Domain wall propagation in Permalloy nanowires with a thickness gradient

The magnetization reversal behavior of Permalloy nanowires has been investigated using a magneto-optic Kerr effect setup. Nanowires with various widths, w=250$w=250$ nm to 3 μm and a thickness of t=10$t=10$ nm were fabricated by electron-beam lithography and subsequent lift-off. Furthermore, similar nanowires but with a thickness gradient along the nanowire axis have been prepared to investigate the influence of the gradient on the magnetic domain wall propagation. Magnetization hysteresis loops recorded on individual nanowires without a gradient are compared to corresponding wires with a thickness gradient. The dependence of the coercive field, _Hc$H_c$ vs. t/w$t/w$ shows a linear behavior for wires without a gradient. However, wires with a gradient display a more complex crossover behavior. We find a plateau in the _Hc$H_c$ vs. t/w$t/w$ curve at values of w$w$, where a transformation from transverse to vortex domain wall type is expected.     

The Bethe lattice treatment of sound attenuation for a spin- 3/2 Ising model

The sound attenuation phenomena is investigated for a spin- 3/2 Ising model on the Bethe lattice in terms of the recursion relations by using the Onsager theory of irreversible thermodynamics. The dependencies of sound attenuation on the temperature (T$T$), frequency (w$w$), Onsager coefficient (γ$\gamma$) and external magnetic field (H$H$) near the second-order (_Tc)$\left(T_c\right)$ and first-order (_Tt)$\left(T_t\right)$ phase transition temperatures are examined for given coordination numbers q$q$ on the Bethe lattice. It is assumed that the sound wave couples to the order-parameter fluctuations which decay mainly via the order-parameter relaxation process, thus two relaxation times are obtained and which are used to obtain an expression for the sound attenuation coefficient (α)$\left(\alpha \right)$. Our investigations revealed that only one peak is obtained near _Tt$T_t$ and three peaks are found near _Tc$T_c$ when the Onsager coefficient is varied at a given constant frequency for q=3$q=3$. Fixing the Onsager coefficient and varying the frequency always leads to two peaks for q=3,4$q=3,4$ and 6 near _Tc$T_c$. The sound attenuation peaks are observed near _Tt$T_t$ at lower values of external magnetic field, but as it increases the sound attenuation peaks decrease and eventually disappear.     

Three PT-symmetric Hamiltonians with completely different spectra

We discuss three Hamiltonians, each with a central-field part H₀$H_0$ and a PT-symmetric perturbation igz$igz$. When H₀$H_0$ is the isotropic Harmonic oscillator the spectrum is real for all g$g$ because H$H$ is isospectral to H₀+g²/2$H_0+g^2/2$. When H₀$H_0$ is the Hydrogen atom then infinitely many eigenvalues are complex for all g$g$. If the potential in H₀$H_0$ is linear in the radial variable r$r$ then the spectrum of H$H$ exhibits real eigenvalues for 0<g<g_c$0<g<g_c$ and a PT phase transition at g_c$g_c$.     

Non-Abelian fusion rules from an Abelian system

We demonstrate the emergence of non-Abelian fusion rules for excitations of a two dimensional lattice model built out of Abelian degrees of freedom. It can be considered as an extension of the usual toric code model on a two dimensional lattice augmented with matter fields. It consists of the usual C(Z_p)$\mathbb{C}\left({\mathbb{Z}}_p\right)$ gauge degrees of freedom living on the links together with matter degrees of freedom living on the vertices. The matter part is described by a n$n$ dimensional vector space which we call H_n$H_n$. The Z_p${\mathbb{Z}}_p$ gauge particles act on the vertex particles and thus H_n$H_n$ can be thought of as a C(Z_p)$\mathbb{C}\left({\mathbb{Z}}_p\right)$ module. An exactly solvable model is built with operators acting in this Hilbert space. The vertex excitations for this model are studied and shown to obey non-Abelian fusion rules. We will show this for specific values of n$n$ and p$p$, though we believe this feature holds for all n>p$n>p$. We will see that non-Abelian anyons of the quantum double of C(S₃)$\mathbb{C}\left(S_3\right)$ are obtained as part of the vertex excitations of the model with n=6$n=6$ and p=3$p=3$. Ising anyons are obtained in the model with n=4$n=4$ and p=2$p=2$. The n=3$n=3$ and p=2$p=2$ case is also worked out as this is the simplest model exhibiting non-Abelian fusion rules. Another common feature shared by these models is that the ground states have a higher symmetry than Z_p${\mathbb{Z}}_p$. This makes them possible candidates for realizing quantum computation.     

