Cooperative stochastic behavior in the onset of localized corrosion

Stochastic temporal and spatiotemporal models of metastable pitting on a metal surface are presented. A stochastic reaction-diffusion model accounts for the effects of local changes in concentration, potential drop, and oxide film damage on the nucleation of subsequent events. The cooperative interactions among events can lead to the formation of clusters of metastable pits and to an explosive growth in the total number of pits. Recent progress in the studies of such phenomena is reviewed. New results based on a mean-field analysis of the model and numerical simulations on critical nucleation effects are reported.     

Ultra high vacuum electron spectrometer for ‘DSCEMS’

Depth Selective Conversion Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy (DSCEMS) has become a very important surface science technique during the last one decade and attracted world wide interest specially because it gives more detailed knowledge of the properties and structure of the solid surfaces. The design and details of an ultra high vacuum cylindrical mirror analyser (CMA) for DSCEMS are described and illustrated.     

Magnetic rotation and chiral symmetry breaking

The deformed mean field of nuclei exhibits various geometrical and dynamical symmetries which manifest themselves as various types of rotational and decay patterns. Most of the symmetry operations considered so far have been defined for a situation wherein the angular momentum coincides with one of the principal axes and the principal axis cranking may be invoked. New possibilities arise with the observation of rotational features in weakly deformed nuclei and now interpreted as magnetic rotational bands. More than 120 MR bands have now been identified by filtering the existing data. We present a brief overview of these bands. The total angular momentum vector in such bands is tilted away from the principal axes. Such a situation gives rise to several new possibilities including breaking of chiral symmetry as discussed recently by Frauendorf. We present the outcome of such symmetries and their possible experimental verification. Some possible examples of chiral bands are presented.     

Hadron production near threshold

Final state interaction effects inpp→ pΛK ⁺ andpd →³Heη reactions are explored near threshold to study the sensitivity of the cross-sections to thepΛ potential and theηN scattering matrix. The final state scattering wave functions between Λ andp andη and³He are described rigorously. The Λ production is described by the exchange of one pion and aK-meson between two protons in the incident channel. Theη production is described by a two-step model, where in the first step a pion is produced. This pion then produces anη by interacting with another nucleon     

Biased random walks on a disordered one-dimensional lattice

We employ the spectral properties of cyclic random matrices to understand the approach to equilibrium of a biased random walk on a disordered lattice. The simplicity of the calculations and the flexibility with which randomness can be modelled makes it a worthwhile alternative.     

Bianchi type I inflationary universe in general relativity

In this paper, we have investigated Bianchi type I inflationary universe in the presence of massless scalar field with a flat potential. To get an inflationary solution, we have considered a flat region in which potential V is constant. The inflationary scenario of the model is discussed in detail.