Onset of collective and cohesive motion

We study the onset of collective motion, with and without cohesion, of groups of noisy self-propelled particles interacting locally. We find that this phase transition, in two space dimensions, is always discontinuous, including for the minimal model of Vicsek et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 75},1226 (1995)] for which a non-trivial critical point was previously advocated. We also show that cohesion is always lost near onset, as a result of the interplay of density, velocity, and shape fluctuations.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

A Few Steps Towards a More Quantitative Understanding of Contrast in the Scanning Electron Microscope

The interaction volume of the electron beam with the specimen in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a highly complex function of the surface structure of the specimen, its chemical composition and the energy of the scanning electron beam.· The video signals formed by secondary electrons (SE) or backscattered electrons (BSE) reflect this complexity insofar as they may contain not only information of the interior of the pixel which has just been scanned and its neighborhood, but may depend on surface details hundreds of microns apart from the impinging point of the electron beam. This leads to artifacts in scanning electron micrographs, e.g., edge brightening. The knowledge of the spatial distribution of the current density of the BSE and SE released by the impinging beam are the key for a more quantitative understanding of contrasts in scanning electron micrographs. In a first step, our emission microscopic method to visualize these distributions has been improved by substituting a photographic registration method by a charged couple device (CCD) densitometer. The resolution of our present densitometer (256 grey levels) is not sufficient to record the full dynamic range of the SE current density distributions. However, this will be possible in the near future with a state of the art CCD-camera and a 14 bit image processing system

Off-resonance field enhancement by spherical nanoshells

We study light scattering by spherical nanoshells consistent of metal/dielectric composites. We consider two geometries of metallic nanoshell with dielectric core, and dielectric coated metallic nanoparticle. We demonstrate that for both geometries the local field enhancement takes place out of resonance regions ("dark states"), which, nevertheless, can be understood in terms of the Fano resonance. At optimal conditions the light is stronger enhanced inside the dielectric material. By using nonlinear dielectric materials it will lead to a variety nonlinear phenomena applicable for photonics applications

Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum – a model study

ine thousand years ago (9 ka BP), the Northern Hemisphere experienced enhanced seasonality caused by an orbital configuration close to the minimum of the precession index. To assess the impact of this "Holocene Insolation Maximum" (HIM) on the Mediterranean Sea, we use a regional ocean general circulation model forced by atmospheric input derived from global simulations. A stronger seasonal cycle is simulated by the model, which shows a relatively homogeneous winter cooling and a summer warming with well-defined spatial patterns, in particular, a subsurface warming in the Cretan and western Levantine areas. The comparison between the SST simulated for the HIM and a reconstruction from planktonic foraminifera transfer functions shows a poor agreement, especially for summer, when the vertical temperature gradient is strong. As a novel approach, we propose a reinterpretation of the reconstruction, to consider the conditions throughout the upper water column rather than at a single depth. We claim that such a depth-integrated approach is more adequate for surface temperature comparison purposes in a situation where the upper ocean structure in the past was different from the present-day. In this case, the depth-integrated interpretation of the proxy data strongly improves the agreement between modelled and reconstructed temperature signal with the subsurface summer warming being recorded by both model and proxies, with a small shift to the south in the model results. The mechanisms responsible for the peculiar subsurface pattern are found to be a combination of enhanced downwelling and wind mixing due to strengthened Etesian winds, and enhanced thermal forcing due to the stronger summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, these processes induce a stronger heat transfer from the surface to the subsurface during late summer in the western Levantine; this leads to an enhanced heat piracy in this region, a process never identified before, but potentially characteristic of time slices with enhanced insolation

Combined SIMS-SPM Instrument For High Sensitivity And High Resolution Elemental 3D Analysis

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 - August 2, 201

Ocean response to greenhouse warming

Changes in surface air temperature resulting from a doubling in atmospheric carbon dioxide drive changes in ocean circulation. Results from an ocean general circulation model project a global mean sea level rise from thermal expansion alone to be 19cm in 50 years. Regional values, however, can vary: a rise of 40cm is projected in the North Atlantic (owing to reduction of deep-water formation), whereas the level of the Ross Sea actually falls through changes in ocean circulation