824 research outputs found
Comment on "Canonical and Mircocanonical Calculations for Fermi Systems"
In the context of nuclear physics Pratt recently investigated noninteracting
Fermi systems described by the microcanonical and canonical ensemble. As will
be shown his discussion of the model of equally spaced levels contains a flaw
and a statement which is at least confusing.Comment: Comment on S. Pratt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4255 (2000) and
nucl-th/990505
Classification of phase transitions in small systems
We present a classification scheme for phase transitions in finite systems
like atomic and molecular clusters based on the Lee-Yang zeros in the complex
temperature plane. In the limit of infinite particle numbers the scheme reduces
to the Ehrenfest definition of phase transitions and gives the right critical
indices. We apply this classification scheme to Bose-Einstein condensates in a
harmonic trap as an example of a higher order phase transitions in a finite
system and to small Ar clusters.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Fluorescence from a few electrons
Systems containing few Fermions (e.g., electrons) are of great current
interest. Fluorescence occurs when electrons drop from one level to another
without changing spin. Only electron gases in a state of equilibrium are
considered. When the system may exchange electrons with a large reservoir, the
electron-gas fluorescence is easily obtained from the well-known Fermi-Dirac
distribution. But this is not so when the number of electrons in the system is
prevented from varying, as is the case for isolated systems and for systems
that are in thermal contact with electrical insulators such as diamond. Our
accurate expressions rest on the assumption that single-electron energy levels
are evenly spaced, and that energy coupling and spin coupling between electrons
are small. These assumptions are shown to be realistic for many systems.
Fluorescence from short, nearly isolated, quantum wires is predicted to drop
abruptly in the visible, a result not predicted by the Fermi-Dirac
distribution. Our exact formulas are based on restricted and unrestricted
partitions of integers. The method is considerably simpler than the ones
proposed earlier, which are based on second quantization and contour
integration.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, RevTe
Deceptive signals of phase transitions in small magnetic clusters
We present an analysis of the thermodynamic properties of small transition
metal clusters and show how the commonly used indicators of phase transitions
like peaks in the specific heat or magnetic susceptibility can lead to
deceptive interpretations of the underlying physics. The analysis of the
distribution of zeros of the canonical partition function in the whole complex
temperature plane reveals the nature of the transition. We show that signals in
the magnetic susceptibility at positive temperatures have their origin at zeros
lying at negative temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, revtex4, for further information see
http://www.smallsystems.d
Classification of the Nuclear Multifragmentation Phase Transition
Using a recently proposed classification scheme for phase transitions in
finite systems [Phys.Rev.Lett.{\bf 84},3511 (2000)] we show that within the
statistical standard model of nuclear multifragmentation the predicted phase
transition is of first order.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.C (in
press
Observations of meteoric material and implications for aerosol nucleation in the winter Arctic lower stratosphere derived from in situ particle measurements
Number concentrations of total and non-volatile aerosol particles with size diameters >0.01 μm as well as particle size distributions (0.4–23 μm diameter) were measured in situ in the Arctic lower stratosphere (10–20.5 km altitude). The measurements were obtained during the campaigns European Polar Stratospheric Cloud and Lee Wave Experiment (EUPLEX) and Envisat-Arctic-Validation (EAV). The campaigns were based in Kiruna, Sweden, and took place from January to March 2003. Measurements were conducted onboard the Russian high-altitude research aircraft Geophysica using the low-pressure Condensation Nucleus Counter COPAS (COndensation PArticle Counter System) and a modified FSSP 300 (Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe). Around 18–20 km altitude typical total particle number concentrations nt range at 10–20 cm−3 (ambient conditions). Correlations with the trace gases nitrous oxide (N2O) and trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) are discussed. Inside the polar vortex the total number of particles >0.01 μm increases with potential temperature while N2O is decreasing which indicates a source of particles in the above polar stratosphere or mesosphere. A separate channel of the COPAS instrument measures the fraction of aerosol particles non-volatile at 250°C. Inside the polar vortex a much higher fraction of particles contained non-volatile residues than outside the vortex (~67% inside vortex, ~24% outside vortex). This is most likely due to a strongly increased fraction of meteoric material in the particles which is transported downward from the mesosphere inside the polar vortex. The high fraction of non-volatile residual