Mechanical and Thermal Stability of Adhesive Membranes with Nonzero Bending Rigidity

Membranes at a microscopic scale are affected by thermal fluctuations and self-adhesion due to van der Waals forces. Methods to prepare membranes of even molecular scale, e.g., graphene, have recently been developed, and the question of their mechanical and thermal stability is of crucial importance. To this end we modeled microscopic membranes with an attractive interaction and applied Langevin dynamics. Their behavior was also analyzed under external loading. Even though these membranes folded during isotropic compression as a result of energy minimization, the process at high confinement was similar to crumpling of macroscopic nonadhesive sheets. The main difference appeared when the com…

Universality in Fragmentation

Fragmentation of a two-dimensional brittle solid by impact and ``explosion,'' and a fluid by ``explosion'' are all shown to become critical. The critical points appear at a nonzero impact velocity, and at infinite explosion duration, respectively. Within the critical regimes, the fragment-size distributions satisfy a scaling form qualitatively similar to that of the cluster-size distribution of percolation, but they belong to another universality class. Energy balance arguments give a correlation length exponent that is exactly one-half of its percolation value. A single crack dominates fragmentation in the slow-fracture limit, as expected.

Classical thermodynamics of the Heisenberg chain in a field by generalized Bethe ansatz method

Abstract Using the classical action-angle variables for the continuous model, we study the thermodynamics of the classical Heisenberg chain in an applied field by a generalized Bethe ansatz approach. The crucial point consists in the derivation of a phase-shifted density of states for the excitations of the model, obtained by imposing periodic boundary conditions. In the thermodynamic limit, the free energy can be expressed in terms of the solution of a non-linear integral equation, showing the universal dependece of the variable x=(JH) 1 2 /T .

Giant Quantum Oscillators from Rydberg Atoms: Atomic Coherent States and Their Squeezing from Rydberg Atoms

This paper summarises work since about 1979 by all the authors indicated: RKB is given prominence only because he bears the responsibility for the present paper. All the work has proved relevant to Rydberg atoms. Here we lay particular stress on recent results for squeezing by Rydberg atoms.

Quantum Solitons on Quantum Chaos: Coherent Structures, Anyons, and Statistical Mechanics

This paper is concerned with the exact evaluation of functional integrals for the partition function Z (free energy F = -β -1 ln Z, β -1 = temperature) for integrable models like the quantum and classical sine-Gordon (s-G) models in 1+1 dimensions.1–12 These models have wide applications in physics and are generic (and important) in that sense. The classical s-G model in 1+1 dimensions $${\phi _{xx}} - {\phi _{tt}} = {m^2}\sin \phi$$ (1) (m > 0 is a “mass”) has soliton (kink, anti-kink and breather) solutions. In Refs 1–12 we have reported a general theory of ‘soliton statistical mechanics’ (soliton SM) in which the particle description can be seen in terms of ‘solitons’ and ‘phonons’. The …

Temporal and spatial persistence of combustion fronts in paper

The spatial and temporal persistence, or first-return distributions are measured for slow-combustion fronts in paper. The stationary temporal and (perhaps less convincingly) spatial persistence exponents agree with the predictions based on the front dynamics, which asymptotically belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. The stationary short-range and the transient behavior of the fronts are non-Markovian, and the observed persistence properties thus do not agree with the predictions based on Markovian theory. This deviation is a consequence of additional time and length scales, related to the crossovers to the asymptotic coarse-grained behavior. Peer reviewed

Crumpling of a stiff tethered membrane.

first-principles numerical simulation model for crumpling of a stiff tethered membrane is introduced. In our model membranes, wrinkles, ridge formation, ridge collapse, as well as the initiation of stiffness divergence, are observed. The ratio of the amplitude and wave length of the wrinkles, and the scaling exponent of the stiffness divergence, are consistent with both theory and experiment. We observe that close to the stiffness divergence there appears a crossover beyond which the elastic behavior of a tethered membrane becomes similar to that of dry granular media. This suggests that ridge formation in membranes and force-chain network formation in granular packings are different manife…

Granular packings and fault zones

The failure of a two-dimensional packing of elastic grains is analyzed using a numerical model. The packing fails through formation of shear bands or faults. During failure there is a separation of the system into two grain-packing states. In a shear band, local ``rotating bearings'' are spontaneously formed. The bearing state is favored in a shear band because it has a low stiffness against shearing. The ``seismic activity'' distribution in the packing has the same characteristics as that of the earthquake distribution in tectonic faults. The directions of the principal stresses in a bearing are reminiscent of those found at the San Andreas Fault.

Temporal and spatial persistence of combustion fronts

The spatial and temporal persistence, or first-return distributions are measured for slow combustion fronts in paper. The stationary temporal and (perhaps less convincingly) spatial persistence exponents agree with the predictions based on the front dynamics, which asymptotically belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. The stationary short-range and the transient behavior of the fronts is non-Markovian and the observed persistence properties thus do not agree with the theory. This deviation is a consequence of additional time and length scales, related to the crossovers to the asymptotic coarse-grained behavior.

Ferromagnetism in small clusters.

Magnetization of small ferromagnetic clusters at finite temperatures has been studied using the Ising model and Monte Carlo techniques. The magnetization of finite clusters is reduced from the bulk value, and increases with the external magnetic field and with the cluster size. The results explain qualitatively the recent observations by de Heer, Milani, and Chatelain of the reduction with decreasing cluster size of the average magnetic moment in small iron clusters.

