NMR study of the dissolution of laser-polarized xenon

NMR of laser-polarized xenon is used to probe the dissolution behaviour of the noble gas in different liquids. The dissolution and self-relaxation rates are extracted via a macroscopic model, and comparison of the decay rate of the xenon magnetization in deuterated and non-deuterated solvent pairs allows the determination of the pure dipole-dipole contribution to relaxation. A transient convective effect, tentatively assigned to the xenon concentration gradient, is observed and characterized by diffusion encoding MRI experiments. The flow of xenon penetrates inside the solvent near the walls of the NMR tube, the longitudinal images showing a “” shape, the transverse ones a “O” shape. This convection effect has implications for delivery conditions of laser-polarized xenon in continuous flow experiments and magnetic resonance imaging. Received 29 April 2002 / Received in final form 26 July 2002 Published online 22 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: hdesvaux@cea.fr RID="b" ID="b"URA CNRS/CEA 331     

Surface effects in thin films of antiferroelectric smectic liquid crystals in terms of the short-pitch long-pitch competition model

A theoretical model based on the competition between short-pitch and long-pitch types of helical order is developed for thin films of antiferroelectric smectic liquid crystals. In the case of the “bookshelf” structure of the film and non-polar surfaces, subsurface perturbations of the ordering are found out analytically. Corresponding contributions to the free energies of the different phases are analysed. The possibility of sufficient influence of the boundaries on phase sequences is predicted even in the case of weak surface anchoring. A consistent explanation of the controversial experimental information is given; further ways of experimental justification of the model assumptions are discussed. Received 23 May 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: mgorkoun@uos.de     

Universal non-monotonic smectic fluctuations of liquid crystal films in a magnetic field

Free-standing liquid crystal films with positive diamagnetic susceptibility can have the smectic ordering enhanced by an external field applied perpendicular to the plane layers. Within a quadratic functional integral approach, we investigate the interplay between the smectic order induced by an external field H and that due to the surface tension γ between the film and the surrounding gas. We find that the average smectic fluctuation is a non-monotonic function of film thickness, with a characteristic thickness scale ξ _H delimiting the predominance of surface tension and magnetic field effects. This characteristic thickness obeys simple asymptotic power-law relations as a function of the ordering terms which allows us to represent the average smectic fluctuations in a universal scaling form. Received 7 January 2003 Published online 1st April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: marcelo@ising.fis.ufal.br     

The $-game

We propose a payoff function extending Minority Games (MG) that captures the competition between agents to make money. In contrast with previous MG, the best strategies are not always targeting the minority but are shifting opportunistically between the minority and the majority. The emergent properties of the price dynamics and of the wealth of agents are strikingly different from those found in MG. As the memory of agents is increased, we find a phase transition between a self-sustained speculative phase in which a “stubborn majority” of agents effectively collaborate to arbitrage a market-maker for their mutual benefit and a phase where the market-maker always arbitrages the agents. A subset of agents exhibit a sustained non-equilibrium risk-return profile. Received 5 June 2002 / Received in final form 21 November 2002 Published online 27 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: sornette@unice.fr RID="b" ID="b"CNRS UMR7536 RID="c" ID="c"CNRS UMR6622     

Controlled nucleation of point defects on a disclination line near a free surface during smectic-A-to-nematic directional melting

A disclination line populated with point defects that break the translational symmetry forms near a free nematic (N) interface in a confined geometry. The disclination line is, however, absent in the smectic-A phase (SmA). We use this fact to control the formation of point defect distributions on a disclination line by directional melting of the SmA phase in a temperature gradient. A threshold velocity ( v _th) exists below which a defect-free disclination line is formed. The frequency of nucleation of point defects increases steadily for v > v _th and exhibits a remarkable regularity. We derive an empirical scaling for v _th in terms of the experimental tuning parameters. We propose a simple model that allows to understand the formation of the point defects. Received 1 October 2002 / Published online: 15 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Permanent address: Departament de Quımica Fısica, Universitat de Barcelona, Martı i Franquès 1, Barcelona 08028, Spain; e-mail: jignes@qf.ub.es     

A molecular theory of smectic C liquid crystals made of rod-like molecules

Organic compounds exhibiting the smectic C phase are made of rod-like molecules that have dipolar groups with lateral components. We argue that the off-axis character of the lateral dipolar groups can account for tilt in layered smectics (SmC, SmC*, SmI etc.). We develop a mean-field theory of the smectic C phase based on a single-particle potential of the form U _C ∝ sin(2θ)cosφ, consistent with the biaxial nature of the phase, where θ and φ are the polar and azimuthal angles, respectively. The hard-rod interactions that favour the smectic A phase with zero tilt angle are also included. The theoretical phase diagrams compare favourably with experimental trends. Our theory also leads to the following results: i) a first-order smectic C to smectic A transition above some value of the McMillan parameter α, leading to a tricritical point on the smectic C to smectic A transition line and ii) a first-order smectic C to smectic C transition over a very small range of values of the model parameters. We have also extended the theory to include the next higher-order term in the tilting potential and to include the effect of different tilt angles for the molecular core and the chain in the SmC phase. Received 3 August 2002 RID="a" ID="a"Present address: Department of Physics, Vijaya College, R. V. Road, Bangalore - 560 004, India. RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: nvmadhu@rri.res.in     

