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Microscopy of polymer electrolyte membranes that have undergone operation under fuel cell conditions, have revealed a well defined band of platinum in the membrane. Here, we propose a physics based model that captures the mechanism of platinum precipitation in the polymer electrolyte membrane. While platinum is observed throughout the membrane, the preferential growth of platinum at the band of platinum is dependent on the electrochemical potential distribution in the membrane. In this paper, the location of the platinum band is calculated as a function of the gas concentration at the cathode and anode, gas diffusion coefficients and solubility constants of the gases in the membrane, which are functions of relative humidity. Under H2/N2 conditions the platinum band is located near the cathode-membrane interface, as the oxygen concentration in the cathode gas stream increases and/or the hydrogen concentration in the anode gas stream decreases, the band moves towards the anode. The model developed in this paper agrees with the set of experimental data on the platinum band location and the platinum particle distribution and size.

A model for the limiting surface tension of surfactant solutions (surface tension at and above the critical micelle concentration, cmc) was developed. This model takes advantage of the equilibrium between the surfactant molecules on the liquid/vacuum surface and in micelles in the bulk at the cmc. An approximate analytical equation for the surface tension at the cmc was obtained. The derived equation contains two parameters, which characterize the intermolecular interactions in the micelles, and the third parameter, which is the surface area per surfactant molecule at the interface. These parameters were calculated using a new atomistic modeling approach. The performed calculations of the limiting surface tension for four simple surfactants show good agreement with experimental data (~30% accuracy). The developed model provides the guidance for design of surfactants with low surface tension values.

The microscopic model of semi-crystalline polymer in high-elastic state is proposed. The model is based on the assumption that, below the melting temperature, the semi-crystalline polymer comprises crystal nuclei connected by stretched chain segments (SCS) with random configuration of monomers. The key factor that stalls the phase transition below the melting temperature is the tension of the SCS. External stress applied to the polymer also shifts the equilibrium and causes unfolding of the nuclei, which enables large reversible deformation of the polymer without loss of integrity. The simple 1D model predicts plateau in stress-strain curve of high-elastic polymer above the yield stress, which agrees with experimental observations. The model prediction for the temperature dependence of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) yield stress in high-elastic state is in satisfactory agreement with experiment.

Oscillations of dissipative resistance of two-dimensional electrons in GaAs quantum wells are observed in response to an electric current I and a strong magnetic field applied perpendicular to the two-dimensional systems. Period of the current-induced oscillations does not depend on the magnetic field and temperature. At a fixed current the oscillations are periodic in inverse magnetic fields with a period that does not depend on dc bias. The proposed model considers spatial variations of electron filling factor, which are induced by the electric current, as the origin of the resistance oscillations., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1206.5233

Low-temperature magnetic properties of both classical and quantum dimerized ferromagnetic spin chains are studied. It is shown that at low temperatures the classical dimerized model reduces to the classical uniform model with the effective exchange integral $J_{0}=J(1-\delta^{2})$, where $\delta$ is the dimerization parameter. The partition function and spin correlation function are calculated by means of mapping to the continuum limit, which is justified at low temperatures. In the continuum limit the calculation of the partition function and spin correlation function is reduced to the eigenvalue problem of quantum rotator in gravitational field. Quantum model is studied using Dyson-Maleev representation of the spin operators. It is shown that in the long-wavelength limit the Hamiltonian of the quantum dimerized chain reduces to that of the uniform ferromagnetic chain with the effective exchange integral $J_{0}=J(1-\delta^{2})$. This fact implies that the known equivalence of the low-temperature magnetic properties of classical and quantum ferromagnetic chains remains for the dimerized chains. The considered model can be generalized to include the next-neighbor antiferromagnetic interaction., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures

The lifetime of two dimensional electrons in GaAs quantum wells, placed in weak quantizing magnetic fields, is measured using a simple transport method in broad range of temperatures from 0.3 K to 20 K. The temperature variations of the electron lifetime are found to be in good agreement with conventional theory of electron-electron scattering in 2D systems., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Low-temperature magnetization curves of the classical frustrated ferromagnetic chain in the external magnetic field near the transition point between the ferromagnetic and the helical phases is studied. It is shown that the calculation of the partition function in the scaling limit reduces to the solution of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation of the special form for the quantum particle. It is proposed that the magnetization of the classical model in the ferromagnetic part of the phase diagram including the transition point defines the universal scaling function which is valid for quantum model as well. Explicit analytical formulae for the magnetization are given in the limiting cases of low and high magnetic fields. The influence of the easy-axis anisotropy on the magnetic properties of the model is studied. It is shown that even small anisotropy essentially changes the behavior of the susceptibility in the vicinity of the transition point., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures

The dynamics of exciton recombination in an ensemble of indirect band-gap (In,Al)As/AlAs quantum dots with type-I band alignment is studied. The lifetime of confined excitons which are indirect in momentum-space is mainly influenced by the sharpness of the heterointerface between the (In,Al)As quantum dot and the AlAs barrier matrix. Time-resolved photoluminescence experiments and theoretical model calculations reveal a strong dependence of the exciton lifetime on the thickness of the interface diffusion layer. The lifetime of excitons with a particular optical transition energy varies because this energy is obtained for quantum dots differing in size, shape and composition. The different exciton lifetimes, which result in photoluminescence with non-exponential decay obeying a power-law function, can be described by a phenomenological distribution function, which allows one to explain the photoluminescence decay with one fitting parameter only., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures

We study the frustrated J1-J2 Heisenberg model with ferromagnetic nearest neighbor coupling J1<0 and antiferromagnetic next-nearest neighbor coupling J2>0 at and close to the z=4 quantum critical point (QCP) at J1/J2=-4. The J1-J2 model plays an important role for recently synthesized chain cuprates as well as in supersymmetric Yang Mills theories. We study the thermodynamic properties using field theory, a modified spin-wave theory as well as numerical density-matrix renormalization group calculations. Furthermore, we compare with results for the classical model obtained by analytical methods and Monte-Carlo simulations. As one of our main results we present numerical evidence that the susceptibility at the QCP seems to diverge with temperature T as chi ~ T^{-1.2} in the quantum case in contrast to the classical model where chi ~ T^{-4/3}., Comment: References added and other minor changes

The electron-electron interaction quantum correction to the conductivity of the gated double well Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$As/GaAs structures is investigated experimentally. The analysis of the temperature and magnetic field dependences of the conductivity tensor allows us to obtain reliably the diffusion part of the interaction correction for the regimes when the structure is balanced and when only one quantum well is occupied. The surprising result is that the interaction correction does not reveal resonant behavior; it is practically the same for both regimes., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

The thermodynamics of the classical frustrated spin chain near the transition point between the ferromagnetic and the helical phases is studied. The calculation of the partition and spin correlation functions at low temperature limit is reduced to the quantum mechanical problem of a particle in potential well. It is shown that the thermodynamic quantities are universal functions of the temperature normalized by the chiral domain wall energy. The obtained behavior of the static structure factor indicates that the short-range helical-type correlations existing at low temperatures on the helical side of the transition point disappear at some critical temperature, defining the Lifshitz point. It is also shown that the low-temperature susceptibility in the helical phase near the transition point has a maximum at some temperature. Such behavior is in agreement with that observed in several materials described by the quantum $s=1/2$ version of this model., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

Low-temperature thermodynamics of the classical frustrated ferromagnetic spin chain near the ferromagnet-helimagnet transition point is studied by means of mapping to the continuum limit. The calculation of the partition function and spin correlation function is reduced to quantum problem of a particle in potential well. It is shown that exactly at the transition point the correlation length behaves as $T^{-1/3}$ and the magnetic susceptibility diverges as $T^{-4/3}$ in the low-temperature limit. Corresponding numerical factors for the correlation length and the susceptibility is calculated. It is shown that the low-temperature susceptibility in the helical phase near the transition point has a maximum at some temperature. Such behavior as well as the location and the magnitude of the maximum as a function of deviation from the transition point are in agreement with that observed in several materials described by the quantum $s=1/2$ version of this model., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

Low-temperature thermodynamics of the classical frustrated ferromagnetic spin chain is studied. Using transfer-matrix method we found the behavior of the correlation function and zero-field susceptibility at the ferromagnetic-helical transition point. It is shown that the critical exponent for the susceptibility is changed from 2 to 4/3 at the transition point., Comment: 6 pages

The interference quantum correction to the conductivity in the gated double quantum well Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$As/GaAs/Al$_x$Ga$_{1-x}$As structures is studied experimentally. The consistent analysis of the interference induced positive magnetoconductivity allows us to find the interwell transition time $\tau_{12}$ and the electron dephasing time $\tau_\phi$. It has been obtained that $\tau_{12}^{-1}$ resonantly depends on the difference between the electron densities in the wells as predicted theoretically. The dephasing times have been determined under the conditions when one and both quantum wells are occupied. The surprising result is that the $\tau_\phi$ value in the one well does not depend on the occupation of the other one., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

Microwave induced photoconductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in selectively-doped GaAs/AlAs heterostructures has been studied using the Corbino geometry with capacitive contacts at a temperature T=1.6K and magnetic field B up to 0.5 T. Zero-conductance states have been observed in the samples under study subject to microwave radiation, similarly to the samples with ohmic contacts. It has been shown that ohmic contacts do not play a significant role for observation of zero-conductance states induced by microwave radiation, Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We study the classical anisotropic ferromagnetic spin chain with frustration. The behavior of soliton and kink solutions in the vicinity of the ground state phase transition from the ferromagnetic to the spiral phase is studied. The dependence of the soliton energy on small anisotropy parameter is established using scaling estimates and numerical minimization of the energy functional. Conditions of the existence of the solitons are determined. It is shown that solitons survive in the spiral phase though with some restrictions on their size. A comparison of the energies of the classical solitons and the bound magnon complexes in the quantum model shows the functional similarity between them. The influence of the finite-size effects on the soliton states is studied and it is shown that the localized solitons originate from the uniform state when the system size exceeds some critical value depending on the anisotropy., Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures

The frustrated spin-1/2 chain with weakly anisotropic ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor exchanges is studied. We focus on the excitation spectrum and the low-temperature thermodynamics in the ferromagnetic region of the ground state phase diagram. It is shown that the excitation spectrum of the model is characterized by the existence of the multi-magnon bound states. These excitations determine the low-temperature magnetic susceptibility. The energy of the bound magnon complexes is found using the scaling estimates of the perturbation theory and numerical calculations. The relation of the considered model to the edge-sharing cuprate $Li_2CuO_4$ is discussed., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures

The frustrated spin-1/2 model with weakly anisotropic ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor exchanges is studied with use of variational mean-field approach, scaling estimates of the infrared divergencies in the perturbation theory and finite-size calculations. The ground state phase diagram of this model contains three phases: the ferromagnetic phase, the commensurate spin-liquid phase and the incommensurate phase. The non-trivial behavior of the boundaries between these phases and the character of the phase transitions in case of weak anisotropy are determined., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

The properties of the ferromagnetic frustrated spin-S one-dimensional Heisenberg model in the vicinity of the transition point from the ferromagnetic to the singlet ground state is studied using the perturbation theory (PT) in small parameter characterizing the deviation from the transition point. The critical exponents defining the behavior of the ground state energy and spin correlation functions are determined using scaling estimates of infrared divergencies of the PT. It is shown that the quantum fluctuations for $s=1/2$ are sufficiently strong to change the classical critical exponents, while for spin systems with $s\geq 1$ the critical exponents remain classical. The dimerization in the singlet phase near the transition point is discussed., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures

We study the ground state properties of the Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain with ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interactions using two approximate methods. One of them is the Jordan-Wigner mean-field theory and another approach based on the transformation of spin operators to bose-ones and on the variational treatment of bosonic Hamiltonian. Both approaches give close results for the ground state energy and the T=0 magnetization curve. It is shown that quantum fluctuations change the classical critical exponents in the vicinity of the transition point from the ferromagnetic to the singlet ground state. The magnetization process displays the different behavior in the regions near and far from the transition point. The relation of the obtained results to experimental magnetization curve in $Rb_{2}Cu_{2}Mo_{3}O_{12}$ is discussed., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

The phase diagram of weakly coupled $XXZ$ chains in a transverse magnetic field is studied using the mean-field approximation for the interchain coupling and known exact results for an effective one-dimensional model. Results are applied to the quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet $Cs_{2}CoCl_{4}$ and the value of interchain interaction in this compound is estimated., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

The one-dimensional spin-1/2 $XXZ$ model in a mixed transverse and longitudinal magnetic field is studied. Using the specially developed version of the mean-field approximation the order-disorder transition induced by the magnetic field is investigated. The ground state phase diagram is obtained. The behavior of the model in low transverse field is studied on the base of conformal field theory. The relevance of our results to the observed phase transition in the quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet $Cs_2 Co Cl_4$ is discussed., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures

We have studied the antiferromagnetic Ising chain in a transverse magnetic field $h_{x}$ and uniform longitudinal field $h_{z}$. Using the density matrix renormalization group calculation combined with a finite-size scaling the ground state phase diagram in ($h_{x},h_{z}$) plane is determined. It is shown that there is an order-disordered transition line in this plane and the critical properties belong to the universality class of the two-dimensional Ising model. Based on the perturbation theory in $h_{z}$ the scaling behavior of the mass gap in the vicinity of the critical point ($h_{x}=1/2,h_{z}=0$) is established. It is found that the form of the transition line near the classical multicritical point ($h_{x}=0,h_{z}=1$) is linear. The connection of the considered quantum model with the quasi-one-dimensional classical Ising model in the magnetic field is discussed., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures

One dimensional spin-1/2 $XXZ$ model in a transverse magnetic field is studied. It is shown that the field induces the gap in the spectrum of the model with easy-plain anisotropy. Using conformal invariance the field dependence of the gap at small fields is found. The ground state phase diagram is obtained. It contains four phases with different types of the long range order (LRO) and a disordered one. These phases are separated by critical lines, where the gap and the long range order vanish. Using scaling estimations and a mean-field approach as well as numerical calculations in the vicinity of all critical lines we found the critical exponents of the gap and the LRO. It is shown that transition line between the ordered and disordered phases belongs to the universality class of the transverse Ising model., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX

The ground state phase diagram of the 1D XXZ model in transverse magnetic field is obtained. It consists of the gapped phases with different types of long range order (LRO) and critical lines at which the gap and the LRO vanish. Using scaling estimations and a mean-field approach as well as numerical results we found critical indices of the gap and the LRO in the vicinity of all critical lines., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, Latex

We outline the recent results on the ground state for a class of one- and two-dimensional frustrated quantum spin models with competing ferro(F)- and antiferromagnetic (AF) interactions. Frustrated spin systems are known to have many interesting properties due to large quantum fluctuations. As a result of these fluctuations usual mean-field approach gives quite crude (if not false) description of these systems. Therefore, exactly solvable models are very instructive at investigations of such systems. The exact ground state wave function of proposed models has a structure of the valence-bond state (VBS) type. One of the 1D model describes the transition line between the F and AF phase. The exact singlet ground state on this line has a double-spiral ordering. Using different approximation methods we study the magnetization curve in the AF phase. The second considered set of the 1D and 2D models has an exact non-degenerate ground state with exponentially decaying spin correlations. We also proposed the 1D and 2D electronic models with exact ground state represented in terms of singlet bond functions which are the generalization of the RVB functions including ionic states., Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures

Thermodynamic properties of any quantum spin system can be described by the formally exact, although in general intractable, effective classical Hamilton function \cal H. Here we obtain an explicit form of \cal H which applies at T << J S^2, where J is the exchange and S in the spin value, and incorporates quantum effects at the level of the spin-wave theory (SWT). For a quantum Hamiltonian \hat H of Heisenberg form, \cal H is also Heisenberg but with a long-range effective exchange J_{ij}^{eff}, which is the price for including quantum effects. For three-dimensional magnets, classical SWT with \cal H yields the same results as quantum SWT for the original system, in the antiferromagnetic case with the 1/S correction to the ground-state energy., Comment: 11 pages, no figures, submitted to PRB

We have found the exact ground state for two frustrated quantum spin-1/2 models on a linear chain. The first model describes ferromagnet- antiferromagnet transition point. The singlet state at this point has double-spiral ordering. The second model is equivalent to special case of the spin-1/2 ladder. It has non-degenerate singlet ground state with exponentially decaying spin correlations and there is an energy gap. The exact ground state wave function of these models is presented in a special recurrent form and recurrence technics of expectation value calculations is developed., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX

The stability of the ferromagnetic phase of the 2D quantum spin-1/2 model with nearest-neighbor ferro- and next-nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions is studied. It turns out that values of exchange integrals at which the ferromagnetic state becomes unstable with respect to a creation of one and two magnon are different. This difference shows that the classical approximation is inapplicable to the study of the transition from the ferromagnetic to the singlet state in contrast with 1D case. This problem is investigated using a variational function of new type. It is based on the boson representation of spin operators which is different from the Holstein-Primakoff approximation. This allows us to obtain the accurate estimate of the transition point and to study the character of the phase transition., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX

We have proposed several 1D and 2D electronic models with the exact ground state. The ground state wave function of these models is represented in terms of "singlet bond" functions consisting of homopolar and ionic configurations. The Hamiltonians of the models include the correlated hopping of electrons, pair hopping terms and the spin interactions. One of the 1D models demonstrates spontaneous breaking of the translational symmetry. We studied also the model describing the transition point between the phases with and without an off-diagonal long-range order., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Revtex

A method is proposed for constructing an exact ground-state wave function of a two-dimensional model with spin 1/2. The basis of the method is to represent the wave function by a product of fourth-rank spinors associated with the sites of a lattice and the metric spinors corresponding to bonds between nearest neighbor sites. The function so constructed is an exact wave function of a 14-parameter model. The special case of this model depending on one parameter is analyzed in detail. The ground state is always a nondegenerate singlet, and the spin correlation functions decay exponentially with distance. The method can be generalized for models with spin 1/2 to other types of lattices., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Revtex

We study the spin ladder model with interactions between spins on neighboring rungs. The model Hamiltonian with the exact singlet ground state degenerated with ferromagnetic state is obtained. The singlet ground state wave function has a special recurrent form and depends on two parameters. Spin correlations in the singlet ground state show double-spiral structure with period of spirals equals to the system size. For special values of parameters they have exponential decay. The spectrum of the model is gapless and there are asymptotically degenerated excited states for special values of parameters in the thermodynamic limit., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, revtex. accepted to The European Physical Journal B

We have found the exact ground state for two electronic models on a linear chain. The first model describes half-filling electron system in the ferromagnet--antiferromagnet transition point. In the singlet ground state the spin correlators show giant spiral magnetic ordering with the period of a spiral equals to the system size. The second electronic model describes the point where the ground state has giant spiral off-diagonal long-range order and, therefore, superconducting. We suggest the formation of the ground state with giant spiral order (ferromagnetic or off-diagonal) as a probable scenario of the subsequent destruction of the ferromagnetism and the superconductivity., Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure