400 research outputs found
On the dynamics of coupled S=1/2 antiferromagnetic zig-zag chains
We investigate the elementary excitations of quasi one-dimensional S=1/2
systems built up from zig-zag chains with general isotropic exchange constants,
using exact (Lanczos) diagonalization for 24 spins and series expansions
starting from the decoupled dimer limit. For the ideal one-dimensional zig-zag
chain we discuss the systematic variation of the basic (magnon) triplet
excitation with general exchange parameters and in particular the presence of
practically flat dispersions in certain regions of phase space. We extend the
dimer expansion in order to include the effects of 3D interactions on the
spectra of weakly interacting zig-zag chains. In an application to KCuCl_3 we
show that this approach allows to determine the exchange interactions between
individual pairs of spins from the spectra as determined in recent neutron
scattering experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures; some changes, figure added; final versio
Further support for the alignment of cattle along magnetic field lines: reply to Hert et al.
Hert et al. (J Comp Physiol A, 2011) challenged one part of the study by Begall et al. (PNAS 105:13451–13455, 2008) claiming that they could not replicate the finding of preferential magnetic alignment of cattle recorded in aerial images of Google Earth. However, Hert and co-authors used a different statistical approach and applied the statistics on a sample partly unsuitable to examine magnetic alignment. About 50% of their data represent noise (resolution of the images is too poor to enable unambiguous measurement of the direction of body axes, pastures are on slopes, near settlements or high voltage power-lines, etc.). Moreover, the authors have selected for their analysis only ~ 40% of cattle that were present on the pastures analyzed. Here, we reanalyze all usable data and show that cattle significantly align their body axes in North–South direction on pastures analyzed by Hert and co-authors. This finding thus supports our previous study. In addition, we show by using aerial Google Earth images with good resolution, that the magnetic alignment is more pronounced in resting than in standing cattle
Proton extraction from the CERN SPS using a bent crystal
The extraction of high energy particles from a circular accelerator by means of channeling in bent crystals is an attractive alternative to classical extraction schemes, in particular for high energy proton colliders where a classical scheme becomes expensive and incompatible with normal operation this paper reviews the ongoing extraction experiments at the CERN-SPS with bent silicon crystals. it describes the principles of beam extraction by means of a bent crystal and the different extraction schemes used: firs- and multi-pass extraction and the methods to create diffusion. The limitations in tuning the accelerator to the desired impact parameters and crucial items concerning crystal preparation, bending and pre-alignment are discussed. the experimental procedures including an overview of the detection of circulation and extracted beam are given. Finally the paper summarizes the results of these experiments together with ideas for future developments
Transport and Localisation in the Presence of Strong Structural and Spin Disorder
We study a tight binding model including both on site disorder and coupling
of the electrons to randomly oriented magnetic moments. The transport
properties are calculated via the Kubo-Greenwood scheme, using the exact
eigenstates of the disordered system and large system size extrapolation of the
low frequency optical conductivity. We first benchmark our method in the model
with only structural disorder and then use it to map out the transport regimes
and metal- insulator transitions in problems involving (i) scattering from
random magnetic moments, and (ii) the combined effect of structural disorder
and magnetic scattering. We completely map out the dependence of the d.c
conductivity on electron density (n) the structural disorder (\Delta) and the
magnetic coupling (J'), and locate the insulator-metal phase boundary in the
space of n-\Delta-J'. These results serve as a reference for understanding
transport in systems ranging from magnetic semiconductors to double exchange
`colossal magnetoresistance' systems. A brief version of this study appears in
our earlier paper Europhys. Lett. vol 65, 75 (2004).Comment: 14 pages revtex. Final version, to appear in EPJ
Exploring high-end climate change scenarios for flood protection of the Netherlands
This international scientific assessment has been carried out at the request of the Dutch Delta Committee. The "Deltacommissie" requested that the assessment explore the high-end climate change scenarios for flood protection of the Netherlands. It is a state-of–the art scientific assessment of the upper bound values and longer term projections (for sea level rise up to 2200) of climate induced sea level rise, changing storm surge conditions and peak discharge of river Rhine. It comprises a review of recent studies, model projections and expert opinions of more than 20 leading climate scientists from different countries around the North Sea, Australia and the US
Skillful decadal prediction of German Bight storm activity
We evaluate the prediction skill of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) decadal hindcast system for German Bight storm activity (GBSA) on a multiannual to decadal scale. We define GBSA every year via the most extreme 3-hourly geostrophic wind speeds, which are derived from mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) data. Our 64-member ensemble of annually initialized hindcast simulations spans the time period 1960–2018. For this period, we compare deterministically and probabilistically predicted winter MSLP anomalies and annual GBSA with a lead time of up to 10 years against observations. The model produces poor deterministic predictions of GBSA and winter MSLP anomalies for individual years but fair predictions for longer averaging periods. A similar but smaller skill difference between short and long averaging periods also emerges for probabilistic predictions of high storm activity. At long averaging periods (longer than 5 years), the model is more skillful than persistence- and climatology-based predictions. For short aggregation periods (4 years and less), probabilistic predictions are more skillful than persistence but insignificantly differ from climatological predictions. We therefore conclude that, for the German Bight, probabilistic decadal predictions (based on a large ensemble) of high storm activity are skillful for averaging periods longer than 5 years. Notably, a differentiation between low, moderate, and high storm activity is necessary to expose this skill.</p
Metal-insulator transition in the one-dimensional Holstein model at half filling
We study the one-dimensional Holstein model with spin-1/2 electrons at
half-filling. Ground state properties are calculated for long chains with great
accuracy using the density matrix renormalization group method and extrapolated
to the thermodynamic limit. We show that for small electron-phonon coupling or
large phonon frequency, the insulating Peierls ground state predicted by
mean-field theory is destroyed by quantum lattice fluctuations and that the
system remains in a metallic phase with a non-degenerate ground state and
power-law electronic and phononic correlations. When the electron-phonon
coupling becomes large or the phonon frequency small, the system undergoes a
transition to an insulating Peierls phase with a two-fold degenerate ground
state, long-range charge-density-wave order, a dimerized lattice structure, and
a gap in the electronic excitation spectrum.Comment: 6 pages (LaTex), 10 eps figure
Compound flood events: analysing the joint occurrence of extreme river discharge events and storm surges in northern and central Europe
The simultaneous occurrence of extreme events gained more and more attention from scientific research in the last couple of years.
Compared to the occurrence of single extreme events, co-occurring or compound extremes may substantially increase risks.
To adequately address such risks, improving our understanding of compound flood events in Europe is necessary and requires reliable estimates of their probability of occurrence together with potential future changes.
In this study compound flood events in northern and central Europe were studied using a Monte Carlo-based approach that avoids the use of copulas.
Second, we investigate if the number of observed compound extreme events is within the expected range of 2 standard deviations of randomly occurring compound events. This includes variations of several parameters to test the stability of the identified patterns. Finally, we analyse if the observed compound extreme events had a common large-scale meteorological driver.
The results of our investigation show that rivers along the west-facing coasts of Europe experienced a
higher amount of compound flood events than expected by pure chance.
In these regions, the vast majority of the observed compound flood events seem to be related to the cyclonic westerly general weather pattern (Großwetterlage).</p
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