Poling of liquid crystals in thin films

We examine the effect of a strong DC electric field on the molecular orientational order and the nonlinear optical response of liquid crystals in thin films. We compare the results of second-harmonic generation measurements with the predictions of two models, one assuming that the dipoles carried by the molecules have no interactions (the isotropic model), and the other assuming that the dipoles evolve in a Maier-Saupe orienting field responsible for the liquid-crystalline order (the Maier-Saupe model). In both cases, we take into account the effect of surfaces and confinement on the behavior of the molecules. We find that the molecular dipoles behave as predicted by the isotropic model, but that their reorientation is correlated in such a way that the apparent dipole moment of the reorienting units is one order of magnitude larger than the molecular dipole moment. Received: 13 December 2002 / Accepted: 22 April 2003 / Published online: 21 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Also at FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. RID="a" ID="a"Also at FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: jerome@science.uva.nl     

Atomic coherent states studied by virtue of the EPR entangled state and their Wigner functions

Based on the newly constructed Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) entangled state representation we introduce macroscopic classical functions associated with atomic coherent state τ with angular momentum value j. These functions are proportional to the ordinary one-variable Hermite polynomials of order 2j. The corresponding Wigner quasiprobability function for τ in phase space is also derived which turns out to be a two-variable Hermite polynomial H _{2j, 2j}. In so doing, a new classical-quantum correspondence scheme for angular momentum system is established. Received 7 August 2002 / Received in final form 14 December 2002 Published online 24 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Work supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant 10175057. RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: fhym@sjtu.edu.en     

Modelling of magnetic effects in near-field optics

Green's dyadic technique represents a powerful tool for calculations in electrodynamics, especially in modelling optical properties of nanoscopic objects. The method does not only provide field distributions, but also maps of susceptibilities and densities of states. Whereas the formalism is well established for dielectrics and electric fields, I present here a straight forward extension to tensors of both electric and magnetic type as well as mixed ones and furthermore to the situation where objects with dielectric and magnetic permeabilities are present together. As examples, characteristic field patterns are compared for elementary dielectric and magnetic perturbations. Green's tensors calculated for a coral structure reveal that mixed susceptibilities can exhibit other symmetries than pure electric or magnetic ones. Maps of all tensor components can thus give essential clues to the interpretation of near-field images. Received 15 December 2002 Published online 20 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Files “maths.ps” and “tensors.ps” are only available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: Ursula.Schroeter@uni-konstanz.de     

Hedgehog production in spatially correlated noise

The production of topological defects during a quench in a φ⁴ model is investigated. The influence of a spatially correlated noise on defect production in two and three dimensions is demonstrated. Received 28 August 2001 / Received in final form 11 February 2002 Published online 2 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"Paper supported in part by ESF “COSLAB” Programme RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: sfdobrow@kinga.cyf-kr.edu.pl     

Thermodynamics of rotating self-gravitating systems

We investigate the statistical equilibrium properties of a system of classical particles interacting via Newtonian gravity, enclosed in a three-dimensional spherical volume. Within a mean-field approximation, we derive an equation for the density profiles maximizing the microcanonical entropy and solve it numerically. At low angular momenta, i.e. for a slowly rotating system, the well-known gravitational collapse “transition” is recovered. At higher angular momenta, instead, rotational symmetry can spontaneously break down giving rise to more complex equilibrium configurations, such as double-clusters (“double stars”). We analyze the thermodynamics of the system and the stability of the different equilibrium configurations against rotational symmetry breaking, and provide the global phase diagram. Received 8 July 2002 Published online 15 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: demartino@hmi.de     

