8,731 research outputs found
Keynes and the cotton industry: a reappraisal
The paper reinterprets Keynes’s analysis of the crisis in the Lancashire cotton industry in the 1920s. It presents empirical evidence showing that syndicates of local shareholders, but not the banks, were an important brake on firms exiting, at a time when exit barriers were otherwise unproblematic in this competitive industry. Moreover, syndicates milked firms of any profits through dividends, thereby limiting reinvestment and re-equipment possibilities. The case shows that where laissez-faire fails in response to a crisis, the associated response may need to assess both ownership structure and its relationship to competitive industry structure
Slow plasmon modes in polymeric salt solutions
The dynamics of polymeric salt solutions are presented. The salt consists of
chains and , which are chemically different and interact with a
Flory-interaction parameter , the chain ends carry a positive
charge whereas the chain ends are modified by negative charges. The
static structure factor shows a peak corresponding to a micro phase separation.
At low momentum transfer, the interdiffusion mode is driven by electrostatics
and is of the plasmon-type, but with an unusually low frequency, easily
accessible by experiments. This is due to the polymer connectivity that
introduces high friction and amplifies the charge scattering thus allowing for
low charge densities. The interdiffusion mode shows a minimum (critical slowing
down) at finite when the interaction parameter increases we find then a low
frequency quasi-plateau.Comment: accepted in Europhys. Let
Mesophase formation in two-component cylindrical bottle-brush polymers
When two types of side chains (A,B) are densely grafted to a (stiff) backbone
and the resulting bottle-brush polymer is in a solution under poor solvent
conditions, an incompatibility between A and B leads to microphase separation
in the resulting cylindrical brush. The possible types of ordering are
reminiscent of the ordering of block copolymers in cylindrical confinement.
Starting from this analogy, Leibler's theory of microphase separation in block
copolymer melts is generalized to derive a description of the system in the
weak segregation limit. Also molecular dynamics simulation results of a
corresponding coarse-grained bead-spring model are presented. Using side chain
lengths up to N = 50 effective monomers, the ratio of the Lennard-Jones energy
parameter between unlike monomers and monomers of the same
kind is varied. Various correlation
functions are analyzed to study the conditions when (local) Janus cylinder-type
ordering and when (local) microphase separation in the direction along the
cylinder axis occurs. Both the analytical theory and the simulations give
evidence for short range order due to a tendency towards microphase separation
in the axial direction, with a wavelength proportional to the side chain
gyration radius, irrespective of temperature and grafting density, for a wide
range of these parameters.Comment: 26 pages, 19 figure
A simplified picture for Pi electrons in conjugated polymers : from PPP Hamiltonian to an effective molecular crystal approach
An excitonic method proper to study conjugated oligomers and polymers is
described and its applicability tested on the ground state and first excited
states of trans-polyacetylene, taken as a model. From the Pariser-Parr-Pople
Hamiltonian, we derive an effective Hamiltonian based on a local description of
the polymer in term of monomers; the relevant electronic configurations are
build on a small number of pertinent local excitations. The intuitive and
simple microscopic physical picture given by our model supplement recent
results, such as the Rice and Garstein ones. Depending of the parameters, the
linear absorption appears dominated by an intense excitonic peak.Comment: 41 Pages, 6 postscript figure
The distribution of extremal points of Gaussian scalar fields
We consider the signed density of the extremal points of (two-dimensional)
scalar fields with a Gaussian distribution. We assign a positive unit charge to
the maxima and minima of the function and a negative one to its saddles. At
first, we compute the average density for a field in half-space with Dirichlet
boundary conditions. Then we calculate the charge-charge correlation function
(without boundary). We apply the general results to random waves and random
surfaces. Furthermore, we find a generating functional for the two-point
function. Its Legendre transform is the integral over the scalar curvature of a
4-dimensional Riemannian manifold.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, corrected published versio
Experimental phase diagram of moving vortices
In the mixed state of type II superconductors, vortices penetrate the sample
and form a correlated system due to the screening of supercurrents around them.
Interestingly, we can study this correlated system as a function of density and
driving force. The density, for instance, is controlled by the magnetic field,
B, whereas a current density j acts as a driving force F=jxB on all vortices.
The free motion of vortices is inhibited by the presence of an underlying
potential, which tends to pin the vortices. Hence, to minimize the pinning
strength we studied a superconducting glass in which the depinning current is
10 to 1000 times smaller than in previous studies, which enables us to map out
the complete phase diagram in this new regime. The diagram is obtained as a
function of B, driving current and temperature and led a remarkable set of new
results, which includes a huge peak effect, an additional reentrant depinning
phase and a driving force induced pinning phase.Comment: 4 page
Signed zeros of Gaussian vector fields-density, correlation functions and curvature
We calculate correlation functions of the (signed) density of zeros of
Gaussian distributed vector fields. We are able to express correlation
functions of arbitrary order through the curvature tensor of a certain abstract
Riemann-Cartan or Riemannian manifold. As an application, we discuss one- and
two-point functions. The zeros of a two-dimensional Gaussian vector field model
the distribution of topological defects in the high-temperature phase of
two-dimensional systems with orientational degrees of freedom, such as
superfluid films, thin superconductors and liquid crystals.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, uses iopart.cls, improved presentation, to appear
in J. Phys.
Steep sharp-crested gravity waves on deep water
A new type of steady steep two-dimensional irrotational symmetric periodic
gravity waves on inviscid incompressible fluid of infinite depth is revealed.
We demonstrate that these waves have sharper crests in comparison with the
Stokes waves of the same wavelength and steepness. The speed of a fluid
particle at the crest of new waves is greater than their phase speed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Persistent holes in a fluid
We observe stable holes in a vertically oscillated 0.5 cm deep aqueous
suspension of cornstarch for accelerations a above 10g. Holes appear only if a
finite perturbation is applied to the layer. Holes are circular and
approximately 0.5 cm wide, and can persist for more than 10^5 cycles. Above a =
17g the rim of the hole becomes unstable producing finger-like protrusions or
hole division. At higher acceleration, the hole delocalizes, growing to cover
the entire surface with erratic undulations. We find similar behavior in an
aqueous suspension of glass microspheres.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
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