9,159 research outputs found
Minimal size of a barchan dune
Barchans are dunes of high mobility which have a crescent shape and propagate
under conditions of unidirectional wind. However, sand dunes only appear above
a critical size, which scales with the saturation distance of the sand flux [P.
Hersen, S. Douady, and B. Andreotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf{89,}} 264301 (2002);
B. Andreotti, P. Claudin, and S. Douady, Eur. Phys. J. B {\bf{28,}} 321 (2002);
G. Sauermann, K. Kroy, and H. J. Herrmann, Phys. Rev. E {\bf{64,}} 31305
(2001)]. It has been suggested by P. Hersen, S. Douady, and B. Andreotti, Phys.
Rev. Lett. {\bf{89,}} 264301 (2002) that this flux fetch distance is itself
constant. Indeed, this could not explain the proto size of barchan dunes, which
often occur in coastal areas of high litoral drift, and the scale of dunes on
Mars. In the present work, we show from three dimensional calculations of sand
transport that the size and the shape of the minimal barchan dune depend on the
wind friction speed and the sand flux on the area between dunes in a field. Our
results explain the common appearance of barchans a few tens of centimeter high
which are observed along coasts. Furthermore, we find that the rate at which
grains enter saltation on Mars is one order of magnitude higher than on Earth,
and is relevant to correctly obtain the minimal dune size on Mars.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Exploring the action landscape with trial world-lines
The Hamilton action principle, also known as the principle of least action,
and Lagrange equations are an integral part of advanced undergraduate
mechanics. At present, substantial efforts are ongoing to suitably incorporate
the action principle in introductory physics courses. Although the Hamilton
principle is oft stated as "the action for any nearby trial world-line is
greater than the action for the classical world-line", the landscape of action
in the space of world-lines is rarely explored. Here, for three common problems
in introductory physics - a free particle, a uniformly accelerating particle,
and a simple harmonic oscillator - we present families of trial world-lines,
characterized by a few parameters, that evolve continuously from their
respective classical world-lines. With explicit analytical expressions
available for the action, they permit a graphical visualization of the action
landscape in the space of nearby world-lines. Although these trial world-lines
form only a subset of the space of all nearby world-lines, they provide a
pedagogical tool that complements the traditional Lagrange equation approach
and is well-suited for advanced undergraduate students.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, significant structural revisio
Stability of antiphase line defects in nanometer-sized boron-nitride cones
We investigate the stability of boron nitride conical sheets of nanometer
size, using first-principles calculations. Our results indicate that cones with
an antiphase boundary (a line defect that contains either B-B or N-N bonds) can
be more stable than those without one. We also find that doping the antiphase
boundaries with carbon can enhance their stability, leading also to the
appearance of localized states in the bandgap. Among the structures we
considered, the one with the smallest formation energy is a cone with a
carbon-modified antiphase boundary that presents a spin splitting of about 0.5
eV at the Fermi level.Comment: 5 two-column pages with 2 figures Accepted for publication in
Physical Review B (vol 70, 15 Nov.
Probing 5f-state configurations in URu2Si2 with U L3-edge resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy
Resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES) was employed at the U L3
absorption edge and the La1 emission line to explore the 5f occupancy, nf, and
the degree of 5f orbital delocalization in the hidden order compound URu2Si2.
By comparing to suitable reference materials such as UF4, UCd11, and alpha-U,
we conclude that the 5f orbital in URu2Si2 is at least partially delocalized
with nf = 2.87 +/- 0.08, and does not change with temperature down to 10 K
within the estimated error. These results place further constraints on
theoretical explanations of the hidden order, especially those requiring a
localized f2 ground state.Comment: 11 pages,7 figure
Spin-charge separation in the single hole doped Mott antiferromagnet
The motion of a single hole in a Mott antiferromagnet is investigated based
on the t-J model. An exact expression of the energy spectrum is obtained, in
which the irreparable phase string effect [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 5102 (1996)] is
explicitly present. By identifying the phase string effect with spin backflow,
we point out that spin-charge separation must exist in such a system: the doped
hole has to decay into a neutral spinon and a spinless holon, together with the
phase string. We show that while the spinon remains coherent, the holon motion
is deterred by the phase string, resulting in its localization in space. We
calculate the electron spectral function which explains the line shape of the
spectral function as well as the ``quasiparticle'' spectrum observed in
angle-resolved photoemission experiments. Other analytic and numerical
approaches are discussed based on the present framework.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures; references updated; to appear in Phys. Rev.
Saltation transport on Mars
We present the first calculation of saltation transport and dune formation on
Mars and compare it to real dunes. We find that the rate at which grains are
entrained into saltation on Mars is one order of magnitude higher than on
Earth. With this fundamental novel ingredient, we reproduce the size and
different shapes of Mars dunes, and give an estimate for the wind velocity on
Mars.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Entanglement renormalization of anisotropic XY model
The renormalization group flows of the one-dimensional anisotropic XY model
and quantum Ising model under a transverse field are obtained by different
multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz schemes. It is shown that the
optimized disentangler removes the short-range entanglement by rotating the
system in the parameter space spanned by the anisotropy and the magnetic field.
It is understood from the study that the disentangler reduces the entanglement
by mapping the system to another one in the same universality class but with
smaller short range entanglement. The phase boundary and corresponding critical
exponents are calculated using different schemes with different block sizes,
look-ahead steps and truncation dimensions. It is shown that larger truncation
dimension leads to more accurate results and that using larger block size or
look-ahead step improve the overall calculation consistency.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
A Preliminary Study of Maximum System-Level Crosstalk at High Frequencies for Coupled Transmission Lines
Simple formulas were derived to quickly estimate maximum crosstalk between wires in a harness at high frequencies, where the length of circuits is comparable with or greater than the wavelength of the signals of interest. Formulas were derived from multi-conductor transmission line theory. When the source and load resistances are either both large or both small compared to the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, maximum coupling is shown to be given by approximately XMAX = Cm / (C22 + Cm). A similar equation was found for the case where the load impedances are matched. Experiments show these equations predict the maximum value of coupling well
Coexistence of Itinerant Electrons and Local Moments in Iron-Based Superconductors
In view of the recent experimental facts in the iron-pnictides, we make a
proposal that the itinerant electrons and local moments are simultaneously
present in such multiband materials. We study a minimal model composed of
coupled itinerant electrons and local moments to illustrate how a consistent
explanation of the experimental measurements can be obtained in the leading
order approximation. In this mean-field approach, the spin-density-wave (SDW)
order and superconducting pairing of the itinerant electrons are not directly
driven by the Fermi surface nesting, but are mainly induced by their coupling
to the local moments. The presence of the local moments as independent degrees
of freedom naturally provides strong pairing strength for superconductivity and
also explains the normal-state linear-temperature magnetic susceptibility above
the SDW transition temperature. We show that this simple model is supported by
various anomalous magnetic properties and isotope effect which are in
quantitative agreement with experiments.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; an expanded versio
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