Self-Interactions of Strands and Sheets

Physical strands or sheets that can be modelled as curves or surfaces embedded in three dimensions are ubiquitous in nature, and are of fundamental importance in mathematics, physics, biology, and engineering. Often the physical interpretation dictates that self-avoidance should be enforced in the continuum model, i.e., finite energy configurations should not self-intersect. Current continuum models with self-avoidance frequently employ pairwise repulsive potentials, which are of necessity singular. Moreover the potentials do not have an intrinsic length scale appropriate for modelling the finite thickness of the physical systems. Here we develop a framework for modelling self-avoiding strands and sheets which avoids singularities, and which provides a way to introduce a thickness length scale. In our approach pairwise interaction potentials are replaced by many-body potentials involving three or more points, and the radii of certain associated circles or spheres. Self-interaction energies based on these many-body potentials can be used to describe the statistical mechanics of self-interacting strands and sheets of finite thickness.     

A Study of Evaporation of Complex Oxide Systems Based on Chromium(III) Oxide

Evaporation of chromium ore and concentrates was studied using high-temperature differential mass-spectrometry. The data obtained, concerning the component vapor pressures in evaporation of complex oxide systems in the range 1700-2100 K, can be used to calculate the evaporation loss in melting and to assess the possibility of utilization of the sublimates formed.     

Crossover from high-temperature vortex-liquid to low-temperature vortex-glass behavior in single phase HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ superconductor

The ρ-T curves in our single phase HgBa₂Ca₂Cu₃O_8+δ superconductor were measured as a function of temperature and magnetic field, ρ=ρ₀exp(−U_eff/κ_BT). It can be transformed to another form d(lnρ)/d(1/T)=−U_eff+TdU_eff/dT, then this becomes a plot of the activation energy U_eff as a function of temperature. Our data plotted in these ways show a clear crossover from high-temperature two-dimensional vortex-liquid to a critical region associated with the low-temperature three-dimensional vortex-glass phase transition. The critical exponents v(z−1)=3.9±1.9 in this system are little different with previous measurements in BSCCO and YBCO systems.     

Single-electron charging spectra: from natural to artificial atoms

We present a theoretical study of the charging spectra in natural and artificial atoms. We apply a model electrostatic potential created by a homogenously charged sphere. This model potential allows for a continuous passage from the Coulomb potential of the nucleus to parabolic confinement potential of quantum dots. We consider electron systems with N=1,…,10 electrons with the use of the Hartree–Fock method. We discuss the qualitative similarities and differences between the chemical potential spectrum of electron systems bound to nucleus and confined in quantum dots.     

Reconstruction of the fine structure of an acoustic scatterer against the distorting influence of its large-scale inhomogeneities

In the ultrasonic diagnostics of small-size neoplasms of biological tissues at the earliest stage of their development, an efficient way to eliminate the distorting influence of high-contrast or large inhomogeneities of the biological medium is to apply the iterative technique. A simple approach is proposed, which makes it possible with only two iteration steps to achieve an efficient focusing of the tomograph array. At the first step, the unknown distribution of the large-scale inhomogeneities of sound velocity and absorption over the scatterer is reconstructed, where the large-scale inhomogeneities are those whose size exceeds several wavelengths. At the second step, the fine structure of the scatterer is reconstructed against the large-scale background, which can be performed with a high accuracy owing to the evaluation of the background at the first step. The possibility of simultaneous reconstruction of the large-scale and fine structures by the noniterative Grinevich-Novikov algorithm is considered as an alternative. This algorithm reconstructs in an explicit form two-dimensional refractive-absorbing acoustic scatterers of almost arbitrary shape and strength. Taking into account the effects of multiple scattering, this algorithm provides resolution of the fine structure almost as good as that achieved in reconstructing the same structure against an undistorting homogeneous background. The results of numerical simulations of both algorithms are presented.     

Temperature-dependent magnetic moment in the MnAs-CrAs system

Magnetic susceptibilities have been measured for the mixed compounds Mn_1−xCr_xAs (0≤x≤1) and the compound MnP in the temperature region up to 1400 K. The _X¹_g vs. T curves of Mn_1−xCr_xAs follow the Curie-Weiss law only in the temperature region where the crystal structure is of the B8₁ type. Some important problems are pointed out from the data.