Transport as a consequence of state-dependent diffusion

Overdamped particles subject to a drift in a force field with sinusoidal space dependence and also a sinusoidally modulated space-dependent diffusion, with the same period as the drift, experience a net driving force. The resulting current depends on the amplitude of the modulation of the diffusion and is a periodic function of the phase difference between the sinusoidal drift and the sinusoidal modulation of the diffusion. For small modulation amplitudes a particle subject to state-dependent noise behaves the same way as a particle subject to thermal noise but with a drift which, in addition to the sinusoidal term, contains a net force term.Dedicated to Professor Harry Thomas on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Van der Waerden continuity theorem for semisimple lie groups

As was proved by van der Waerden in 1933, every finite-dimensional locally bounded representation of a semisimple compact Lie group is continuous. This is the famous “van der Waerden continuity theorem,” and it motivated a vast literature. In particular, relationships between the assertion of the theorem (and of the inverse, in a sense, to this theorem) and some properties of the Bohr compactifications of topological groups were established, which led to the introduction and the study of certain classes of the so-called van der Waerden groups and algebras. Until now, after more than 70 years have passed, the van der Waerden theorem appears in monographs and surveys in diverse forms; new proofs were found and then simplified in important special cases. In this paper, we prove that the statement of the van der Waerden theorem remains valid for all (not necessarily compact) real semisimple Lie groups, i.e., any given finite-dimensional representation of a real semisimple Lie group is continuous if and only if this representation is locally bounded. More subtle results are also obtained. The main theorem contains several conditions equivalent to the continuity condition for a finite-dimensional representation. In particular, it is proved that every finite-dimensional representation of a real semisimple Lie group is continuous if and only if the restriction of this representation to the “compact” part, to the Abelian part, or to the nilpotent part of the Iwasawa decomposition is locally bounded, and the original van der Waerden theorem is also somewhat refined. For instance, the following assertion holds: every finite-dimensional representation of a compact semisimple Lie group is continuous if and only if the restriction of this representation to some maximal torus is locally bounded. Dedicated to the memory of George Mackey (1916–2006) Partially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research under grant no. 02-01-00574, by the Program of Supporting the Leading Scientific Schools under grant no. NSh 619.203.1, and by the INTAS grant.     

Optimization of the surface texture for silicon carbide sliding in water

Surface texturing has been recognized as an effective means to improve the tribological performances of sliding surfaces. Usually, generation additional hydrodynamic pressure to increase the load carrying capacity is regarded as the most significant effect of surface texture. In the case of silicon carbide sliding against identical material in water, the experimental results indicate that surface texture is also helpful to improve the running-in progress to smooth the contact surfaces, showing another reason to result in low friction. Based on the consideration of enhancing the generation of hydrodynamic pressure and improving running-in progress, a surface texture pattern, which was combined with large (circle, 350 μm in diameter) and small (rectangular, 40 μm in length) dimples, was designed to maximize the texture effect on the load carrying capacity of SiC surfaces sliding in water. The friction coefficient of such textured surface was evaluated and compared with that of untextured and those only with large or small dimples only. The friction reduction mechanisms of the patterns with different dimples in size are discussed.     

Logarithmic L 2-Small Ball Asymptotics with Respect to a Self-Similar Measure for Some Gaussian Processes

We find logarithmic small ball asymptotics for the L₂-norm with respect to self-similar measures for a certain class of Gaussian processes including Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, and their integrated counterparts. Bibliography: 46 titles. __________ Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 311, 2004, pp. 190–213.     

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.     

The matrix equation AX-YB=C and related problems

The main result of the paper is a theorem, using which a new proof of Roth’s theorem is obtained, a new solvability criterion for the matrix equation AX-YB = C is proved, a formula for a particular solution of the latter is derived, and the least of the orders of square nonsingular matrices containing a given rectangular matrix as a submatrix is determined. Bibliography: 5 titles. __________ Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 323, 2005, pp. 15–23.     

Scattering of surface plasmon polaritons by a nanoparticle with the inclusion of the magnetic dipole contribution

Using the method of the tensor Green’s function of the wave equation, the differential and total cross sections for the scattering of surface optical electromagnetic waves (surface plasmon polaritons) by a spherical nanoparticle into surface plasmon polaritons and light have been obtained with the inclusion of the magnetic dipole contribution. Using the example of noble metal systems, it has been shown that the magnetic dipole contribution may significantly affect the angular dependence of the differential cross sections and increase their anisotropy as the plasmon wavelength increases.     

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.