Berry phases in superconducting transitions

I generalize the concept of Berry's geometrical phase for quasicyclic Hamiltonians to the case in which the ground state evolves adiabatically to an excited state after one cycle, but returns to the ground state after an integer number of cycles. This allows to extend the charge Berry phase gamma_c related to the macroscopic polarization, to many-body systems with fractional number of particles per site. Under certain conditions, gamma_c and the spin Berry phase gamma_s jump in pi at the boundary of superconducting phases. In the extended Hubbard chain with on-site attraction U and nearest-neighbor interaction V at quarter filling, the transitions detected agree very well with exact results in two limits solved by the Bethe ansatz, and with previous numerical studies. In chains with spin SU(2) symmetry, gamma_s jumps when a spin gap opens.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted in Europhys. Let

Self-similarity under inflation and level statistics: a study in two dimensions

Energy level spacing statistics are discussed for a two dimensional quasiperiodic tiling. The property of self-similarity under inflation is used to write a recursion relation for the level spacing distributions defined on square approximants to the perfect quasiperiodic structure. New distribution functions are defined and determined by a combination of numerical and analytical calculations.Comment: Latex, 13 pages including 6 EPS figures, paper submitted to PR

Vanishing viscosity limits for the degenerate lake equations with Navier boundary conditions

The paper is concerned with the vanishing viscosity limit of the two-dimensional degenerate viscous lake equations when the Navier slip conditions are prescribed on the impermeable boundary of a simply connected bounded regular domain. When the initial vorticity is in the Lebesgue space $L^q$ with $2<q\le\infty$, we show the degenerate viscous lake equations possess a unique global solution and the solution converges to a corresponding weak solution of the inviscid lake equations. In the special case when the vorticity is in $L^\infty$, an explicit convergence rate is obtained

The corrosion behavior of a sputtered micrograin film on Fe-5Cr-5Si alloy in H2-CO2-H2S mixture at 700 °C

Financial support from the NSFC (Projects NO. 59071129 & 51501135) is acknowledged.The corrosion behaviors of as-cast Fe-5Cr-5Si alloy with and without sputtered Fe-5Cr-5Si film in H2-CO2-H2S mixture at 700 °C are studied. The corrosion scale forming on the as-cast alloy is non-protective and mainly composed of FeS outer layer and FeS + FeCr2O4 + Fe2SiO4 inner layer. However, a continuous Cr2O3 + SiO2 layer which possesses favorable protectiveness forms at the coating/alloy interface for the coated alloy, even though FeS layer and FeS + FeCr2O4 + Fe2SiO4 mixed layer also form. The formation mechanism of the Cr2O3 + SiO2 layer on the coated alloy is discussed thoroughly.PostprintPeer reviewe

Regional climate change and local urbanization effects on weather variables in Southeast China

This paper presents the analyses of regional climate change features and the local urbanization effects on different weather variables over Southeast China. The weather variables considered are: daily mean (Tm), minimum (Tmin), and maximum (Tmax) near surface air temperature, diurnal temperature range (DTR), relative humidity (RH), and precipitation (P). With analysis of two datasets (a station dataset for the period from 1960 to 2005 that is mainly used and a grid dataset for the period 1960-2000), this study reveals that the trends in the variations of these weather variables can be separated into two periods, before and after 1984. Before 1984, there were no significant urbanization effects, and Tmin, RH, and P steadily increased but Tmax decreased, resulting in a considerable decrease in DTR and a slight decrease in Tm. After 1984, Tmin and Tmax increased considerably, and the urbanization influence on Tmin, but not Tmax, is observable. The urbanization effect causes an extra increasing trend in Tmin with a rate of about 0.6°C/decade and, accordingly, extra decreasing trends in DTR and RH. The analysis of the seasonal trends reveals that the urbanization influence results in a near-uniform increase of Tmin for all four seasons and a strong decrease of RH in summer and autumn. Moreover, there is no significant change in P at the annual scale and an increasing rate of 11.8%/decade in summer. With the urbanization influence, a considerable increase in P is noticeable at the annual scale; specifically, the increasing rates of 18.6%/decade in summer and 13.5%/decade in autumn are observed. © 2010 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Failure Probabilities and Tough-Brittle Crossover of Heterogeneous Materials with Continuous Disorder