Thermodynamics properties of an anisotropic Ising antiferromagnet in both external longitudinal and transverse fields

We have studied the anisotropic two-dimensional nearest-neighbor Ising model with competitive interactions in both uniform longitudinal field H$H$ and transverse magnetic field Ω$\Omega$. Using the effective-field theory (EFT) with correlation in cluster with N=1$N=1$ spin we calculate the thermodynamic properties as a function of temperature with values H$H$ and Ω$\Omega$ fixed. The model consists of ferromagnetic interaction _Jx$J_x$ in the x$x$ direction and antiferromagnetic interaction _Jy$J_y$ in the y$y$ direction, and it is found that for H/_Jy∈[0,2]$H/J_y\in [0,2]$ the system exhibits a second-order phase transition. The thermodynamic properties are obtained for the particular case of λ=_Jx/_Jy=1$\lambda =J_x/J_y=1$ (isotropic square lattice).     

Is space-time symmetry a suitable generalization of parity-time symmetry?

We discuss space-time symmetric Hamiltonian operators of the form H=H₀+igH^′$H=H_0+ig{H}^{\prime }$, where H₀$H_0$ is Hermitian and g$g$ real. H₀$H_0$ is invariant under the unitary operations of a point group G$G$ while H^′$H^{\prime }$ is invariant under transformation by elements of a subgroup G^′$G^{\prime }$ of G$G$. If G$G$ exhibits irreducible representations of dimension greater than unity, then it is possible that H$H$ has complex eigenvalues for sufficiently small nonzero values of g$g$. In the particular case that H$H$ is parity-time symmetric then it appears to exhibit real eigenvalues for all 0<g<g_c$0<g<g_c$, where g_c$g_c$ is the exceptional point closest to the origin. Point-group symmetry and perturbation theory enable one to predict whether H$H$ may exhibit real or complex eigenvalues for g>0$g>0$. We illustrate the main theoretical results and conclusions of this paper by means of two- and three-dimensional Hamiltonians exhibiting a variety of different point-group symmetries.     

Quantum spherical model with competing interactions

We analyse the phase diagram of a quantum mean spherical model in terms of the temperature T$T$, a quantum parameter g$g$, and the ratio p=−_J2/_J1$p=-J_2/J_1$, where _J1>0$J_1>0$ refers to ferromagnetic interactions between first-neighbour sites along the d$d$ directions of a hypercubic lattice, and _J2<0$J_2<0$ is associated with competing antiferromagnetic interactions between second neighbours along m≤d$m\le d$ directions. We regain a number of known results for the classical version of this model, including the topology of the critical line in the g=0$g=0$ space, with a Lifshitz point at p=1/4$p=1/4$, for d>2$d>2$, and closed-form expressions for the decay of the pair correlations in one dimension. In the T=0$T=0$ phase diagram, there is a critical border, _gc=_gc(p)$g_c=g_c\left(p\right)$ for d≥2$d\ge 2$, with a singularity at the Lifshitz point if d<(m+4)/2$d<(m+4)/2$. We also establish upper and lower critical dimensions, and analyse the quantum critical behavior in the neighborhood of p=1/4$p=1/4$.     

