411 research outputs found
Critical behavior of frustrated systems: Monte Carlo simulations versus Renormalization Group
We study the critical behavior of frustrated systems by means of Pade-Borel
resummed three-loop renormalization-group expansions and numerical Monte Carlo
simulations. Amazingly, for six-component spins where the transition is second
order, both approaches disagree. This unusual situation is analyzed both from
the point of view of the convergence of the resummed series and from the
possible relevance of non perturbative effects.Comment: RevTex, 10 pages, 3 Postscript figure
Pores in Bilayer Membranes of Amphiphilic Molecules: Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulations Compared with Simple Mesoscopic Models
We investigate pores in fluid membranes by molecular dynamics simulations of
an amphiphile-solvent mixture, using a molecular coarse-grained model. The
amphiphilic membranes self-assemble into a lamellar stack of amphiphilic
bilayers separated by solvent layers. We focus on the particular case of
tension less membranes, in which pores spontaneously appear because of thermal
fluctuations. Their spatial distribution is similar to that of a random set of
repulsive hard discs. The size and shape distribution of individual pores can
be described satisfactorily by a simple mesoscopic model, which accounts only
for a pore independent core energy and a line tension penalty at the pore
edges. In particular, the pores are not circular: their shapes are fractal and
have the same characteristics as those of two dimensional ring polymers.
Finally, we study the size-fluctuation dynamics of the pores, and compare the
time evolution of their contour length to a random walk in a linear potential
Cross-contamination of oilseeds by insecticide residues during storage
Pesticide residues are found in oilseeds (rapeseed and sunflower) and crude oils: they are mainly organophosphate insecticides (pirimiophos-methyl, malathion when authorized) used in empty storage facilities and for direct application to stored cereal grain. Even if some secondary pests are found in stored oilseeds, French regulations do not allow use of these insecticides on stored oilseeds. These residues arise from cross-contamination from storage bins and grain handling equipment of grain stores, and not from illegal use. This uptake of insecticide residues from their storage environment by oilseeds may lead to residue contents that exceed regulatory limits. A three-year investigation in grain storage companies allowed us to follow the course of sunflower batches and rapeseed batches during storage seasons 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, from reception at the storage facility to outloading. Each of these batches was sampled at outloading, and was analyzed for insecticide residues. Traceability of oilseeds established by grain-store managers allowed us to identify cross-contamination sources. The insecticides that were most commonly detected were pirimiophos-methyl, malathion, and dichlorvos (in sunflower 2006-2007), plus chlorpyriphos-methyl and deltamethrin. Pirimiophos-methyl was the most commonly detected active substance, and caused the most cases of non-accordance with regulatory levels in rapeseed. Cross-contamination could have occurred when cereal grains were treated upon receipt, when rapeseed was also delivered, especially when treatments were done systematically to the cereal grains. For sunflower, the main cross-contamination hazard resulted from treatment of cereals at the period of receipt or at their outloading, just before sunflower seeds batches were outloaded. Another situation led to cross-contamination, but generally at a lower extent: oilseeds stored in bins that contained previously treated cereals, or loaded in empty bins with handling equipment treated before the receipt of oilseeds.Keywords: Oilseed storage, Cross-contamination, Insecticide residues, Rapeseed, Sunflowe
The critical behavior of frustrated spin models with noncollinear order
We study the critical behavior of frustrated spin models with noncollinear
order, including stacked triangular antiferromagnets and helimagnets. For this
purpose we compute the field-theoretic expansions at fixed dimension to six
loops and determine their large-order behavior. For the physically relevant
cases of two and three components, we show the existence of a new stable fixed
point that corresponds to the conjectured chiral universality class. This
contradicts previous three-loop field-theoretical results but is in agreement
with experiments.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe
Monte Carlo renormalization group study of the Heisenberg and XY antiferromagnet on the stacked triangular lattice and the chiral model
With the help of the improved Monte Carlo renormalization-group scheme, we
numerically investigate the renormalization group flow of the antiferromagnetic
Heisenberg and XY spin model on the stacked triangular lattice (STA-model) and
its effective Hamiltonian, 2N-component chiral model which is used in
the field-theoretical studies. We find that the XY-STA model with the lattice
size exhibits clear first-order behavior. We also
find that the renormalization-group flow of STA model is well reproduced by the
chiral model, and that there are no chiral fixed point of
renormalization-group flow for N=2 and 3 cases. This result indicates that the
Heisenberg-STA model also undergoes first-order transition.Comment: v1:15 pages, 15 figures v2:updated references v3:added comments on
the higher order irrelevant scaling variables v4:added results of larger
sizes v5:final version to appear in J.Phys.Soc.Jpn Vol.72, No.