The failure probabilities or the strength distributions of heterogeneous 1D systems with continuous local strength distribution and local load sharing have been studied using a simple, exact, recursive method. The fracture behavior depends on the local bond-strength distribution, the system size, and the applied stress, and crossovers occur as system size or stress changes. In the brittle region, systems with continuous disorders have a failure probability of the modified-Gumbel form, similar to that for systems with percolation disorder. The modified-Gumbel form is of special significance in weak-stress situations. This new recursive method has also been generalized to calculate exactly the failure probabilities under various boundary conditions, thereby illustrating the important effect of surfaces in the fracture process.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 7 figure

Sand/dust storm processes in Northeast Asia and associated large-scale circulations

International audienceThis paper introduces a definition of sand/dust storm process as a new standard and idea of sand/dust storm (SDS) groups a number of SDS-events in Northeast Asia. Based on the meteorological data from WMO/GOS network, 2456 Chinese surface stations and NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, the sand/dust storm processes in Northeast Asia in spring 2000?2006 are investigated. And the evolutions of anomalies of general circulation in the troposphere are analyzed by comparing the spring having most and least occurrences of SDS in year 2006 and 2003. Associated with the noticeably increased occurrence of SDS processes in spring 2006, the anomalies in 3-D structure of general circulation especially in the mid-and high latitudes of the Northen Hemisphere (NH) are revealed. The transition period from the winter of 2005 to spring 2006 has witnessed a fast-developed high center over the circumpolar vortex area in the upper troposphere, which pushes the polar vortex more southwards to mid-latitudes with a more extensive area over the east NH. In spring 2006, there are the significant circulation anomalies in the middle troposphere from the Baikal Lake to northern China with a stronger southward wind anomaly over Northeast Asia. Compared with a normal year, stronger meridional wind with a southward wind anomaly also in the lower troposphere prevail over the arid and semiarid regions in Mongolia and northern China during spring 2006. The positive anomalies of surface high pressure registered an abnormal high of 4?10 hPa in the Tamil Peninsular make a stronger cold air source for the repeated cold air outbreak across the desert areas in spring 2006 resulting in the most frequent SDS seasons in the last 10 years in Northeast Asia

Sand/dust storms over Northeast Asia and associated large-scale circulations in spring 2006

International audienceThis paper presents a study on the meteorological conditions that accompany the sand/dust storms (SDS) of East Asia in spring 2006, based on the SDS data collected both by WMO during 2000?2006 and by 2456 Chinese surface stations, and on the meteorological reanalysis data from NCEP-NCAR . The evolution of 3-D structures of the general circulations prevailed in both winter and spring as well as their annual anomalies were investigated by comparing the years having most and least occurrences of SDS between 2000 and 2006. It is found that spring 2006 featured a noticeably increased occurrence of SDS, compared with previous years. The general circulations prevailed through both winter and spring, especially the 3-D structure of the polar circulation, show the significant anomalies compared to a normal year. This produced a range of corresponding weather phenomena, including circumpolar vortices at the upper troposphere, mid-level westerly jets, and lower zonal winds, which all favored the SDS production and transport in 2006. The study also reveals a fact that comparing with a normal year, the transitional period from the winter of 2005 to the spring of 2006 has witnessed a fast-developed high center at the upper troposphere of the northern hemisphere and the circumpolar vortex area, which pushes the area dominated by the circumpolar vortices further to mid-latitudes. The circumpolar vortices shifted southwards, and prevailed over an extensive area across the northeast hemisphere for a sustained period. The mid-high latitude areas that sit in the south of the circumpolar vortices in Asia have experienced significantly abnormal westerly jets at the mid-level of troposphere. Zonal winds prevailed at the mid and lower levels of troposphere. Sea level pressure registered an abnormal high at 4?10 hPa, compared with a normal year. The above-mentioned 3-D structures of general circulation have created thermal and dynamic conditions that favor the repeated genesis and momentous development of the Mongolian cyclones, which in turn contributes to the frequent occurrences and long distance transport of SDS