Structural phase transitions in ‘hcp’ C70 single-crystals

The thermal expansion of vapor-grownC ₇₀ single crystals ahs been investigated using high-resolution capacitance dilatometry from 5–380 K. Measurements were made both parallel and perpendicular to the hexagonalc-axis. Three first-order phase transitions which we associate with the consecutive disordering of theC ₇₀ molecules are observed upon heating at 280 K (long-axis spinning), 300 K (long-axis precession) and 355 K (quasi-free rotation), respectively. The highest-temperature transition exhibits a very large (50 K) thermal hysteresis. Powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction show that the crystals are predominantly hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) with an idealc/a1.63 above 360 K andc/a1.84 at 295 K.     

Hubbard-like models in high spatial dimensions

The present paper studies the properties of Hubbard-like models in high spatial dimensionsD. In a first par the limit of infinite dimension and its main features-i.e.i) the mapping onto a generalized atomic model with an additional auxiliary field andii) the validity of the local approximation for the self-energy-are worked out in a systematic (1/D)-expansion. Since the hopping matrix elements have to be properly scaled with the dimensionD, the (1/D)-expansion is also an expansion in the hopping amplitude. Thus for small hopping theD-limit may serve as a proper approximation for finite-dimensional systems. The second part of the paper adopts the hybridisation-perturbation theory of the single impurity Anderson model in order to construct a perturbation theory for the auxiliary field of the generalized atom which can also be interpreted as an expansion in the hopping amplitude. The non-crossing approximation (NCA) is used to study the antiferromagnetic phase transtion of theD-Hubbard model in the case of half filling: the critical temperature, the antiferromagnetic order parameter and the free energy of the lattice system are calculated. The NCA-results are in quite good agreement with recent results from the imaginary-time discretisation method.     

The nature of the C-defects in nickel and their rôle in the interpretation of radiation damage in metals

In previous Perturbed-Angular-Correlation (PAC) studies of the - emission of ¹¹¹In probe nuclei in cold-worked or particle-irradiated nickel, it has been found that thermal annealing in the temperature regime of recovery stage III leads to the formation of so-called C-defects (Cubic defects). This is indicated by the occurrence of a new frequency of about 80 Mrad/s, in addition to the frequency (200 Mrad/s) that is due to ¹¹¹In on substitutional sites. Obviously, the C-defects are complexes consisting of ¹¹¹In and the intrinsic point-defect species that migrates freely in recovery stage III. Therefore, they have played an important rôle in the long-standing controversy on whether the recovery-stage-III defects are vacancies (one-interstitial model) or self-interstitials (two-interstitial model). The present paper reports on a novel experimental effort to reveal the nature of the C-defects by combining PAC studies on nickel samples differently pretreated in a systematic way, investigations of the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) on In-doped nickel, and measurements of the decay rate of ¹¹¹In nuclei in the Electron-Capture-Induced Decay (ECID). On the basis of the results of these experiments it is concluded that the defects trapped by substitutional ¹¹¹In atoms (In_s) in recovery stage III are self-interstitials (I), as expected according to the two-interstitial model. Moreover, there is evidence that the C-defects are In interstitials on tetrahedral sites (In_i) that form exclusively in the vicinity of the specimen surface from In_s – I pairs via the reaction In_s+I In_i.     

Particle directionality and trapped proton fluences on LDEF

Directionality of incident space radiation is a significant factor in spacecraft shielding and astronaut dosimetry in low Earth orbit (LEO). Particle directionality of GCR and trapped protons were measured on LDEF with plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTD) from the P0006 west-side experiment. This experiment consisted of a thick detector stack and is described more fully in a companion article (Benton et al., 1996). The anisotropy of the trapped protons produced maximum intensity for protons arriving from the west. The fluences of the eastward directed trapped protons have been measured by selection of the particles on the basis of range in the PNTDs. The measured fluences are compared with the model calculations of Armstrong and Colborn (1993).     

Neutron fluences and dose equivalents measured with passive detectors on LDEF

Neutron fluences were measured on LDEF in the low energy (< 1 MeV) and high energy (> 1 MeV) ranges. The low energy detectors used the ⁶Li(n,)T reaction with Gd foil absorbers to separate thermal (< 0.2 eV) and resonance (0.2 eV−1 MeV) neutron response. High energy detectors contained sets of fission foils (¹⁸¹Ta, ²⁰⁹Bi, ²³²Th, ²³⁸U) with different neutron energy thresholds. The measured neutron fluences together with predicted spectral shapes were used to estimate neutron dose equivalents. The detectors were located in the A0015 and P0006 experiments at the west and Earth sides of LDEF under shielding varying from 1 to 19 g/cm².

Dose equivalent rates varied from 0.8 to 3.3 μSv/d for the low energy neutrons and from 160 to 390 μSv/d for the high energy neutrons. This compares with TLD measured absorbed dose rates in the range of 1000–3000 μGy/d near these locations and demonstrates that high energy neutrons contribute a significant fraction of the total dose equivalent in LEO.

Comparisons between measurements and calculations were made for high energy neutrons based on fission fragment tracks generated by fission foils at different shielding depths. A simple 1-D slab geometry was used in the calculations. Agreement between measurements and calculations depended on both shielding depth and threshold energy of the fission foils. Differences increased as both shielding and thereshold energy increased. The modeled proton/neutron spectra appeared deficient at high energies. A 3-D model of the experiments is needed to help resolve the differences.     

Blow-up results of viriel type for Zakharov equations

We consider the Zakharov equations in ^N (for N=2,N=3). We first establish a viriel identity for such equations and then prove a blow-up result for solutions with a negative energy.     

Curves of marginal stability, and weak- and strong-coupling BPS spectra in N = 2 supersymmetric QCD

We explicitly determine the global structure of the SL(2, ) bundle over the Coulomb branch of the moduli space of asymptotically free N = 2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(2) when massless hypermultiplets are present. For each relevant number of flavours, we show that there is a curve of marginal stability of the Coulomb branch, diffeomorphic to a circle, across which the BPS spectrum is discontinuous. We determine rigorously and completely the BPS spectra inside and outside the curve. In all cases, the spectrum inside the curve consists of only those BPS states that are responsible for the singularities of the low energy effective action (in addition to the massless abelian gauge multiplet which is always present). The predicted decay patterns across the curve of marginal stability are perfectly consistent with all quantum numbers carried by the BPS states. As a byproduct, we also show that the electric and magnetic quantum numbers of the massless states at the singularities proposed by Seiberg and Witten are the only possible ones.     

Action variables for Toda Lattices

This Letter contains constructions of complex action variables for both the full Kostant-Toda Lattice in sl(n, ) and the generalized nonperiodic tridiagonal Toda lattice associated to an arbitrary complex semisimple Lie algebra g. The main tool is the explicit factorization solution for certain Hamiltonian flows. The Letter also contains a generalization of the standard factorization solution theorem necessary for the analysis of the full Kostant-Toda lattice.