A DMRG Study of Low-Energy Excitations and Low-Temperature Properties of Alternating Spin Systems

We use the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method to study the ground and low-lying excited states of three kinds of uniform and dimerized alternating spin chains. The DMRG procedure is also employed to obtain low-temperature thermodynamic properties of these systems. We consider a 2N site system with spins $s_1$ and $s_2$ alternating from site to site and interacting via a Heisenberg antiferromagnetic exchange. The three systems studied correspond to $(s_1 ,s_2 )$ being equal to $(1,1/2),(3/2,1/2)$ and $(3/2,1)$; all of them have very similar properties. The ground state is found to be ferrimagnetic with total spin $s_G =N(s_1 - s_2)$. We find that there is a gapless excitation to a state with spin $s_G -1$, and a gapped excitation to a state with spin $s_G +1$. Surprisingly, the correlation length in the ground state is found to be very small for this gapless system. The DMRG analysis shows that the chain is susceptible to a conditional spin-Peierls instability. Furthermore, our studies of the magnetization, magnetic susceptibility $\chi$ and specific heat show strong magnetic-field dependences. The product $\chi T$ shows a minimum as a function of temperature T at low magnetic fields; the minimum vanishes at high magnetic fields. This low-field behavior is in agreement with earlier experimental observations. The specific heat shows a maximum as a function of temperature, and the height of the maximum increases sharply at high magnetic fields. Although all the three systems show qualitatively similar behavior, there are some notable quantitative differences between the systems in which the site spin difference, $|s_1 - s_2|$, is large and small respectively.Comment: 16 LaTeX pages, 13 postscript figure

Evolutionary Meta Layout of Graphs

A graph drawing library is like a toolbox, allowing experts to select and configure a specialized algorithm in order to meet the requirements of their diagram visualization application. However, without expert knowledge of the algorithms the potential of such a toolbox cannot be fully exploited. This gives rise to the question whether the process of selecting and configuring layout algorithms can be automated such that good layouts are produced. In this paper we call this kind of automation "meta layout." We propose a genetic representation that can be used in meta heuristics for meta layout and contribute new metrics for the evaluation of graph drawings. Furthermore, we examine the use of an evolutionary algorithm to search for optimal solutions and evaluate this approach both with automatic experiments and a user study. The results confirm that our methods can actually help users to find good layout configurations

Magnetic Properties of Quantum Ferrimagnetic Spin Chains

Magnetic susceptibilities of spin-$(S,s)$ ferrimagnetic Heisenberg chains are numerically investigated. It is argued how the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic features of quantum ferrimagnets are exhibited as functions of $(S,s)$. Spin-$(S,s)$ ferrimagnetic chains behave like combinations of spin-$(S-s)$ ferromagnetic and spin-$(2s)$ antiferromagnetic chains provided $S=2s$.Comment: 4 pages, 7 PS figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B: Rapid Commu

Combination of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Features in Heisenberg Ferrimagnets

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of Heisenberg ferrimagnetic mixed-spin chains both numerically and analytically with particular emphasis on the combination of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic features. Employing a new density-matrix renormalization-group technique as well as a quantum Monte Carlo method, we reveal the overall thermal behavior: At very low temperatures, the specific heat and the magnetic susceptibility times temperature behave like $T^{1/2}$ and $T^{-1}$, respectively, whereas at intermediate temperatures, they exhibit a Schottky-like peak and a minimum, respectively. Developing the modified spin-wave theory, we complement the numerical findings and give a precise estimate of the low-temperature behavior.Comment: 9 pages, 9 postscript figures, RevTe

Critical Behavior of Anisotropic Heisenberg Mixed-Spin Chains in a Field

We numerically investigate the critical behavior of the spin-(1,1/2) Heisenberg ferrimagnet with anisotropic exchange coupling in a magnetic field. A quantized magnetization plateau as a function of the field, appearing at a third of the saturated magnetization, is stable over whole the antiferromagnetic coupling region. The plateau vanishes in the ferromagnetic coupling region via the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Comparing the quantum and classical magnetization curves, we elucidate what are essential quantum effects.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex, with 7 eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (An extra ps figure (fig7.ps) is included for printing.

