Specific heat of unsaturated 4He films near Tγ

We report new measurements of the specific heat of unsaturated ⁴He films formed on 2000 Å Nuclepore filters. The data show a rounded maximum shifted from the bulk λ temperature. This shift agrees well in magnitude with that determined from other measurements of the onset of superfluid flow.     

3He spin diffusion measurements in 3He- 4He mixture films

3He spin diffusion measurements for 3He-4He mixture films on Nuclepore are reported as a function of 3He coverage for 0. 030相似文献   

Avalanche dynamics in wet granular materials

We have studied the dynamics of avalanching wet granular media in a rotating drum apparatus. Quantitative measurements of the flow velocity and the granular flux during avalanches allow us to characterize novel avalanche types unique to wet media. We also explore the details of viscoplastic flow (observed at the highest liquid contents) in which there are lasting contacts during flow, leading to coherence across the entire sample. This coherence leads to a velocity-independent flow depth at high rotation rates and novel robust pattern formation in the granular surface.     

Dynamical and spatial aspects of sandpile cellular automata

The Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld cellular automaton is simulated in 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 dimensions. We define a (new) set of scaling exponents by introducing the concept of conditional expectation values. Scaling relations are derived and checked numerically and the critical dimension is discussed. We address the problem of the mass dimension of the avalanches and find that the avalanches are noncompact for dimensions larger than 2. The scaling of the power spectrum derives from the assumption that the instantaneous dissipation rate of the individual avalanches obeys a simple scaling relation. Primarily, the results of our work show that the flow of sand down the slope does not have a 1/f power spectrum in any dimension, although the model does show clear critical behavior with scaling exponents depending on the dimension. The power spectrum behaves as 1/f ² in all the dimensions considered.     

Competition between thermal fluctuations and disorder in the crystallization of 4He in aerogel

The dynamical transition in the crystallization of 4He in aerogel has been investigated by direct visualization and dynamical phase diagrams have been determined. The crystal-superfluid interface in aerogel advances via creep at high temperatures and avalanches at low temperatures. The transition temperature is higher at a higher interface velocity and lower in higher porosity aerogels. The transition is due to competition between thermal fluctuations and disorder for the crystallization process.     

Helium-4 Bose fluids formed in one-dimensional 18 A diameter pores

Bose fluids restricted in one dimension (1D) are realized by adsorbing 4He atoms on the 1D pore walls with a diameter of about 18 A. The Bose fluid appears above an adsorbed amount after the pore walls are coated with the inert 4He atoms. Heat capacity of the fluid was observed to have a temperature-linear term at low temperatures. This corresponds to the phonon heat capacity of the Bose fluid in the 1D pores. We estimate the phonon velocity and the interaction of the 1D Bose fluid.     

Instantaneous velocity profiles during granular avalanches

We perform experimental measurements of the instantaneous velocity profile of the flowing layer during granular avalanches. In the pile depth, the velocity profile follows a pure exponential decrease in contrast with steady flows that are known to exhibit a well developed upper linear part. The velocity profile in the pile width is a plug flow with two exponential boundary layers at the walls. Even though no steady state is observed during the avalanche, these velocity profiles are self-similar and build up almost instantaneously, with time independent characteristic lengths.     

Two scenarios for avalanche dynamics in inclined granular layers

We report experimental measurements of avalanche behavior of thin granular layers on an inclined plane for low volume flow rate. The dynamical properties of avalanches were quantitatively and qualitatively different for smooth glass beads compared to irregular granular materials such as sand. Two scenarios for granular avalanches on an incline are identified, and a theoretical explanation for these different scenarios is developed based on a depth-averaged approach that takes into account the differing rheologies of the granular materials.     

Superfluidity of 4He in one and three dimensions realized in nanopores

Superfluidity in one and three dimensions has been studied for 4He fluid films adsorbed in nanopores which are straight channels and three-dimensionally connected pores, respectively. We observed the superfluid in one and three dimensions where thermal phonon wavelengths are much longer than the channel diameter and the period of the pore connection, respectively, and found that the superfluid onset depends on the pore connection. In the straight channels, the observed superfluid density disappears at a temperature far below the heat capacity anomaly of the Ginzburg-Landau transition, while in the pores connected in three dimension, the adsorbed 4He films show an evident three-dimensional transition where the superfluid onset occurs at the heat capacity peak.     

