Nos últimos anos, avanços consideráveis foram alcançados no estudo da usinabilidade de materiais frágeis tais como cristais semicondutores, vidros ópticos, cerâmicas, etc. em função da demanda por processos mais rápidos de fabricação de superfícies com formas complexas para aplicações nos campos da óptica e eletrônica. A ductilidade apresentada por monocristais de silício durante a usinagem tem sido explicada através das Teorias de Mecânica de Fratura. Recentemente, algumas teorias novas foram apresentadas para justificar esta ductilidade. Foi proposto que a ductilidade de monocristais semicondutores seria provavelmente o resultado final de uma transformação de fase induzida por pressão/tensão durante o corte. Neste trabalho, a diferença entre os modos dúctil e frágil no Torneamento com Ferramenta de Ponta Única de superfícies de silício monocristalino foram investigadas através da técnica de espalhamento Raman. Nas condições que proporcionam o regime dúctil, existem sempre uma amorfização superficial nas amostras, denunciadas através da ativação de uma banda óptica Raman mais larga em 470 cm-1. Esta fase amorfa pode ser considerada resultante da transição de fase a qual o silício pode ter sofrido. Por outro lado, para as condições onde o modo frágil é predominante, somente um pico óptico agudo de fonon em 521.6 cm-1 está presente no espectro Raman. Baseado nas medições que determinados parâmetros de corte, tais como a profundidade de corte e a espessura crítica do cavaco, apresentaram este estudo propõe que o regime dúctil não deve possuir uma faixa definida e fixa de valores para os parâmetros críticos mas, ao invés disso, estes seriam dependentes da extensão da camada transformada induzida por pressão/tensão gerada pela interação entre a ponta/aresta da ferramenta de corte com a peça durante a usinagem. Esta proposta se baseia na comparação entre os valores obtidos e os medidos por outros autores que mostram que a extensão da fase amorfa observada após processos de deformação mecânica (p.e., indentação, riscamento, polimento, nanoretificação e torneamento com ferramenta de ponta única de diamante) encontram-se na mesma faixa de valores encontrados para os parâmetros críticos (100-200 nm). Finalmente, foi demonstrado, através de observações da topografia de ambos, cavacos e superfícies geradas, realizadas com MEV e MFA, que este tipo de análise pode oferecer explicações significativas sobre os mecanismos de remoção de material em ação durante a usinagem e também sobre o estado microscópicos da ferramenta de diamante. / In recent years, considerable progress has been made on the study of the machinability of fragile materials such as semiconductors crystals, optical glasses, ceramics, etc., because of the demand for faster fabrication processes of complex surface shapes for optoelectronic applications. The ductility presented by single crystal silicon during machining has been explained by fracture mechanics theories. Recently, some new theories have been presented in order to give another justify to this ductility. It was proposed that semiconductors single crystal ductility is likely the end result of a pressure/stress induced phase transformation during cutting. In this work, the difference between ductile and brittle mode single-point diamond turning on the surface of machined silicon samples were investigated using Raman scattering. In the ductile mode conditions of machining, there are always an amorphization of the surface samples, denounced by the activation of the broad Raman optical band at 470 cm-1. This amorphous phase can be considered resulted from the phase transiton which silicon might have suffered. Contrary to the findings, in the brittle mode conditions, only the sharp optical phonon peak at 521.6 cm-1 is present in Raman spectra. Based on the observation that certain cutting parameters such as cutting depth and critical chip thickness, e.g., the point where ductile-to-brittle transition occurs, somehow presents values in the same range (100-200 nm) that the amorphous phase layer depth extension after mechanical deformation. (p.e., indentation, scratching, polishing, nanogrinding and single point diamond turning) observed in the literature, it is propposed that the ductile regime has not a definite range of values for the critical parameters but instead, it is dependent of the extension of the phase transformed layer induced by pressure/stress generated by the tool tip/edge interaction with workpiece during machining. Finally, it is shown that observation of topography and morphology of chip and the surface generated through SEM and AFM can offer very significant explanation of the material removal mechanisms in action during the current machining cut and diamond tool state.

