406 research outputs found
Ginzburg-Landau theory for the time-dependent phase field in a two-dimensional d-wave superconductor
We derive a finite temperature time-dependent effective theory for the phase
of the pairing field, which is appropriate for a 2D conducting
electron system with non-retarded d-wave attraction. As for s-wave pairing the
effective action contains terms with Landau damping, but their structure
appears to be different from the s-wave case due to the fact that the Landau
damping is determined by the quasiparticle group velocity , which for the
d-wave pairing does not have the same direction as the non-interacting Fermi
velocity . We show that for the d-wave pairing the Landau terms have a
linear low temperature dependence and in contrast to the s-wave case are
important for all finite temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX; paper presented at New^3SC-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA,
2001. To be published in Physica
Multi-parameter generalization of nonextensive statistical mechanics
We show that the stochastic interpretation of Tsallis' thermostatistics given
recently by Beck [Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 87}, 180601 (2001)] leads naturally to a
multi-parameter generalization. The resulting class of distributions is able to
fit experimental results which cannot be reproduced within the Boltzmann's or
Tsallis' formalism.Comment: ReVTex 4.0, 4 eps figure
Fatty Acid Methyl Esters as Biosolvents of Epoxy Resins: A Physicochemical Study
The C8 to C18 fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) have been compared as solvents for two epoxy resin pre-polymers, bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) and triglycidyl paminophenol ether (TGPA). It was found that the solubilization limits vary according to the ester and that methyl caprylate is the best solvent of both resins. To explain these solubility performances, physical and chemical properties of FAME were studied, such as the Hansen parameters, viscosity, binary diffusion coefficient and vaporization enthalpy. Determination of the physicochemical parameters of FAME was carried out by laboratory experimentations and by calculation from bibliographic data. The Hansen parameters of FAME and epoxy resins pre-polymers were theoretically and experimentally determined. The FAME chain length showed a long dependence on the binary diffusion parameters and kinematic viscosity, which are mass and momentum transport properties. Moreover, the vaporization enthalpy of these compounds was directly correlated with the solubilization limits
Comparisons of Supergranule Characteristics During the Solar Minima of Cycles 22/23 and 23/24
Supergranulation is a component of solar convection that manifests itself on
the photosphere as a cellular network of around 35 Mm across, with a turnover
lifetime of 1-2 days. It is strongly linked to the structure of the magnetic
field. The horizontal, divergent flows within supergranule cells carry local
field lines to the cell boundaries, while the rotational properties of
supergranule upflows may contribute to the restoration of the poloidal field as
part of the dynamo mechanism that controls the solar cycle. The solar minimum
at the transition from cycle 23 to 24 was notable for its low level of activity
and its extended length. It is of interest to study whether the convective
phenomena that influences the solar magnetic field during this time differed in
character to periods of previous minima. This study investigates three
characteristics (velocity components, sizes and lifetimes) of solar
supergranulation. Comparisons of these characteristics are made between the
minima of cycles 22/23 and 23/24 using MDI Doppler data from 1996 and 2008,
respectively. It is found that whereas the lifetimes are equal during both
epochs (around 18 h), the sizes are larger in 1996 (35.9 +/- 0.3 Mm) than in
2008 (35.0 +/- 0.3 Mm), while the dominant horizontal velocity flows are weaker
(139 +/- 1 m/s in 1996; 141 +/- 1 m/s in 2008). Although numerical differences
are seen, they are not conclusive proof of the most recent minimum being
inherently unusual.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Solar Physics, in pres
Lifetime distributions in the methods of non-equilibrium statistical operator and superstatistics
A family of non-equilibrium statistical operators is introduced which differ
by the system age distribution over which the quasi-equilibrium (relevant)
distribution is averaged. To describe the nonequilibrium states of a system we
introduce a new thermodynamic parameter - the lifetime of a system.
