Origin of the plateau in the low-temperature thermal conductivity of silica

Thermal conductivities of glasses at low temperatures show strikingly similar behavior irrespective of their chemical composition. While for T<1 K the thermal conductivity can be understood in the phenomenological tunneling model; the ‘‘universal plateau’’ in the temperature interval 15>T>2 K is totally unexplained. While Rayleigh scattering of phonons by structural disorder should be the natural cause for limiting the mean free path of phonons in this temperature range, it has been concluded before that in glasses a strong enough source of such scattering does not exist. In this study we show by a proper structural analysis in at least one material (namely, silica) that a strong enough source of Rayleigh scattering of phonons in glasses does exist so that the ‘‘universal plateau’’ can be explained without invoking any new mechanism. This may be for the first time that the low-temperature property of a structural glass has been correlated to its structure.

Large low-frequency resistance noise in chemical vapor deposited graphene

We report a detailed investigation of resistance noise in single layer graphene films on Si/SiO2 substrates obtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper foils. We find that noise in these systems to be rather large, and when expressed in the form of phenomenological Hooge equation, it corresponds to Hooge parameter as large as 0.1-0.5. We also find the variation in the noise magnitude with the gate voltage (or carrier density) and temperature to be surprisingly weak, which is also unlike the behavior of noise in other forms of graphene, in particular those from exfoliation. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3493655]

Brownian motion of spins; generalized spin Langevin equation

We derive the Langevin equations for a spin interacting with a heat bath, starting from a fully dynamical treatment. The obtained equations are non-Markovian with multiplicative fluctuations and concommitant dissipative terms obeying the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. In the Markovian limit our equations reduce to the phenomenological equations proposed by Kubo and Hashitsume. The perturbative treatment on our equations lead to Landau-Lifshitz equations and to other known results in the literature.

QCD with dynamical Wilson fermions. II

We present results for the QCD spectrum and the matrix elements of scalar and axial-vector densities at β=6/g2=5.4, 5.5, 5.6. The lattice update was done using the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm to include two flavors of dynamical Wilson fermions. We have explored quark masses in the range ms≤mq≤3ms. The results for the spectrum are similar to quenched simulations and mass ratios are consistent with phenomenological heavy-quark models. The results for matrix elements of the scalar density show that the contribution of sea quarks is comparable to that of the valence quarks. This has important implications for the pion-nucleon σ term.

On the holographic simulation of non-circular zone plates

New methods involving the manipulation of fundamental wavefronts (e.g., plane and spherical) with simple optical components such as pinholes and spherical lenses have been developed for the fabrication of elliptic, hyperbolic and conical holographic zone plates. Also parabolic zone plates by holographic techniques have been obtained for the first time. The performance behaviour of these zone plates has been studied. Further a phenomenological explanation is offered for the observed improved fringe contrast obtained with a spherical reference wave.

Improving the phenomenology of Kl3 form factors with analyticity and unitarity

The shape of the vector and scalar K-l3 form factors is investigated by exploiting analyticity and unitarity in a model-independent formalism. The method uses as input dispersion relations for certain correlators computed in perturbative QCD in the deep Euclidean region, soft-meson theorems, and experimental information on the phase and modulus of the form factors along the elastic part of the unitarity cut. We derive constraints on the coefficients of the parameterizations valid in the semileptonic range and on the truncation error. The method also predicts low-energy domains in the complex t plane where zeros of the form factors are excluded. The results are useful for K-l3 data analyses and provide theoretical underpinning for recent phenomenological dispersive representations for the form factors.

Models of the proton spin structure

A phenomenological model of spin sharing by the constituents of a proton is constructed, based on the recent EMC measurement of the spin dependent structure function and knowledge of the unpolarized parton densities.

Effect of Turbulence on Emerging Magnetic Flux Tubes in the Convection Zone

Working under the hypothesis that magnetic flux in the sun is generated at the bottom of the convection zone, Choudhuri and Gilman (1987; Astrophys. J. 316, 788) found that a magnetic flux tube symmetric around the rotation axis, when released at the bottom of the convection zone, gets deflected by the Coriolis force and tends to move parallel to the rotation axis as it rises in the convection zone. As a result, all the flux emerges at rather high latitudes and the flux observed at the typical sunspot latitudes remains unexplained. Choudhuri (1989; Solar Physics, in press) finds that non-axisymmetric perturbations too cannot subdue the Coriolis force. In this paper, we no longer treat the convection zone to be passive as in the previous papers, but we consider the role of turbulence in the convection zone in inhibiting the Coriolis force. The interaction of the flux tubes with the turbulence is treated in a phenomenological way as follows: (1) Large scale turbulence on the scale of giant cells can physically drag the tubes outwards, thus pulling the flux towards lower latitudes by dominating over the Coriolis force. (2) Small scale turbulence of the size of the tubes can exchange angular momentum with the tube, thus suppressing the growth of the Coriolis force and making the tubes emerge at lower latitudes. Numerical simulations show that the giant cells can drag the tubes and make them emerge at lower latitufes only if the velocities within the giant cells are unrealistically large of if the radii of the flux tubes are as small as 10 km. However, small scale turbulence can successfully suppress the growth of the Coriolis force if the tubes have radii smaller than about 300 km which may not be unreasonable. Such flux tubes can then emerge at low latitudes where sunspots are seen.

