41,628 research outputs found
Optimal Estimates for the Electric Field in Two-Dimensions
The purpose of this paper is to set out optimal gradient estimates for
solutions to the isotropic conductivity problem in the presence of adjacent
conductivity inclusions as the distance between the inclusions goes to zero and
their conductivities degenerate. This difficult question arises in the study of
composite media. Frequently in composites, the inclusions are very closely
spaced and may even touch. It is quite important from a practical point of view
to know whether the electric field (the gradient of the potential) can be
arbitrarily large as the inclusions get closer to each other or to the boundary
of the background medium.
In this paper, we establish both upper and lower bounds on the electric field
in the case where two circular conductivity inclusions are very close but not
touching. We also obtain such bounds when a circular inclusion is very close to
the boundary of a circular domain which contains the inclusion. The novelty of
these estimates, which improve and make complete our earlier results published
in Math. Ann., is that they give an optimal information about the blow-up of
the electric field as the conductivities of the inclusions degenerate.Comment: 26 page
Enhancement of plasticity in Ti-based metallic glass matrix composites by controlling characteristic and volume fraction of primary phase
In this study, Ti-based metallic glass matrix composites with high plasticity have been developed by controlling characteristic and volume fraction of primary phase embedded in the glass matrix. By careful alloy design procedure, the compositions of ß/glass phases, which are in metastable equilibrium have been properly selected, therefore the mechanical properties can be tailored by selecting the alloy compositions between the composition of ß and glass phases. The relation between the compressive yield strength and volume fraction of ß phase is well described using the rule of mixtures
Defect Motion and Lattice Pinning Barrier in Josephson-Junction Ladders
We study motion of domain wall defects in a fully frustrated
Josephson-unction ladder system, driven by small applied currents. For small
system sizes, the energy barrier E_B to the defect motion is computed
analytically via symmetry and topological considerations. More generally, we
perform numerical simulations directly on the equations of motion, based on the
resistively-shunted junction model, to study the dynamics of defects, varying
the system size. Coherent motion of domain walls is observed for large system
sizes. In the thermodynamical limit, we find E_B=0.1827 in units of the
Josephson coupling energy.Comment: 7 pages, and to apear in Phys. Rev.
Critical currents for vortex defect motion in superconducting arrays
We study numerically the motion of vortices in two-dimensional arrays of
resistively shunted Josephson junctions. An extra vortex is created in the
ground states by introducing novel boundary conditions and made mobile by
applying external currents. We then measure critical currents and the
corresponding pinning energy barriers to vortex motion, which in the
unfrustrated case agree well with previous theoretical and experimental
findings. In the fully frustrated case our results also give good agreement
with experimental ones, in sharp contrast with the existing theoretical
prediction. A physical explanation is provided in relation with the vortex
motion observed in simulations.Comment: To appear in Physical Review
Resonant tunneling magnetoresistance in epitaxial metal-semiconductor heterostructures
We report on resonant tunneling magnetoresistance via localized states
through a ZnSe semiconducting barrier which can reverse the sign of the
effective spin polarization of tunneling electrons. Experiments performed on
Fe/ZnSe/Fe planar junctions have shown that positive, negative or even its
sign-reversible magnetoresistance can be obtained, depending on the bias
voltage, the energy of localized states in the ZnSe barrier and spatial
symmetry. The averaging of conduction over all localized states in a junction
under resonant condition is strongly detrimental to the magnetoresistance
Reactive-site mutants of N-TIMP-3 that selectively inhibit ADAMTS-4 and ADAMTS-5: biological and structural implications.
Published versio
Vibrations of closed-shell Lennard-Jones icosahedral and cuboctahedral clusters and their effect on the cluster ground state energy
Vibrational spectra of closed shell Lennard-Jones icosahedral and
cuboctahedral clusters are calculated for shell numbers between 2 and 9.
Evolution of the vibrational density of states with the cluster shell number is
examined and differences between icosahedral and cuboctahedral clusters
described. This enabled a quantum calculation of quantum ground state energies
of the clusters in the quasiharmonic approximation and a comparison of the
differences between the two types of clusters. It is demonstrated that in the
quantum treatment, the closed shell icosahedral clusters binding energies
differ from those of cuboctahedral clusters more than is the case in classical
treatment
Electron Temperature of Ultracold Plasmas
We study the evolution of ultracold plasmas by measuring the electron
temperature. Shortly after plasma formation, competition between heating and
cooling mechanisms drives the electron temperature to a value within a narrow
range regardless of the initial energy imparted to the electrons. In agreement
with theory predictions, plasmas exhibit values of the Coulomb coupling
parameter less than 1.Comment: 4 pages, plus four figure
Assessment of backfill hydraulic conductivity in an instrumented soil-bentonite cutoff wall
The objective of this paper is to present a comparison of measured hydraulic conductivities (k) for soil-bentonite (SB) backfill within a 60-m-long section of a 200-m-long, 7-m-deep cutoff wall constructed and instrumented for studying SB backfill properties and variability at the field scale. Backfill k was measured using flexible-wall tests (70-mm diameter) on remolded specimens prepared from surface grab samples collected during construction; flexible-wall tests on undisturbed specimens collected from the wall; larger-scale rigid-wall tests (150-mm diameter) on remolded specimens prepared from grab samples; and slug tests conducted within the wall. Applied effective stresses in the laboratory tests ranged from 4–35 kPa, encompassing the range of in-situ stresses measured in the backfill after load transfer and consolidation (8–13 kPa). The results indicate low spatial variability in k for a given test type, consistent with the observed homogeneity of the backfill. Modest variability in k was observed among the different test types, with the slug tests and rigid-wall tests generally yielding slightly higher k relative to the flexible-wall tests at field-representative stresses
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