The magnetization process of the spin-one triangular-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet

We apply the coupled cluster method and exact diagonalzation to study the uniform susceptibility and the ground-state magnetization curve of the triangular-lattice spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet. Comparing our theoretical data for the magnetization curve with recent measurements on the s=1 triangular lattice antiferromagnet Ba3NiSb2O9 we find a very good agreement.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figure

Assessing the accuracy of δ<sup>18<\sup>O<sub>sw<?sub> estimates from corals: lessons from simple Monte Carlo simulations

EGU2008-A-04391 Paired measurements of δ18O and Sr/Ca in coral aragonite are routinely used for deriving estimates of δ18Osw and, by extension, sea surface salinity variations over the past centuries. However, in practice, the accuracy (or the error) of these estimates is often difficult to assess. Here, we use simulated proxy data and Monte-Carlo simulations to investigate the accuracy of δ18Osw estimates from paired coral δ18O and Sr/Ca measurements. First, we estimate expected values of coral Sr/Ca and δ18O from instrumental or reanalysis data of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS). We then add the typical analytical errors onto the expected Sr/Ca (δ18O) data as random numbers and compute δ18Osw+error from the noisy proxy data for a 1000 sample Monte Carlo. From this simple Monte Carlo simulation, the range of correlation coefficients between δ18Osw+error and expected δ18Osw is estimated. As expected, we find that this range mainly depends on the magnitude of the actual SSS variations at a given site, as well as on the slope of the δ18Osw-SSS relationship. A comparison with real coral-based δ18Osw reconstructions from multiple sites indicates that correlations between reconstructed δ18Osw and instrumental SSS fall within the range of correlation coefficients predicted based on our Monte-Carlo simulation. Thus, our simple simulation exercise may help to assess the feasibility of δ18Osw and salinity reconstructions from corals in different climatic settings, provided that (i) some instrumental data of δ18Osw and/or SSS is available, and (ii) the slope of the δ18Osw-SSS relationship is known

Western Indian Ocean marine and terrestrial records of climate variability: a review and new concepts on land-ocean interactions since AD 1660

We examine the relationship between three tropical and two subtropical western Indian Ocean coral oxygen isotope time series to surface air temperatures (SAT) and rainfall over India, tropical East Africa and southeast Africa. We review established relationships, provide new concepts with regard to distinct rainfall seasons, and mean annual temperatures. Tropical corals are coherent with SAT over western India and East Africa at interannual and multidecadal periodicities. The subtropical corals correlate with Southeast African SAT at periodicities of 16–30 years. The relationship between the coral records and land rainfall is more complex. Running correlations suggest varying strength of interannual teleconnections between the tropical coral oxygen isotope records and rainfall over equatorial East Africa. The relationship with rainfall over India changed in the 1970s. The subtropical oxygen isotope records are coherent with South African rainfall at interdecadal periodicities. Paleoclimatological reconstructions of land rainfall and SAT reveal that the inferred relationships generally hold during the last 350 years. Thus, the Indian Ocean corals prove invaluable for investigating land–ocean interactions during past centuries

Ground-state phases of the spin-1/2 J_1-J_2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice: A high-order coupled cluster treatment

Using the coupled cluster method for high orders of approximation and complementary exact diagonalization studies we investigate the ground state properties of the spin-1/2 $J_1$--$J_2$ frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the square lattice. We have calculated the ground-state energy, the magnetic order parameter, the spin stiffness, and several generalized susceptibilities to probe magnetically disordered quantum valence-bond phases. We have found that the quantum critical points for both the N\'eel and collinear orders are $J_2^{c1}\approx (0.44 \pm 0.01)J_1$ and $J_2^{c2}\approx (0.59 \pm 0.01)J_1$ respectively, which are in good agreement with the results obtained by other approximations. In contrast to the recent study by [Sirker et al. Phys. Rev. B {\bf 73}, 184420 (2006)], our data do not provide evidence for the transition from the N\'{e}el to the valence-bond solid state to be first order. Moreover, our results are in favor of the deconfinement scenario for that phase transition. We also discuss the nature of the magnetically disordered quantum phase.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure

Decay of isolated surface features driven by the Gibbs-Thomson effect in analytic model and simulation

