2,781,710 research outputs found
Effects of Defects on Friction for a Xe Film Sliding on Ag(111)
The effects of a step defect and a random array of point defects (such as
vacancies or substitutional impurities) on the force of friction acting on a
xenon monolayer film as it slides on a silver (111) substrate are studied by
molecular dynamic simulations and compared with the results of lowest order
perturbation theory in the substrate corrugation potential. For the case of a
step, the magnitude and velocity dependence of the friction force are strongly
dependent on the direction of sliding respect to the step and the corrugation
strength. When the applied force F is perpendicular to the step, the film is
pinned forF less than a critical force Fc. Motion of the film along the step,
however, is not pinned. Fluctuations in the sliding velocity in time provide
evidence of both stick-slip motion and thermally activated creep. Simulations
done with a substrate containing a 5 percent concentration of random point
defects for various directions of the applied force show that the film is
pinned for the force below a critical value. The critical force, however, is
still much lower than the effective inertial force exerted on the film by the
oscillations of the substrate in experiments done with a quartz crystal
microbalance (QCM). Lowest order perturbation theory in the substrate potential
is shown to give results consistent with the simulations, and it is used to
give a physical picture of what could be expected for real surfaces which
contain many defects.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures, latex plus postscript files for figure
Relativistic Positioning Systems: The Emission Coordinates
This paper introduces some general properties of the gravitational metric and
the natural basis of vectors and covectors in 4-dimensional emission
coordinates. Emission coordinates are a class of space-time coordinates defined
and generated by 4 emitters (satellites) broadcasting their proper time by
means of electromagnetic signals. They are a constitutive ingredient of the
simplest conceivable relativistic positioning systems. Their study is aimed to
develop a theory of these positioning systems, based on the framework and
concepts of general relativity, as opposed to introducing `relativistic
effects' in a classical framework. In particular, we characterize the causal
character of the coordinate vectors, covectors and 2-planes, which are of an
unusual type. We obtain the inequality conditions for the contravariant metric
to be Lorentzian, and the non-trivial and unexpected identities satisfied by
the angles formed by each pair of natural vectors. We also prove that the
metric can be naturally split in such a way that there appear 2 parameters
(scalar functions) dependent exclusively on the trajectory of the emitters,
hence independent of the time broadcast, and 4 parameters, one for each
emitter, scaling linearly with the time broadcast by the corresponding
satellite, hence independent of the others.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Only format changed for a new submission.
Submitted to Class. Quantum Gra
On the dependence of the leak-rate of seals on the skewness of the surface height probability distribution
Seals are extremely useful devices to prevent fluid leakage. We present
experimental result which show that the leak-rate of seals depend sensitively
on the skewness in the height probability distribution. The experimental data
are analyzed using the critical-junction theory. We show that using the
top-power spectrum result in good agreement between theory and experiment.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figure
On acoustic propagation in three-dimensional rectangular ducts with flexible walls and porous linings
This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below - Copyright @ 2012 Acoustical Society of AmericaThe focus of this article is toward the development of hybrid analytic-numerical mode-matching methods for model problems involving three-dimensional ducts of rectangular cross-section and with flexible walls. Such methods require first closed form analytic expressions for the natural fluid-structure coupled waveforms that propagate in each duct section and second the corresponding orthogonality relations. It is demonstrated how recent theory [Lawrie, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 465, 2347–2367 (2009)] may be extended to a wide class of three-dimensional ducts, for example, those with a flexible wall and a porous lining (modeled as an equivalent fluid) or those with a flexible internal structure, such as a membrane (the “drum-like” silencer). Two equivalent expressions for the eigenmodes of a given duct can be formulated. For the ducts considered herein, the first ansatz is dependent on the eigenvalues/eigenfunctions appropriate for wave propagation in the corresponding two-dimensional flexible-walled duct, whereas the second takes the form of a Fourier series. The latter offers two advantages: no “root-finding” is involved and the method is appropriate for ducts in which the flexible wall is orthotropic. The first ansatz, however, provides important information about the orthogonality properties of the three-dimensional eigenmodes
A Gauge-fixed Hamiltonian for Lattice QCD
We study the gauge fixing of lattice QCD in 2+1 dimensions, in the
Hamiltonian formulation. The technique easily generalizes to other theories and
dimensions. The Hamiltonian is rewritten in terms of variables which are gauge
invariant except under a single global transformation. This paper extends
previous work, involving only pure gauge theories, to include matter fields.Comment: 7 pages of LaTeX, RU-92-45 and BUHEP-92-3
Generalizing Quantum Mechanics for Quantum Gravity
`How do our ideas about quantum mechanics affect our understanding of
spacetime?' This familiar question leads to quantum gravity. The complementary
question is also important: `How do our ideas about spacetime affect our
understanding of quantum mechanics?' This short abstract of a talk given at the
Gafka2004 conference contains a very brief summary of some of the author's
papers on generalizations of quantum mechanics needed for quantum gravity. The
need for generalization is motivated. The generalized quantum theory framework
for such generalizations is described and illustrated for usual quantum
mechanics and a number of examples to which it does not apply. These include
spacetime alternatives extended over time, time-neutral quantum theory, quantum
field theory in fixed background spacetime not foliable by spacelike surfaces,
and systems with histories that move both forward and backward in time. A fully
four-dimensional, sum-over-histories generalized quantum theory of cosmological
geometries is briefly described. The usual formulation of quantum theory in
terms of states evolving unitarily through spacelike surfaces is an
approximation to this more general framework that is appropriate in the late
universe for coarse-grained descriptions of geometry in which spacetime behaves
classically. This abstract is unlikely to be clear on its own, but references
are provided to the author's works where the ideas can be followed up.Comment: 8 pages, LATEX, a very brief abstract of much wor
Optical non-reciprocity in magnetic structures related to high-Tc superconductors
Recent neutron scattering [1,2], and optical measurements [3,4] have detected
evidence in underdoped cuprate superconductors for a phase transition near the
pseudogap onset temperature T* to a time reversal-breaking state. The neutron
scattering indicates antiferromagnetic ordering, while it is often assumed that
optical polarization rotation requires at least a weak ferromagnetic component.
In this note we identify several antiferromagnetic structures, compatible with
neutron scattering data, that allow intrinsic polarization rotation through the
magnetoelectic effect
The C-metric as a colliding plane wave space-time
It is explicitly shown that part of the C-metric space-time inside the black
hole horizon may be interpreted as the interaction region of two colliding
plane waves with aligned linear polarization, provided the rotational
coordinate is replaced by a linear one. This is a one-parameter generalization
of the degenerate Ferrari-Ibanez solution in which the focussing singularity is
a Cauchy horizon rather than a curvature singularity.Comment: 6 pages. To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit
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