10,806 research outputs found
Influence of humidity on granular packings with moving walls
A significant dependence on the relative humidity H for the apparent mass
(Mapp) measured at the bottom of a granular packing inside a vertical tube in
relative motion is demonstrated experimentally. While the predictions of
Janssen's model are verified for all values of H investigated (25%< H <80%),
Mapp increases with time towards a limiting value at high relative humidities
(H>60%) but remains constant at lower ones (H=25%). The corresponding Janssen
length is nearly independent of the tube velocity for H>60% but decreases
markedly for H=25%. Other differences are observed on the motion of individual
beads in the packing. For H=25%, they are almost motionless while the mean
particle fraction of the packing remains constant; for H>60% the bead motion is
much more significant and the mean particle fraction decreases. The dependence
of these results on the bead diameter and their interpretation in terms of the
influence of capillary forces are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Microarcsecond VLBI pulsar astrometry with PSR II. parallax distances for 57 pulsars
We present the results of PSR, a large astrometric project targeting
radio pulsars using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). From our astrometric
database of 60 pulsars, we have obtained parallax-based distance measurements
for all but 3, with a parallax precision of typically 40 as and
approaching 10 as in the best cases. Our full sample doubles the number of
radio pulsars with a reliable (5) model-independent distance
constraint. Importantly, many of the newly measured pulsars are well outside
the solar neighbourhood, and so PSR brings a near-tenfold increase in the
number of pulsars with a reliable model-independent distance at kpc.
Using our sample along with previously published results, we show that even the
most recent models of the Galactic electron density distribution model contain
significant shortcomings, particularly at high Galactic latitudes. When
comparing our results to pulsar timing, two of the four millisecond pulsars in
our sample exhibit significant discrepancies in the estimates of proper motion
obtained by at least one pulsar timing array. With additional VLBI observations
to improve the absolute positional accuracy of our reference sources and an
expansion of the number of millisecond pulsars, we will be able to extend the
comparison of proper motion discrepancies to a larger sample of pulsar
reference positions, which will provide a much more sensitive test of the
applicability of the solar system ephemerides used for pulsar timing. Finally,
we use our large sample to estimate the typical accuracy attainable for
differential astrometry with the VLBA when observing pulsars, showing that for
sufficiently bright targets observed 8 times over 18 months, a parallax
uncertainty of 4 as per arcminute of separation between the pulsar and
calibrator can be expected.Comment: updated to version accepted by ApJ: 30 pages, 20 figures, 9 table
Crack fronts and damage in glass at the nanometer scale
We have studied the low speed fracture regime for different glassy materials
with variable but controlled length scales of heterogeneity in a carefully
mastered surrounding atmosphere. By using optical and atomic force microscopy
(AFM) techniques we tracked in real-time the crack tip propagation at the
nanometer scale on a wide velocity range (mm/s - pm/s and below). The influence
of the heterogeneities on this velocity is presented and discussed. Our
experiments reveal also -for the first time- that the crack progresses through
nucleation, growth and coalescence of nanometric damage cavities within the
amorphous phase. This may explain the large fluctuations observed in the crack
tip velocities for the smallest values. This behaviour is very similar to what
is involved, at the micrometric scale, in ductile fracture. The only difference
is very likely due to the related length scales (nanometric instead of
micrometric). Consequences of such a nano-ductile fracture mode observed at a
temperature far below the glass transition temperature in glass is finally
discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter; Invited talk at Glass and Optical Materials Division Fall 2002
Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pa, US
Self-Consistent Random Phase Approximation - Application to the Hubbard Model for finite number of sites
Within the 1D Hubbard model linear closed chains with various numbers of
sites are considered in Self Consistent Random Phase Approximation (SCRPA).
Excellent results with a minimal numerical effort are obtained for 2+4n sites
cases, confirming earlier results with this theory for other models. However,
the 4n sites cases need further considerations. SCRPA solves the two sites
problem exactly. It therefore contains the two electrons and high density Fermi
gas limits correctly.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure
Many-body correlations in a multistep variational approach
We discuss a multistep variational approach for the study of many-body
correlations. The approach is developed in a boson formalism (bosons
representing particle-hole excitations) and based on an iterative sequence of
diagonalizations in subspaces of the full boson space. Purpose of these
diagonalizations is that of searching for the best approximation of the ground
state of the system. The procedure also leads us to define a set of excited
states and, at the same time, of operators which generate these states as a
result of their action on the ground state. We examine the cases in which these
operators carry one-particle one-hole and up to two-particle two-hole
excitations. We also explore the possibility of associating bosons to
Tamm-Dancoff excitations and of describing the spectrum in terms of only a
selected group of these. Tests within an exactly solvable three-level model are
provided.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Dynamic charge density correlation function in weakly charged polyampholyte globules
We study solutions of statistically neutral polyampholyte chains containing a
large fraction of neutral monomers. It is known that, even if the quality of
the solvent with respect to the neutral monomers is good, a long chain will
collapse into a globule. For weakly charged chains, the interior of this
globule is semi-dilute. This paper considers mainly theta-solvents, and we
calculate the dynamic charge density correlation function g(k,t) in the
interior of the globules, using the quadratic approximation to the
Martin-Siggia-Rose generating functional. It is convenient to express the
results in terms of dimensionless space and time variables. Let R be the blob
size, and let T be the characteristic time scale at the blob level. Define the
dimensionless wave vector q = R k, and the dimensionless time s = t/T. We find
that for q<1, corresponding to length scales larger than the blob size, the
charge density fluctuations relax according to g(q,s) = q^2(1-s^(1/2)) at short
times s < 1, and according to g(q,s) = q^2 s^(-1/2) at intermediate times 1 < s
0.1, where
entanglements are unimportant.Comment: 12 pages RevTex, 1 figure ps, PACS 61.25.Hq, reason replacement:
Expression for dynamic corr. function g(k,t) in old version was incorrect
(though expression for Fourier transform g(k,w) was correct, so the major
part of the calculation remains.) Also major textual chang
Lattice models and Landau theory for type II incommensurate crystals
Ground state properties and phonon dispersion curves of a classical linear
chain model describing a crystal with an incommensurate phase are studied. This
model is the DIFFOUR (discrete frustrated phi4) model with an extra
fourth-order term added to it. The incommensurability in these models may arise
if there is frustration between nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor
interactions. We discuss the effect of the additional term on the phonon
branches and phase diagram of the DIFFOUR model. We find some features not
present in the DIFFOUR model such as the renormalization of the
nearest-neighbor coupling. Furthermore the ratio between the slopes of the soft
phonon mode in the ferroelectric and paraelectric phase can take on values
different from -2. Temperature dependences of the parameters in the model are
different above and below the paraelectric transition, in contrast with the
assumptions made in Landau theory. In the continuum limit this model reduces to
the Landau free energy expansion for type II incommensurate crystals and it can
be seen as the lowest-order generalization of the simplest Lifshitz-point
model. Part of the numerical calculations have been done by an adaption of the
Effective Potential Method, orginally used for models with nearest-neighbor
interaction, to models with also next-nearest-neighbor interactions.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, RevTex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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