Scaling of waves in the bak-tang-wiesenfeld sandpile model

We study probability distributions of waves of topplings in the Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld model on hypercubic lattices for dimensions D>/=2. Waves represent relaxation processes which do not contain multiple toppling events. We investigate bulk and boundary waves by means of their correspondence to spanning trees, and by extensive numerical simulations. While the scaling behavior of avalanches is complex and usually not governed by simple scaling laws, we show that the probability distributions for waves display clear power-law asymptotic behavior in perfect agreement with the analytical predictions. Critical exponents are obtained for the distributions of radius, area, and duration of bulk and boundary waves. Relations between them and fractal dimensions of waves are derived. We confirm that the upper critical dimension D(u) of the model is 4, and calculate logarithmic corrections to the scaling behavior of waves in D=4. In addition, we present analytical estimates for bulk avalanches in dimensions D>/=4 and simulation data for avalanches in D相似文献   

Granular flows

We review both experimental and theoretical works concerning granular flows. We successively address the regime of slow deformations, which is mainly governed bystericinteractions and frictionforces, thenthe rapid flow regime, whichdeals with inelastic collisions, and lastly the regime of intermittent avalanches.     

Possible low-temperature nearly frictionless states of locally amorphous solid <Superscript>4</Superscript>He in nanopores

It has been recently reported that there might be amorphous solid ⁴He formed in around 4.7 ± 0.15 nm pore [J. Bossy, T. Hansen, H.R. Glyde, Phys. Rev. B 81, 184507 (2010)]. By treating the solid ⁴He in confined nanopores at very low temperature locally as an amorphous matter and using the verified transition-state model together with the specific activation energy and volume, we can observe a sudden change of the shearing stresses (which relate to the transport resistance) at corresponding onset temperature of locally amorphous solid ⁴He considering the role of holes or defects. We found that there might be possible almost very-low flow-resistance transport of locally amorphous solid ⁴He confined in nanopores at temperature ∼ 0.1 K after intensive calculations.     

Laboratory singing sand avalanches

Some desert sand dunes have the peculiar ability to emit a loud sound up to 110 dB, with a well-defined frequency: this phenomenon, known since early travelers (Darwin, Marco Polo, etc.), has been called the song of dunes. But only in late 19th century scientific observations were made, showing three important characteristics of singing dunes: first, not all dunes sing, but all the singing dunes are composed of dry and well-sorted sand; second, this sound occurs spontaneously during avalanches on a slip face; third this is not the only way to produce sound with this sand.More recent field observations have shown that during avalanches, the sound frequency does not depend on the dune size or shape, but on the grain diameter only, and scales as the square root of g/d - with g the gravity and d the diameter of the grains - explaining why all the singing dunes in the same vicinity sing at the same frequency.We have been able to reproduce these singing avalanches in laboratory on a hard plate, which made possible to study them more accurately than on the field. Signals of accelerometers at the flowing surface of the avalanche are compared to signals of microphones placed above, and it evidences a very strong vibration of the flowing layer at the same frequency as on the field, responsible for the emission of sound.Moreover, other characteristics of the booming dunes are reproduced and analyzed, such as a threshold under which no sound is produced, or beats in the sound that appears when the flow is too large. Finally, the size of the coherence zones emitting sound has been measured and discussed.     

Are there “dragon-kings” events (i.e. genuine outliers) among extreme avalanches?

Predicting the occurrence and spatial extent of extreme avalanches is a longstanding issue. Using field data pooled from various sites within the same mountain range, authors showed that the avalanche size distribution can be described using either an extreme value distribution or a thick-tailed distribution, which implies that although they are much larger than common avalanches, extreme avalanches belong to the same population of events as “small” avalanches. Yet, when looking at historical records of catastrophic avalanches, archives reveal that a few avalanches had features that made them “extra-ordinary.” Applying avalanche-dynamics or statistical models to simulate these past events runs into considerable difficulty since the model parameters or the statical properties are very different from the values usually set to model extreme avalanches. Were these events genuine outliers (also called “dragon-kings”)? What were their distinctive features? This paper reviews some of the concepts in use to model extreme events, gives examples of processes that were at play in extreme avalanches, and shows that the concept of dragon-king avalanches is of particular relevance to describing some extreme avalanches.     

Are dragon-king neuronal avalanches dungeons for self-organized brain activity?

