156 research outputs found
Substrate influence on the plasmonic response of clusters of spherical nanoparticles
The plasmonic response of nanoparticles is exploited in many subfields of
science and engineering to enhance optical signals associated with probes of
nanoscale and subnanoscale entities. We develop a numerical algorithm based on
previous theoretical work that addresses the influence of a substrate on the
plasmonic response of collections of nanoparticles of spherical shape. Our
method is a real space approach within the quasi-static limit that can be
applied to a wide range of structures. We illustrate the role of the substrate
through numerical calculations that explore single nanospheres and nanosphere
dimers fabricated from either a Drude model metal or from silver on dielectric
substrates, and from dielectric spheres on silver substrates.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Memory beyond memory in heart beating: an efficient way to detect pathological conditions
We study the long-range correlations of heartbeat fluctuations with the
method of diffusion entropy. We show that this method of analysis yields a
scaling parameter that apparently conflicts with the direct evaluation
of the distribution of times of sojourn in states with a given heartbeat
frequency. The strength of the memory responsible for this discrepancy is given
by a parameter , which is derived from real data. The
distribution of patients in the (, )-plane yields a neat
separation of the healthy from the congestive heart failure subjects.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Letters, 5 figure
On the Interface Formation Model for Dynamic Triple Lines
This paper revisits the theory of Y. Shikhmurzaev on forming interfaces as a
continuum thermodynamical model for dynamic triple lines. We start with the
derivation of the balances for mass, momentum, energy and entropy in a
three-phase fluid system with full interfacial physics, including a brief
review of the relevant transport theorems on interfaces and triple lines.
Employing the entropy principle in the form given in [Bothe & Dreyer, Acta
Mechanica, doi:10.1007/s00707-014-1275-1] but extended to this more general
case, we arrive at the entropy production and perform a linear closure, except
for a nonlinear closure for the sorption processes. Specialized to the
isothermal case, we obtain a thermodynamically consistent mathematical model
for dynamic triple lines and show that the total available energy is a strict
Lyapunov function for this system
Communication: Tolman length and rigidity constants of water and their role in nucleation
A proper understanding of nucleation is crucial in several natural and industrial processes. However, accurate quantitative predictions of this phenomenon have not been possible. The most popular tool for calculating nucleation rates, classical nucleation theory (CNT), deviates by orders of magnitude from experiments for most substances. We investigate whether part of this discrepancy can be accounted for by the curvature-dependence of the surface tension. To that end, we evaluate the eading order corrections for water, the Tolman length and the rigidity constants, using square gradient theory coupled with the accurate cubic plus association equation of state. The Helfrich expansion is then used to incorporate them into the CNT-framework. For water condensation, the modified framework successfully corrects the erroneous temperature dependence of the nucleation rates given by the classical theory and reproduces experimental nucleation rates
Diffusion entropy and waiting time statistics of hard x-ray solar flares
We analyze the waiting time distribution of time distances between two
nearest-neighbor flares. This analysis is based on the joint use of two
distinct techniques. The first is the direct evaluation of the distribution
function , or of the probability, , that no time
distance smaller than a given is found. We adopt the paradigm of the
inverse power law behavior, and we focus on the determination of the inverse
power index , without ruling out different asymptotic properties that
might be revealed, at larger scales, with the help of richer statistics. The
second technique, called Diffusion Entropy (DE) method, rests on the evaluation
of the entropy of the diffusion process generated by the time series. The
details of the diffusion process depend on three different walking rules, which
determine the form and the time duration of the transition to the scaling
regime, as well as the scaling parameter . With the first two rules the
information contained in the time series is transmitted, to a great extent, to
the transition, as well as to the scaling regime. The same information is
essentially conveyed, by using the third rules, into the scaling regime, which,
in fact, emerges very quickly after a fast transition process. We show that the
significant information hidden within the time series concerns memory induced
by the solar cycle, as well as the power index . The scaling parameter
becomes a simple function of , when memory is annihilated. Thus,
the three walking rules yield a unique and precise value of if the memory
is wisely taken under control, or cancelled by shuffling the data. All this
makes compelling the conclusion that .Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
Dynamical Solution of the On-Line Minority Game
We solve the dynamics of the on-line minority game, with general types of
decision noise, using generating functional techniques a la De Dominicis and
the temporal regularization procedure of Bedeaux et al. The result is a
macroscopic dynamical theory in the form of closed equations for correlation-
and response functions defined via an effective continuous-time single-trader
process, which are exact in both the ergodic and in the non-ergodic regime of
the minority game. Our solution also explains why, although one cannot formally
truncate the Kramers-Moyal expansion of the process after the Fokker-Planck
term, upon doing so one still finds the correct solution, that the previously
proposed diffusion matrices for the Fokker-Planck term are incomplete, and how
previously proposed approximations of the market volatility can be traced back
to ergodicity assumptions.Comment: 25 pages LaTeX, no figure
Molecular Dynamics Study of the Nematic-Isotropic Interface
We present large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of a nematic-isotropic
interface in a system of repulsive ellipsoidal molecules, focusing in
particular on the capillary wave fluctuations of the interfacial position. The
interface anchors the nematic phase in a planar way, i.e., the director aligns
parallel to the interface. Capillary waves in the direction parallel and
perpendicular to the director are considered separately. We find that the
spectrum is anisotropic, the amplitudes of capillary waves being larger in the
direction perpendicular to the director. In the long wavelength limit, however,
the spectrum becomes isotropic and compares well with the predictions of a
simple capillary wave theory.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.
Towards deterministic equations for Levy walks: the fractional material derivative
Levy walks are random processes with an underlying spatiotemporal coupling.
This coupling penalizes long jumps, and therefore Levy walks give a proper
stochastic description for a particle's motion with broad jump length
distribution. We derive a generalized dynamical formulation for Levy walks in
which the fractional equivalent of the material derivative occurs. Our approach
will be useful for the dynamical formulation of Levy walks in an external force
field or in phase space for which the description in terms of the continuous
time random walk or its corresponding generalized master equation are less well
suited
Short-time inertial response of viscoelastic fluids measured with Brownian motion and with active probes
We have directly observed short-time stress propagation in viscoelastic
fluids using two optically trapped particles and a fast interferometric
particle-tracking technique. We have done this both by recording correlations
in the thermal motion of the particles and by measuring the response of one
particle to the actively oscillated second particle. Both methods detect the
vortex-like flow patterns associated with stress propagation in fluids. This
inertial vortex flow propagates diffusively for simple liquids, while for
viscoelastic solutions the pattern spreads super-diffusively, dependent on the
shear modulus of the medium
Exact Results for Kinetics of Catalytic Reactions
The kinetics of an irreversible catalytic reaction on substrate of arbitrary
dimension is examined. In the limit of infinitesimal reaction rate
(reaction-controlled limit), we solve the dimer-dimer surface reaction model
(or voter model) exactly in arbitrary dimension . The density of reactive
interfaces is found to exhibit a power law decay for and a slow
logarithmic decay in two dimensions. We discuss the relevance of these results
for the monomer-monomer surface reaction model.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, no figure
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