Submitted by Rosivalda Pereira (mrs.pereira@ufma.br) on 2017-05-05T19:27:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianoPereira.pdf: 4552452 bytes, checksum: c5dc1a24e3fc6e843a7a494ecc39cb39 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-05T19:27:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianoPereira.pdf: 4552452 bytes, checksum: c5dc1a24e3fc6e843a7a494ecc39cb39 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Maranhão (FAPEMA) / Materials consisting of amino acids are of great interest in the application in nonlinear optical (NLO) and are being studied more carefully because they have properties better than the potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP), the material most commonly used for Second Generation Harmonic (SHG). In this work, the crystals of L-arginine hydrobromidric monohydrate (LAHBr) and L-arginine hydrochloridric monohydrate (LAHCl) were grown at room temperature (25° C) by the method of slow evaporation of solvent. Were also synthesized hydrochlorobromidric L-arginine monohydrate crystals (LAHClBr) from the mixture of the compounds in equimolar proportions 1:3, 1:1 and 3:1. These five crystals were characterized by the techniques of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Diffraction X-Ray (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetry (TG), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The chemical composition of the single crystal was analyzed by X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and compositions obtained were: C6H14N4O2•HCL0.14BR0.86•H2O (LAHCl0,14Br0,86), C6H14N4 O2•HCL0.42BR0.58•H2O (LAHCl0,42Br0,58), e C6H14N4O2•HCL0.63BR0.37•H2O (LAHCl0,63Br0,37). The structural parameters of the crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) in association with the Rietveld refinement. The all samples crystallize with the monoclinic structure (space group P21) and the unit cell volume of LAHClxBr1-x series decreases with increasing concentration of chlorine in the composition of the samples. The vibrational modes were observed by Raman Spectroscopy. The Raman spectrum experiments have shown that bands associated with lattice modes undergo blue shifts as the concentration of chorine ion is increased in addition to complement the results obtained by XRD technique. The thermal analysis of TG, DTA and DSC showed that the crystals analyzed show a decrease in temperature of the characteristic exothermic phase transition event, as well as increasing in the melting temperature of the material, with increasing chlorine concentration. The crystals LAHBr, LAHClBr and LAHCl to lose water of hydration suffer phase transformation goes to anhydrous phase without change in structure (monoclinic-monoclinic) and present structural phase transition around 150 oC. / Materiais constituídos por aminoácidos são de grande interesse na aplicação em óptica nãolinear (NLO) e estão sendo estudados com maior atenção por apresentarem propriedades melhores do que o material mais utilizado para Geração de Segundo Harmônico (SHG); dihidrogenofosfato de potássio (KDP). Neste trabalho os monocristais de L-arginina hidrobromídrica monohidratada (LAHBr) e L-arginina hidroclorídrica monohidratada (LAHCl) foram crescidos à temperatura ambiente (25°C), pelo método de evaporação lenta do solvente. Também foram sintetizados cristais de L-arginina hidroclorobromídrica monohidratada (LAHClBr), a partir da mistura dos dois compostos, nas proporções molares 1:3, 1:1 e 3:1. Esses cinco cristais foram caracterizados pelas técnicas de Fluorescência de raios-X (FRX), Difração de raios-X (DRX), Espectroscopia Raman, Termogravimetria (TG), Análise Diferencial Térmica (DTA) e Calorimetria Exploratória Diferencial (DSC). A composição química dos monocristais foi analisada por FRX e as composições são: C6H14N4O2•HCL0.14BR0.86•H2O (LAHCl0,14Br0,86), C6H14N4O2•HCL0.42BR0.58•H2O (LAHCl0,42Br0,58), e H14N4O2•HCL0.63BR0.37•H2O (LAHCl0,63Br0,37), para as amostras de LAHClBr 1:3, LAHClBr 1:1 e LAHClBr 3:1, respectivamente. Os parâmetros estruturais dos cristais foram caracterizados por DRX em associação com o refinamento de Rietveld, onde observamos que todas as amostras se cristalizam com a estrutura monoclínica (grupo espacial P21) e que o volume da célula unitária da série LAHClxBr1-x diminue com o aumento da concentração de Cloro na composição das amostras. Os modos vibracionais foram observados por Espectroscopia Raman. Os espectros Raman mostraram que as bandas associadas aos modos de rede sofreram blue shifts com o aumento da concentração de Cl, além de complementar os resultados obtidos pela técnica de DRX. As análises térmicas de TG, DTA e DSC mostraram que os cristais analisados apresentaram uma diminuição de temperatura do evento exotérmico característico de transição de fase com o aumento da concentração de Cl, bem como, aumento da temperatura em que ocorre a fusão do material. Os cristais de LAHBr, LAHClBr e LAHCl ao perderem água de hidratação sofrem transformação de fase indo para a fase anidra sem mudança na estrutura cristalina monoclínicamonoclínica) e apresentam uma transição de fase estrutural em torno de 150 oC.