Dielectric resonances in disordered media

Binary disordered systems are usually obtained by mixing two ingredients in variable proportions: conductor and insulator, or conductor and super-conductor. They present very specific properties, in particular the second-order percolation phase transition, with its fractal geometry and the multi-fractal properties of the current moments. These systems are naturally modeled by regular bi-dimensional or tri-dimensional lattices, on which sites or bonds are chosen randomly with given probabilities. The two significant parameters are the ratio h = σ ₁/σ of the complex conductances, σ and σ ₁, of the two components, and their relative abundances p (or, respectively, 1 - p). In this article, we calculate the impedance of the composite by two independent methods: the so-called spectral method, which diagonalises Kirchhoff's Laws via a Green function formalism, and the Exact Numerical Renormalization method (ENR). These methods are applied to mixtures of resistors and capacitors (R-C systems), simulating e.g. ionic conductor-insulator systems, and to composites constituted of resistive inductances and capacitors (LR-C systems), representing metal inclusions in a dielectric bulk. The frequency dependent impedances of the latter composites present very intricate structures in the vicinity of the percolation threshold. In this paper, we analyse the LR-C behavior of compounds formed by the inclusion of small conducting clusters (“n-legged animals”) in a dielectric medium. We investigate in particular their absorption spectra who present a pattern of sharp lines at very specific frequencies of the incident electromagnetic field, the goal being to identify the signature of each animal. This enables us to make suggestions of how to build compounds with specific absorption or transmission properties in a given frequency domain. Received 16 August 2002 Published online 14 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: laurent.raymond@l2mp.fr RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: steffen.schaefer@l2mp.fr RID="c" ID="c"UMR CNRS 6137     

Genetic Algorithms as a tool in the study of aperiodic order,with application to the case of X-Ray diffraction spectra of GaAs-AlAs multilayer heterostructures

We present the first application of Genetic Algorithms to the analysis of data from an aperiodically ordered system, high resolution X-Ray diffraction spectra from multilayer heterostructures arranged according to a deterministic or random scheme. This method paves the way to the solution of the “inverse problem”, that is the retrieval of the generating disorder from the investigation of the spectra of an unknown sample having non crystallographic, non quasi-crystallographic order. Received 18 March 2002 / Received in final form 3 July 2002 Published online 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: Evelyne.Lutton@inria.fr RID="b" ID="b"CNRS UMR 8502     

Quasi-free Compton scattering and the polarizabilities of the neutron

Differential cross-sections for quasi-free Compton scattering from the proton and neutron bound in the deuteron have been measured using the Glasgow/Mainz photon tagging spectrometer at the Mainz MAMI accelerator together with the Mainz [48]cm ;SPMOslash; × [64]cm NaI(Tl) photon detector and the G?ttingen SENECA recoil detector. The data cover photon energies ranging from [200]MeV to [400]MeV at θ^LAB _γ = 136.2^°. Liquid deuterium and hydrogen targets allowed direct comparison of free and quasi-free scattering from the proton. The neutron detection efficiency of the SENECA detector was measured via the reaction p(γ,π⁺ n). The “free” proton Compton scattering cross-sections extracted from the bound proton data are in reasonable agreement with those for the free proton which gives confidence in the method to extract the differential cross-section for free scattering from quasi-free data. Differential cross-sections on the free neutron have been extracted and the difference of the electromagnetic polarizabilities of the neutron has been determined to be α_n - β_n = 9.8±3.6(stat)^+2.1 _-1.1(syst)±2.2(model) in units of [10^-4]fm ³. In combination with the polarizability sum α_n + β_n = 15.2±0.5 deduced from photoabsorption data, the neutron electric and magnetic polarizabilities, α_n = 12.5±1.8(stat)^+1.1 _-0.6(syst)±1.1(model) and β_n = 2.7±1.8(stat)^+0.6 _-1.1(syst)±1.1(model) are obtained. The backward spin polarizability of the neutron was determined to be γ⁽ⁿ⁾ _π = (58.6±4.0)×10^-4 fm ⁴. Received: 21 August 2002 / Accepted: 16 October 2002 / Published online: 11 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Part of the Doctoral Thesis. RID="b" ID="b"Present address: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, D-38116 Braunschweig. RID="a" ID="a"Part of the Doctoral Thesis. RID="b" ID="b"Present address: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, D-38116 Braunschweig. RID="c" ID="c"Part of the Habilitation Thesis. RID="d" ID="d"e-mail: schumacher@physik2.uni-goettingen.de Communicated by Th. Walcher     

Mixing and sorting of bidisperse two-dimensional bubbles

We have examined a number of candidates for the minimum-surface-energy arrangement of two-dimensional clusters composed of N bubbles of area 1 and N bubbles of area λ ( λ≤1). These include hexagonal bubbles sorted into two monodisperse honeycomb tilings, and various mixed periodic tilings with at most four bubbles per unit cell. We identify, as a function of λ, the minimal configuration for N → ∞. For finite N, the energy of the external (i.e., cluster-gas) boundary and that of the interface between honeycombs in “phase-separated” clusters have to be taken into account. We estimate these contributions and find the lowest total energy configuration for each pair (N,λ). As λ is varied, this alternates between a circular cluster of one of the mixed tilings, and “partial wetting” of the monodisperse honeycomb of bubble area 1 by the monodisperse honeycomb of bubble area λ. Received 1 August 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: paulo@ist.utl.pt     