Recent experiments have detected a novel form of spontaneous neuronal activity both in vitro and in vivo: neuronal avalanches. The statistical properties of this activity are typical of critical phenomena, with power laws characterizing the distributions of avalanche size and duration. A critical behaviour for the spontaneous brain activity has important consequences on stimulated activity and learning. Very interestingly, these statistical properties can be altered in significant ways in epilepsy and by pharmacological manipulations. In particular, there can be an increase in the number of large events anticipated by the power law, referred to herein as dragon-king avalanches. This behaviour, as verified by numerical models, can originate from a number of different mechanisms. For instance, it is observed experimentally that the emergence of a critical behaviour depends on the subtle balance between excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms acting in the system. Perturbing this balance, by increasing either synaptic excitation or the incidence of depolarized neuronal up-states causes frequent dragon-king avalanches. Conversely, an unbalanced GABAergic inhibition or long periods of low activity in the network give rise to sub-critical behaviour. Moreover, the existence of power laws, common to other stochastic processes, like earthquakes or solar flares, suggests that correlations are relevant in these phenomena. The dragon-king avalanches may then also be the expression of pathological correlations leading to frequent avalanches encompassing all neurons. We will review the statistics of neuronal avalanches in experimental systems. We then present numerical simulations of a neuronal network model introducing within the self-organized criticality framework ingredients from the physiology of real neurons, as the refractory period, synaptic plasticity and inhibitory synapses. The avalanche critical behaviour and the role of dragon-king avalanches will be discussed in relation to different drives, neuronal states and microscopic mechanisms of charge storage and release in neuronal networks.     

Two-threshold model for scaling laws of noninteracting snow avalanches

The sizes of snow slab failure that trigger snow avalanches are power-law distributed. Such a power-law probability distribution function has also been proposed to characterize different landslide types. In order to understand this scaling for gravity-driven systems, we introduce a two-threshold 2D cellular automaton, in which failure occurs irreversibly. Taking snow slab avalanches as a model system, we find that the sizes of the largest avalanches just preceding the lattice system breakdown are power-law distributed. By tuning the maximum value of the ratio of the two failure thresholds our model reproduces the range of power-law exponents observed for land, rock, or snow avalanches. We suggest this control parameter represents the material cohesion anisotropy.     

Crossover behavior in burst avalanches: signature of imminent failure

The statistics of damage avalanches during a failure process typically follows a power law. When these avalanches are recorded only near the point at which the system fails catastrophically, one finds that the power law has an exponent which is different from that one finds if the recording of events starts away from the vicinity of catastrophic failure. We demonstrate this analytically for bundles of many fibers, with statistically distributed breakdown thresholds for the individual fibers and where the load is uniformly distributed among the surviving fibers. In this case the distribution D(Delta) of the avalanches (Delta) follows the power law Delta-xi with xi=3/2 near catastrophic failure and xi=5/2 away from it. We also study numerically square networks of electrical fuses and find xi=2.0 near catastrophic failure and xi=3.0 away from it. We propose that this crossover in xi may be used as a signal of imminent failure.     

Corrections to scaling and probability distribution of avalanches for the stochastic Zhang sandpile model

We study the distributions of dissipative and nondissipative avalanches separately in the stochastic Zhang (SP-Z) sandpile in two dimension. We find that dissipative and nondissipative avalanches obey simple power laws and do not have the logarithmic correction, while the avalanche distributions in the Abelian Manna model should include a logarithmic correction. We use the moment analysis to determine the numerical critical exponents of dissipative and nondissipative avalanches, respectively, and find that they are different from the corresponding values in the Abelian Manna model. All these indicate that the stochastic Zhang model and the Abelian Manna model belong to distinct universality classes, which imply that the Abelian symmetry breaking changes the scaling behavior of the avalanches in the case of the stochastic sandpile model.     

A branching process model for sand avalanches

An analytically solvable model for sand avalanches of noninteracting grains of sand, based on the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations, is presented. For a single avalanche, distributions of lifetimes, sizes of overflows and avalanches, and correlation functions are calculated. Some of these are exponentials, some are power laws. Spatially homogeneous distributions of avalanches are also studied. Computer simulations of avalanches of interacting grains of sand are compared to the solutions to the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations. We find that within the range of parameters explored in the simulation, the approximation of noninteracting grains of sand is a good one.     

Area Distribution for Directed Random Walks

We study the probability distribution for the area under a directed random walk in the plane. The walk can serve as a simple model for avalanches based on the idea that the front of an avalanche can be described by a random walk and the size is given by the area enclosed. This model captures some of the qualitative features of earthquakes, avalanches, and other self-organized critical phenomena in one dimension. By finding nonlinear functional relations for the generating functions we calculate directly the exponent in the size distribution law and find it to be 4/3.