1,621 research outputs found
Non-monotonic density dependence of the diffusion of DNA fragments in low-salt suspensions
The high linear charge density of 20-base-pair oligomers of DNA is shown to
lead to a striking non-monotonic dependence of the long-time self-diffusion on
the concentration of the DNA in low-salt conditions. This generic non-monotonic
behavior results from both the strong coupling between the electrostatic and
solvent-mediated hydrodynamic interactions, and from the renormalization of
these electrostatic interactions at large separations, and specifically from
the dominance of the far-field hydrodynamic interactions caused by the strong
repulsion between the DNA fragments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Physical Review E, accepted on November 24, 200
Screening of charged spheroidal colloidal particles
We study the effective screened electrostatic potential created by a
spheroidal colloidal particle immersed in an electrolyte, within the mean field
approximation, using Poisson--Botzmann equation in its linear and nonlinear
forms, and also beyond the mean field by means of Monte Carlo computer
simulation. The anisotropic shape of the particle has a strong effect on the
screened potential, even at large distances (compared to the Debye length) from
it. To quantify this anisotropy effect, we focus our study on the dependence of
the potential on the position of the observation point with respect with the
orientation of the spheroidal particle. For several different boundary
conditions (constant potential, or constant surface charge) we find that, at
large distance, the potential is higher in the direction of the large axis of
the spheroidal particle
Charge and orbital order in Fe_3O_4
Charge and orbital ordering in the low-temperature monoclinic structure of
magnetite (Fe_3O_4) is investigated using LSDA+U. While the difference between
t_{2g} minority occupancies of Fe^{2+}_B and Fe^{3+}_B cations is large and
gives direct evidence for charge ordering, the screening is so effective that
the total 3d charge disproportion is rather small. The charge order has a
pronounced [001] modulation, which is incompatible with the Anderson criterion.
The orbital order agrees with the Kugel-Khomskii theory.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Effective interactions in the colloidal suspensions from HNC theory
The HNC Ornstein-Zernike integral equations are used to determine the
properties of simple models of colloidal solutions where the colloids and ions
are immersed in a solvent considered as a dielectric continuum and have a size
ratio equal to 80 and a charge ratio varying between 1 and 4000. At an infinite
dilution of colloids, the effective interactions between colloids and ions are
determined for ionic concentrations ranging from 0.001 to 0.1 mol/l and
compared to those derived from the Poisson-Boltzmann theory. At finite
concentrations, we discuss on the basis of the HNC results the possibility of
an unambiguous definition of the effective interactions between the colloidal
molecules.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figure
Attraction between like-charged colloidal particles induced by a surface a density - functional analysis
We show that the first non-linear correction to the linearised
Poisson-Boltzman n (or DLVO) theory of effective pair interactions between
charge-stabilised, co lloidal particles near a charged wall leads to an
attractive component of entro pic origin. The position and depth of the
potential compare favourably with rec ent experimental measurementsComment: 12 pages including 2 figures. submitted to physical review letter
A closed form for the electrostatic interaction between two rod-like charged objects
We have calculated the electrostatic interaction between two rod-like charged
objects with arbitrary orientations in three dimensions. we obtained a closed
form formula expressing the interaction energy in terms of the separation
distance between the centers of the two rod-like objects, , their lengths
(denoted by and ), and their relative orientations (indicated by
and ). When the objects have the same length (),
for particular values of separations, i.e for , two types of
minimum are appeared in the interaction energy with respect to . By
employing the closed form formula and introducing a scaled temperature , we
have also studied the thermodynamic properties of a one dimensional system of
rod-like charged objects. For different separation distances, the dependence of
the specific heat of the system to the scaled temperature has been studied. It
is found that for , the specific heat has a maximum.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, Accepted by J. Phys.: Condens. Matte
Casimir-Polder interatomic potential between two atoms at finite temperature and in the presence of boundary conditions
We evaluate the Casimir-Polder potential between two atoms in the presence of
an infinite perfectly conducting plate and at nonzero temperature. In order to
calculate the potential, we use a method based on equal-time spatial
correlations of the electric field, already used to evaluate the effect of
boundary conditions on interatomic potentials. This method gives also a
transparent physical picture of the role of a finite temperature and boundary
conditions on the Casimir-Polder potential. We obtain an analytical expression
of the potential both in the near and far zones, and consider several limiting
cases of interest, according to the values of the parameters involved, such as
atom-atom distance, atoms-wall distance and temperature.Comment: 11 page
Order parameters in the Verwey phase transition
The Verwey phase transition in magnetite is analyzed on the basis of the
Landau theory. The free energy functional is expanded in a series of components
belonging to the primary and secondary order parameters. A low-temperature
phase with the monoclinic P2/c symmetry is a result of condensation of two
order parameters X_3 and \Delta_5 . The temperature dependence of the shear
elastic constant C_44 is derived and the mechanism of its softening is
discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Zener double exchange from local valence fluctuations in magnetite
Magnetite (FeO) is a mixed valent system where electronic
conductivity occurs on the B-site (octahedral) iron sublattice of the spinel
structure. Below K, a metal-insulator transition occurs which is
argued to arise from the charge ordering of 2+ and 3+ iron valences on the
B-sites (Verwey transition). Inelastic neutron scattering measurements show
that optical spin waves propagating on the B-site sublattice (80 meV) are
shifted upwards in energy above due to the occurrence of B-B
ferromagnetic double exchange in the mixed valent metallic phase. The double
exchange interaction affects only spin waves of symmetry, not all
modes, indicating that valence fluctuations are slow and the double exchange is
constrained by electron correlations above .Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Uniaxial and biaxial soft deformations of nematic elastomers
We give a geometric interpretation of the soft elastic deformation modes of
nematic elastomers, with explicit examples, for both uniaxial and biaxial
nematic order. We show the importance of body rotations in this non-classical
elasticity and how the invariance under rotations of the reference and target
states gives soft elasticity (the Golubovic and Lubensky theorem). The role of
rotations makes the Polar Decomposition Theorem vital for decomposing general
deformations into body rotations and symmetric strains. The role of the square
roots of tensors is discussed in this context and that of finding explicit
forms for soft deformations (the approach of Olmsted).Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, RevTex, AmsTe
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