Reduction of generalized complex structures

We study reduction of generalized complex structures. More precisely, we investigate the following question. Let J$J$ be a generalized complex structure on a manifold M$M$, which admits an action of a Lie group G$G$ preserving J$J$. Assume that _M0$M_0$ is a G$G$-invariant smooth submanifold and the G$G$-action on _M0$M_0$ is proper and free so that _MG?_M0/G$M_G?M_0/G$ is a smooth manifold. Under what condition does J$J$ descend to a generalized complex structure on _MG$M_G$? We describe a sufficient condition for the reduction to hold, which includes the Marsden–Weinstein reduction of symplectic manifolds and the reduction of the complex structures in Kähler manifolds as special cases. As an application, we study reduction of generalized Kähler manifolds.     

Complex scale-free networks with tunable power-law exponent and clustering

We introduce a network evolution process motivated by the network of citations in the scientific literature. In each iteration of the process a node is born and directed links are created from the new node to a set of target nodes already in the network. This set includes m$m$ “ambassador” nodes and l$l$ of each ambassador’s descendants where m$m$ and l$l$ are random variables selected from any choice of distributions _pl$p_l$ and _qm$q_m$. The process mimics the tendency of authors to cite varying numbers of papers included in the bibliographies of the other papers they cite. We show that the degree distributions of the networks generated after a large number of iterations are scale-free and derive an expression for the power-law exponent. In a particular case of the model where the number of ambassadors is always the constant m$m$ and the number of selected descendants from each ambassador is the constant l$l$, the power-law exponent is (2l+1)/l$(2l+1)/l$. For this example we derive expressions for the degree distribution and clustering coefficient in terms of l$l$ and m$m$. We conclude that the proposed model can be tuned to have the same power law exponent and clustering coefficient of a broad range of the scale-free distributions that have been studied empirically.     

Fluxmetric and magnetometric demagnetizing factors for cylinders

Fluxmetric and magnetometric demagnetizing factors, _Nf$N_{\mathrm{f}}$ and _Nm$N_{\mathrm{m}}$, for cylinders along the axial direction are numerically calculated as functions of material susceptibility χ$\chi$ and the ratio γ$\gamma$ of length to diameter. The results have an accuracy better than 0.1% with respect to min(_Nf,m,1-_Nf,m)$\min (N_{\mathrm{f},\mathrm{m}},1-N_{\mathrm{f},\mathrm{m}})$ and are tabulated in the range of 0.01?γ?500$0.01?\gamma ?500$ and -1?χ<∞$-1?\chi <\infty$. _Nm$N_{\mathrm{m}}$ along the radial direction is evaluated with a lower accuracy from _Nm$N_{\mathrm{m}}$ along the axis and tabulated in the range of 0.01?γ?1$0.01?\gamma ?1$ and -1?χ<∞$-1?\chi <\infty$. Some previous results are discussed and several applications are explained based on the new results.     

Post-breakthrough scaling in reservoir field simulation

We study the oil displacement and production behavior in an isothermal thin layered reservoir model subjected to water flooding. We use the CMG’s (Computer Modelling Group  ) numerical simulators to solve mass balance equations. The influences of the viscosity ratio (m≡_μoil/_μwater$m\equiv {\mu }_{oil}/{\mu }_{water}$) and the inter-well (injector-producer) distance r$r$ on the oil production rate C(t)$C\left(t\right)$ and the breakthrough time _tbr$t_{br}$ are investigated. Two types of reservoir configuration are used, namely one with random porosities and another with a percolation cluster structure. We observe that the breakthrough time follows a power-law of m$m$ and r$r$, _tbr∝r^αm^β$t_{br}\propto r^{\alpha }{m}^{\beta }$, with α=1.8$\alpha =1.8$ and β=−0.25$\beta =-0.25$ for the random porosity type, and α=1.0$\alpha =1.0$ and β=−0.2$\beta =-0.2$ for the percolation cluster type. Moreover, our results indicate that the oil production rate is a power law of time. In the percolation cluster type of reservoir, we observe that P(t)∝t^γ$P\left(t\right)\propto t^{\gamma }$, with γ=−1.81$\gamma =-1.81$, where P(t)$P\left(t\right)$ is the time derivative of C(t)$C\left(t\right)$. The curves related to different values of m$m$ and r$r$ may be collapsed suggesting a universal behavior for the oil production rate.