Nesta dissertação estudaremos sistemas de bósons ultrafrios armadilhados em uma rede ótica quadrada bidimensional sem levar em consideração o confinamento harmônico. A dinâmica desses sistemas é bem descrita pelo modelo de Bose-Hubbard, que prevê uma transição de fase quântica de um superfluido para um isolante de Mott a temperaturas baixas, e pode ser induzida variando a profundidade do potencial da rede ótica. Apresentaremos o diagrama de fases dessa transição construído a partir de uma aproximação de campo médio e também com um cálculo numérico usando um algoritmo de Monte Carlo Quântico, denominado algoritmo Worm. Encontramos o ponto crítico para o primeiro lobo de Mott em ambos os casos, concordando com trabalhos anteriores. / This work study the two-dimensional ultracold bosonic atoms loaded in a square optical lattice, without harmonic confinement. The dynamics of this system is described by the Bose-Hubbard model, which predicts a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott-insulator at low temperatures that can be induced by varying the depth of the optical potential. We present here the phase diagram of this transition built from a mean field approach and from a numerical calculation using a Quantum Monte Carlo algorithm, namely the Worm algorithm. We found the critical transition point for the first Mott lobe in both cases, in agreement with the standard literature.

<p>Kukuruzni plamenca (<em>Ostrinia nubilalis</em>, Hbn.) je vrsta umerenog klimatskog područja&nbsp;<br />koja niske zimske&nbsp; temperature preživljava ulaskom u dijapauzu u stadijumu gusenice.&nbsp;Dijapauza i otpornost na hladnoću (cold hardiness,&nbsp; eng.), kod mnogih insekatskih vrsta često&nbsp;predstavljaju esencijalne, tesno povezane komponente strategije preživljavanja delovanja&nbsp;niske temperature, kao &scaron;to je to slučaj i kod kukuruznog plamenca&nbsp; <em>Ostrinia&nbsp; nubilalis</em>, Hbn. U&nbsp;okviru grupe insekata otpornih na hladnoću, svrstava se u insekte otporne na zamrzavanje&nbsp;(freeze tolerant,&nbsp; eng.) jer su&nbsp; sposobne da prežive ekstracelularno zamrzavanje telesnih&nbsp;tečnosti.</p><p>Iako se o osnovnim strukturnim i metaboličkim de&scaron;avanjima u dijapauzi insekata već dosta&nbsp;zna, jo&scaron; uvek postoje brojne dileme o ovom vidu preživljavanja insekata u nepovoljnim&nbsp;uslovima sredine, posebno sa aspekta izloženosti niskim zimskim temperaturama i&nbsp;mehanizmima krioprotekcije. Zbog toga je&nbsp; cilj ove doktorske disertacije&nbsp; bio&nbsp; da se sa aspekta&nbsp;biofizičkih osobina lipida i sastava masnih kiselina: &nbsp;odrede biofizičke osobine (temperature&nbsp;faznog prelaza) ukupnih lipida nedijapauzirajućih i dijapauzirajućih gusenica tokom dijapauze&nbsp;(početak, sredina i kraj),&nbsp; kao i u kontrolisanim uslovima hlađenja dijapauzirajućih gusenica;&nbsp;zatim da se&nbsp; odredi zastupljenost pojedinih klasa lipida u hemolimfi i masnom telu&nbsp;nedijapauzirajućih i dijapauzirajućih gusenica;&nbsp; da se&nbsp; utvrde promene sastava masnih kiselina&nbsp;strukturne (polarne) i rezervne (nepolarne)&nbsp; frakcije&nbsp; lipida celih gusenica&nbsp; tokom dijapauze i&nbsp;pod uticajem različitih temperatura u eksperimentalnim uslovima; kao i da se&nbsp; odredi tkivna&nbsp;specifičnost, hemolimfe i masnog tela, masnih kiselina ukupnih lipida&nbsp; i&nbsp; biofizičke&nbsp; osobine&nbsp;ukupnih lipida masnog tela nedijapauzirajućih i dijapauzirajućih gusenica tokom dijapauze,&nbsp;kao i u kontrolisanim uslovima hlađenja dijapauzirajućih gusenica.