Finite-Temperature Transition in the Spin-Dimer Antiferromagnet BaCuSi2O6
We consider a classical XY-like Hamiltonian on a body-centered tetragonal
lattice, focusing on the role of interlayer frustration. A three-dimensional
(3D) ordered phase is realized via thermal fluctuations, breaking the
mirror-image reflection symmetry in addition to the XY symmetry. A heuristic
field-theoretical model of the transition has a decoupled fixed point in the 3D
XY universality, and our Monte Carlo simulation suggests that there is such a
temperature region where long-wavelength fluctuations can be described by this
fixed point. However, it is shown using scaling arguments that the decoupled
fixed point is unstable against a fluctuation-induced biquadratic interaction,
indicating that a crossover to nontrivial critical phenomena with different
exponents appears as one approaches the critical point beyond the transient
temperature region. This new scenario clearly contradicts the previous notion
of the 3D XY universality.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Phase Transition of XY Model in Heptagonal Lattice
We numerically investigate the nature of the phase transition of the XY model
in the heptagonal lattice with the negative curvature, in comparison to other
interaction structures such as a flat two-dimensional (2D) square lattice and a
small-world network. Although the heptagonal lattice has a very short
characteristic path length like the small-world network structure, it is
revealed via calculation of the Binder's cumulant that the former exhibits a
zero-temperature phase transition while the latter has the finite-temperature
transition of the mean-field nature. Through the computation of the vortex
density as well as the correlation function in the low-temperature
approximation, we show that the absence of the phase transition originates from
the strong spinwave-type fluctuation, which is discussed in relation to the
usual 2D XY model.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Europhys. Let
The ALMA-PILS survey: First tentative detection of 3-hydroxypropenal (HOCHCHCHO) in the interstellar medium and chemical modeling of the CHO isomers
Characterizing the molecular composition of solar-type protostars is useful
for improving our understanding of the physico-chemical conditions under which
the Sun and its planets formed. In this work, we analyzed the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data of the Protostellar Interferometric
Line Survey (PILS), an unbiased spectral survey of the solar-type protostar
IRAS~16293--2422, and we tentatively detected 3-hydroxypropenal (HOCHCHCHO) for
the first time in the interstellar medium towards source B. Based on the
observed line intensities and assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, its
column density is constrained to be 10 cm, corresponding to
an abundance of 10 relative to methanol, CHOH. Additional
spectroscopic studies are needed to constrain the excitation temperature of
this molecule. We included HOCHCHCHO and five of its isomers in the chemical
network presented in Manigand et al. (2021) and we predicted their chemical
evolution with the Nautilus code. The model reproduces the abundance of
HOCHCHCHO within the uncertainties. This species is mainly formed through the
grain surface reaction CHCHO + HCO HCOCHCHO, followed by
the tautomerization of HCOCHCHO into HOCHCHCHO. Two isomers, CHCOCHO
and CHCOHCHO, are predicted to be even more abundant than HOCHCHCHO.
Spectroscopic studies of these molecules are essential in searching for them in
IRAS~16293--2422 and other astrophysical sources.Comment: Accepted in A&A Letter
Spin Stiffness of Stacked Triangular Antiferromagnets
We study the spin stiffness of stacked triangular antiferromagnets using both
heat bath and broad histogram Monte Carlo methods. Our results are consistent
with a continuous transition belonging to the chiral universality class first
proposed by Kawamura.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure
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