Influence of dissipation on one- and two-dimensional quantum tunneling

The influence of low-frequency oscillations of the medium on the particle tunneling probability is investigated in a system with a selected tunneling coordinate, when the two-well tunnel potential takes the form of two parabolas of the same frequency. With parallel or antiparallel tunneling of two interacting particles, taking the interaction with the medium into account has no qualitative effect on the process. Quantitatively, however, the medium always influences the parallel motion of the tunneling particles and does not influence the action along the basic trajectory (R₁=−R₂) with antiparallel motion of the tunneling particles. Penzensk State Technical University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 103–107, July, 1998.     

Study of the phase composition of AgI microcrystals by exciton spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry

Differential absorption spectra of RbAg₄I₅ have been measured in the exciton absorption region of AgI within the temperature range 27–250 °C. In the same temperature range, the temperature behavior of the heat capacity of RbAg₄I₅, Rb₂AgI₃, and KAg₄I₅ have been obtained by differential scanning calorimetry. An analysis of the results suggests that, in AgI microcrystals less than r _cr in size, the upper boundary for stability of the low-temperature β modification is higher by several tens of degrees. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 852–854 (May 1998)     

Orientational ordering of liquid crystals containing a difluoro-substituted phenyl ring

The orientational ordering of several liquid crystals containing a difluorosubstituted phenyl ring has been studied through the use of C-13 NMR. The fluorinated phenyl ring of these liquid crystals have C_s symmetry, so three order parameters are required to completely describe the ordering of this ring. All three of these order parameters have been calculated from carbon-fluorine dipolar coupling constants obtained from the carbon-fluorine splittings in the C-13 NMR spectra. Because of the complexity of the fluorine-coupled spectra, variable angle spinning (VAS) was used to resolve the carbon-fluorine splittings. In order to study the orientational ordering over wide ranges of temperature, we have developed an empirical correlation between the order parameter and the value of a carbon-fluorine dipolar coupling constant. This enabled us to study the change in the order parameter with temperature. The results of applying this method to several structurally similar liquid crystals containing the same type of difluorinated phenyl ring are presented. A comparison is made to a similar mono-fluorinated liquid crystal.     

Lattices of processes for graphs

The structure of the lattice of processes of a finite digraph with entries is investigated. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the isomorphism of a given lattice to the lattice of processes of a certain digraph are obtained. Bibliography: 5 titles. Translated by K. V. Shakhbazyan. Translated fromZapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 202, 1992, pp. 135–153.     

Intermittency for coherent and incoherent current ensemble model

We investigate the origin of intermittency for multiparticle distribution in momentum space, following the idea that there is a kind of power law distribution of the space-time region of hadron emission. Using the formalism of current ensamble model to describe boson sources we discuss intermittency exponents for the coherent and incoherent (chaotic) particle production scheme.     

Thermally stimulated current and DSC studies of the broadened glass transition in liquid crystalline polymers

The high sensitivity of the thermally stimulated current, thermal sampling (TS) method is emphasized in a study of the breadth of the glass transition in several liquid-crystalline polymers (LCPs). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was performed on all samples to further quantify the glass transition regions. For “random” copolyester LCPs with widely varying degrees of crystallinity, including highly amorphous samples, very broad glass tran-sition regions were observed. One semicrystalline alternating copolyester and a series of semicrystalline azomethine LCPs were studied as examples of structurally regular polymers. These exhibited relatively sharp glass transitions more comparable to ordinary isotropic amorphous or semicrystalline polymers. The broad glass transitions in the random copolyesters are attributed to structural heterogeneity of the chains. In one example of a moderate-crystallinity random copolyester LCP (Vectra), glass transitions ranging up to ca. 150°C in breadth were determined by the thermal sampling (TS) method and DSC. In other lower crystallinity copolyester LCPs, the main glass transition temperature as determined by DSC was comparable to that determined by TSC although cooperative relaxations of a minor fraction of the overall relaxing species were detected well below the main T_g, by the TS method and not by DSC. Rapid quenches from the isotropic melt to an isotropic glass were possible with one LCP. The anisotropic and isotropic glassy states for this LCP were found to have the same breadth of the glass transition as was determined by the TS method, although TSC and DSC show that T_g is shifted downward by ca. 15°C in the anisotropic glass as compared to the isotropic glass. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Separation of spiral contacts and the motion of vacuum arcs at highAC currents

A framing camera is used to photograph the vacuum arc between separating spiral-petal vacuum interrupter contacts. The rupture of the molten bridge between the contacts first leads to a high-pressure, transient arc column. This arc motion can become constricted for several milliseconds before it goes diffuse as the current decreases to zero. The current through the spiral contacts produces a magnetic field perpendicular to the arc column, which forces the arc to move outward and run along the periphery of the petals. Several vacuum arc modes occur during the half-cycle of high current arcing. Movies, gap-current curves, and arc voltage traces are used to study the development of the arc motion and how it is affected by the contact structure. This information is used to generate arc appearance diagrams in which the arc form and motion are correlated to instantaneous values of current and gap for a wide range of peak currents. Appearance diagrams are shown for two ranges of opening delay from current onset     

A note on a paper by Massa and Pagani

Massa and Pagani [1] have given a neat refutal to the conjecture [2] that the Riemann tensor is derivable from a tensor potential. Their method consists of assuming such a relationship does exist and examining the resulting integrability conditions; they show that the existence of such a potential will impose nontrivial restrictions on the Riemann tensor and so conclude that, in general, such a potential cannot exist. Although Massa and Pagani posed the problem and interpreted the conclusion in ordinary tensor notation the actual derivation of the crucial constraint equation was carried out in the language of tensor-valued differential forms, and is quite involved. In this note it is shown that the crucial equation can be obtained quite naturally and easily in ordinary tensor notation.