particles gives therefore experimental evidence for downward transport of mesospheric air inside the polar vortex. It is also shown that the fraction of non-volatile residual particles serves directly as a suitable experimental vortex tracer. Nanometer-sized meteoric smoke particles may also serve as nuclei for the condensation of gaseous sulfuric acid and water in the polar vortex and these additional particles may be responsible for the increase in the observed particle concentration at low N2O. The number concentrations of particles >0.4 μm measured with the FSSP decrease markedly inside the polar vortex with increasing potential temperature, also a consequence of subsidence of air from higher altitudes inside the vortex. Another focus of the analysis was put on the particle measurements in the lowermost stratosphere. For the total particle density relatively high number concentrations of several hundred particles per cm3 at altitudes below ~14 km were observed in several flights. To investigate the origin of these high number concentrations we conducted air mass trajectory calculations and compared the particle measurements with other trace gas observations. The high number concentrations of total particles in the lowermost stratosphere are probably caused by transport of originally tropospheric air from lower latitudes and are potentially influenced by recent particle nucleation
Order-disorder transition in nanoscopic semiconductor quantum rings
Using the path integral Monte Carlo technique we show that semiconductor
quantum rings with up to six electrons exhibit a temperature, ring diameter,
and particle number dependent transition between spin ordered and disordered
Wigner crystals. Due to the small number of particles the transition extends
over a broad temperature range and is clearly identifiable from the electron
pair correlation functions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, For recent information on physics of small
systems see http://www.smallsystems.d
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Integrating RC bridge defect information into BIM models
Reinforced Concrete bridges are a vitally important part of our infrastructure. The status of this infrastructure needs to be monitored on a continuous basis in order to ensure its safety and functionality. This is currently being done by authorities worldwide via bridge inspection reports. The format and storage of these reports varies considerably across different authorities around the world and is sometimes comprised into a bridge management system (BMS). The lack of standardization severely hinders the use of inspection information for knowledge generation use cases of both practitioners and researchers. This paper presents an exploratory analysis and as a result an information model and a candidate binding to IFC to categorize inspection information of RC bridges and to standardize storage of this information in a format that is suitable for sharing and comparing it between different users and varying requirements. We were able to show in three steps, that IFC in its latest version IFC 4 provides sufficient functionality to serve as a basis for integrating relevant defect information and imagery. Firstly, we extracted types of defects and properties needed for bridge assessment from existing bridge inspection manuals. Secondly, we modelled the defect entities, their properties and relations and thirdly, mapped them to appropriate IFC entities. A prototypical implementation serves as a proof of concept for automated sharing and comparing of information needed in RC bridge inspections and for establishing a knowledge base for bridge performance over time and across authorities.This work is partly funded by Trimble Inc. and by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 31109806.0007. SeeBridge is co-funded by Funding Partners of the ERA-NET Plus Infravation and the European Commission. The Funding Partners of the Infravation 2014 Call are: Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu, Rijkswaterstaat, Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung, Danish Road Directorate, Statens Vegvesen Vegdirektoratet, Trafikverket – Trv, Vegagerðin, Ministere de L’ecologie, du Developpement Durable et de L’energie, Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial, Anas S.P.A., Netivei Israel – National Transport Infrastructure Company Ltd. and Federal Highway Administration USDOT
Classification of phase transitions of finite Bose-Einstein condensates in power law traps by Fisher zeros
We present a detailed description of a classification scheme for phase
transitions in finite systems based on the distribution of Fisher zeros of the
canonical partition function in the complex temperature plane. We apply this
scheme to finite Bose-systems in power law traps within a semi-analytic
approach with a continuous one-particle density of states for different values of and to a three dimensional harmonically
confined ideal Bose-gas with discrete energy levels. Our results indicate that
the order of the Bose-Einstein condensation phase transition sensitively
depends on the confining potential.Comment: 7 pages, 9 eps-figures, For recent information on physics of small
systems see "http://www.smallsystems.de
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