640 research outputs found
Localization, Coulomb interactions and electrical heating in single-wall carbon nanotubes/polymer composites
Low field and high field transport properties of carbon nanotubes/polymer
composites are investigated for different tube fractions. Above the percolation
threshold f_c=0.33%, transport is due to hopping of localized charge carriers
with a localization length xi=10-30 nm. Coulomb interactions associated with a
soft gap Delta_CG=2.5 meV are present at low temperature close to f_c. We argue
that it originates from the Coulomb charging energy effect which is partly
screened by adjacent bundles. The high field conductivity is described within
an electrical heating scheme. All the results suggest that using composites
close to the percolation threshold may be a way to access intrinsic properties
of the nanotubes by experiments at a macroscopic scale.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Signature of small rings in the Raman spectra of normal and compressed amorphous silica: A combined classical and ab initio study
We calculate the parallel (VV) and perpendicular (VH) polarized Raman spectra
of amorphous silica. Model SiO2 glasses, uncompressed and compressed, were
generated by a combination of classical and ab initio molecular-dynamics
simulations and their dynamical matrices were computed within the framework of
the density functional theory. The Raman scattering intensities were determined
using the bond-polarizability model and a good agreement with experimental
spectra was found. We confirm that the modes associated to the fourfold and
threefold rings produce most of the Raman intensity of the D1 and D2 peaks,
respectively, in the VV Raman spectra. Modifications of the Raman spectra upon
compression are found to be in agreement with experimental data. We show that
the modes associated to the fourfold rings still exist upon compression but do
not produce a strong Raman intensity, whereas the ones associated to the
threefold rings do. This result strongly suggests that the area under the D1
and D2 peaks is not directly proportional to the concentration of small rings
in amorphous SiO2.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures. Phys. Rev. B, in pres
Experimental and topological determination of the pressure-temperature phase diagram of morniflumate, a pharmaceutical ingredient with anti-inflammatory properties
The pressure-temperature phase diagram of morniflumate (niflumic acid Ă-morpholinoethyl ester) has been obtained by high-pressure thermal analysis. In addition, calorimetric melting data (TIÂżL = (348.1 ± 0.4) K and ÂżHIÂżL = (89 ± 2) J·g-1) and the specific volumes of the solid and the liquid state have been obtained under normal pressure. Comparison of the measured high-pressure melting data with the equilibrium curve obtained through the Clapeyron equation indicates that the initial slopes are the same (dP/dT = (2.96 ± 0.06) MPa·K-1) at the melting point under normal pressure. The fact that the Clapeyron equation can be used to construct topological phase diagrams may be of interest for the food and pharmaceutical industries.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Variational Mean Field approach to the Double Exchange Model
It has been recently shown that the double exchange Hamiltonian, with weak
antiferromagnetic interactions, has a richer variety of first and second order
transitions than previously anticipated, and that such transitions are
consistent with the magnetic properties of manganites. Here we present a
thorough discussion of the variational Mean Field approach that leads to the
these results. We also show that the effect of the Berry phase turns out to be
crucial to produce first order Paramagnetic-Ferromagnetic transitions near half
filling with transition temperatures compatible with the experimental
situation. The computation relies on two crucial facts: the use of a Mean Field
ansatz that retains the complexity of a system of electrons with off-diagonal
disorder, not fully taken into account by the Mean Field techniques, and the
small but significant antiferromagnetic superexchange interaction between the
localized spins.Comment: 13 pages, 11 postscript figures, revte
Aggregation and Representation in the European Parliament Party Groups
While members of the European Parliament are elected in national constituencies, their votes are determined by the aggregation of MEPs in multinational party groups. The uncoordinated aggregation of national party programmes in multinational EP party groups challenges theories of representation based on national parties and parliaments. This article provides a theoretical means of understanding representation by linking the aggregation of dozens of national party programmes in different EP party groups to the aggregation of groups to produce the parliamentary majority needed to enact policies. Drawing on an original data source of national party programmes, the EU Profiler, the article shows that the EP majorities created by aggregating MEP votes in party groups are best explained by cartel theories. These give priority to strengthening the EPâs collective capacity to enact policies rather than voting in accord with the programmes they were nationally elected to represent
Stability and dynamics of free magnetic polarons
The stability and dynamics of a free magnetic polaron are studied by Monte
Carlo simulation of a classical two-dimensional Heisenberg model coupled to a
single electron. We compare our results to the earlier mean-field analysis of
the stability of the polaron, finding qualitative similarity but quantitative
differences. The dynamical simulations give estimates of the temperature
dependence of the polaron diffusion, as well as a crossover to a tunnelling
regime.Comment: 4 pages including 4 .eps figure
Reconciling MOND and dark matter?
