2,412 research outputs found
Ion-Neutral Coupling in Solar Prominence
Coupling between ions and neutrals in magnetized plasmas is fundamentally important to many aspects of heliophysics, including our ionosphere, the solar chromosphere, the solar wind interaction with planetary atmospheres, and the interface between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium. Ion-neutral coupling also plays a major role in the physics of solar prominences. By combining theory, modeling, and observations we are working toward a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of partially ionized prominence plasma. Two key questions are addressed in the present work: 1) what physical mechanism(s) sets the cross-field scale of prominence threads? 2) Are ion-neutral interactions responsible for the vertical flows and structure in prominences? We present initial results from a study investigating what role ion-neutral interactions play in prominence dynamics and structure. This research was supported by NASA
Universal relation between longitudinal and transverse conductivities in quantum Hall effect
We show that any critical transition region between two adjacent Hall
plateaus in either integer or fractional quantum Hall effect is characterized
by a universal semi-circle relationship between the longitudinal and transverse
conductivities, provided the sample is homogeneous and isotropic on a large
scale. This conclusion is demonstrated both for the phase-coherent quantum
transport as well as for the incoherent transport.Comment: REVTEX 3.0, 1 figure, 4 pages. SISSA-08179
Voltage control of magnetocrystalline anisotropy in ferromagnetic - semiconductor/piezoelectric hybrid structures
We demonstrate dynamic voltage control of the magnetic anisotropy of a
(Ga,Mn)As device bonded to a piezoelectric transducer. The application of a
uniaxial strain leads to a large reorientation of the magnetic easy axis which
is detected by measuring longitudinal and transverse anisotropic
magnetoresistance coefficients. Calculations based on the mean-field
kinetic-exchange model of (Ga,Mn)As provide microscopic understanding of the
measured effect. Electrically induced magnetization switching and detection of
unconventional crystalline components of the anisotropic magnetoresistance are
presented, illustrating the generic utility of the piezo voltage control to
provide new device functionalities and in the research of micromagnetic and
magnetotransport phenomena in diluted magnetic semiconductors.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Updates version 1 to include a
more detailed discussion of the effect of strain on the anisotropic
magnetoresistanc
Centennial-scale evolution of Dansgaard-Oeschger events in the northeast Atlantic Ocean between 39.5 and 56.5 ka B.P
There is much uncertainty surrounding the mechanisms that forced the abrupt climate fluctuations found in many palaeoclimate records during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)-3. One of the processes thought to be involved in these events is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC), which exhibited large changes in its dominant mode throughout the last glacial period. Giant piston core MD95-2006 from the northeast Atlantic Ocean records a suite of palaeoceanographic proxies related to the activity of both surface and deep water masses through a period of MIS-3 when abrupt climate fluctuations were extremely pronounced. A two-stage progression of surface water warming during interstadial warm events is proposed, with initial warming related to the northward advection of a thin warm surface layer within the North Atlantic Current, which only extended into deeper surface layers as the interstadial progressed. Benthic foraminifera isotope data also show millennial-scale oscillations but of a different structure to the abrupt surface water changes. These changes are argued to partly be related to the influence of low-salinity deepwater brines. The influence of deepwater brines over the site of MD95-2006 reached a maximum at times of rapid warming of surface waters. This observation supports the suggestion that brine formation may have helped to destabilize the accumulation of warm, saline surface waters at low latitudes, helping to force the MOC into a warm mode of operation. The contribution of deepwater brines relative to other mechanisms proposed to alter the state of the MOC needs to be examined further in future studies
Statistical properties of the low-temperature conductance peak-heights for Corbino discs in the quantum Hall regime
A recent theory has provided a possible explanation for the ``non-universal
scaling'' of the low-temperature conductance (and conductivity) peak-heights of
two-dimensional electron systems in the integer and fractional quantum Hall
regimes. This explanation is based on the hypothesis that samples which show
this behavior contain density inhomogeneities. Theory then relates the
non-universal conductance peak-heights to the ``number of alternating
percolation clusters'' of a continuum percolation model defined on the
spatially-varying local carrier density. We discuss the statistical properties
of the number of alternating percolation clusters for Corbino disc samples
characterized by random density fluctuations which have a correlation length
small compared to the sample size. This allows a determination of the
statistical properties of the low-temperature conductance peak-heights of such
samples. We focus on a range of filling fraction at the center of the plateau
transition for which the percolation model may be considered to be critical. We
appeal to conformal invariance of critical percolation and argue that the
properties of interest are directly related to the corresponding quantities
calculated numerically for bond-percolation on a cylinder. Our results allow a
lower bound to be placed on the non-universal conductance peak-heights, and we
compare these results with recent experimental measurements.Comment: 7 pages, 4 postscript figures included. Revtex with epsf.tex and
multicol.sty. The revised version contains some additional discussion of the
theory and slightly improved numerical result
Deviations from plastic barriers in BiSrCaCuO thin films
Resistive transitions of an epitaxial BiSrCaCuO thin
film were measured in various magnetic fields (), ranging from 0
to 22.0 T. Rounded curvatures of low resistivity tails are observed in
Arrhenius plot and considered to relate to deviations from plastic barriers. In
order to characterize these deviations, an empirical barrier form is developed,
which is found to be in good agreement with experimental data and coincide with
the plastic barrier form in a limited magnetic field range. Using the plastic
barrier predictions and the empirical barrier form, we successfully explain the
observed deviations.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; PRB 71, 052502 (2005
Charge Density Wave in Two-Dimensional Electron Liquid in Weak Magnetic Field
We study the ground state of a clean two-dimensional electron liquid in a
weak magnetic field where lower Landau levels are completely filled
and the upper level is partially filled. It is shown that the electrons at the
upper Landau level form domains with filling factor equal to one and zero. The
domains alternate with a spatial period of order of the cyclotron radius, which
is much larger than the interparticle distance at the upper Landau level. The
one-particle density of states, which can be probed by tunneling experiments,
is shown to have a pseudogap linearly dependent on the magnetic field in the
limit of large .Comment: Several errors correcte
Edge state transmission, duality relation and its implication to measurements
The duality in the Chalker-Coddington network model is examined. We are able
to write down a duality relation for the edge state transmission coefficient,
but only for a specific symmetric Hall geometry. Looking for broader
implication of the duality, we calculate the transmission coefficient in
terms of the conductivity and in the diffusive
limit. The edge state scattering problem is reduced to solving the diffusion
equation with two boundary conditions
and
.
We find that the resistances in the geometry considered are not necessarily
measures of the resistivity and () holds only
when is quantized. We conclude that duality alone is not sufficient
to explain the experimental findings of Shahar et al and that Landauer-Buttiker
argument does not render the additional condition, contrary to previous
expectation.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
- …