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>U analizi lipida kukuruznog plamenca <em>Ostrinia nubilalis</em>, Hbn. kori&scaron;ćene su sledeće tehnike:&nbsp;tankoslojna hromatografija (TLC) sa skenirajućom denzitometrijom, za razdvajanje i analizu&nbsp;klasa lipida;&nbsp; zatim&nbsp; gasno-masena hromatografija (GC-MS), za analizu masnih kiselina kao i&nbsp;diferencijalna skenirajuća kalorimetrija (DSC&nbsp; &ndash;&nbsp; differential scanning calorimetry,&nbsp; eng.), za&nbsp;termalnu analizu ekstrahovanih lipida.</p><p>Kod&nbsp; gusenica <em>Ostrinia&nbsp; nubilalis</em>&nbsp;sastav&nbsp; masnih kiselina ukupnih lipida analiziranih tkiva i&nbsp;lipidnih frakcija značajno se razlikuje između&nbsp; ova dva fiziolo&scaron;ka stanja, stanja dijapauze i&nbsp;nedijapauze.&nbsp; Dijapauza indukuje značajno povećanje sadržaja mononezasićenih masnih&nbsp;kiselina, pre svega palmitoleinske (16:1n-7) i oleinske masne kiseline (18:1n-9) uz&nbsp;istovremeno smanjenje sadržaja zasićenih i&nbsp; polinezasićenih masnih kiselina, pre svega&nbsp;palmitinske (16:0) i linolne masne kiseline (18:2n-6).&nbsp; Temperature faznog prelaza ukupnih&nbsp;lipida celih gusenica i masnog tela&nbsp; značajno su niže kod dijapauzirajućih gusenica&nbsp; <em>O.&nbsp;nubilalis</em>,&nbsp; usled &nbsp;značajnog povećanja&nbsp; stepena nezasićenosti masnih kiselina u njihovom&nbsp;sastavu. Značajno niže temperature&nbsp; faznog prelaza lipida dijapauzirajućih gusenica&nbsp; <em>O.<br />nubilalis</em>&nbsp; rezultat su povećanja stepena nezasićenosti njihovih masnih kiselina. Možemo&nbsp;zaključiti da su&nbsp; promene u sastavu&nbsp; masnih kiselina lipida indukovane dijapauzom važna&nbsp;komponenta preživljavanja niskih temperatura kod&nbsp; <em>O. nubilalis</em>&nbsp; Hbn. jer se&nbsp; veliki deo lipida&nbsp;održava u tečnom stanju čak i na temperaturama daleko ispod 0&deg;C, &scaron;to je neophodno za&nbsp;održavanje njihove fluidnosti odnosno funkcionalnosti.</p> / <p>European corn borer (<em>Ostrinia nubilalis</em>,&nbsp; Hbn.)&nbsp; inhabiting temperate regions&nbsp; that&nbsp;survive low winter temperatures as a diapausing fifth instar larva.&nbsp; Diapausing larvae are cold&nbsp;hardy and freeze tolerant as they are able to survive the extracellular formation of ice crystals.&nbsp;Winter survival for many insect species living in seasonally cold environments includes a&nbsp;radical remodeling of metabolism. This implies entry into a developmentally arrested,&nbsp;hypometabolic state of winter diapause, which in <em>O. nubilalis</em>&nbsp; and&nbsp; many&nbsp; other&nbsp; insect species&nbsp;of these habitats is closely related to their cold hardiness.</p><p>Although the basic structural and metabolic events consider insect diapause is already known,&nbsp;there are still many doubts about the survival of insects in an unfavorable environment,&nbsp;particularly in terms of&nbsp; exposure to low winter temperatures &nbsp;and mechanisms of&nbsp;cryoprotection. Therefore, the aim of this thesis in terms of biophysical properties of lipids&nbsp;and fatty acid compositions,&nbsp; was to: i) to determine &nbsp;the biophysical properties (phase&nbsp;transition temperatures) of the total lipids of non-diapausing&nbsp; larvae&nbsp; and diapausing larvae&nbsp;during diapause (early diapause, mid diapause and termination of diapause), as well as under&nbsp;controlled cooling conditions during different phases of diapause; ii) to determine the fatty&nbsp;acid compositions of structural (polar) and storage (non-polar)&nbsp; total&nbsp; lipid fractions of non-diapausing&nbsp; larvae&nbsp; and diapausing larvae, as well as under the influence of different&nbsp;<br />temperatures during diapause in the controled