1,450 research outputs found
Random close packing of granular matter
We propose an interpretation of the random close packing of granular
materials as a phase transition, and discuss the possibility of experimental
verification.Comment: 6 page
Epitaxial Frustration in Deposited Packings of Rigid Disks and Spheres
We use numerical simulation to investigate and analyze the way that rigid
disks and spheres arrange themselves when compressed next to incommensurate
substrates. For disks, a movable set is pressed into a jammed state against an
ordered fixed line of larger disks, where the diameter ratio of movable to
fixed disks is 0.8. The corresponding diameter ratio for the sphere simulations
is 0.7, where the fixed substrate has the structure of a (001) plane of a
face-centered cubic array. Results obtained for both disks and spheres exhibit
various forms of density-reducing packing frustration next to the
incommensurate substrate, including some cases displaying disorder that extends
far from the substrate. The disk system calculations strongly suggest that the
most efficient (highest density) packings involve configurations that are
periodic in the lateral direction parallel to the substrate, with substantial
geometric disruption only occurring near the substrate. Some evidence has also
emerged suggesting that for the sphere systems a corresponding structure doubly
periodic in the lateral directions would yield the highest packing density;
however all of the sphere simulations completed thus far produced some residual
"bulk" disorder not obviously resulting from substrate mismatch. In view of the
fact that the cases studied here represent only a small subset of all that
eventually deserve attention, we end with discussion of the directions in which
first extensions of the present simulations might profitably be pursued.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures; typos fixed; a sentence added to 4th paragraph
of sect 5 in responce to a referee's comment
Absolute abundance estimates from shallow water baited underwater camera surveys; a stochastic modelling approach tested against field data
This research was supported by a University of Glasgow Faculty Scholarship to KMD, a Collaborative Gearing Scheme grant from the Natural Environmental Research Council and the British Antarctic Survey (CGS-77) and an ASSEMBLE infrastructure access grant to DMB.Baited underwater cameras are becoming a popular tool to monitor fish and invertebrate populations within protected and inshore environments where trawl surveys are unsuitable. Modelling the arrival times of deep-sea grenadiers using an inverse square relationship has enabled abundance estimates, comparable to those from bottom trawl surveys, to be gathered from deep-sea baited camera surveys. Baited underwater camera systems in the shallow water environments are however, currently limited to relative comparisons of assemblages based on simple metrics such as MaxN (maximum number of fish seen at any one time). This study describes a stochastic simulation approach used to model the behaviour of fish and invertebrates around a BUC system to enable absolute abundance estimates to be generated from arrival patterns. Species-specific models were developed for the tropical reef fishes the black tip grouper (Epinephelus fasciatus) and moray eel (Gymnothorax spp.) and the Antarctic scavengers; the asteroid (Odontaster validus) and the nemertean worm (Parbolasia corrugatus). A sensitivity analysis explored the impact of input parameters on the arrival patterns (MaxN, time to the arrival of the first individual and the time to reach MaxN) for each species generated by the model. Sensitivity analysis showed a particularly strong link between MaxN and abundance indicating that this model could be used to generate absolute abundances from existing or future MaxN data. It in effect allows the slope of the MaxN vs. abundance relationship to be estimated. Arrival patterns generated by each model were used to estimate population abundance for the focal species and these estimates were compared to data from underwater visual census transects. Using a Bland-Altman analysis, baited underwater camera data processed using this model were shown to generate absolute abundance estimates that were comparable to underwater visual census data.PostprintPeer reviewe
Dilatancy transition in a granular model
We introduce a model of granular matter and use a stress ensemble to analyze
shearing. Monte Carlo simulation shows the model to exhibit a second order
phase transition, associated with the onset of dilatancy.Comment: Future versions can be obtained from:
http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/radin/papers/shear2.pd
Preparation and ferroelectric properties of (124)-oriented SrBi4Ti4O15 ferroelectric thin film on (110)-oriented LaNiO3 electrode
A (124)-oriented SrBi4Ti4O15 (SBTi) ferroelectric thin film with high volume
fraction of {\alpha}SBTi(124)=97% was obtained using a metal organic
decomposition process on SiO2/Si substrate coated by (110)-oriented LaNiO3
(LNO) thin film. The remanent polarization and coercive field for
(124)-oriented SBTi film are 12.1 {\mu}C/cm2 and 74 kV/cm, respectively. No
evident fatigue of (124)-oriented SBTi thin film can be observed after
1{\times}10e9 switching cycles. Besides, the (124)-oriented SBTi film can be