Multi-plateau magnetization curves of one-dimensional Heisenberg ferrimagnets

Ground-state magnetization curves of ferrimagnetic Heisenberg chains of alternating spins $S$ and $s$ are numerically investigated. Calculating several cases of $(S,s)$, we conclude that the spin-$(S,s)$ chain generally exhibits $2s$ magnetization plateaux even at the most symmetric point. In the double- or more-plateau structure, the initial plateau is generated on a classical basis, whereas the higher ones are based on a quantum mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures embedded, to appear in Phys. Rev. B 01 August 200

Elementary Excitations of Heisenberg Ferrimagnetic Spin Chains

We numerically investigate elementary excitations of the Heisenberg alternating-spin chains with two kinds of spins 1 and 1/2 antiferromagnetically coupled to each other. Employing a recently developed efficient Monte Carlo technique as well as an exact diagonalization method, we verify the spin-wave argument that the model exhibits two distinct excitations from the ground state which are gapless and gapped. The gapless branch shows a quadratic dispersion in the small-momentum region, which is of ferromagnetic type. With the intention of elucidating the physical mechanism of both excitations, we make a perturbation approach from the decoupled-dimer limit. The gapless branch is directly related to spin 1's, while the gapped branch originates from cooperation of the two kinds of spins.Comment: 7 pages, 7 Postscript figures, RevTe

Active Membrane Fluctuations Studied by Micropipet Aspiration

We present a detailed analysis of the micropipet experiments recently reported in J-B. Manneville et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4356--4359 (1999), including a derivation of the expected behaviour of the membrane tension as a function of the areal strain in the case of an active membrane, i.e., containing a nonequilibrium noise source. We give a general expression, which takes into account the effect of active centers both directly on the membrane, and on the embedding fluid dynamics, keeping track of the coupling between the density of active centers and the membrane curvature. The data of the micropipet experiments are well reproduced by the new expressions. In particular, we show that a natural choice of the parameters quantifying the strength of the active noise explains both the large amplitude of the observed effects and its remarkable insensitivity to the active-center density in the investigated range. [Submitted to Phys Rev E, 22 March 2001]Comment: 14 pages, 5 encapsulated Postscript figure

Localized-magnon states in strongly frustrated quantum spin lattices

Recent developments concerning localized-magnon eigenstates in strongly frustrated spin lattices and their effect on the low-temperature physics of these systems in high magnetic fields are reviewed. After illustrating the construction and the properties of localized-magnon states we describe the plateau and the jump in the magnetization process caused by these states. Considering appropriate lattice deformations fitting to the localized magnons we discuss a spin-Peierls instability in high magnetic fields related to these states. Last but not least we consider the degeneracy of the localized-magnon eigenstates and the related thermodynamics in high magnetic fields. In particular, we discuss the low-temperature maximum in the isothermal entropy versus field curve and the resulting enhanced magnetocaloric effect, which allows efficient magnetic cooling from quite large temperatures down to very low ones.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, invited paper for a special issue of "Low Temperature Physics " dedicated to the 70-th anniversary of creation of concept "antiferromagnetism" in physics of magnetis

A New Method to Address Unmet Needs for Extracting Individual Cell Migration Features from a Large Number of Cells Embedded in 3D Volumes

Background: In vitro cell observation has been widely used by biologists and pharmacologists for screening molecule-induced effects on cancer cells. Computer-assisted time-lapse microscopy enables automated live cell imaging in vitro, enabling cell behavior characterization through image analysis, in particular regarding cell migration. In this context, 3D cell assays in transparent matrix gels have been developed to provide more realistic in vitro 3D environments for monitoring cell migration (fundamentally different from cell motility behavior observed in 2D), which is related to the spread of cancer and metastases. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this paper we propose an improved automated tracking method that is designed to robustly and individually follow a large number of unlabeled cells observed under phase-contrast microscopy in 3D gels. The method automatically detects and tracks individual cells across a sequence of acquired volumes, using a template matching filtering method that in turn allows for robust detection and mean-shift tracking. The robustness of the method results from detecting and managing the cases where two cell (mean-shift) trackers converge to the same point. The resulting trajectories quantify cell migration through statistical analysis of 3D trajectory descriptors. We manually validated the method and observed efficient cell detection and a low tracking error rate (6%). We also applied the method in a real biological experiment where the pro-migratory effects of hyaluronic acid (HA) were analyzed on brain cancer cells. Using collagen gels with increased HA proportions, we were able to evidence a dose-response effect on cell migration abilities. Conclusions/Significance: The developed method enables biomedical researchers to automatically and robustly quantify the pro- or anti-migratory effects of different experimental conditions on unlabeled cell cultures in a 3D environment. © 2011 Adanja et al.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe