4,637 research outputs found
Domain wall switching: optimizing the energy landscape
It has recently been suggested that exchange spring media offer a way to
increase media density without causing thermal instability
(superparamagnetism), by using a hard and a soft layer coupled by exchange.
Victora has suggested a figure of merit xi = 2 E_b/mu_0 m_s H_sw, the ratio of
the energy barrier to that of a Stoner-Wohlfarth system with the same switching
field, which is 1 for a Stoner-Wohlfarth (coherently switching) particle and 2
for an optimal two-layer composite medium. A number of theoretical approaches
have been used for this problem (e.g., various numbers of coupled
Stoner-Wohlfarth layers and continuum micromagnetics). In this paper we show
that many of these approaches can be regarded as special cases or
approximations to a variational formulation of the problem, in which the energy
is minimized for fixed magnetization. The results can be easily visualized in
terms of a plot of the energy as a function of magnetic moment m_z, in which
both the switching field [the maximum slope of E(m_z)] and the stability
(determined by the energy barrier E_b) are geometrically visible. In this
formulation we can prove a rigorous limit on the figure of merit xi, which can
be no higher than 4. We also show that a quadratic anistropy suggested by Suess
et al comes very close to this limit.Comment: Acccepted for proceedings of Jan. 2007 MMM Meeting, paper BE-0
Relativistic general-order coupled-cluster method for high-precision calculations: Application to Al+ atomic clock
We report the implementation of a general-order relativistic coupled-cluster
method for performing high-precision calculations of atomic and molecular
properties. As a first application, the static dipole polarizabilities of the
ground and first excited states of Al+ have been determined to precisely
estimate the uncertainty associated with the BBR shift of its clock frequency
measurement. The obtained relative BBR shift is -3.66+-0.44 for the 3s^2
^1S_0^0 --> 3s3p ^3P_0^0 transition in Al+ in contrast to the value obtained in
the latest clock frequency measurement, -9+-3 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 070802
(2010)]. The method developed in the present work can be employed to study a
variety of subtle effects such as fundamental symmetry violations in atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 tables, submitte
Two-Particle Schroedinger Equation Animations of Wavepacket-Wavepacket Scattering (revised)
A simple and explicit technique for the numerical solution of the
two-particle, time-dependent Schr\"{o}dinger equation is assembled and tested.
The technique can handle interparticle potentials that are arbitrary functions
of the coordinates of each particle, arbitrary initial and boundary conditions,
and multi-dimensional equations. Plots and animations are given here and on the
World Wide Web of the scattering of two wavepackets in one dimension.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, animations at
http://nacphy.physics.orst.edu/ComPhys/PACKETS
Spin-torque switching: Fokker-Planck rate calculation
We describe a new approach to understanding and calculating magnetization
switching rates and noise in the recently observed phenomenon of "spin-torque
switching". In this phenomenon, which has possible applications to information
storage, a large current passing from a pinned ferromagnetic (FM) layer to a
free FM layer switches the free layer. Our main result is that the spin-torque
effect increases the Arrhenius factor in the switching rate, not
by lowering the barrier , but by raising the effective spin temperature .
To calculate this effect quantitatively, we extend Kramers' 1940 treatment of
reaction rates, deriving and solving a Fokker-Planck equation for the energy
distribution including a current-induced spin torque of the Slonczewski type.
This method can be used to calculate slow switching rates without long-time
simulations; in this Letter we calculate rates for telegraph noise that are in
good qualitative agreement with recent experiments. The method also allows the
calculation of current-induced magnetic noise in CPP (current perpendicular to
plane) spin valve read heads.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 appendix Original version in Nature format,
replaced by Phys. Rev. Letters format. No substantive change
Physiological requirements for carbonate precipitation during biofilm development of Bacillus subtilis etfA mutant
Although the implications of calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) precipitation by microorganisms in natural environments are quite relevant, the physiology and genetics of this phenomenon are poorly understood. We have chosen Bacillus subtilis 168 as our model to study which physiological aspects are associated with CaCO(3) (calcite) formation during biofilm development when grown on precipitation medium. A B. subtilis eftA mutant named FBC5 impaired in calcite precipitation was used for comparative studies. Our results demonstrate that inactivation of etfA causes a decrease in the pH of the precipitation medium during biofilm development. Further analysis demonstrated that eftA extrudes an excess of 0.7 mol H(+) L(-1) with respect to B. subtilis 168 strain. Using media buffered at different pH values, we were able to control calcite formation. Because etfA encodes the alpha-subunit of a putative flavoprotein involved in fatty acid metabolism, we compared the intracellular levels of NADH among strains. Our physiological assay showed that FBC5 accumulated up to 32 times more NADH than the wild-type strain. We propose that the accumulation of NADH causes a deregulation in the generation of the proton motive force (DeltamicroH(+)) in FBC5 producing the acidification
Is Random Close Packing of Spheres Well Defined?
Despite its long history, there are many fundamental issues concerning random
packings of spheres that remain elusive, including a precise definition of
random close packing (RCP). We argue that the current picture of RCP cannot be
made mathematically precise and support this conclusion via a molecular
dynamics study of hard spheres using the Lubachevsky-Stillinger compression
algorithm. We suggest that this impasse can be broken by introducing the new
concept of a maximally random jammed state, which can be made precise.Comment: 6 pages total, 2 figure
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