In-beam γ-ray spectroscopy of 42Ca

High-spin states of the ⁴²Ca nucleus, populated in the 68 MeV ¹⁸O + ³⁰Si reaction, have been studied in a γ-γ-recoil coincidence experiment. The level scheme of ⁴²Ca has been extended up to 13.7 MeV. An elaborate decay pattern with various paths, together with high-quality DCO and polarization information assigns spins and parities for almost all observed levels. The sequence of non-yrast positive-parity states is discussed and compared with highly deformed bands in ³⁶Ar and ⁴⁰Ca. Received: 26 November 2002 / Accepted: 11 December 2002 / Published online: 18 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: Malgorzata.Lach@ifj.edu.pl RID="b" ID="b"Present address: TRIUMF, Vancouver, Canada. RID="†" ID="†"Deceased. Communicated by D. Schwalm     

Dynamic fracture model for acoustic emission

We consider the spin-glass phase of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model in the presence of a magnetic field. The series expansion of the Parisi function q(x) is computed at high orders in powers of τ = T _c - T and H. We find that none of the Parisi-Toulouse scaling hypotheses on the q(x) behavior strictly holds, although some of them are violated only at high orders. The series is resummed yielding results in the whole spin-glass phase which are compared with those from a numerical evaluation of the q(x). At the high order considered, the transition turns out to be third order on the Almeida-Thouless line, a result which is confirmed rigorously computing the expansion of the solution near the line at finite τ. The transition becomes smoother for infinitesimally small field while it is third order at strictly zero field. Received 3 March 2003 Published online 4 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: andrea.crisanti@phys.uniroma1.it RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: tommaso.rizzo@phys.uniroma1.it RID="c" ID="c"e-mail: temtam@helios.elte.hu     

Self-organization of N<Superscript>*</Superscript> inclusions in SmC<Superscript>*</Superscript> free-standing films

The behaviour of freely suspended smectic-C* ( SmC^*) films at the bulk SmC^*-cholesteric ( N^*) phase transition has been investigated using polarized-reflected-light microscopy. Our experimental observations show that above the bulk SmC^*- N^* phase transition the N^* order appears in different ways according to the film thickness. In thin films, the conventional layer-by-layer thinning occurs. In films of intermediate thickness N^* inclusions nucleate inside the SmC^* film. The distortions of the in-plane orientational order of the SmC^* host phase induce elastic interactions between the inclusions and lead to their self-organization in chain-like structures. Both the dynamic of the chaining and the parameters driving the equilibrium distance between the inclusions in the chain are investigated. In thick films, N^* fingers grow inside the film. The influence of the experimental conditions on the various processes is analysed. Received 1 July 2002 / Published online: 15 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: Philippe.cluzeau@univ-lille1.fr     

The high-pressure <Emphasis Type="Bold">α/β</Emphasis> phase transition in lead sulphide (PbS)

The high-pressure behaviour of PbS was investigated by angular dispersive X-ray powder diffraction up to pressures of 6.8 GPa. Experiments were accompanied by first principles calculations at the density functional theory level. By combining both methods reliable data for the elastic properties of rock-salt type α- and high-pressure β-PbS could be obtained. β-PbS could be determined to crystallise in the CrB-type (B33), with space group Cmcm. The reversible ferro-elastic α/β transition is of first order. It is accompanied by a large volume discontinuity of about 5% and a coexistence region of the two phases. A gliding mechanism of {001} bilayers along one of the cubic 〈110〉 directions governs the phase transition which can be described in terms of group/subgroup relationships via a common subgroup, despite its reconstructive character. The quadrupling of the primitive unit cell indicates a wave vector (0, 0,π/ a ) on the Δ-line of the Brillouin zone. Received 11 October 2002 Published online 14 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Also at: Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Cukrovarnicka 10, 16253 Praha 6, Czech Republic e-mail: knorr@min.uni-kiel.de RID="b" ID="b"Present address: University of Cambridge, Cavendish Laboratory (TCM), Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK RID="c" ID="c"Present address: Johann-Wolfgang Goethe Universit?t, Mineralogisches Institut, Kristallographie, Senckenberganlage 30, D 60054 Frankfurt a.M., Germany     

High-spin states in the <Superscript>97</Superscript>Tc nucleus

High-spin states in the ⁹⁷Tc nucleus have been studied by in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy with the reaction ⁸²Se(¹⁹F,4nγ) at 68 MeV incident energy. Excited states have been observed up to about 8 MeV excitation and spin 43/2. The observed level scheme is compared with results of shell model calculations. Received: 22 November 2002 / Accepted: 23 December 2002 / Published online: 18 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: bucurescu@tandem.nipne.ro RID="b" ID="b"Present address: INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy. RID="b" ID="b"Present address: INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy. RID="b" ID="b"Present address: INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy. RID="c" ID="c"Present address: Università di Padova, Padova, Italy. Communicated by C. Signorini