Superstatistics, introduced in works of Beck and Cohen [Physica A \textbf{322},
(2003), 267] as fluctuating quantities of intensive thermodynamical parameters,
are obtained from the statistical distribution of lifetime (random time to the
system degeneracy) considered as a thermodynamical parameter. It is suggested
to set the mixing distribution of the fluctuating parameter in the
superstatistics theory in the form of the piecewise continuous functions. The
distribution of lifetime in such systems has different form on the different
stages of evolution of the system. The account of the past stages of the
evolution of a system can have a substantial impact on the non-equilibrium
behaviour of the system in a present time moment.Comment: 18 page
Effective action approach and Carlson-Goldman mode in d-wave superconductors
We theoretically investigate the Carlson-Goldman (CG) mode in two-dimensional
clean d-wave superconductors using the effective ``phase only'' action
formalism. In conventional s-wave superconductors, it is known that the CG mode
is observed as a peak in the structure factor of the pair susceptibility
only just below the transition temperature T_c and only
in dirty systems. On the other hand, our analytical results support the
statement by Y.Ohashi and S.Takada, Phys.Rev.B {\bf 62}, 5971 (2000) that in
d-wave superconductors the CG mode can exist in clean systems down to the much
lower temperatures, . We also consider the manifestations of
the CG mode in the density-density and current-current correlators and discuss
the gauge independence of the obtained results.Comment: 23 pages, RevTeX4, 12 EPS figures; final version to appear in PR
Measurement of the Omega_c Lifetime
We present the measurement of the lifetime of the Omega_c we have performed
using three independent data samples from two different decay modes. Using a
Sigma- beam of 340 GeV/c we have obtained clean signals for the Omega_c
decaying into Xi- K- pi+ pi+ and Omega- pi+ pi- pi+, avoiding topological cuts
normally used in charm analysis. The short but measurable lifetime of the
Omega_c is demonstrated by a clear enhancement of the signals at short but
finite decay lengths. Using a continuous maximum likelihood method we
determined the lifetime to be tau(Omega_c) = 55 +13-11(stat) +18-23(syst) fs.
This makes the Omega_c the shortest living weakly decaying particle observed so
far. The short value of the lifetime confirms the predicted pattern of the
charmed baryon lifetimes and demonstrates that the strong interaction plays a
vital role in the lifetimes of charmed hadrons.Comment: 15 pages, including 7 figures; gzipped, uuencoded postscrip
Low Complexity Regularization of Linear Inverse Problems
Inverse problems and regularization theory is a central theme in contemporary
signal processing, where the goal is to reconstruct an unknown signal from
partial indirect, and possibly noisy, measurements of it. A now standard method
for recovering the unknown signal is to solve a convex optimization problem
that enforces some prior knowledge about its structure. This has proved
efficient in many problems routinely encountered in imaging sciences,
statistics and machine learning. This chapter delivers a review of recent
advances in the field where the regularization prior promotes solutions
conforming to some notion of simplicity/low-complexity. These priors encompass
as popular examples sparsity and group sparsity (to capture the compressibility
of natural signals and images), total variation and analysis sparsity (to
promote piecewise regularity), and low-rank (as natural extension of sparsity
to matrix-valued data). Our aim is to provide a unified treatment of all these
regularizations under a single umbrella, namely the theory of partial
smoothness. This framework is very general and accommodates all low-complexity
regularizers just mentioned, as well as many others. Partial smoothness turns
out to be the canonical way to encode low-dimensional models that can be linear
spaces or more general smooth manifolds. This review is intended to serve as a
one stop shop toward the understanding of the theoretical properties of the
so-regularized solutions. It covers a large spectrum including: (i) recovery
guarantees and stability to noise, both in terms of -stability and
model (manifold) identification; (ii) sensitivity analysis to perturbations of
the parameters involved (in particular the observations), with applications to
unbiased risk estimation ; (iii) convergence properties of the forward-backward
proximal splitting scheme, that is particularly well suited to solve the
corresponding large-scale regularized optimization problem
Neutrino Propagation in a Strongly Magnetized Medium
We derive general expressions at the one-loop level for the coefficients of
the covariant structure of the neutrino self-energy in the presence of a
constant magnetic field. The neutrino energy spectrum and index of refraction
are obtained for neutral and charged media in the strong-field limit () using the lowest Landau level
approximation. The results found within the lowest Landau level approximation
are numerically validated, summing in all Landau levels, for strong and weakly-strong fields. The neutrino energy in
leading order of the Fermi coupling constant is expressed as the sum of three
terms: a kinetic-energy term, a term of interaction between the magnetic field
and an induced neutrino magnetic moment, and a rest-energy term. The leading
radiative correction to the kinetic-energy term depends linearly on the
magnetic field strength and is independent of the chemical potential. The other
two terms are only present in a charged medium. For strong and weakly-strong
fields, it is found that the field-dependent correction to the neutrino energy
in a neutral medium is much larger than the thermal one. Possible applications
to cosmology and astrophysics are considered.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures. Corrected misprints in reference
Magnetic Field Amplification in Galaxy Clusters and its Simulation
We review the present theoretical and numerical understanding of magnetic
field amplification in cosmic large-scale structure, on length scales of galaxy
clusters and beyond. Structure formation drives compression and turbulence,
which amplify tiny magnetic seed fields to the microGauss values that are
observed in the intracluster medium. This process is intimately connected to
the properties of turbulence and the microphysics of the intra-cluster medium.
Additional roles are played by merger induced shocks that sweep through the
intra-cluster medium and motions induced by sloshing cool cores. The accurate
simulation of magnetic field amplification in clusters still poses a serious
challenge for simulations of cosmological structure formation. We review the
current literature on cosmological simulations that include magnetic fields and
outline theoretical as well as numerical challenges.Comment: 60 pages, 19 Figure
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