Microstructural features of flow instability in α-titanium cylinders under high strain rate compression at 25°C to 400°C

Cylindrical specimens of commercial pure titanium have been compressed at strain rates in the range of 0.1 to 100 s-1 and temperatures in the range of 25-degrees-C to 400-degrees-C. At strain rates of 10 and 100 s-1, the specimens exhibited adiabatic shear bands. At lower strain rates, the material deformed in an inhomogeneous fashion. These material-related instabilities are examined in the light of the ''phenomenological model'' and the ''dynamic materials mode.'' It is found that the regime of adiabatic shear band formation is predicted by the phenomenological model, while the dynamic materials model is able to predict the inhomogeneous deformation zone. The criterion based on power partitioning is competent to predict the variations within the inhomogeneous deformation zone.

Minimum weight design of fiber-reinforced laminated composite structures with maximum stress and Tsai-Wu failure criteria

In this article, a minimum weight design of carbon/epoxy laminates is carried out using genetic algorithms. New failure envelopes have been developed by the combination of two commonly used phenomenological failure criteria, namely Maximum Stress (MS) and Tsai-Wu (TW) are used to obtain the minimum weight of the laminate. These failure envelopes are the most conservative failure envelope (MCFE) and the least conservative failure envelope (LCFE). Uniaxial and biaxial loading conditions are considered for the study and the differences in the optimal weight of the laminate are compared for the MCFE and LCFE. The MCFE can be used for design of critical load-carrying composites, while the LCFE could be used for the design of composite structures where weight reduction is much more important than safety such as unmanned air vehicles.

Electrochemical phase formation involving multicomponents: hemispherical overlap models for varied nucleation and growth conditions

The phenomenological theory of hemispherical growth in the context of phase formation with more than one component is presented. The model discusses in a unified manner both instantaneous and progressive nucleation (at the substrate) as well as arbitrary growth rates (e.g. constant and diffusion controlled growth rates). A generalized version of Avrami ansatz (a mean field description) is used to tackle the ''overlap'' aspects arising from the growing multicentres of the many components involved, observing that the nucleation is confined to the substrate plane only. The time evolution of the total extent of macrogrowth as well as those of the individual components are discussed explicitly for the case of two phases. The asymptotic expressions for macrogrowth are derived. Such analysis depicts a saturation limit (i.e. the maximum extent of growth possible) for the slower growing component and its dependence on the kinetic parameters which, in the electrochemical context, can be controlled through potential. The significance of this model in the context of multicomponent alloy deposition and possible future directions for further development are pointed out.

Solvation dynamics, energy distribution and trapping of a light solute ion

In the theoretical treatments of the dynamics of solvation of a newly created ion in a dipolar solvent, the self-motion of the solute is usually ignored. Recently, it has been shown that for a light ion the translational motion of the ion can significantly enhance its own rate of solvation. Therefore, solvation itself may not be the rate determining step in the equilibration. Instead, the rate determining step is the search of the low energy configuration which serves to localize the light ion. In this article a microscopic calculation of the probability distribution of the interaction energy of the nascent charge with the dipolar solvent molecules is presented in order to address this problem of solute trapping. It is found that to a good approximation, this distribution is Gaussian and the second moment of this distribution is exactly equal to the half of its own solvation energy. It is shown that this is in excellent agreement with the simulation results that are available for the model Brownian dipolar lattice and for liquid acetonitrile. If the distortion of the solvent by the ion is negligible then the same relation gives the energy distribution for the solvated ion, with the average centered at the final equilibrium solvation energy. These results are expected to be useful in understanding various chemical processes in dipolar liquids. Another interesting outcome of the present study is a simple dynamic argument that supports Onsager's ''inverse snow-ball'' conjecture of solvation of a light ion. A simple derivation of the semi-phenomenological relation between the solvation time correlation function and the single particle orientation, reported recently by Maroncelli et al. (J. Phys. Chem. 97 (1993) 13), is also presented.

Growth of Nanometric Gold Particles in Solution Phase

The time evolution of colloidal gold particles in the nanometric regime has been investigated by employing electron microscopy and electronic absorption spectroscopy. The particle size distributions are essentially Gaussian and show the same time dependence for both the mean and the standard deviation, enabling us to obtain a time-independent universal curve for the particle size. Temperature dependent studies show the growth to be an activated process with a barrier of about 18 kJ mol(-1). We present a phenomenological equation for the evolution of particle size and suggest that the growth process is stochastic.

Prediction of separation factor in foam separation of proteins

A phenomenological model has been developed for predicting separation factors obtained in concentrating protein solutions using batch-foam columns. The model considers the adsorption of surface active proteins onto the air-water interface of bubbles, and drainage of liquid from the foam, which are the two predominant processes responsible for separation in foam columns. The model has been verified with data collected on casein and bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions, for which adsorption isotherms are available in the literature. It has been found that an increase in liquid pool height above the gas distributor and the time allowed for drainage result in a better separation. Further, taller foam columns yield poorer separation at constant time of drainage. The model successfully predicts the observed results. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Freezing of classical fluids in a quenched random potential

The phase diagram of a hard-sphere fluid in the presence of a random pinning potential is studied analytically and numerically. In the analytic work, replicas are introduced for averaging over the quenched disorder, and the hypernetted chain approximation is used to calculate density correlations in the replicated liquid. The freezing transition of the liquid into a nearly crystalline state is studied using a density-functional approach, and the liquid to glass transition is studied using a phenomenological replica symmetry breaking approach. In the numerical work, local minima of a discretized version of the Ramakrishnan-Yussouff free-energy functional are located and the phase diagram in the density-disorder plane is obtained from an analysis of the relative stability of these minima. Both approaches lead to similar results for the phase diagram. The first-order liquid to crystalline solid transition is found to change to a continuous liquid to glass transition as the strength of the disorder is increased above a threshold value.