domain. A further reduction of the degrees of freedom is
possible for a non-conserved system such that internal motion of each domain is
adiabatically eliminated. The resulting equation of motion contains only the
displacement of the center of gravity of domains, which is equivalent to the
phase variable of a periodic structure. Thus our formulation automatically
includes the phase dynamics of layered structures. In a conserved system and a
binary fluid, however, the internal motion of domains turns out to be a slow
variable in the long wavelength limit because of concentration conservation.
Therefore a reduced description only involving the phase variable is not
generally justified.Comment: 16 pages; Latex; revtex aps; one figure. Revision: screened coulomb
interaction with coulomb limi
Universality in the Screening Cloud of Dislocations Surrounding a Disclination
A detailed analytical and numerical analysis for the dislocation cloud
surrounding a disclination is presented. The analytical results show that the
combined system behaves as a single disclination with an effective fractional
charge which can be computed from the properties of the grain boundaries
forming the dislocation cloud. Expressions are also given when the crystal is
subjected to an external two-dimensional pressure. The analytical results are
generalized to a scaling form for the energy which up to core energies is given
by the Young modulus of the crystal times a universal function. The accuracy of
the universality hypothesis is numerically checked to high accuracy. The
numerical approach, based on a generalization from previous work by S. Seung
and D.R. Nelson ({\em Phys. Rev A 38:1005 (1988)}), is interesting on its own
and allows to compute the energy for an {\em arbitrary} distribution of
defects, on an {\em arbitrary geometry} with an arbitrary elastic {\em energy}
with very minor additional computational effort. Some implications for recent
experimental, computational and theoretical work are also discussed.Comment: 35 pages, 21 eps file
Hexatic Order and Surface Ripples in Spherical Geometries
In flat geometries, two dimensional hexatic order has only a minor effect on
capillary waves on a liquid substrate and on undulation modes in lipid
bilayers. However, extended bond orientational order alters the long wavelength
spectrum of these ripples in spherical geometries. We calculate this frequency
shift and suggest that it might be detectable in lipid bilayer vesicles, at the
surface of liquid metals and in multielectron bubbles in liquid helium at low
temperatures. Hexatic order also leads to a shift in the threshold for the
fission instability induced in the later two systems by an excess of electric
charge.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; revised version; to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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