3,098 research outputs found
Spinodal Decomposition and the Tomita Sum Rule
The scaling properties of a phase-ordering system with a conserved order
parameter are studied. The theory developed leads to scaling functions
satisfying certain general properties including the Tomita sum rule. The theory
also gives good agreement with numerical results for the order parameter
scaling function in three dimensions. The values of the associated
nonequilibrium decay exponents are given by the known lower bounds.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure
Bilayer Membrane in Confined Geometry: Interlayer Slide and Steric Repulsion
We derived free energy functional of a bilayer lipid membrane from the first
principles of elasticity theory. The model explicitly includes
position-dependent mutual slide of monolayers and bending deformation. Our free
energy functional of liquid-crystalline membrane allows for incompressibility
of the membrane and vanishing of the in-plane shear modulus and obeys
reflectional and rotational symmetries of the flat bilayer. Interlayer slide at
the mid-plane of the membrane results in local difference of surface densities
of the monolayers. The slide amplitude directly enters free energy via the
strain tensor. For small bending deformations the ratio between bending modulus
and area compression coefficient, Kb/KA, is proportional to the square of
monolayer thickness, h. Using the functional we performed self-consistent
calculation of steric potential acting on bilayer between parallel confining
walls separated by distance 2d. We found that temperature-dependent curvature
at the minimum of confining potential is enhanced four times for a bilayer with
slide as compared with a unit bilayer. We also calculate viscous modes of
bilayer membrane between confining walls. Pure bending of the membrane is
investigated, which is decoupled from area dilation at small amplitudes. Three
sources of viscous dissipation are considered: water and membrane viscosities
and interlayer drag. Dispersion has two branches. Confinement between the walls
modifies the bending mode with respect to membrane in bulk solution.
Simultaneously, inter-layer slipping mode, damped by viscous drag, remains
unchanged by confinement.Comment: 23 pages,3 figures, pd
Domain Growth in a 1-D Driven Diffusive System
The low-temperature coarsening dynamics of a one-dimensional Ising model,
with conserved magnetisation and subject to a small external driving force, is
studied analytically in the limit where the volume fraction \mu of the minority
phase is small, and numerically for general \mu. The mean domain size L(t)
grows as t^{1/2} in all cases, and the domain-size distribution for domains of
one sign is very well described by the form P_l(l) \propto
(l/L^3)\exp[-\lambda(\mu)(l^2/L^2)], which is exact for small \mu (and possibly
for all \mu). The persistence exponent for the minority phase has the value 3/2
for \mu \to 0.Comment: 8 pages, REVTeX, 7 Postscript figures, uses multicol.sty and
epsf.sty. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Information capacity in the weak-signal approximation
We derive an approximate expression for mutual information in a broad class
of discrete-time stationary channels with continuous input, under the
constraint of vanishing input amplitude or power. The approximation describes
the input by its covariance matrix, while the channel properties are described
by the Fisher information matrix. This separation of input and channel
properties allows us to analyze the optimality conditions in a convenient way.
We show that input correlations in memoryless channels do not affect channel
capacity since their effect decreases fast with vanishing input amplitude or
power. On the other hand, for channels with memory, properly matching the input
covariances to the dependence structure of the noise may lead to almost
noiseless information transfer, even for intermediate values of the noise
correlations. Since many model systems described in mathematical neuroscience
and biophysics operate in the high noise regime and weak-signal conditions, we
believe, that the described results are of potential interest also to
researchers in these areas.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review
Overall time evolution in phase-ordering kinetics
The phenomenology from the time of the quench to the asymptotic behavior in
the phase-ordering kinetics of a system with conserved order parameter is
investigated in the Bray-Humayun model and in the Cahn-Hilliard-Cook model.
