Related papers: Two-step nucleation of the Earth's inner core
In 1897 Ostwald formulated his step rule for formation of the most stable crystal state for a system with crystal polymorphism. The rule describes the irreversible way a system converts to the crystal with lowest free energy. But in fact…
Most ice in nature forms thanks to impurities which boost the exceedingly low nucleation rate of pure supercooled water. However, the microscopic details of ice nucleation on these substances remain largely unknown. Here, we have unraveled…
First principles electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory have been used to study the thermodynamic, structural and transport properties of solid solutions and liquid alloys of iron and oxygen at Earth's core…
Carbon is an essential element for the existence and evolution of life on Earth. Its abundance in Earth's crust and mantle (the Bulk Silicate Earth, BSE) is surprisingly high given that carbon is strongly siderophile (metal-loving) at low…
The paper considers the fate of the electrically charged (Ze~10e) Planckian elementary black holes - daemons - making up the dark matter (DM) of the Galactic disk, which, as follows from our measurements, were trapped by the Earth during…
An accurate pressure scale is a fundamental requirement to understand planetary interiors. Here, we establish a primary pressure scale extending to the multi-megabar pressures of the Earth's core, by combined measurement of the acoustic…
The three phase transitions - the GUT, the electro-weak and the quark-hadron, which the universe is assumed to have undergone produce very important physical effects if they are assumed to be of first order. It is also important that enough…
In this work we address the issue of whether the division of clusters in cool cores (CCs) and non-cool cores (NCCs) is due to a primordial difference or to how clusters evolve across cosmic time. Our first goal is to establish if spectra…
A novel computational treatment of dense, stiff, coupled reaction rate equations is introduced to study the nucleation, growth, and possible coalescence of cavities during neutron irradiation of metals. Radiation damage is modeled by the…
In this contribution, I will discuss two topics related to the clustering of atomic nuclei. The first is dual character of the ground state. Recently, it was pointed out that the ground states of atomic nuclei have dual character of shell…
A viable model for the dense matter equation of state above the nuclear saturation density includes a hadron-to-quark phase transition at densities relevant to compact objects. In this case, stable hybrid hadron-quark stars can arise. An…
According to the "hard-steps" model, the origin of humanity required "successful passage through a number of intermediate steps" (so-called "hard" or "critical" steps) that were intrinsically improbable with respect to the total time…
Bifurcations in kinetic pathways decide the evolution of a system. An example is crystallization, in which the thermodynamically stable polymorph may not form due to kinetic hindrance. Here, we use confined self-assembly to investigate the…
We focus our attention on Monte Carlo simulations of crystallization, which is one of the most important processes occurring in nature and technology of materials. Special attention is paid to the crystallization shrinkage and its…
Using evolutionary crystal structure prediction algorithm USPEX, we identify the compositions and crystal structures of stable compounds in the Fe-S system at pressures in the range 100-400 GPa. We find that at pressures of the Earth's…
The long-time evolution of the two-stream instability of a cold ion beam pulse propagating though the background plasma is investigated using a large-scale one-dimensional electrostatic kinetic simulation. The three stages of the…
It is a well-known fact that a cluster of nucleons can be formed in the interior of an atomic nucleus, and such clusters may occupy molecular-like orbitals, showing characteristics similar to normal molecules consisting of atoms. Chemical…
Equilibrium relationships involving solids are based on bulk thermodynamic properties that concern ideal crystals of infinite size. However, real processes towards equilibrium imply development of finite molecular-scale entities. The…
A new scenario for neutron-star cooling is proposed, based on the correspondence between pion condensation, occurring in neutron matter due to critical spin-isospin fluctuations, and the metal-insulator phase transition in a two-dimensional…
A crystal of pure nickel grows from its melt at a rate that reaches 70 meters per second. This extraordinary growth rate has led to the suggestion that metallic crystals might provide the next generation of phase change materials. The huge…