uniformly polarized over large areas using a piezoelectric-mode atomic force
microscope. Considering that the annealing temperature was 650{\deg}C and the
thickness of each deposited layer was merely 30 nm, a long-range epitaxial
relationship between SBTi(124) and LNO(110) facets was proposed. The epitaxial
relationship was demonstrated based on the crystal structures of SBTi and LNO.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, published in Journal of Materials Science:
Materials in Electronics (JMSE), 19 (2008), 1031-103
CMB photons shedding light on dark matter
The annihilation or decay of Dark Matter (DM) particles could affect the
thermal history of the universe and leave an observable signature in Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. We update constraints on the
annihilation rate of DM particles in the smooth cosmological background, using
WMAP7 and recent small-scale CMB data. With a systematic analysis based on the
Press-Schechter formalism, we also show that DM annihilation in halos at small
redshift may explain entirely the reionization patterns observed in the CMB,
under reasonable assumptions concerning the concentration and formation
redshift of halos. We find that a mixed reionization model based on DM
annihilation in halos as well as star formation at a redshift z~6.5 could
simultaneously account for CMB observations and satisfy constraints inferred
from the Gunn-Peterson effect. However, these models tend to reheat the
inter-galactic medium (IGM) well above observational bounds: by including a
realistic prior on the IGM temperature at low redshift, we find stronger
cosmological bounds on the annihilation cross-section than with the CMB alone.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures; version accepted in JCAP after minor revision
Direct Constraints on Minimal Supersymmetry from Fermi-LAT Observations of the Dwarf Galaxy Segue 1
The dwarf galaxy Segue 1 is one of the most promising targets for the
indirect detection of dark matter. Here we examine what constraints 9 months of
Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of Segue 1 place upon the Constrained Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM), with the lightest neutralino as the dark
matter particle. We use nested sampling to explore the CMSSM parameter space,
simultaneously fitting other relevant constraints from accelerator bounds, the
relic density, electroweak precision observables, the anomalous magnetic moment
of the muon and B-physics. We include spectral and spatial fits to the Fermi
observations, a full treatment of the instrumental response and its related
uncertainty, and detailed background models. We also perform an extrapolation
to 5 years of observations, assuming no signal is observed from Segue 1 in that
time. Results marginally disfavour models with low neutralino masses and high
annihilation cross-sections. Virtually all of these models are however already
disfavoured by existing experimental or relic density constraints.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures; added extra scans with extreme halo parameters,
expanded introduction and discussion in response to referee's comment
Asymptotic Analysis of Coagulation–Fragmentation Equations of Carbon Nanotube Clusters
The possibility of the existence of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in organic solvents in the form of clusters is discussed. A theory is developed based on abundletmodel for clusters describing the distribution function of clusters by size. The phenomena have a unified explanation in the framework of the bundlet model of a cluster, in accordance with which the free energy of an SWNT involved in a cluster is combined from two components: a volume one, proportional to the number of moleculesnin a cluster, and a surface one, proportional ton1/2. During the latter stage of the fusion process, the dynamics were governed mainly by the displacement of the volume of liquid around the fusion site between the fused clusters. The same order of magnitude for the average cluster-fusion velocity is deduced if the fusion process starts with several fusion sites. Based on a simple kinetic model and starting from the initial state of pure monomers, micellization of rod-like aggregates at high critical micelle concentration occurs in three separated stages. A convenient relation is obtained for <n> at transient stage. At equilibrium, another relation determines dimensionless binding energy α. A relation with surface dilatational viscosity is obtained
Dynamics of entanglement for coherent excitonic states in a system of two coupled quantum dots and cavity QED
The dynamics of the entanglement for coherent excitonic states in the system
of two coupled large semiconductor quantum dots () mediated by a
single-mode cavity field is investigated. Maximally entangled coherent
excitonic states can be generated by cavity field initially prepared in odd
coherent state. The entanglement of the excitonic coherent states between two
dots reaches maximum when no photon is detected in the cavity. The effects of
the zero-temperature environment on the entanglement of excitonic coherent
state are also studied using the concurrence for two subsystems of the excitonsComment: 7 pages, 6 figure
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