Dewetting dynamics of stressed viscoelastic thin polymer films

Ultrathin polymer films that are produced e.g. by spin-coating are believed to be stressed since polymers are 'frozen in' into out-of-equilibrium configurations during this process. In the framework of a viscoelastic thin film model, we study the effects of lateral residual stresses on the dewetting dynamics of the film. The temporal evolution of the height profiles and the velocity profiles inside the film as well as the dissipation mechanisms are investigated in detail. Both the shape of the profiles and the importance of frictional dissipation vs. viscous dissipation inside the film are found to change in the course of dewetting. The interplay of the non-stationary profiles, the relaxing initial stress and changes in the dominance of the two dissipation mechanisms caused by nonlinear friction with the substrate is responsible for the rich behavior of the system. In particular, our analysis sheds new light on the occurrence of the unexpected maximum in the rim width obtained recently in experiments on PS-PDMS systems.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Pacman percolation: a model for enzyme gel degradation

We study a model for the gel degradation by an enzyme, where the gel is schematized as a cubic lattice, and the enzyme as a random walker, that cuts the bonds over which it passes. The model undergoes a (reverse) percolation transition, which for low density of enzymes falls in a universality class different from random percolation. In particular we have measured a gel fraction critical exponent beta=1.0+-0.1, in excellent agreement with experiments made on the real system.Comment: 4 pages, 7 eps figure

Pseudo-Casimir force in confined nematic polymers

We investigate the pseudo-Casimir force in a slab of material composed of nematically ordered long polymers. We write the total mesoscopic energy together with the constraint connecting the local density and director fluctuations and evaluate the corresponding fluctuation free energy by standard methods. It leads to a pseudo-Casimir force of a different type than in the case of standard, short molecule nematic. We investigate its separation dependence and its magnitude and explicitly derive the relevant limiting cases.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Thermodynamic approach to the dewetting instability in ultrathin films

The fluid dynamics of the classical dewetting instability in ultrathin films is a non-linear process. However, the physical manifestation of the instability in terms of characteristic length and time scales can be described by a linearized form of the initial conditions of the films's dynamics. Alternately, the thermodynamic approach based on equating the rate of free energy decrease to the viscous dissipation [de Gennes, C. R. Acad. Paris.v298, 1984] can give similar information. Here we have evaluated dewetting in the presence of thermocapillary forces arising from a film-thickness (h) dependent temperature. Such a situation can be found during pulsed laser melting of ultrathin metal films where nanoscale effects lead to a local h-dependent temperature. The thermodynamic approach provides an analytical description of this thermocapillary dewetting. The results of this approach agree with those from linear theory and experimental observations provided the minimum value of viscous dissipation is equated to the rate of free energy decrease. The flow boundary condition that produces this minimum viscous dissipation is when the film-substrate tangential stress is zero. The physical implication of this finding is that the spontaneous dewetting instability follows the path of minimum rate of energy loss.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Under revie

Ginzburg-Landau theory of dirty two band s±s_{\pm} superconductors

In this paper we study the effect of non-magnetic impurities on two-band $s_{\pm}$ superconductors by deriving the corresponding Ginzburg-Landau (GL) equation. Depending on the strength of (impurity-induced) inter-band scattering we find that there are two distinctive regions where the superconductors behave very differently. In the strong impurity induced inter-band scattering regime $T_c<<\tau^{-1}_t$, where $\tau_t\sim$ mean-life time an electron stays in one band the two-band superconductor behaves as an effective one-band dirty superconductor. In the other limit $T_c\geq\tau^{-1}_t$, the dirty two-band superconductor is described by a network of frustrated two-band superconductor grains connected by Josepshon tunnelling junctions. We argue that most pnictide superconductors are in the later regime.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Topological Constraints at the Theta Point: Closed Loops at Two Loops

We map the problem of self-avoiding random walks in a Theta solvent with a chemical potential for writhe to the three-dimensional symmetric U(N)-Chern-Simons theory as N goes to 0. We find a new scaling regime of topologically constrained polymers, with critical exponents that depend on the chemical potential for writhe, which gives way to a fluctuation-induced first-order transition.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, typo

Long-range Casimir interactions between impurities in nematic liquid crystals and the collapse of polymer chains in such solvents

The elastic interactions between objects embedded in a nematic liquid crystal are usually caused by the average distorsion-rather than by the fluctuations-of the nematic orientational field. We argue that for sufficiently small particles, the nematic-mediated interaction originates purely from the fluctuations of the nematic director. This Casimir interaction decays as d^(-6), d being the distance between the particles, and it dominates van der Waals interactions close to the isotropic-to-nematic transition. Considering the nematic as a polymer solvent, we show that the onset of this Casimir interaction at the isotropic-to-nematic transition can discontinuously induce the collapse of a flexible polymer chain from the swollen state to the globular state, without crossing the Theta-point.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Solution of a model of SAW's with multiple monomers per site on the Husimi lattice

We solve a model of self-avoiding walks which allows for a site to be visited up to two times by the walk on the Husimi lattice. This model is inspired in the Domb-Joyce model and was proposed to describe the collapse transition of polymers with one-site interactions only. We consider the version in which immediate self-reversals of the walk are forbidden (RF model). The phase diagram we obtain for the grand-canonical version of the model is similar to the one found in the solution of the Bethe lattice, with two distinct polymerized phases, a tricritical point and a critical endpoint.Comment: 16 pages, including 6 figure

First-order scaling near a second-order phase transition: Tricritical polymer collapse

The coil-globule transition of an isolated polymer has been well established to be a second-order phase transition described by a standard tricritical O(0) field theory. We provide compelling evidence from Monte Carlo simulations in four dimensions, where mean-field theory should apply, that the approach to this (tri)critical point is dominated by the build-up of first-order-like singularities masking the second-order nature of the coil-globule transition: the distribution of the internal energy having two clear peaks that become more distinct and sharp as the tricritical point is approached. However, the distance between the peaks slowly decays to zero. The evidence shows that the position of this (pseudo) first-order transition is shifted by an amount from the tricritical point that is asymptotically much larger than the width of the transition region. We suggest an explanation for the apparently contradictory scaling predictions in the literature.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures included in tex

First study of the three-gluon static potential in Lattice QCD

We estimate the potential energy for a system of three static gluons in Lattice QCD. This is relevant for the different models of three-body glueballs have been proposed in the literature, either for gluons with a constituent mass, or for massless ones. A Wilson loop adequate to the static hybrid three-body system is developed. We study different spacial geometries, to compare the starfish model with the triangle model, for the three-gluon potential. We also study two different colour structures, symmetric and antisymmetric, and compare the respective static potentials. A first simulation is performed in a $24^3 \times 48$ periodic Lattice, with $\beta=6.2$ and $a \sim 0.072$ fm.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure