831 research outputs found
Structural compliance, misfit strain and stripe nanostructures in cuprate superconductors
Structural compliance is the ability of a crystal structure to accommodate
variations in local atomic bond-lengths without incurring large strain
energies. We show that the structural compliance of cuprates is relatively
small, so that short, highly doped, Cu-O-Cu bonds in stripes are subject to a
tensile misfit strain. We develop a model to describe the effect of misfit
strain on charge ordering in the copper oxygen planes of oxide materials and
illustrate some of the low energy stripe nanostructures that can result.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
Spectroscopy of SMC Wolf-Rayet Stars Suggests that Wind-Clumping does not Depend on Ambient Metallicity
The mass-loss rates of hot, massive, luminous stars are considered a decisive
parameter in shaping the evolutionary tracks of such stars and influencing the
interstellar medium on galactic scales. The small-scale structures (clumps)
omnipresent in such winds may reduce empirical estimates of mass-loss rates by
an evolutionarily significant factor of >=3. So far, there has been no direct
observational evidence that wind-clumping may persist at the same level in
environments with a low ambient metallicity, where the wind-driving opacity is
reduced. Here we report the results of time-resolved spectroscopy of three
presumably single Population I Wolf-Rayet stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud,
where the ambient metallicity is ~1/5 Z_Sun.We detect numerous small-scale
emission peaks moving outwards in the accelerating parts of the stellar
winds.The general properties of the moving features, such as their velocity
dispersions,emissivities and average accelerations, closely match the
corresponding characteristics of small-scale inhomogeneities in the winds of
Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; accepted by ApJ Letter
Absence of the Transition into Abrikosov Vortex State of Two-Dimensional Type-II Superconductor with Weak Pinning
The resistive properties of thin amorphous NbO_{x} films with weak pinning
were investigated experimentally above and below the second critical field
H_{c2}. As opposed to bulk type II superconductors with weak pinning where a
sharp change of resistive properties at the transition into the Abrikosov state
is observed at H_{c4}, some percent below H_{c2} (V.A.Marchenko and
A.V.Nikulov, 1981), no qualitative change of resistive properties is observed
down to a very low magnetic field, H_{c4} < 0.006 H_{c2}, in thin films with
weak pinning. The smooth dependencies of the resistivity observed in these
films can be described by paraconductivity theory both above and below H_{c2}.
This means that the fluctuation superconducting state without phase coherence
remains appreciably below H_{c2} in the two-dimensional superconductor with
weak pinning. The difference the H_{c4}/H_{c2} values, i.e. position of the
transition into the Abrikosov state, in three- and two-dimensional
superconductors conforms to the Maki-Takayama result 1971 year according to
which the Abrikosov solution 1957 year is valid only for a superconductor with
finite dimensions. Because of the fluctuation this solution obtained in the
mean field approximation is not valid in a relatively narrow region below
H_{c2} for bulk superconductors with real dimensions and much below H_{c2} for
thin films with real dimensions. The superconducting state without phase
coherence should not be identified with the mythical vortex liquid because the
vortex, as a singularity in superconducting state with phase coherence, can not
exist without phase coherence.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The effect of ice rubble on ice-ice sliding
Ice deformation processes in the Arctic can generate ice rubble. Many situations arise where
ice fragments of varying size separate sea ice floes. While the shear forces between sea ice
floes in direct contact with each other are controlled by ice-ice friction, what is not known is
how the slip of the floes is affected by the presence of rubble between the sliding surfaces.
We present the result of field experiments undertaken on sea ice in the Barents Sea. A doubledirect-shear
experiment was done on floating sea ice in the field, with the addition of rubble
ice between the sliding surfaces. This was achieved by pulling a floating ice block through a
cut channel of open water 3m long, where broken ice filled the gap between the block and the
channel sides. The displacement of the block and the force needed to move the block were
measured. The time that the block was held motionless to allow the rubble to consolidate was
recorded - this ranged from seconds to several hours. We found that the 'hold time' controls
the maximum force needed to move the block. The relation between hold time and force is
highly non-linear from which we deduce thermal consolidation is the controlling mechanism
Qualitative features of periodic solutions of KdV
In this paper we prove new qualitative features of solutions of KdV on the
circle. The first result says that the Fourier coefficients of a solution of
KdV in Sobolev space , admit a WKB type expansion up to first
order with strongly oscillating phase factors defined in terms of the KdV
frequencies. The second result provides estimates for the approximation of such
a solution by trigonometric polynomials of sufficiently large degree
Fluctuation induced interactions between domains in membranes
We study a model lipid bilayer composed of a mixture of two incompatible
lipid types which have a natural tendency to segregate in the absence of
membrane fluctuations. The membrane is mechanically characterized by a local
bending rigidity which varies with the average local lipid
composition . We show, in the case where varies weakly with
, that the effective interaction between lipids of the same type can
either be everywhere attractive or can have a repulsive component at
intermediate distances greater than the typical lipid size. When this
interaction has a repulsive component, it can prevent macro-phase separation
and lead to separation in mesophases with a finite domain size. This effect
could be relevant to certain experimental and numerical observations of
mesoscopic domains in such systems.Comment: 9 pages RevTex, 1 eps figur
Existence of the Abrikosov vortex state in two-dimensional type-II superconductors without pinning
Theory alternative to the vortex lattice melting theories is advertised. The
vortex lattice melting theories are science fiction cond-mat/9811051 because
the Abrikosov state is not the vortex lattice with crystalline long-range
order. Since the fluctuation correction to the Abrikosov solution is infinite
in the thermodynamic limit (K.Maki and H.Takayama, 1972) any fluctuation theory
of the mixed state should consider a superconductor with finite sizes. Such
nonperturbative theory for the easiest case of two-dimensional superconductor
in the lowest Landau level approximation is presented in this work. The
thermodynamic averages of the spatial average order parameter and of the
Abrikosov parameter are calculated. It is shown that the position
H_{c4} of the transition into the Abrikosov state (i.e. in the mixed state with
long-range phase coherence) depends strongly on sizes of two-dimensional
superconductor. Fluctuations eliminate the Abrikosov vortex state in a wide
region of the mixed state of thin films with real sizes and without pinning
disorders, i.e. H_{c4} << H_{c2}. The latter has experimental corroboration in
Phys.Rev.Lett. 75, 2586 (1995).Comment: 4 pages, 0 figure
The effect of ice rubble on ice-ice sliding
Ice deformation processes in the Arctic can generate ice rubble. Many situations arise where ice fragments of varying size separate sea ice floes. While the shear forces between sea ice floes in direct contact with each other are controlled by ice-ice friction, what is not known is how the slip of the floes is affected by the presence of rubble between the sliding surfaces. We present the result of field experiments undertaken on sea ice in the Barents Sea. A double-direct-shear experiment was done on floating sea ice in the field, with the addition of rubble ice between the sliding surfaces. This was achieved by pulling a floating ice block through a cut channel of open water 3m long, where broken ice filled the gap between the block and the channel sides. The displacement of the block and the force needed to move the block were measured. The time that the block was held motionless to allow the rubble to consolidate was recorded - this ranged from seconds to several hours. We found that the 'hold time' controls the maximum force needed to move the block. The relation between hold time and force is highly non-linear from which we deduce thermal consolidation is the controlling mechanism
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