578 research outputs found
Role of mantle flow in Nubia-Somalia plate divergence
Present-day continental extension along the East African Rift System (EARS) has often been attributed to diverging sublithospheric mantle flow associated with the African Superplume. This implies a degree of viscous coupling between mantle and lithosphere that remains poorly constrained. Recent advances in estimating present-day opening rates along the EARS from geodesy offer an opportunity to address this issue with geodynamic modeling of the mantle-lithosphere system. Here we use numerical models of the global mantle-plates coupled system to test the role of present-day mantle flow in Nubia-Somalia plate divergence across the EARS. The scenario yielding the best fit to geodetic observations is one where torques associated with gradients of gravitational potential energy stored in the African highlands are resisted by weak continental faults and mantle basal drag. These results suggest that shear tractions from diverging mantle flow play a minor role in present-day Nubia-Somalia divergence.This work was supported by NSF award EAR-0538119 to E.C. D.S.S. was supported by NSF graduate research fellowship EAR-2009052513. G.I. acknowledges support from the
Ringwood Fellowship at the Australian National University
A Circuit Model for Domain Walls in Ferromagnetic Nanowires: Application to Conductance and Spin Transfer Torques
We present a circuit model to describe the electron transport through a
domain wall in a ferromagnetic nanowire. The domain wall is treated as a
coherent 4-terminal device with incoming and outgoing channels of spin up and
down and the spin-dependent scattering in the vicinity of the wall is modelled
using classical resistances. We derive the conductance of the circuit in terms
of general conductance parameters for a domain wall. We then calculate these
conductance parameters for the case of ballistic transport through the domain
wall, and obtain a simple formula for the domain wall magnetoresistance which
gives a result consistent with recent experiments. The spin transfer torque
exerted on a domain wall by a spin-polarized current is calculated using the
circuit model and an estimate of the speed of the resulting wall motion is
made.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; submitted to Physical Review
Theoretical simulation of the anisotropic phases of antiferromagnetic thin films
We simulate antiferromagnetic thin films. Dipole-dipole and antiferromagnetic
exchange interactions as well as uniaxial and quadrupolar anisotropies are
taken into account. Various phases unfold as the corresponding parameters, J, D
and C, as well as the temperature T and the number n of film layers vary. We
find (1) how the strength Delta_m of the anisotropy arising from dipole-dipole
interactions varies with the number of layers m away from the film's surface,
with J and with n; (2) a unified phase diagram for all n-layer films and bulk
systems; (3) a layer dependent spin reorientation (SR) phase in which spins
rotate continuously as T, D, C and n vary; (4) that the ratio of the SR to the
ordering temperature depends (approximately) on n only through (D+Delta/n)/C,
and hardly on J; (5) a phase transformation between two different magnetic
orderings, in which spin orientations may or may not change, for some values of
J, by varying n.Comment: 10 LaTeX pages, 13 eps figures. Submitted to PRB on 30 June 2006.
Accepted on 10 October 200
Numerical Modeling of Mantle Flow Beneath Madagascar to Constrain Upper Mantle Rheology Beneath Continental Regions
Over the past few decades, azimuthal seismic anisotropy measurements have been widely used proxy to study past and present‐day deformation of the lithosphere and to characterize convection in the mantle. Beneath continental regions, distinguishing between shallow and deep sources of anisotropy remains difficult due to poor depth constraints of measurements and a lack of regional‐scale geodynamic modeling. Here, we constrain the sources of seismic anisotropy beneath Madagascar where a complex pattern cannot be explained by a single process such as absolute plate motion, global mantle flow, or geology. We test the hypotheses that either Edge‐Driven Convection (EDC) or mantle flow derived from mantle wind interactions with lithospheric topography is the dominant source of anisotropy beneath Madagascar. We, therefore, simulate two sets of mantle convection models using regional‐scale 3‐D computational modeling. We then calculate Lattice Preferred Orientation that develops along pathlines of the mantle flow models and use them to calculate synthetic splitting parameters. Comparison of predicted with observed seismic anisotropy shows a good fit in northern and southern Madagascar for the EDC model, but the mantle wind case only fits well in northern Madagascar. This result suggests the dominant control of the measured anisotropy may be from EDC, but the role of localized fossil anisotropy in narrow shear zones cannot be ruled out in southern Madagascar. Our results suggest that the asthenosphere beneath northern and southern Madagascar is dominated by dislocation creep. Dislocation creep rheology may be dominant in the upper asthenosphere beneath other regions of continental lithosphere
Numerical Modeling of Mantle Flow Beneath Madagascar to Constrain Upper Mantle Rheology Beneath Continental Regions
Over the past few decades, azimuthal seismic anisotropy measurements have been widely used proxy to study past and present‐day deformation of the lithosphere and to characterize convection in the mantle. Beneath continental regions, distinguishing between shallow and deep sources of anisotropy remains difficult due to poor depth constraints of measurements and a lack of regional‐scale geodynamic modeling. Here, we constrain the sources of seismic anisotropy beneath Madagascar where a complex pattern cannot be explained by a single process such as absolute plate motion, global mantle flow, or geology. We test the hypotheses that either Edge‐Driven Convection (EDC) or mantle flow derived from mantle wind interactions with lithospheric topography is the dominant source of anisotropy beneath Madagascar. We, therefore, simulate two sets of mantle convection models using regional‐scale 3‐D computational modeling. We then calculate Lattice Preferred Orientation that develops along pathlines of the mantle flow models and use them to calculate synthetic splitting parameters. Comparison of predicted with observed seismic anisotropy shows a good fit in northern and southern Madagascar for the EDC model, but the mantle wind case only fits well in northern Madagascar. This result suggests the dominant control of the measured anisotropy may be from EDC, but the role of localized fossil anisotropy in narrow shear zones cannot be ruled out in southern Madagascar. Our results suggest that the asthenosphere beneath northern and southern Madagascar is dominated by dislocation creep. Dislocation creep rheology may be dominant in the upper asthenosphere beneath other regions of continental lithosphere
