Electrical breakdown of anodic aluminum oxide

Results are presented from a study of electrical breakdown of anodic aluminum oxide in a constant field with a platinum pressure electrode. Statistical breakdown parameters and their dependence on the magnitude and polarity of the applied voltage are obtained. Field and temperature dependences of breakdown delay time over the interval 10^–6–10³ sec are determined. It is shown that the experimental (E) curves can be rectified (in two segments) in the coordinates log E^–1. This indicates a possible contribution to the breakdown mechanism by both tunnel injection of electrons from the cathode and subsequent avalanche multiplication of electrons within the dielectric.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 25–29, April, 1990.In conclusion, the authors thank T. V. Shmidt and E. Ya. Khanin for assistance in the study.     

On two mean value properties and functional equations associated with them

Summary Motivated by different mean value properties, the functional equationsf(x) – f(y)/x–y=[(x, y)], (i)xf(y) – yf(x)/x–y=[(x, y)] (ii) (x y) are completely solved when, are arithmetic, geometric or harmonic means andx, y elements of proper real intervals. In view of a duality between (i) and (ii), three of the results are consequences of other three.The equation (ii) is also solved when is a (strictly monotonic) quasiarithmetic mean while the real interval contains 0 and when is the arithmetic mean while the domain is a field of characteristic different from 2 and 3. (A result similar to the latter has been proved previously for (i).)     

Weak distributive laws and their role in lattices of congruences and equational theories

By a result of Pigozzi and Kogalovskii, every algebraic latticeL having a completely join —irreducible top element can be represented as the lattice L() of equational theories extending some fixed theory . Conversely, strengthening a recent result due to Lampe, we show that such a representationL=L() forcesL to satisfy the following condition: if the top element ofL is the join of a nonempty subsetB ofL then there are elementsb..., B such thata=(... (((b₁ a) b₂) a) ... b_n) a for alla L. In presence of modularity, this equation reduces to the identitya=(a b₁) ... (a b_n). Motivated by these facts, we study several weak forms of distributive laws in arbitrary lattices and related types of prime elements. The main tool for applications to universal algebra is a generalized version of Lampe's Zipper Lemma.Presented by Ralph Freese.     

Gorenstein curves and symmetry of the semigroup of values

LetO be the local ring of a irreducible algebroid curve and S its semigroup of values, Kunz in [7] proves thatO is a Gorenstein ring if and only if S is symmetrical. In this paper we give a generalization of this fact for the case of reduced curves with an arbitrary number of branches, d. For it we introduce a concept of symmetry for the semigroup of values S₊ ^d which generalizes the well known symmetry for d=1 (i.e. the irreducible case). This concept of symmetry is also closely related to the symmetry introduced by García in [4] (for the d=2 case) and the author in [3] (for arbitrary d) with the main goal of the explicit determination of S (in the case of plane curves).     

A variational expression for the relative entropy

We prove that for the relative entropy of faithful normal states ? and ω on the von Neumann algebraM the formula $$S(\varphi ,\omega ) = \sup \{ \omega (h) - \log \varphi ^h (I):h = h^* \in M\}$$ holds.