Osbornedavid8848

Mechanically bonded fabrics account for a significant portion of nonwoven products, and serve many niche areas of nonwoven manufacturing. Such fabrics are characterized by layers of disordered fibrous webs, but we lack an understanding of how such microstructures determine bulk material response. Here we numerically determine the linear shear response of needle-punched fabrics modeled as cross-linked sheets of two-dimensional (2D) Mikado networks. We systematically vary the intra-sheet fiber density, inter-sheet separation distance, and direction of shear, and quantify the macroscopic shear modulus alongside the degree of affinity and energy partition. Sorafenib research buy For shear parallel to the sheets, the response is dominated by intrasheet fibers and follows known trends for 2D Mikado networks. By contrast, shears perpendicular to the sheets induce a softer response dominated by either intrasheet or intersheet fibers depending on a quadratic relation between sheet separation and fiber density. These basic trends are reproduced and elucidated by a simple scaling argument that we provide. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of real nonwoven fabrics.Characterizing states of matter through the lens of their ergodic properties is a fascinating new direction of research. In the quantum realm, the many-body localization (MBL) was proposed to be the paradigmatic ergodicity breaking phenomenon, which extends the concept of Anderson localization to interacting systems. At the same time, random matrix theory has established a powerful framework for characterizing the onset of quantum chaos and ergodicity (or the absence thereof) in quantum many-body systems. Here we numerically study the spectral statistics of disordered interacting spin chains, which represent prototype models expected to exhibit MBL. We study the ergodicity indicator g=log_10(t_H/t_Th), which is defined through the ratio of two characteristic many-body time scales, the Thouless time t_Th and the Heisenberg time t_H, and hence resembles the logarithm of the dimensionless conductance introduced in the context of Anderson localization. We argue that the ergodicity breaking transition in interacting spin chains occurs when both time scales are of the same order, t_Th≈t_H, and g becomes a system-size independent constant. Hence, the ergodicity breaking transition in many-body systems carries certain analogies with the Anderson localization transition. Intriguingly, using a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless correlation length we observe a scaling solution of g across the transition, which allows for detection of the crossing point in finite systems. We discuss the observation that scaled results in finite systems by increasing the system size exhibit a flow towards the quantum chaotic regime.We present a method to renormalize stochastic differential equations subjected to multiplicative noise. The method is based on the widely used concept of effective potential in high-energy physics and has already been successfully applied to the renormalization of stochastic differential equations subjected to additive noise. We derive a general formula for the one-loop effective potential of a single ordinary stochastic differential equation (with arbitrary interaction terms) subjected to multiplicative Gaussian noise (provided the noise satisfies a certain normalization condition). To illustrate the usefulness (and limitations) of the method, we use the effective potential to renormalize a toy chemical model based on a simplified Gray-Scott reaction. In particular, we use it to compute the scale dependence of the toy model's parameters (in perturbation theory) when subjected to a Gaussian power-law noise with short time correlations.In the limit of small inertia, stratification, and advection of density, Ardekani and Stocker [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 084502 (2010)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.105.084502] derived the flow due to a point-force and force-dipole placed in a linearly density-stratified fluid. In this limit, these flows also represent the far-field flow due to a towed particle and a neutrally buoyant swimming organism in a stratified fluid. Here, we derive these two far-field flows in the limit of small inertia, stratification but at large advection of density. In both these limits, the flow in a stratified fluid decays rapidly and has closed streamlines but certain symmetries present at small advection are lost at large advection. To illustrate the application of these flows, we use them to calculate the drift induced by a towed drop and a swimming organism, as a means to quantify the mixing caused by them. The drift induced in a stratified fluid is less than that in the homogeneous fluid. A towed drop induces a large drift relative to its own volume at small advection while it induces at least an order of magnitude smaller drift at large advection. On the other hand, a swimming organism induces a large partial drift as compared with its own volume irrespective of the magnitude of advection, unless the stresslet exerted by the swimmer is small. These results are useful in understanding the stratification effects on the drift-based contributions to mixing.In order to better understand the minimal ingredients for thermal rectification, we perform a detailed investigation of a simple spin chain, namely, the open XX model with a Lindblad dynamics involving global dissipators. We use a Jordan-Wigner transformation to derive a mathematical formalism to compute the heat currents and other properties of the steady state. We have rigorous results to prove the occurrence of thermal rectification even for slightly asymmetrical chains. Interestingly, we describe cases where the rectification does not decay to zero as we increase the system size, that is, the rectification remains finite in the thermodynamic limit. We also describe some numerical results for more asymmetrical chains. The presence of thermal rectification in this simple model indicates that the phenomenon is of general occurrence in quantum spin systems.When a quantum system is subject to a thermal gradient it may sustain a steady nonequilibrium heat current by entering into a so-called nonequilibrium steady state (NESS). Here we show that NESS constitute a thermodynamic resource that can be exploited to charge a quantum battery. This adds to the list of recently reported sources available at the nanoscale, such as coherence, entanglement, and quantum measurements. We elucidate this concept by showing analytic and numerical studies of a two-qubit quantum battery that is alternatively charged by an incoherent heat flow and discharged by application of a properly chosen unitary gate. The presence of a NESS for the charging step guarantees steady operation with positive power output. Decreasing the duration of the charging step results in a time-periodic steady state accompanied by increased efficiency and output power. The device is amenable to implementation with different nanotechnology platforms.