experimental conditions; iii)&nbsp; to determine the&nbsp;lipid classes&nbsp; composition of total lipids extracted from the haemolymph and fat body of non-diapausing and diapausing larvae;&nbsp; iiii) to determine&nbsp; the haemolymph and fat body total lipid&nbsp;fatty acid compositions&nbsp; as well as the biophysical properties of the fat body total lipids of&nbsp;non-diapausing larvae&nbsp; and diapausing larvae during diapause as well as in terms of controlled&nbsp;cooling conditions. Thus, our research was focused on the non-diapausing (ND) as well as the&nbsp;diapausing larvae&nbsp; (D) that&nbsp; were exposed to low temperatures during different phases&nbsp; of&nbsp;diapause.</p><p>During analysis of European corn borer&nbsp; <em>O. nubilalis</em>&nbsp; lipids, the following techniques was&nbsp;used: thin&nbsp; layer&nbsp; chromatography (TLC) with scanning densitometry, for the separation and&nbsp;quantification&nbsp; of lipid classes; gas-mass chromatography (GC-MS ) for the&nbsp; analysis of the&nbsp;fatty acid composition&nbsp; of lipids and&nbsp; the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), for the&nbsp;thermal analysis of the extracted lipids.</p><p>The fatty acid compositions&nbsp; and biophysical properties of lipids differed markedly between&nbsp;non-diapausing and diapausing larvae&nbsp; of&nbsp; <em>O. nubilalis</em>. Diapause was associated with a&nbsp;dramatic increase&nbsp; mainly the proportions of palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7) and oleic acid (18:1n-9), with concurrent reductions in palmitic acid (16:0) and linoleic acid (18:2n-6). The increase&nbsp;in&nbsp; the level of unsaturation of&nbsp; lipids,&nbsp; which caused a marked shift in their phase transitions to&nbsp;lower temperatures,&nbsp; was triggered&nbsp; by diapause rather than low temperatures.&nbsp; Adjustments of&nbsp;fatty acid compositions are likely to be an important component of winter diapause &nbsp;mechaisms, possibly maintaining the fluidity of cell membranes, and the functionality &nbsp;of the&nbsp;organism during lower winter temperatures.&nbsp; We conclude that&nbsp; <em>O. nubilalis &nbsp;</em>undergoes&nbsp;remodeling of fatty acid profiles of lipids as an element of its overwintering physiology which&nbsp;may improve the ability to harden during diapause.</p>

Introduzimos a extensão natural da definição de medida DLR para medidas sigma-finitas em shift de Markov com alfabeto enumerável. Provamos que o conjunto de medidas DLR contém o conjunto de medidas conformes associadas aos potenciais satisfazendo a condição de Walters. No caso BIP ou quando o potencial normaliza o operador de Ruelle, provamos que as noções de DLR e conformes coincidem. No shift de renewal obtemos uma caracterização de quando as medidas conformes são infinitas, estudamos o problema para descrever os casos em que o conjunto de medidas conformes pula de medidas finitas para infinitas quando consideramos altas e baixas temperaturas, respectivamente. / We introduce the natural extension of the definition of DLR measure for sigma-finite measures on countable Markov shifts. We prove that the set of DLR measures contains the set of conformal measures associated to Walters potentials. In the BIP case or when the potential normalizes the Ruelle\'s operator we prove that the notions of DLR and conformal coincide. On renewal type shifts we obtained a characterization when the conformal measures are infinite, we study the problem to describe the cases when the set of conformal measures jumps from finite to infinite measures when we consider high and low temperatures, respectively.

Zufallsgraphen sind Graphen, die durch einen zufälligen Prozess erzeugt werden. Ein im Zusammenhang mit Zufallsgraphen häufig auftretendes Phänomen ist, dass sich die typischen Eigenschaften eines Graphen durch Hinzufügen einer relativ kleinen Anzahl von zufälligen Kanten radikal verändern. Wir betrachten den Zufallsgraphen G(n,p), der n Knoten enthält und in dem zwei Knoten unabhängig und mit Wahrscheinlichkeit p durch eine Kante verbunden sind. Erdös und Rényi zeigten, dass ein Graph für p = c/n und c < 1 mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit aus Komponenten mit O(log n) Knoten besteht. Für p = c/n und c > 1 enthält G(n,p) mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit genau eine Komponente mit Theta(n) Knoten, welche viel größer als alle anderen Komponenten ist. Dieser Punkt in der Entwicklung des Graphen, an dem sich die Komponentenstruktur durch eine kleine Erhöhung der Anzahl von Kanten stark verändert, wird Phasenübergang genannt. Wenn p = (1+epsilon)/n, wobei epsilon eine Funktion von n ist, die gegen 0 geht, sind wir in der kritischen Phase, welche eine der interessantesten Phasen der Entwicklung des Zufallsgraphen ist. In dieser Arbeit betrachten wir drei verschiedene Modelle von Zufallsgraphen. In Kapitel 4 studieren wir den Minimalgrad-Graphenprozess. In diesem Prozess werden sukzessive Kanten vw hinzugefügt, wobei v ein zuällig ausgewählter Knoten von minimalem Grad ist. Wir beweisen, dass es in diesem Graphenprozess einen Phasenübergang, und wie im G(n,p) einen Doppelsprung, gibt. Die zwei anderen Modelle sind Zufallsgraphen mit einer vorgeschriebenen Gradfolge und zufällige gerichtete Graphen. Für diese Modelle wurde bereits in den Arbeiten von Molloy und Reed (1995), Karp (1990) und Luczak (1990) gezeigt, dass es einen Phasenübergang bezüglich der Komponentenstruktur gibt. In dieser Arbeit untersuchen wir in Kapitel 5 und 6 die kritische Phase dieser Prozesse genauer, und zeigen, dass sich diese Modelle ähnlich zum G(n,p) verhalten. / Random graphs are graphs which are created by a random process. A common phenomenon in random graphs is that the typical properties of a graph change radically by the addition of a relatively small number of random edges. This phenomenon was first investigated in the seminal papers of Erdös and Rényi. We consider the graph G(n,p) which contains n vertices, and where any two vertices are connected by an edge independently with probability p. Erdös and Rényi showed that if p = c/n$ and c < 1, then with high probability G(n,p) consists of components with O(log n) vertices. If p = c/n$ and c>1, then with high probability G(n,p) contains exactly one component, called the giant component, with Theta(n) vertices, which is much larger than all other components. The point at which the giant component is formed is called the phase transition. If we let $p = (1+epsilon)/n$, where epsilon is a function of n tending to 0, we are in the critical phase of the random graph, which is one of the most interesting phases in the evolution of the random graph. In this case the structure depends on how fast epsilon tends to 0. In this dissertation we consider three different random graph models. In Chapter 4 we consider the so-called minimum degree graph process. In this process edges vw are added successively, where v is a randomly chosen vertex with minimum degree. We prove that a phase transition occurs in this graph process as well, and also that it undergoes a double jump, similar to G(n,p). The two other models we will consider, are random graphs with a given degree sequence and random directed graphs. In these models the point of the phase transition has already been found, by Molloy and Reed (1995), Karp (1990) and Luczak (1990). In Chapter 5 and 6 we investigate the critical phase of these processes, and show that their behaviour resembles G(n,p).

