Dynamics and spectra of excited states of water-micellar suspensions of single-walled carbon nanotubes

The dynamics of the photoinduced differential absorption and excited-state bleaching spectra of single-walled carbon nanotubes suspended in a micellar solution were studied in the spectral range from 40 to 1000 nm within a time interval from 70 fs to 150 ps under excitation by 50-fs pulses with photon energies 2 and 4 eV. The bleaching and absorption bands were observed in the spectra; the positions of the bleaching peaks were independent of the photon energy of the exciting femtosecond pulse in the range 2–4 eV. It was established that, for delay times shorter than 1 ps, the shape of the differential spectrum of excited nanotubes coincided with the shape of the second derivative of the absorption spectrum of unexcited nanotubes in the frequency range of exciting pulse above 18000 cm^?1 (the range of absorption bands of metallic nanotubes). In the frequency range below 16000 cm^?1 (the range of absorption peaks of semiconducting nanotubes), the bleaching peaks in the differential spectrum of excited nanotubes undergo a high-frequency shift of 200–300 cm^?1 with respect to the second-derivative spectrum of unexcited nanotubes. The excited-state relaxation rate constants were measured. They are well approximated by the exponential dependences and depend on the probe-pulse wavelength. An assumption was made about the nature of the observed spectra of excited nanotubes and about the excitation relaxation.     

Un principe d'invariance relatif à un processus généralisant le mouvement brownien N-dimensionnel

We prove that the generalized random walks associated to a root system R in $\text{R}{}^{\mathrm{N}}$ and a nonnegative multiplicity function k defined on R, converge in distribution (if suitably normalized) to a Markov process with càdlàg trajectories and infinitesimal generator a differential-difference operator on $\text{R}{}^{\mathrm{N}}$ which generalizes the usual Laplacian. To cite this article: L. Gallardo, L. Godefroy, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 338 (2004).     

Monotone Nonincreasing Random Fields on Partially Ordered Sets. I

For an arbitrary poset H and measure ρ on H × _R (where _R is the real axis), we construct a monotone decreasing stochastic field η_ρ and compute its finite-dimensional distributions. In the case where H is a Λ-semilattice and the measure ρ satisfies additional conditions, we compute various characteristics of the field η_ρ such as the expectation of the field value at a point, variance of the field value at a point, and correlation function of the field. The described construction of random fields gives a new method for constructing positive definite functions on posets. Bibliography: 6 titles.__________Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 301, 2003, pp. 92–143.     

Ac behaviour and phase transition in PLZT 6/80/20 ferroelectric ceramics

The Ac behaviour of PLZT 6/80/20 ferroelectric ceramics was analyzed around and above the phase transition. Two relaxation processes are identified, showing that the so-called ‘universal relaxation law’ holds for the ceramics. A critical point in the values of the Ac conductivity, around the temperature corresponding to the maximum of the dielectric losses, is observed below the transition temperature due to the relaxor behaviour. The frequency dependence of the Ac conductivity at various temperatures and the hysteresis loops show classical relaxor behaviour with a diffuse phase transition.     

Construction algorithms for polynomial lattice rules for multivariate integration

We introduce a new construction algorithm for digital nets for integration in certain weighted tensor product Hilbert spaces. The first weighted Hilbert space we consider is based on Walsh functions. Dick and Pillichshammer calculated the worst-case error for integration using digital nets for this space. Here we extend this result to a special construction method for digital nets based on polynomials over finite fields. This result allows us to find polynomials which yield a small worst-case error by computer search. We prove an upper bound on the worst-case error for digital nets obtained by such a search algorithm which shows that the convergence rate is best possible and that strong tractability holds under some condition on the weights.

We extend the results for the weighted Hilbert space based on Walsh functions to weighted Sobolev spaces. In this case we use randomly digitally shifted digital nets. The construction principle is the same as before, only the worst-case error is slightly different. Again digital nets obtained from our search algorithm yield a worst-case error achieving the optimal rate of convergence and as before strong tractability holds under some condition on the weights. These results show that such a construction of digital nets yields the until now best known results of this kind and that our construction methods are comparable to the construction methods known for lattice rules.

We conclude the article with numerical results comparing the expected worst-case error for randomly digitally shifted digital nets with those for randomly shifted lattice rules.

     

Thermal diffusion of envelope solitons on anharmonic atomic chains

We study the motion of envelope solitons on anharmonic atomic chains in the presence of dissipation and thermal fluctuations. We consider the continuum limit of the discrete system and apply an adiabatic perturbation theory which yields a system of stochastic integro-differential equations for the collective variables of the ansatz for the perturbed envelope soliton. We derive the Fokker-Planck equation of this system and search for a statistically equivalent system of Langevin equations, which shares the same Fokker-Planck equation. We undertake an analytical analysis of the Langevin system and derive an expression for the variance of the soliton position Var[x _s ] which predicts a stronger than linear time dependence of Var[x _s ] (superdiffusion). We compare these results with simulations for the discrete system and find they agree well. We refer to recent studies where the diffusion of pulse solitons were found to exhibit a superdiffusive behaviour on longer time scales.Received: 28 June 2004, Published online: 26 November 2004PACS: 05.10.Gg Stochastic analysis methods - 05.45.Yv Solitons - 05.40.-a Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion - 05.50. + q Lattice theory and statistics     

Derivations in Commutative Regular Algebras

Mathematical Notes -     

Electronic transport properties of bismuth nanobridges through silicon-nitride membranes

The electronic transport through nanostructured bismuth nanobridges has been investigated at low temperatures (T<2 K) and in magnetic fields B up to 8.5 T. The samples show reproducible resistance fluctuations as a function of B, superimposed on a large magnetoresistance of up to 50%. In addition, time-dependent resistance fluctuations in zero magnetic field demonstrate the presence of bistable scatterers in the constriction region of our samples, which are described by two-level systems. Their dynamics are shown to be sensitive to subtle modifications of the static scatterer configuration in their vicinity, which cannot be detected in the sample magnetofingerprint.     

Thermal conductivity of crystalline chrysotile asbestos

The thermal conductivity of crystalline chrysotile asbestos made up of hollow tubular Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄ filaments is measured in the range 5–300 K. The paper discusses the possibility of using this material in studies of the thermal conductivity of thin filaments of metals and semiconductors incorporated into the channels of crystalline chrysotile asbestos tubes.