Cu(1 1 1) and Cu(0 0 1) surface electronic states. Comparison between theory and experiment

Recent advances in both the experimental resolution and in the computational capabilities motivate new studies of surface properties. In particular, a detailed comparison between theoretical and experimental data is expected to provide a better insight into surface and image states. In this work we present a joint effort analyzing such features of the Cu(1 1 1) and Cu(0 0 1) surfaces. The experiments are performed by using both linear and non-linear angle-resolved photoemission. From the theoretical point of view, we make use of the Green function embedding technique within density functional theory. We are able to account for the image states by suitably modifying the effective potential in the Kohn-Sham equation and the generalized boundary conditions on the Green function. Comprehensive theoretical and experimental results on the effective mass and the binding energy of the Shockley state and the first image states are reported.     

Accurate and analytical strain mapping at the surface of Ge/Si(0 0 1) islands by an improved flat-island approximation

We propose an extension of the well-known flat-island approximation in (1 + 1) dimensions which, while keeping simple analytical relations, allows one to better describe the strain field on the facets of steeper islands, and on the wetting layer between them. The results of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations using the Tersoff potential are used as a benchmark. The simple continuum approach is also shown to predict the correct trend of the strain gradients characterizing closely-spaced interacting islands, which has been recently observed to produce lateral motion of large Ge dots on Si(0 0 1).     

Non-destructive evaluation of elastic material properties in anisotropic circular cylindrical structures

In this paper, non-axisymmetric guided wave propagation in circular cylindrical, anisotropic structures is studied in a frequency range up to 1 MHz. The investigations are carried out with carbon fibre reinforced tubes. The aim is the experimental determination of their effective linear elastic material properties in a non-destructive way. Therefore, an analytical model of the dispersion equation is fitted to the experimentally detected dispersion curves by systematically adjusting the desired material properties. A total least square scheme accompanied by an outlier detection criterion is used for this optimization task. Since the raw data of the measured dispersion curves contain a lot of noise, these outliers have to be detected and excluded, to achieve accurate results. Good agreement is found between the measured curves and the analytically calculated curves based on the estimated parameters. This fact indicates a high accuracy of the determined material properties.     

Radiation model for nanoparticle: extension of classical Brownian motion concepts

Emissive power per unit area of a blackbody has been modeled as a function of frequency using quantum electrodynamics, semi-classical and classical approaches in the available literature. Present work extends the classical lumped-parameter systems model of Brownian motion of nanoparticle to abstract an emissive power per unit area model for nanoparticle radiating at temperature greater than absolute zero. The analytical model developed in present work has been based on synergism of local deformation leading to local motion of nanoparticle due to photon impacts. The work suggests the hypothesis of a free parameter f′ characterizing the damping coefficient of resistive forces to local motion of nanoparticle and the manipulation of which is possible to realize desired emissivity from nanoparticles. The model is validated with the well established Planck’s radiation law.     

Jules Horowitz Reactor: a high performance material testing reactor

The physical modelling of materials' behaviour under severe conditions is an indispensable element for developing future fission and fusion systems: screening, design, optimisation, processing, licensing, and lifetime assessment of a new generation of structure materials and fuels, which will withstand high fast neutron flux at high in-service temperatures with the production of elements like helium and hydrogen.JANNUS and other analytical experimental tools are developed for this objective. However, a purely analytical approach is not sufficient: there is a need for flexible experiments integrating higher scales and coupled phenomena and offering high quality measurements; these experiments are performed in material testing reactors (MTR). Moreover, complementary representative experiments are usually performed in prototypes or dedicated facilities such as IFMIF for fusion. Only such a consistent set of tools operating on a wide range of scales, can provide an actual prediction capability. A program such as the development of silicon carbide composites (600–1200 °C) illustrates this multiscale strategy.Facing the long term needs of experimental irradiations and the ageing of present MTRs, it was thought necessary to implement a new generation high performance MTR in Europe for supporting existing and future nuclear reactors. The Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) project copes with this context. It is funded by an international consortium and will start operation in 2014. JHR will provide improved performances such as high neutron flux (10¹⁵ n/cm²/s above 0.1 MeV) in representative environments (coolant, pressure, temperature) with online monitoring of experimental parameters (including stress and strain control). Experimental devices designing, such as high dpa and small thermal gradients experiments, is now a key objective requiring a broad collaboration to put together present scientific state of art, end-users requirements and advanced instrumentation. To cite this article: D. Iracane et al., C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

Flat weakly miquelian laguerre planes are ovoidal

Every flat Laguerre plane that satisfies a certain variation of the Miquel Condition is ovoidal. Equivalently, in flat Laguerre planes a certain special version of the Bundle Theorem already implies the Bundle Theorem.     

Two-dimensional asymptotic expansions for large deviations of spherically distributed random vectors if the dominating point degenerates asymptotically

A geometric approach to asymptotic expansions for large-deviation probabilities, developed for the Gaussian law by Breitung and Richter [J. Multivariate Anal.,58, 1–20 (1996)], will be extended in the present paper to the class of spherical measures by utilizing their common geometric properties. This approach consists of rewriting the probabilities under consideration as large parameter values of the Laplace transform of a suitably defined function, expanding this function in a power series, and then applying Watson’s lemma. A geometric representation of the Laplace transform allows one to combine the global and local properties of both the underlying measure and the large-deviation domain. A special new type of difficulty is to be dealt with because the so-called dominating points of the large-deviation domain degenerate asymptotically. As is shown in Richter and Schumacher (in print), the typical statistical applications of large-deviation theory lead to such situations. In the present paper, consideration is restricted to a certain two-dimensional domain of large-deviations having asymptotically degenerating dominating points. The key assumption is a parametrized expansion for the inverse $\bar g^{ - 1} $ of the negative logarithm of the density-generating function of the two-dimensional spherical law under consideration.     

The theorem of hohenberg and kohn for subdomains of a quantum system

The theorem of Hohenberg and Kohn is extended to subdomains of a bounded quantum system. It is shown that the ground state particle density of an arbitrary subdomain uniquely determines the ground state properties of this subdomain, of any other subdomain, and of the total domain of the system.