Observations of galaxies suggest a one-to-one analytic relation between the
inferred gravity of dark matter at any radius and the enclosed baryonic mass, a
relation summarized by Milgrom's law of modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND).
However, present-day covariant versions of MOND usually require some additional
fields contributing to the geometry, as well as an additional hot dark matter
component to explain cluster dynamics and cosmology. Here, we envisage a
slightly more mundane explanation, suggesting that dark matter does exist but
is the source of MOND-like phenomenology in galaxies. We assume a canonical
action for dark matter, but also add an interaction term between baryonic
matter, gravity, and dark matter, such that standard matter effectively obeys
the MOND field equation in galaxies. We show that even the simplest realization
of the framework leads to a model which reproduces some phenomenological
predictions of cold dark matter (CDM) and MOND at those scales where these are
most successful. We also devise a more general form of the interaction term,
introducing the medium density as a new order parameter. This allows for new
physical effects which should be amenable to observational tests in the near
future. Hence, this very general framework, which can be furthermore related to
a generalized scalar-tensor theory, opens the way to a possible unification of
the successes of CDM and MOND at different scales.Comment: 9 page
Variable-range hopping in quasi-one-dimensional electron crystals
We study the effect of impurities on the ground state and the low-temperature
dc transport in a 1D chain and quasi-1D systems of many parallel chains. We
assume that strong interactions impose a short-range periodicicity of the
electron positions. The long-range order of such an electron crystal (or
equivalently, a charge-density wave) is destroyed by impurities. The 3D
array of chains behaves differently at large and at small impurity
concentrations . At large , impurities divide the chains into metallic
rods. The low-temperature conductivity is due to the variable-range hopping of
electrons between the rods. It obeys the Efros-Shklovskii (ES) law and
increases exponentially as decreases. When is small, the metallic-rod
picture of the ground state survives only in the form of rare clusters of
atypically short rods. They are the source of low-energy charge excitations. In
the bulk the charge excitations are gapped and the electron crystal is pinned
collectively. A strongly anisotropic screening of the Coulomb potential
produces an unconventional linear in energy Coulomb gap and a new law of the
variable-range hopping . remains
constant over a finite range of impurity concentrations. At smaller the
2/5-law is replaced by the Mott law, where the conductivity gets suppressed as
goes down. Thus, the overall dependence of on is nonmonotonic.
In 1D, the granular-rod picture and the ES apply at all . The conductivity
decreases exponentially with . Our theory provides a qualitative explanation
for the transport in organic charge-density wave compounds.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. (v1) The abstract is abridged to 24 lines. For
the full abstract, see the manuscript (v2) several changes in presentation
per referee's comments. No change in result
Cryogenic characterization of the Planck sorption cooler system flight model
This paper is part of the Prelaunch status LFI papers published on JINST:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/1748-0221
Two continuous closed-cycle hydrogen Joule-Thomson (J-T) sorption coolers
have been fabricated and assembled by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for
the European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission. Each refrigerator has been
designed to provide a total of ~ 1W of cooling power at two instrument
interfaces: they directly cool the Planck Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) around
20K while providing a pre-cooling stage for a 4 K J-T mechanical refrigerator
for the High Frequency Instrument (HFI). After sub-system level validation at
JPL, the cryocoolers have been delivered to ESA in 2005. In this paper we
present the results of the cryogenic qualification and test campaigns of the
Nominal Unit on the flight model spacecraft performed at the CSL (Centre
Spatial de Liege) facilities in 2008. Test results in terms of input power,
cooling power, temperature, and temperature fluctuations over the flight
allowable ranges for these interfaces are reported and analyzed with respect to
mission requirements.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article
accepted for publication in Journal of Instrumentation. IOP Publishing Ltd is
not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript
or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher authenticated
version is available online at 10.1088/1748-0221/4/12/T1201
Rigorous Polynomial Approximation using Taylor Models in Coq
International audienceOne of the most common and practical ways of representing a real function on machines is by using a polynomial approximation. It is then important to properly handle the error introduced by such an approximation. The purpose of this work is to offer guaranteed error bounds for a specific kind of rigorous polynomial approximation called Taylor model. We carry out this work in the Coq proof assistant, with a special focus on genericity and efficiency for our implementation. We give an abstract interface for rigorous polynomial approximations, parameter- ized by the type of coefficients and the implementation of polynomials, and we instantiate this interface to the case of Taylor models with inter- val coefficients, while providing all the machinery for computing them. We compare the performances of our implementation in Coq with those of the Sollya tool, which contains an implementation of Taylor models written in C. This is a milestone in our long-term goal of providing fully formally proved and efficient Taylor models
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