Exchange bias effect in the phase separated Nd_{1-x}Sr_{x}CoO_3 at the spontaneous ferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic interface
We report the new results of exchange bias effect in Nd_{1-x}Sr_{x}CoO_3 for
x = 0.20 and 0.40, where the exchange bias phenomenon is involved with the
ferrimagnetic (FI) state in a spontaneously phase separated system. The
zero-field cooled magnetization exhibits the FI (T_{FI}) and ferromagnetic
(T_C) transitions at ~ 23 and \sim 70 K, respectively for x = 0.20. The
negative horizontal and positive vertical shifts of the magnetic hysteresis
loops are observed when the system is cooled through T_{FI} in presence of a
positive static magnetic field. Training effect is observed for x = 0.20, which
could be interpreted by a spin configurational relaxation model. The
unidirectional shifts of the hysteresis loops as a function of temperature
exhibit the absence of exchange bias above T_{FI} for x = 0.20. The analysis of
the cooling field dependence of exchange bias field and magnetization indicates
that the ferromagnetic (FM) clusters consist of single magnetic domain with
average size around \sim 20 and ~ 40 \AA ~ for x = 0.20 and 0.40, respectively.
The sizes of the FM clusters are close to the percolation threshold for x =
0.20, which grow and coalesce to form the bigger size for x = 0.40 resulting in
a weak exchange bias effect.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Correlation between tunneling magnetoresistance and magnetization in dipolar coupled nanoparticle arrays
The tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of a hexagonal array of dipolar coupled
anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles is studied using a resistor network model
and a realistic micromagnetic configuration obtained by Monte Carlo
simulations. Analysis of the field-dependent TMR and the corresponding
magnetization curve shows that dipolar interactions suppress the maximum TMR
effect, increase or decrease the field-sensitivity depending on the direction
of applied field and introduce strong dependence of the TMR on the direction of
the applied magnetic field. For off-plane magnetic fields, maximum values in
the TMR signal are associated with the critical field for irreversible rotation
of the magnetization. This behavior is more pronounced in strongly interacting
systems (magnetically soft), while for weakly interacting systems (magnetically
hard) the maximum of TMR (Hmax) occurs below the coercive field (Hc), in
contrast to the situation for non-interacting nanoparticles or in-plane fields
(Hmax=Hc). The relation of our simulations to recent TMR measurements in
self-assembled Co nanoparticle arrays is discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Electron Transport through Disordered Domain Walls: Coherent and Incoherent Regimes
We study electron transport through a domain wall in a ferromagnetic nanowire
subject to spin-dependent scattering. A scattering matrix formalism is
developed to address both coherent and incoherent transport properties. The
coherent case corresponds to elastic scattering by static defects, which is
dominant at low temperatures, while the incoherent case provides a
phenomenological description of the inelastic scattering present in real
physical systems at room temperature. It is found that disorder scattering
increases the amount of spin-mixing of transmitted electrons, reducing the
adiabaticity. This leads, in the incoherent case, to a reduction of conductance
through the domain wall as compared to a uniformly magnetized region which is
similar to the giant magnetoresistance effect. In the coherent case, a
reduction of weak localization, together with a suppression of spin-reversing
scattering amplitudes, leads to an enhancement of conductance due to the domain
wall in the regime of strong disorder. The total effect of a domain wall on the
conductance of a nanowire is studied by incorporating the disordered regions on
either side of the wall. It is found that spin-dependent scattering in these
regions increases the domain wall magnetoconductance as compared to the effect
found by considering only the scattering inside the wall. This increase is most
dramatic in the narrow wall limit, but remains significant for wide walls.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Anisotropy effects on the magnetic excitations of a ferromagnetic monolayer below and above the Curie temperature
The field-driven reorientation transition of an anisotropic ferromagnetic
monolayer is studied within the context of a finite-temperature Green's
function theory. The equilibrium state and the field dependence of the magnon
energy gap are calculated for static magnetic field applied in plane
along an easy or a hard axis. In the latter case, the in-plane reorientation of
the magnetization is shown to be continuous at T=0, in agreement with free spin
wave theory, and discontinuous at finite temperature , in contrast with
the prediction of mean field theory. The discontinuity in the orientation angle
creates a jump in the magnon energy gap, and it is the reason why, for ,
the energy does not go to zero at the reorientation field. Above the Curie
temperature , the magnon energy gap vanishes for H=0 both in the
easy and in the hard case. As is increased, the gap is found to increase
almost linearly with , but with different slopes depending on the field
orientation. In particular, the slope is smaller when is along the hard
axis. Such a magnetic anisotropy of the spin-wave energies is shown to persist
well above ().Comment: Final version accepted for publication in Physical Review B (with
three figures
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