Spectroscopic studies of fractal aggregates of silver nanospheres undergoing local restructuring

We present an experimental spectroscopic study of large random colloidal aggregates of silver nanoparticles undergoing local restructuring. We argue that such well-known phenomena as strong fluctuation of local electromagnetic fields, appearance of "hot spots" and enhancement of nonlinear optical responses depend on the local structure on the scales of several nanosphere diameters, rather that the large-scale fractal geometry of the sample.Comment: 3.5 pages, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Local anisotropy and giant enhancement of local electromagnetic fields in fractal aggregates of metal nanoparticles

We have shown within the quasistatic approximation that the giant fluctuations of local electromagnetic field in random fractal aggregates of silver nanospheres are strongly correlated with a local anisotropy factor S which is defined in this paper. The latter is a purely geometrical parameter which characterizes the deviation of local environment of a given nanosphere in an aggregate from spherical symmetry. Therefore, it is possible to predict the sites with anomalously large local fields in an aggregate without explicitly solving the electromagnetic problem. We have also demonstrated that the average (over nanospheres) value of S does not depend noticeably on the fractal dimension D, except when D approaches the trivial limit D=3. In this case, as one can expect, the average local environment becomes spherically symmetrical and S approaches zero. This corresponds to the well-known fact that in trivial aggregates fluctuations of local electromagnetic fields are much weaker than in fractal aggregates. Thus, we find that, within the quasistatics, the large-scale geometry does not have a significant impact on local electromagnetic responses in nanoaggregates in a wide range of fractal dimensions. However, this prediction is expected to be not correct in aggregates which are sufficiently large for the intermediate- and radiation-zone interaction of individual nanospheres to become important.Comment: 9 pages 9 figures. No revisions from previous version; only figure layout is change

Curvature Correction in the Strutinsky's Method

Mass calculations carried out by Strutinsky's shell correction method are based on the notion of smooth single particle level density. The smoothing procedure is always performed using curvature correction. In the presence of curvature correction a smooth function remains unchanged if smoothing is applied. Two new curvature correction methods are introduced. The performance of the standard and new methods are investigated using harmonic oscillator and realistic potentials.Comment: 4 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Semiorthogonal decompositions of derived categories of equivariant coherent sheaves

Let X be an algebraic variety with an action of an algebraic group G. Suppose X has a full exceptional collection of sheaves, and these sheaves are invariant under the action of the group. We construct a semiorthogonal decomposition of bounded derived category of G-equivariant coherent sheaves on X into components, equivalent to derived categories of twisted representations of the group. If the group is finite or reductive over the algebraically closed field of zero characteristic, this gives a full exceptional collection in the derived equivariant category. We apply our results to particular varieties such as projective spaces, quadrics, Grassmanians and Del Pezzo surfaces.Comment: 28 pages, uses XY-pi

Low-rate accretion onto isolated stellar mass black holes

Magnetic field behaviour in a spherically-symmetric accretion flow for parameters typical of single black holes in the Galaxy is discussed. It is shown that in the majority of Galaxy volume, accretion onto single stellar-mass black holes will be spherical and have a low accretion rate ($10^{-6} - 10^{-9}$ of the Eddington rate). An analysis of plasma internal energy growth during the infall is performed. Adiabatic heating of collisionless accretion flow due to magnetic adiabatic invariant conservation is 25% more efficient than in the standard non-magnetized gas case. It is shown that magnetic field line reconnections in discrete current sheets lead to significant nonthermal electron component formation. In a framework of quasi-diffusion acceleration, the "energy-radius" electron distribution is computed and the function describing the shape of synchrotron radiation spectrum is constructed. It is shown that nonthermal electron emission leads to formation of a hard (UV, X-ray, up to gamma), highly variable spectral component in addition to the standard synchrotron optical component first derived by Shvartsman generated by thermal electrons in the magnetic field of accretion flow. For typical interstellar medium parameters, a black hole at 100 pc distance will be a 16-25$^{\rm m}$ optical source coinciding with the highly variable bright X-ray counterpart, while the variable component of optical emission will be about 18-27$^{\rm m}$. The typical time scale of the variability is $10^{-4}$ sec, with relative flare amplitudes of 0.2-6% in various spectral bands. Possible applications of these results to the problem of search for single black holes are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures. A&A, 440, 22