129 research outputs found
Microphase Separation and modulated phases in a Coulomb frustrated Ising ferromagnet
We study a 3-dimensional Ising model in which the tendency to order due to
short-range ferromagnetic interactions is frustrated by competing long-range
(Coulombic) interactions. Complete ferromagnetic ordering is impossible for any
nonzero value of the frustration parameter, but the system displays a variety
of phases characterized by periodically modulated structures. We have performed
extensive Monte-Carlo simulations which provide strong evidence that the
microphase separation transition between paramagnetic and modulated phases is a
fluctuation-induced first-order transition. Additional transitions to various
commensurate phases may also occur when further lowering the temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Europhys. Letter
The viscous slowing down of supercooled liquids as a temperature-controlled superArrhenius activated process: a description in terms of frustration-limited domains
We propose that the salient feature to be explained about the glass
transition of supercooled liquids is the temperature-controlled superArrhenius
activated nature of the viscous slowing down, more strikingly seen in
weakly-bonded, fragile systems. In the light of this observation, the relevance
of simple models of spherically interacting particles and that of models based
on free-volume congested dynamics are questioned. Finally, we discuss how the
main aspects of the phenomenology of supercooled liquids, including the
crossover from Arrhenius to superArrhenius activated behavior and the
heterogeneous character of the relaxation, can be described by an
approach based on frustration-limited domains.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted in J. Phys.: Condensed Matter,
proceedings of the Trieste workshop on "Unifying Concepts in Glass Physics
BIOMECHANICS OF SURFING: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENTED SURFBOARD TO MEASURE SURFBOARD KINETICS
The purpose of this study was to investigate the different relations between the actions of a surfer and the kinematic behaviour of his surfboard. An instrumented surfboard has been designed with a force platform synchronized with an inertial measurement unit and acquisition system. An experimental campaign has been carried out in situ, where different waves have been surfed to validate the device. Results revealed that measured efforts of the surfer and kinematics of his surfboard are consistent regarding the expected behaviour. Instrumented surfboards will help coaches by giving them a new performance analysis tool. It will also provide an experimental database for the development of numerical models about interactions Surfer/Surfboard/Wave
Out-of-equilibrium dynamics of two interacting optically-trapped particles
We present a theoretical analysis of a non-equilibrium dynamics in a model
system consisting of two particles which move randomly on a plane. The two
particles interact via a harmonic potential, experience their own (independent
from each other) noises characterized by two different temperatures and
, and each particle is being held by its own optical tweezer. Such a
system with two particle coupled by hydrodynamic interactions was previously
realised experimentally in B\'erut et al. [EPL {\bf 107}, 60004 (2014)], and
the difference between two temperatures has been achieved by exerting an
additional noise on either of the tweezers. Framing the dynamics in terms of
two coupled over-damped Langevin equations, we show that the system reaches a
non-equilibrium steady-state with non-zero (for ) probability
currents that possess non-zero curls. As a consequence, in this system the
particles are continuously spinning around their centers of mass in a
completely synchronised way - the curls of currents at the instantaneous
positions of two particles have the same magnitude and sign. Moreover, we
demonstrate that the components of currents of two particles are strongly
correlated and undergo a rotational motion along closed elliptic orbits.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Response properties in a model for granular matter
We investigate the response properties of granular media in the framework of
the so-called {\em Random Tetris Model}. We monitor, for different driving
procedures, several quantities: the evolution of the density and of the density
profiles, the ageing properties through the two-times correlation functions and
the two-times mean-square distance between the potential energies, the response
function defined in terms of the difference in the potential energies of two
replica driven in two slightly different ways. We focus in particular on the
role played by the spatial inhomogeneities (structures) spontaneously emerging
during the compaction process, the history of the sample and the driving
procedure. It turns out that none of these ingredients can be neglected for the
correct interpretation of the experimental or numerical data. We discuss the
problem of the optimization of the compaction process and we comment on the
validity of our results for the description of granular materials in a
thermodynamic framework.Comment: 22 pages, 35 eps files (21 figures
Random sequential adsorption on a dashed line
We study analytically and numerically a model of random sequential adsorption
(RSA) of segments on a line, subject to some constraints suggested by two kinds
of physical situations:
- deposition of dimers on a lattice where the sites have a spatial extension;
- deposition of extended particles which must overlap one (or several)
adsorbing sites on the substrate.
Both systems involve discrete and continuous degrees of freedom, and, in one
dimension, are equivalent to our model, which depends on one length parameter.
When this parameter is varied, the model interpolates between a variety of
known situations : monomers on a lattice, "car-parking" problem, dimers on a
lattice. An analysis of the long-time behaviour of the coverage as a function
of the parameter exhibits an anomalous 1/t^2 approach to the jamming limit at
the transition point between the fast exponential kinetics, characteristic of
the lattice model, and the 1/t law of the continuous one.Comment: 14 pages (Latex) + 4 Postscript figure
Locally Preferred Structure and Frustration in Glassforming Liquids: A Clue to Polyamorphism?
We propose that the concept of liquids characterized by a given locally
preferred structure (LPS) could help in understanding the observed phenomenon
of polyamorphism. ``True polyamorphism'' would involve the competition between
two (or more) distinct LPS, one favored at low pressure because of its low
energy and one favored at high pressure because of its small specific volume,
as in tetrahedrally coordinated systems. ``Apparent polyamorphism'' could be
associated with the existence of a poorly crystallized defect-ordered phase
with a large unit cell and small crystallites, which may be illustrated by the
metastable glacial phase of the fragile glassformer triphenylphosphite; the
apparent polyamorphism might result from structural frustration, i. e., a
competition between the tendency to extend the LPS and a global constraint that
prevents tiling of the whole space by the LPS.Comment: 11, 6 figures, Proceedings of the Conference "Horizons in Complex
Systems", Messina; in honor of the 60th birthday of H.E. Stanle
Kinetics and Jamming Coverage in a Random Sequential Adsorption of Polymer Chains
Using a highly efficient Monte Carlo algorithm, we are able to study the
growth of coverage in a random sequential adsorption (RSA) of self-avoiding
walk (SAW) chains for up to 10^{12} time steps on a square lattice. For the
first time, the true jamming coverage (theta_J) is found to decay with the
chain length (N) with a power-law theta_J propto N^{-0.1}. The growth of the
coverage to its jamming limit can be described by a power-law, theta(t) approx
theta_J -c/t^y with an effective exponent y which depends on the chain length,
i.e., y = 0.50 for N=4 to y = 0.07 for N=30 with y -> 0 in the asymptotic limit
N -> infinity.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages inclduing figure
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