From the comparison of the structure factor in the two models the generic
pattern of the overall time evolution, based on the sequence ``early linear -
intermediate mean field - late asymptotic regime'' is extracted. It is found
that the time duration of each of these regimes is strongly dependent on the
wave vector and on the parameters of the quench, such as the amplitude of the
initial fluctuations and the final equilibrium temperature. The rich and
complex crossover phenomenology arising as these parameters are varied can be
accounted for in a simple way through the structure of the solution of the
Bray-Humayun model.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 18 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Universality and Scaling for the Structure Factor in Dynamic Order-Disorder Transitions
The universal form for the average scattering intensity from systems
undergoing order-disorder transitions is found by numerical integration of the
Langevin dynamics. The result is nearly identical for simulations involving two
different forms of the local contribution to the free energy, supporting the
idea that the Model A dynamical universality class includes a wide range of
local free-energy forms. An absolute comparison with no adjustable parameters
is made to the forms predicted by the theories of Ohta-Jasnow-Kawasaki and
Mazenko. The numerical results are well described by the former theory, except
in the cross-over region between scattering dominated by domain geometry and
scattering determined by Porod's law.Comment: 10 pages incl. 3 figures, Revtex. Submitted to PR
Double Spin Asymmetries A_NN and A_SS at sqrt{s}=200 GeV in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at RHIC
We present the first measurements of the double spin asymmetries A_NN and
A_SS at sqrt{s}=200 GeV, obtained by the pp2pp experiment using polarized
proton beams at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The data were
collected in the four momentum transfer t range 0.01<|t|<0.03 (GeV/c)^2. The
measured asymmetries, which are consistent with zero, allow us to estimate
upper limits on the double helicity-flip amplitudes phi_2 and phi_4 at small t
as well as on the difference Delta(sigma_T) between the total cross sections
for transversely polarized protons with antiparallel or parallel spin
orientations.Comment: 13 pages with 3 figures. Final version accepted by Phys. Lett.
Band alignment and interlayer hybridisation in transition metal dichalcogenide/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures
In van der Waals heterostructures, the relative alignment of bands between
layers, and the resulting band hybridisation, are key factors in determining a
range of electronic properties. This work examines these effects for
heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and hexagonal boron
nitride (hBN), an ubiquitous combination given the role of hBN as an
encapsulating material. By comparing results of density functional calculations
with experimental angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) results, we
explore the hybridisation between the valence states of the TMD and hBN layers,
and show that it introduces avoided crossings between the TMD and hBN bands,
with umklapp processes opening `ghost' avoided crossings in individual bands.
Comparison between DFT and ARPES spectra for the MoSe/hBN heterostructure
shows that the valence bands of MoSe and hBN are significantly further
separated in energy in experiment as compared to DFT. We then show that a novel
scissor operator can be applied to the hBN valence states in the DFT
calculations, to correct the band alignment and enable quantitative comparison
to ARPES, explaining avoided crossings and other features of band visibility in
the ARPES spectra
Electrostatic and electrokinetic contributions to the elastic moduli of a driven membrane
We discuss the electrostatic contribution to the elastic moduli of a cell or
artificial membrane placed in an electrolyte and driven by a DC electric field.
The field drives ion currents across the membrane, through specific channels,
pumps or natural pores. In steady state, charges accumulate in the Debye layers
close to the membrane, modifying the membrane elastic moduli. We first study a
model of a membrane of zero thickness, later generalizing this treatment to
allow for a finite thickness and finite dielectric constant. Our results
clarify and extend the results presented in [D. Lacoste, M. Cosentino
Lagomarsino, and J. F. Joanny, Europhys. Lett., {\bf 77}, 18006 (2007)], by
providing a physical explanation for a destabilizing term proportional to
\kps^3 in the fluctuation spectrum, which we relate to a nonlinear ()
electro-kinetic effect called induced-charge electro-osmosis (ICEO). Recent
studies of ICEO have focused on electrodes and polarizable particles, where an
applied bulk field is perturbed by capacitive charging of the double layer and
drives flow along the field axis toward surface protrusions; in contrast, we
predict "reverse" ICEO flows around driven membranes, due to curvature-induced
tangential fields within a non-equilibrium double layer, which hydrodynamically
enhance protrusions. We also consider the effect of incorporating the dynamics
of a spatially dependent concentration field for the ion channels.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. Under review for EPJ
Localization transition of random copolymers at interfaces
We consider adsorption of random copolymer chains onto an interface within
the model of Garel et al. Europhysics Letters 8, 9 (1989). By using the replica
method the adsorption of the copolymer at the interface is mapped onto the
problem of finding the ground state of a quantum mechanical Hamiltonian. To
study this ground state we introduce a novel variational principle for the
Green's function, which generalizes the well-known Rayleigh-Ritz method of
Quantum Mechanics to nonstationary states. Minimization with an appropriate
trial Green's function enables us to find the phase diagram for the
localization-delocalization transition for an ideal random copolymer at the
interface.Comment: 5 page
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