Fracture processes studied in CRESST

In the early stages of running of the CRESST dark matter search with sapphire crystals as detectors, an unexpectedly high rate of signal pulses appeared. Their origin was finally traced to fracture events in the sapphire due to the very tight clamping of the detectors. During extensive runs the energy and time of each event was recorded, providing large data sets for such phenomena. We believe this is the first time that the energy release in fracture has been accurately measured on a microscopic event-by-event basis. The energy distributions appear to follow a power law, dN/dE proportional to E-beta, similar to the Gutenberg-Richter power law for earthquake magnitudes, and after appropriat…

Kinetic Roughening in Slow Combustion of Paper

Results of experiments on the dynamics and kinetic roughening of one-dimensional slow-combustion fronts in three grades of paper are reported. Extensive averaging of the data allows a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal development of the interface fluctuations. The asymptotic scaling properties, on long length and time scales, are well described by the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation with short-range, uncorrelated noise. To obtain a more detailed picture of the strong-coupling fixed point, characteristic of the KPZ universality class, universal amplitude ratios, and the universal coupling constant are computed from the data and found to be in good agreement with theory. Below …

Statistical mechanics of the NLS models and their avatars

“In Vishnuland what avatar? Or who in Moscow (Leningrad) towards the czar [1]”. The different manifestations (avatars) of the Nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLS models) are described including both classical and quantum integrable cases. For reasons explained the sinh-Gordon and sine-Gordon models, which can be interpreted as covariant manifestations of the ‘repulsive’ and ‘attractive’ NLS models, respectively, are chosen as generic models for the statistical mechanics. It is shown in the text how the quantum and classical free energies can be calculated by a method of functional integration which uses the classical action-angle variables on the real line with decaying boundary conditions,…

Elasticity of Poissonian fiber networks

An effective-medium model is introduced for the elasticity of two-dimensional random fiber networks. These networks are commonly used as basic models of heterogeneous fibrous structures such as paper. Using the exact Poissonian statistics to describe the microscopic geometry of the network, the tensile modulus can be expressed by a single-parameter function. This parameter depends on the network density and fiber dimensions, which relate the macroscopic modulus to the relative importance of axial and bending deformations of the fibers. The model agrees well with simulation results and experimental findings. We also discuss the possible generalizations of the model. Peer reviewed

Quantum groups and quantum complete integrability: Theory and experiment

Fragmentation dynamics within shear bands--a model for aging tectonic faults?

A numerical model for packing of fragmenting blocks in a shear band is introduced, and its dynamics is compared with that of a tectonic fault. The shear band undergoes a slow aging process in which the blocks are being grinded by the shear motion and the compression. The dynamics of the model have the same statistical characteristics as the seismic activity in faults. The characteristic magnitude distribution of earthquakes appears to result from frictional slips at small and medium magnitudes, and from fragmentation of blocks at the largest magnitudes. Aftershocks to large-magnitude earthquakes are local recombinations of the fragments before they reach a new quasi-static equilibrium. The …

Permeability of three-dimensional random fiber webs

We report the results of essentially ab initio simulations of creeping flow through large threedimensional random fiber webs that closely resemble fibrous sheets such as paper and nonwoven fabrics. The computational scheme used in this Letter is that of the lattice-Boltzmann method and contains no free parameters concerning the properties of the porous medium or the dynamics of the flow. The computed permeability of the web is found to be in good agreement with experimental data, and confirms that permeability depends exponentially on porosity over a large range of porosity. [S0031-9007(97)05087-4]

Order and Chaos in the Statistical Mechanics of the Integrable Models in 1+1 Dimensions

This paper was presented at the meeting under this title. But, originally, the more cumbersome ‘Quantum chaos — classical chaos in k-space: thermodynamic limits for the sine-Gordon models’ was proposed. Certainly this covers more technically the content of this paper.

Scaling and Noise in Slow Combustion of Paper

We present results of high resolution experiments on kinetic roughening of slow combustion fronts in paper, focusing on short length and time scales. Using three different grades of paper, we find that the combustion fronts show apparent spatial and temporal multiscaling at short scales. The scaling exponents decrease as a function of the order of the corresponding correlation functions. The noise affecting the fronts reveals short range temporal and spatial correlations, and non-Gaussian noise amplitudes. Our results imply that the overall behavior of slow combustion fronts cannot be explained by standard theories of kinetic roughening. Peer reviewed

Roughening of a propagating planar crack front

A numerical model of the front of a planar crack propagating between two connected elastic plates is investigated. The plates are modeled as square lattices of elastic beams. The plates are connected by similar but breakable beams with a randomly varying stiffness. The crack is driven by pulling both plates at one end in Mode I at a constant rate. We find $\ensuremath{\zeta}=1/3, z=4/3,$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}=1/4$ for the roughness, dynamical, and growth exponents, respectively, that describe the front behavior. This is similar to continuum limit analyses based on a perturbative stress-intensity treatment of the front [H. Gao and J. R. Rice, J. Appl. Mech. 56, 828 (1989)]. We discuss the …

QUANTUM SPIN CHAINS WITH COMPOSITE SPIN

The ground state of quantum spin chains with two spin-1/2 operators per site is determined from finite chain calculations and compared to predictions from the continuum limit. As particular cases, results for the spin-1 Heisenberg chain, the spin-1 model with bilinear and biquadratic exchange and the extended Hubbard model are analysed.