1,301 research outputs found
Subextensive Scaling in the Athermal, Quasistatic Limit of Amorphous Matter in Plastic Shear Flow
We present the results of numerical simulations of an atomistic system
undergoing plastic shear flow in the athermal, quasistatic limit. The system is
shown to undergo cascades of local rearrangements, associated with quadrupolar
energy fluctuations, which induce system-spanning events organized into lines
of slip oriented along the Bravais axes of the simulation cell. A finite size
scaling analysis reveals subextensive scaling of the energy drops and
participation numbers, linear in the length of the simulation cell, in good
agreement with the observed real-space structure of the plastic events.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Editorial note to "The beginning of the world from the point of view of quantum theory"
This is an editorial note to accompany reprinting as a Golden Oldie in the
Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation of the famous note by Georges
Lemaitre on the quantum birth of the universe, published in Nature in 1931. We
explain why this short (457 words) article can be considered to be the true
"Charter" of the modern Big Bang theory.Comment: This is an editorial comment to accompany reprinting of a classical
paper in the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation. 16 pages, 2
figure
Can a charged dust ball be sent through the Reissner--Nordstr\"{o}m wormhole?
In a previous paper we formulated a set of necessary conditions for the
spherically symmetric weakly charged dust to avoid Big Bang/Big Crunch, shell
crossing and permanent central singularities. However, we did not discuss the
properties of the energy density, some of which are surprising and seem not to
have been known up to now. A singularity of infinite energy density does exist
-- it is a point singularity situated on the world line of the center of
symmetry. The condition that no mass shell collapses to if it had initially thus turns out to be still insufficient for avoiding a
singularity. Moreover, at the singularity the energy density is
direction-dependent: when we approach the singular
point along a const hypersurface and when we
approach that point along the center of symmetry. The appearance of
negative-energy-density regions turns out to be inevitable. We discuss various
aspects of this property of our configuration. We also show that a permanently
pulsating configuration, with the period of pulsation independent of mass, is
possible only if there exists a permanent central singularity.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures; several corrections after referee's comments, 4
figures modifie
Comment on ``Deterministic equations of motion and phase ordering dynamics''
Zheng [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 61}, 153 (2000), cond-mat/9909324] claims that phase
ordering dynamics in the microcanonical model displays unusual scaling
laws. We show here, performing more careful numerical investigations, that
Zheng only observed transient dynamics mostly due to the corrections to scaling
introduced by lattice effects, and that Ising-like (model A) phase ordering
actually takes place at late times. Moreover, we argue that energy conservation
manifests itself in different corrections to scaling.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Optical alignment and polarization conversion of neutral exciton spin in individual InAs/GaAs quantum dots
We investigate exciton spin memory in individual InAs/GaAs self-assembled
quantum dots via optical alignment and conversion of exciton polarization in a
magnetic field. Quasiresonant phonon-assisted excitation is successfully
employed to define the initial spin polarization of neutral excitons. The
conservation of the linear polarization generated along the bright exciton
eigenaxes of up to 90% and the conversion from circular- to linear polarization
of up to 47% both demonstrate a very long spin relaxation time with respect to
the radiative lifetime. Results are quantitatively compared with a model of
pseudo-spin 1/2 including heavy-to-light hole mixing.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
The Breakdown of Kinetic Theory in Granular Shear Flows
We examine two basic assumptions of kinetic theory-- binary collisions and
molecular chaos-- using numerical simulations of sheared granular materials. We
investigate a wide range of densities and restitution coefficients and
demonstrate that kinetic theory breaks down at large density and small
restitution coefficients. In the regimes where kinetic theory fails, there is
an associated emergence of clusters of spatially correlated grains
Spin precession and inverted Hanle effect in a semiconductor near a finite-roughness ferromagnetic interface
Although the creation of spin polarization in various non-magnetic media via
electrical spin injection from a ferromagnetic tunnel contact has been
demonstrated, much of the basic behavior is heavily debated. It is reported
here for semiconductor/Al2O3/ferromagnet tunnel structures based on Si or GaAs
that local magnetostatic fields arising from interface roughness dramatically
alter and even dominate the accumulation and dynamics of spins in the
semiconductor. Spin precession in the inhomogeneous magnetic fields is shown to
reduce the spin accumulation up to tenfold, and causes it to be inhomogeneous
and non-collinear with the injector magnetization. The inverted Hanle effect
serves as experimental signature. This interaction needs to be taken into
account in the analysis of experimental data, particularly in extracting the
spin lifetime and its variation with different parameters (temperature, doping
concentration). It produces a broadening of the standard Hanle curve and
thereby an apparent reduction of the spin lifetime. For heavily doped n-type Si
at room temperature it is shown that the spin lifetime is larger than
previously determined, and a new lower bound of 0.29 ns is obtained. The
results are expected to be general and occur for spins near a magnetic
interface not only in semiconductors but also in metals, organic and
carbon-based materials including graphene, and in various spintronic device
structures.Comment: Final version, with text restructured and appendices added (25 pages,
9 figures). To appear in Phys. Rev.
Field-induced domain wall propagation: beyond the one-dimensional model
We have investigated numerically the field-driven propagation of
perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnetic layers. It was then compared to the
historical one-dimensional domain wall (DW) propagation model widely used in
spintronics studies of magnetic nanostructures. In the particular regime of
layer thickness (h) of the order of the exchange length, anomalous velocity
peaks appear in the precessional regime, their shape and position shifting with
h. This has also been observed experimentally. Analyses of the simulations show
a distinct correlation between the curvature of the DW and the twist of the
magnetization vector within it, and the velocity peak. Associating a
phenomenological description of this twist with a four-coordinate DW
propagation model, we reproduce very well these kinks and show that they result
from the torque exerted by the stray field created by the domains on the
twisted magnetization. The position of the peaks is well predicted from the
DW's first flexural mode frequency, and depends strongly on the layer
thickness. Comparison of the proposed model to DW propagation data obtained on
dilute semiconductor ferromagnets GaMnAs and GaMnAsP sheds light on the origin
of the measured peaks
Double Distribution of Dark Matter Halos with respect to Mass and Local Overdensity
We present a double distribution function of dark matter halos, with respect
to both object mass and local over- (or under-) density. This analytical tool
provides a statistical treatment of the properties of matter surrounding
collapsed objects, and can be used to study environmental effects on
hierarchical structure formation. The size of the "local environment" of a
collapsed object is defined to depend on the mass of the object. The
Press-Schechter mass function is recovered by integration of our double
distribution over the density contrast. We also present a detailed treatment of
the evolution of overdensities and underdensities in Einstein-deSitter and flat
LCDM universes, according to the spherical evolution model. We explicitly
distinguish between true and linearly extrapolated overdensities and provide
conversion relations between the two quantities.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, comments welcom
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