The role of slip transfer at grain boundaries in the propagation of microstructurally short fatigue cracks in Ni-based superalloys

Crack initiation and propagation under high-cycle fatigue conditions have been investigated for a polycrystalline Ni-based superalloy by in-situ synchrotron assisted diffraction and phase contrast tomography. The cracks nucleated along the longest coherent twin boundaries pre-existing on the specimen surface, that were well oriented for slip and that presented a large elastic incompatibility across them. Moreover, the propagation of microstructurally short cracks was found to be determined by the easy slip transfer paths across the pre-existing grain boundaries. This information can only be obtained by characterization techniques like the ones presented here that provide the full set of 3D microstructural information

A three-dimensional hydrodynamical line profile analysis of iron lines and barium isotopes in HD140283

Heavy-elements, i.e. those beyond the iron peak, mostly form via two neutron capture processes: the s- and r-process. Metal-poor stars should contain fewer isotopes that form via the s-process, according to currently accepted theory. It has been shown in several investigations that theory and observation do not agree well, raising questions on the validity of either the methodology or the theory. We analyse the metal-poor star HD140283, for which we have a high quality spectrum. We test whether a 3D LTE stellar atmosphere and spectrum synthesis code permits a more reliable analysis of the iron abundance and barium isotope ratio than a 1D LTE analysis. Using 3D model atmospheres, we examine 91 iron lines of varying strength and formation depth. This provides us with the star's rotational speed. With this, we model the barium isotope ratio by exploiting the hyperfine structure of the singly ionised 4554 resonance line, and study the impact of the uncertainties in the stellar parameters. HD140283's vsini = 1.65 +/- 0.05 km/s. Barium isotopes under the 3D paradigm show a dominant r-process signature as 77 +/- 6 +/- 17% of barium isotopes form via the r-process, where errors represent the assigned random and systematic errors, respectively. We find that 3D LTE fits reproduce iron line profiles better than those in 1D, but do not provide a unique abundance (within the uncertainties). However, we demonstrate that the isotopic ratio is robust against this shortcoming. Our barium isotope result agrees well with currently accepted theory regarding the formation of the heavy-elements during the early Galaxy. The improved fit to the asymmetric iron line profiles suggests that the current state of 3D LTE modelling provides excellent simulations of fluid flows. However, the abundances they provide are not yet self-consistent. This may improve with NLTE considerations and higher resolution models.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in A&

Large-q asymptotics of the random bond Potts model

We numerically examine the large-q asymptotics of the q-state random bond Potts model. Special attention is paid to the parametrisation of the critical line, which is determined by combining the loop representation of the transfer matrix with Zamolodchikov's c-theorem. Asymptotically the central charge seems to behave like c(q) = 1/2 log_2(q) + O(1). Very accurate values of the bulk magnetic exponent x_1 are then extracted by performing Monte Carlo simulations directly at the critical point. As q -> infinity, these seem to tend to a non-trivial limit, x_1 -> 0.192 +- 0.002.Comment: 9 pages, no figure

Assessing digital preservation frameworks: the approach of the SHAMAN project

How can we deliver infrastructure capable of supporting the preservation of digital objects, as well as the services that can be applied to those digital objects, in ways that future unknown systems will understand? A critical problem in developing systems is the process of validating whether the delivered solution effectively reflects the validated requirements. This is a challenge also for the EU-funded SHAMAN project, which aims to develop an integrated preservation framework using grid-technologies for distributed networks of digital preservation systems, for managing the storage, access, presentation, and manipulation of digital objects over time. Recognising this, the project team ensured that alongside the user requirements an assessment framework was developed. This paper presents the assessment of the SHAMAN demonstrators for the memory institution, industrial design and engineering and eScience domains, from the point of view of user’s needs and fitness for purpose. An innovative synergistic use of TRAC criteria, DRAMBORA risk registry and mitigation strategies, iRODS rules and information system models requirements has been designed, with the underlying goal to define associated policies, rules and state information, and make them wherever possible machine-encodable and enforceable. The described assessment framework can be valuable not only for the implementers of this project preservation framework, but for the wider digital preservation community, because it provides a holistic approach to assessing and validating the preservation of digital libraries, digital repositories and data centres

On the Wake Structure in Streaming Complex Plasmas

The theoretical description of complex (dusty) plasmas requires multiscale concepts that adequately incorporate the correlated interplay of streaming electrons and ions, neutrals, and dust grains. Knowing the effective dust-dust interaction, the multiscale problem can be effectively reduced to a one-component plasma model of the dust subsystem. The goal of the present publication is a systematic evaluation of the electrostatic potential distribution around a dust grain in the presence of a streaming plasma environment by means of two complementary approaches: (i) a high precision computation of the dynamically screened Coulomb potential from the dynamic dielectric function, and (ii) full 3D particle-in-cell simulations, which self-consistently include dynamical grain charging and non-linear effects. The applicability of these two approaches is addressed

A double-dot quantum ratchet driven by an independently biased quantum point contact

We study a double quantum dot (DQD) coupled to a strongly biased quantum point contact (QPC), each embedded in independent electric circuits. For weak interdot tunnelling we observe a finite current flowing through the unbiased Coulomb blockaded DQD in response to a strong bias on the QPC. The direction of the current through the DQD is determined by the relative detuning of the energy levels of the two quantum dots. The results are interpreted in terms of a quantum ratchet phenomenon in a DQD energized by a nearby QPC.Comment: revised versio

Generalized Gibbs Ensemble Description of Real Space Entanglement Spectra of (2+1)-dimensional Chiral Topological Systems with SU(2)SU(2) Symmetry

We provide a quantitative analysis of the splittings in low-lying numerical entanglement spectra (ES) of a number of quantum states that can be identified, based on "Li-Haldane state-counting", as ground states of (2+1)-dimensional chiral topological phases with global SU(2) symmetry. The ability to account for numerical ES splittings away from their "ideal" chiral conformal field theory (CFT) spectra, solely within the context of CFT, is an additional diagnostic of the underlying topological theory, of finer sensitivity than "state-counting". We use the conformal boundary state description of the ES, which can be formulated as a quantum quench. In this language, the ES splittings arise from higher local conservation laws in the chiral CFT besides the energy, which we view as a Generalized Gibbs Ensemble (GGE). Global SU(2) symmetry imposes strong constraints on the number of such conservation laws, so that only a small number of parameters can be responsible for the splittings. We work out these conservation laws for chiral SU(2) Wess-Zumino-Witten CFTs at levels one and two, and for the latter we notably find that some of the conservation laws take the form of local integrals of operators of fractional dimension, as proposed by Cardy for quantum quenches [J. Stat. Mech.: Theory Exp. 2016, 023103 (2016)]. We analyze numerical ES from systems with SU(2) symmetry including chiral spin-liquid ground states of local 2D Hamiltonians and two chiral Projected Entangled Pair States (PEPS) tensor networks, which exhibit the "state-counting" of the SU(2)-level-one and -level-two theories. We find that the low-lying ES splittings can be well understood by the lowest of our conservation laws, and we demonstrate the importance of accounting for the fractional conservation laws at level two. Thus the states we consider, including the PEPS, appear chiral also under our more sensitive diagnostic.Comment: 43 pages, 9 figures, 4 table