22,444 research outputs found
Frequency Dependent Specific Heat from Thermal Effusion in Spherical Geometry
We present a novel method of measuring the frequency dependent specific heat
at the glass transition applied to 5-polyphenyl-4-ether. The method employs
thermal waves effusing radially out from the surface of a spherical thermistor
that acts as both a heat generator and thermometer. It is a merit of the method
compared to planar effusion methods that the influence of the mechanical
boundary conditions are analytically known. This implies that it is the
longitudinal rather than the isobaric specific heat that is measured. As
another merit the thermal conductivity and specific heat can be found
independently. The method has highest sensitivity at a frequency where the
thermal diffusion length is comparable to the radius of the heat generator.
This limits in practise the frequency range to 2-3 decades. An account of the
3omega-technique used including higher order terms in the temperature
dependency of the thermistor and in the power generated is furthermore given.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, Substantially revised versio
Lattice vibrations and structural instability in Cesium near the cubic to tetragonal transition
Under pressure cesium undergoes a transition from a high-pressure fcc phase
(Cs-II) to a collapsed fcc phase (Cs-III) near 4.2GPa. At 4.4GPa there follows
a transition to the tetragonal Cs-IV phase. In order to investigate the lattice
vibrations in the fcc phase and seek a possible dynamical instability of the
lattice, the phonon spectra of fcc-Cs at volumes near the III-IV transition are
calculated using Savrasov's density functional linear-response LMTO method.
Compared with quasiharmonic model calculations including non-central
interatomic forces up to second neighbours, at the volume (
is the experimental volume of bcc-Cs with =6.048{\AA}), the
linear-response calculations show soft intermediate wavelength
phonons. Similar softening is also observed for
short wavelength and phonons and intermediate
wavelength phonons. The Born-von K\'{a}rm\'{a}n analysis of
dispersion curves indicates that the interplanar force constants exhibit
oscillating behaviours against plane spacing and the large softening of
intermediate wavelength phonons results from a
negative (110)-interplanar force-constant . The frequencies of the
phonons with around 1/3 become imaginary
and the fcc structure becomes dynamically unstable for volumes below .
It is suggested that superstructures corresponding to the
soft mode should be present as a precursor of tetragonal Cs-IV structure.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Stellar Oscillations Network Group
Stellar Oscillations Network Group (SONG) is an initiative aimed at designing
and building a network of 1m-class telescopes dedicated to asteroseismology and
planet hunting. SONG will have 8 identical telescope nodes each equipped with a
high-resolution spectrograph and an iodine cell for obtaining precision radial
velocities and a CCD camera for guiding and imaging purposes. The main
asteroseismology targets for the network are the brightest (V<6) stars. In
order to improve performance and reduce maintenance costs the instrumentation
will only have very few modes of operation. In this contribution we describe
the motivations for establishing a network, the basic outline of SONG and the
expected performance.Comment: Proc. Vienna Workshop on the Future of Asteroseismology, 20 - 22
September 2006. Comm. in Asteroseismology, Vol. 150, in the pres
A study of quantum decoherence in a system with Kolmogorov-Arnol'd-Moser tori
We present an experimental and numerical study of the effects of decoherence
on a quantum system whose classical analogue has Kolmogorov-Arnol'd-Moser (KAM)
tori in its phase space. Atoms are prepared in a caesium magneto-optical trap
at temperatures and densities which necessitate a quantum description. This
real quantum system is coupled to the environment via spontaneous emission. The
degree of coupling is varied and the effects of this coupling on the quantum
coherence of the system are studied. When the classical diffusion through a
partially broken torus is < hbar, diffusion of quantum particles is inhibited.
We find that increasing decoherence via spontaneous emission increases the
transport of quantum particles through the boundary.Comment: 19 pages including 6 figure
New representation and a vacuum state for canonical quantum gravity
A new representation for canonical gravity and supergravity is presented,
which combines advantages of Ashtekar's and the Wheeler~DeWitt representation:
it has a nice geometric structure and the singular metric problem is absent. A
formal state functional can be given, which has some typical features of a
vacuum state in quantum field theory. It can be canonically transformed into
the metric representation. Transforming the constraints too, one recovers the
Wheeler~DeWitt equation up to an anomalous term. A modified Dirac quantization
is proposed to handle possible anomalies in the constraint algebra.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe
Significance of Off-Center Rattling for Emerging Low-lying THz Modes in type-I Clathrates
We show that the distinct differences of low-lying THz-frequency dynamics
between type-I clathrates with on-center and off-center guest ions naturally
follow from a theoretical model taking into account essential features of the
dynamics of rattling guest ions. Our model analysis demonstrates the drastic
change from the conventional dynamics shown by on-center systems to the
peculiar dynamics of off-center systems in a unified manner. We claim that
glass-like plateau thermal conductivities observed for off-center systems stem
from the flattening of acoustic phonon dispersion in the regime |k|<|G|/4. The
mechanism is applicable to other systems such as glasses or relaxers
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