Local variation of the dielectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) during the α- to β-phase transformation

The phase transformation from the non-polar α-phase to the polar electroactive β-phase of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been investigated using the fluorescence from Nile red. Films of α-PVDF doped with Nile red were stretched at controlled rates at a temperature of 80 °C to produce the α- to β-phase transition. The thermo/mechanical dependent changes in the crystalline structure are related to the physical rotation of the polar (CH₂-CF₂) group, which can be monitored by steady state fluorescence techniques. The degree of phase transformation is related to variation in the fluorescence, which in turn is linked to local dielectric constant of the polymer. The variation of the refractive index is more associated to the alignment of the polymeric chains than to the phase transformation. Thus, fluorescence is a suitable technique to monitor phase transitions coupled to a variation in the polarity of the dielectric medium.     

Superconductivity in the two-dimensional t-J model

Using computational techniques, it is shown that pairing is a robust property of hole-doped antiferromagnetic insulators. In one dimension and for two-leg ladder systems, a BCS-like variational wave function with long-bond spin singlets and a Jastrow factor provides an accurate representation of the ground state of the t-J model, even though strong quantum fluctuations destroy the off-diagonal superconducting long-range order in this case. However, in two dimensions it is argued-and numerically confirmed using several techniques, especially quantum Monte Carlo-that quantum fluctuations are not strong enough to suppress superconductivity.     

Generalized diagonal dominance in connection with the accelerated overrelaxation (AOR) method

With the definition of generalized diagonal dominant matrices we improve the known results about the intervals of convergence of the (AOR) method for linear systems. We consider this problem for different kinds of matrices and we get some important results forH-matrices.Supported by Instituto Nacional de Investigação Cientifica.     

Sharp gene pool transition in a population affected by phenotype-based selective hunting

We use a microscopic model of population dynamics, a modified version of the well known Penna model, to study some aspects of microevolution. This research is motivated by recent reports on the effect of selective hunting on the gene pool of bighorn sheep living in the Ram Mountain region, in Canada. Our model finds a sharp transition in the structure of the gene pool as some threshold for the number of animals hunted is reached.     

Electron transport through a molecular conductor with center-of-mass motion

The linear conductance of a molecular conductor oscillating between two metallic leads is investigated numerically both for Hubbard interacting and noninteracting electrons. The molecule-leads tunneling barriers depend on the molecule displacement from its equilibrium position. The results present an interesting interference which leads to a conductance dip at the electron-hole symmetry point that could be experimentally observable. It is shown that this dip is caused by the destructive interference between the purely electronic and phonon-assisted tunneling channels, which are found to carry opposite phases. When an internal vibrational mode is also active, the electron-hole symmetry is broken but a Fano-like interference is still observed.     

Scaling properties of the Penna model

We investigate the scaling properties of the Penna model, which has become a popular tool for the study of population dynamics and evolutionary problems in recent years. We find that the model generates a normalised age distribution for which a simple scaling rule is proposed, that is able to reproduce qualitative features for all genome sizes.Received: 9 October 2004, Published online: 23 December 2004PACS: 87.23.Cc Population dynamics and ecological pattern formation - 89.75.Da Systems obeying scaling laws - 05.10.Ln Monte Carlo methods     

Ergodic dynamics in a natural threshold system

Numerical simulations suggest that certain driven, dissipative mean-field threshold systems, including earthquake models, can be characterized by statistical properties often associated with ergodic dynamics, in the same sense as stochastic Brownian motion. We applied a fluctuation metric proposed by Thirumalai and Mountain [Phys. Rev. E 47, 479 (1993)]] for statistically stationary systems and find that the natural earthquake fault system in California demonstrates similar ergodic dynamics.