An experimental study of phase transitions of long-chain n-alkanes induced by the effect of interfaces is described. ¶ The phase behaviour of long-chain n-alkanes (carbon number 14, 16, 17, 18) adsorbed at isolated mica surfaces and confined between two mica surfaces has been studied in the vicinity of and down to several degrees below the bulk melting points, Tm. Using the Surface Force Apparatus we have measured the thickness of alkane films adsorbed from vapour (0.97 [equal to or greater-than] p/p[subscript o] [equal to or greater-than] 0.997), studied capillary condensation transition, subsequent growth of capillary condensates between two surfaces, and phase transitions in both the adsorbed films and the condensates. By measuring the growth rate of the capillary condensates we have identified a transition in the lateral mobility of molecules in the adsorbed films on isolated mica surfaces. This transition to greater mobility occurs slightly above Tm for n-hexadecane, n-heptadecane and n-octadecane but several degrees below Tm for n-tetradecane, and is accompanied by a change in wetting behaviour and a measurable decrease in adsorbed film thickness for n-heptadecane and n-octadecane. Capillary condensates that form below Tm remain liquid, but may freeze if the degree of confinement is reduced by separation of the mica surfaces. An increase in the area of the liquid-vapour interface relative to that of the liquid-mica interface facilitates freezing in the case of the long-chain alkanes, which show surface freezing at the liquid-vapour interface. ¶ Although thermodynamic properties of the surface freezing transition have been rather well documented, the kinetics involved in formation of such ordered monolayers has so far received very little attention. We studied the surface tension of n-octadecane as a function of temperature in the vicinity of Tm, using the static Wilhelmy plate and the dynamic maximum bubble pressure methods. The two methods give different results on cooling paths, where nucleation of the surface ordered phase is involved, but agree on heating paths, where both methods measure properties of the equilibrium surface phase. On cooling paths, the surface of bubbles may supercool below the equilibrium surface freezing temperature. The onset of surface freezing is marked by a sharp drop in the surface tension. The transition is accompanied by an increased stability of the films resulting in longer bubble lifetimes at the liquid surface, which suggests that the mechanical properties of the surfaces change from liquid-like to solid-like. Our results suggest occurrence of supercooling of the monolayer itself.

The self-gravitating systems are formed by particles interacting through gravity. They describe structure formation in the universe. As a consequence of the long range interaction of gravity, they are inhomogeneous even at thermal equilibrium. We study the self-gravitating systems with several kinds of particles and the self-gravitating systems in the presence of the cosmological constant $ Lambda$. We formulate the statistical mechanics and the mean field approach describing the gaseous phase. We explicitely compute the density of particles and thermodynamic quantities. The presence of $ Lambda$ extends the domain of stability of the gaseous phase. Monte Carlo simulations show that the mean field describes the gaseous phase with an excellent accuracy. Scalling law of the self-gravitating systems with several kinds of particles is found. At the critical point the fractal dimension is independant of their composition and is $1.6...$~.

<p>The main focus of this thesis lies on the critical properties of twodimensional (2D) superconductors in zero magnetic field. Simulations based on variants of the 2D XY model are shown to give characteristic features close to the phase transition which agree qualitatively with experimental data. Thus, it is concluded that these common characteristic features are caused by two-dimensional vortices.</p><p>The thesis consists of an introductory part and five separate publications. In the introductory part of the thesis the basic results of the Ginzburg-Landau model, which gives a phenomenological description of superconductors, are described. In 2D systems, the superconductive phase transition in the absence of a magnetic field is governed by the unbinding of thermally created vortices and is called the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) phase transition. An introduction to this kind of transition is given. The important features of the current-voltage (IV) characteristics and the nonlinear conductivity, which can be used to study the KT transition, are discussed. The scaling analysis procedure, a powerful tool for the analysis of the properties of a system in the vicinity of phase transition, is reviewed. A scaling form for the nonlinear dc conductivity, which takes into account finite-size e ects, is discussed.</p><p>The static 2D XY model, which is usually used to describe superfluids, superconducting films as well as the high-Tc superconductors with high anisotropy, is introduced. Three different types of dynamic models, namely resistively shunted junction, relaxational, and Monte Carlo dynamics are superimposed on the 2D XY model for the evaluation of the dynamic properties. TheVillain model and a modifiedXY model using a p-type interaction potential exhibit different densities of the thermally created vortices. Since the dominant characteristic physical features close to the KT transition are associated with vortex pair fluctuations these two models are investigated.</p><p>The introductory part closes with a short introduction to each of the five published articles.</p>

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