Existence and Stability for Spherical Crystals Growing in a Supersaturated Solution

We consider the growth of a spherical crystal in a supersaturatedsolution. In the first part, existence and uniqueness resultsfor radially symmetric growth are obtained, provided that thesupersaturation is not too large; conversely, when the far-fieldsupersaturation exceeds a critical value, it is shown that theradially symmetric solution ceases to exist in finite time.In the second part, we examine the linear stability of a radiallysymmetric similarity solution (in which the radius grows ast?) to shape perturbations. The results are compared with previousquasi-static analyses, and, in particular, the critical radiusat which the crystal becomes unstable is found to be largerfor small supersaturations, but smaller for large supersaturations,than those predicted by the quasi-static analysis     

On the distribution of the number of real zeros of a random polynomial

In this note, we find the distibution of the number of real zeros of a random polynomial. We also derive a formula for the expected number of complex zeros lying in a given domain of the complex plane. Bibliography: 7 titles. __________ Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 320, 2004, pp. 69–79.     

Dielectric and optical properties of polymer-liquid crystal composite

Dielectric properties of polymer-liquid crystal mixture, having constituent polymer, poly-butyl methacrylate (PBMA) and liquid crystal, cholesteryl nonanoate, are reported as a function of frequency and temperature. The measurement has been done in a temperature range of 300-375 K and frequency range of 100 Hz-10 MHz. The dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss shows significant changes with the addition of polymer molecules in liquid crystal. The significant feature of composite formation is that the pure liquid crystal and polymer do not show dielectric relaxation in the frequency range covered, while the composite shows relaxation peak at a particular frequency. The optical transmittance of pure liquid crystal and composite has also been measured and compared.     

Duality for Finite Hopf Algebras Explained by Corings

We give a coring version for the duality theorem for actions and coactions of a finitely generated projective Hopf algebra. We also provide a coring analogue for a theorem of H.-J. Schneider, which generalizes and unifies the duality theorem for finite Hopf algebras and its refinements. This paper was written while the first author visited the Mathematics Departments of Syracuse University and California State University Dominguez Hills. He would like to thank both departments for their hospitality.     

On the problem of calculating the optical film parameters from the measured transmission spectra

The procedure for calculating the dispersion of the refractive and absorption indices and thickness of an optical film, based on measurements of spectral dependence of the transmittance, is described. The film parameters are calculated using a solution of the approximation problem. The effect of the film model on the calculated values of the refractive and absorption indices is analyzed.     

Geometrical method for determining the surface damage threshold for femtosecond laser pulses

A new geometrical method to determine the surface damage threshold for ultrashort pulses is presented. It consists in the formation of a surface damage profile by a movement of the sample across the laser beam focus. A single measurement of the maximum transversal dimension of this damage profile, which depends solely on the laser beam power, is used to calculate the local damage threshold intensity. It is also theoretically shown that the damage in the transverse dimension can be controlled under the diffraction-limited spot.     

Global stability of the Armstrong-Frederick model with periodic biaxial inputs

The paper is concerned with the study of plasticity models described by differential equations with stop and play operators. We suggest sufficient conditions for the global stability of a unique periodic solution for the scalar models and for the vector models with biaxial inputs of a particular form, namely the sum of a uniaxial function and a constant term. For another class of simple biaxial inputs, we present an example of the existence of unstable periodic solutions. The paper was written during the research stay of D. Rachinskii at the Technical University Munich supported by the research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His work was partially supported by the Russian Science Support Foundation, Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 01-01-00146, 03-01-00258), and the Grants of the President of Russia (Grant No. MD-87.2003.01, NS-1532.2003.1). The support is gratefully acknowledged.     

Parametric resonance in the problem of a heavy rigid body rolling along a straight line on a plane

The problem of the stability of a heavy rigid body, bounded by the surface of an ellipsoid and with a cavity in the form of a coaxial ellipsoid, rolling along a straight line on a horizontal rough plane is investigated. It is shown that in the case of a body that is close to being dynamically symmetrical, parametric resonance always occurs leading to instability of the rolling. Each ellipsoid has its own “individual” resonance angular velocity. In the general case, regions in which the necessary stability conditions are satisfied can be distinguished in parameter space. The problem of calculating the resonance coefficient corresponding to instability for parametric resonance in a reversible third-order system is solved.