A theory based on the thermodynamic Gibbs-Thomson relation is presented which provides the framework for understanding the time evolution of isolated nanoscale features (i.e., islands and pits) on surfaces. Two limiting cases are predicted, in which either diffusion or interface transfer is the limiting process. These cases correspond to similar regimes considered in previous works addressing the Ostwald ripening of ensembles of features. A third possible limiting case is noted for the special geometry of "stacked" islands. In these limiting cases, isolated features are predicted to decay in size with a power law scaling in time: A is proportional to (t0-t)^n, where A is the area of the feature, t0 is the time at which the feature disappears, and n=2/3 or 1. The constant of proportionality is related to parameters describing both the kinetic and equilibrium properties of the surface. A continuous time Monte Carlo simulation is used to test the application of this theory to generic surfaces with atomic scale features. A new method is described to obtain macroscopic kinetic parameters describing interfaces in such simulations. Simulation and analytic theory are compared directly, using measurements of the simulation to determine the constants of the analytic theory. Agreement between the two is very good over a range of surface parameters, suggesting that the analytic theory properly captures the necessary physics. It is anticipated that the simulation will be useful in modeling complex surface geometries often seen in experiments on physical surfaces, for which application of the analytic model is not straightforward.Comment: RevTeX (with .bbl file), 25 pages, 7 figures from 9 Postscript files embedded using epsf. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B A few minor changes made on 9/24/9

Effect of anisotropy on the ground-state magnetic ordering of the spin-one quantum J1XXZJ_{1}^{XXZ}--J2XXZJ_{2}^{XXZ} model on the square lattice

We study the zero-temperature phase diagram of the $J_{1}^{XXZ}$--$J_{2}^{XXZ}$ Heisenberg model for spin-1 particles on an infinite square lattice interacting via nearest-neighbour ($J_1 \equiv 1$) and next-nearest-neighbour ($J_2 > 0$) bonds. Both bonds have the same $XXZ$-type anisotropy in spin space. The effects on the quasiclassical N\'{e}el-ordered and collinear stripe-ordered states of varying the anisotropy parameter $\Delta$ is investigated using the coupled cluster method carried out to high orders. By contrast with the spin-1/2 case studied previously, we predict no intermediate disordered phase between the N\'{e}el and collinear stripe phases, for any value of the frustration $J_2/J_1$, for either the $z$-aligned ($\Delta > 1$) or $xy$-planar-aligned ($0 \leq \Delta < 1$) states. The quantum phase transition is determined to be first-order for all values of $J_2/J_1$ and $\Delta$. The position of the phase boundary $J_{2}^{c}(\Delta)$ is determined accurately. It is observed to deviate most from its classical position $J_2^c = {1/2}$ (for all values of $\Delta > 0$) at the Heisenberg isotropic point ($\Delta = 1$), where $J_{2}^{c}(1) = 0.55 \pm 0.01$. By contrast, at the XY isotropic point ($\Delta = 0$), we find $J_{2}^{c}(0) = 0.50 \pm 0.01$. In the Ising limit ($\Delta \to \infty$) $J_2^c \to 0.5$ as expected.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Weak selection and stability of localized distributions in Ostwald ripening

We support and generalize a weak selection rule predicted recently for the self-similar asymptotics of the distribution function (DF) in the zero-volume-fraction limit of Ostwald ripening (OR). An asymptotic perturbation theory is developed that, when combined with an exact invariance property of the system, yields the selection rule, predicts a power-law convergence towards the selected self-similar DF and agrees well with our numerical simulations for the interface- and diffusion-controlled OR.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR

Three monthly coral Sr/Ca records from the Chagos Archipelago covering the period of 1950-1995 A.D.: reproducibility and implications for quantitative reconstructions of sea surface temperature variations

In order to assess the fidelity of coral Sr/Ca for quantitative reconstructions of sea surface temperature variations, we have generated three monthly Sr/Ca time series from Porites corals from the lagoon of Peros Banhos (71°E, 5°S, Chagos Archipelago). We find that all three coral Sr/Ca time series are well correlated with instrumental records of sea surface temperature (SST) and air temperature. However, the intrinsic variance of the single-core Sr/Ca time series differs from core to core, limiting their use for quantitative estimates of past temperature variations. Averaging the single-core data improves the correlation with instrumental temperature (r > 0.7) and allows accurate estimates of interannual temperature variations (~0.35°C or better). All Sr/Ca time series indicate a shift towards warmer temperatures in the mid-1970s, which coincides with the most recent regime shift in the Pacific Ocean. However, the magnitude of the warming inferred from coral Sr/Ca differs from core to core and ranges from 0.26 to 0.75°C. The composite Sr/Ca record from Peros Banhos clearly captures the major climatic signals in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, i.e. the El Niño–southern oscillation and the Pacific decadal oscillation. Moreover, composite Sr/Ca is highly correlated with tropical mean temperatures (r = 0.7), suggesting that coral Sr/Ca time series from the tropical Indian Ocean will contribute to multi-proxy reconstructions of tropical mean temperatures