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Quantum coherence control usually requires extremely low temperature environments. Even for spins in diamond, a remarkable exception, the coherence signal is lost as temperature approaches 700 K. Here we demonstrate quantum coherence…
The state of vanishing friction known as superlubricity has important applications for energy saving and increasing the lifetime of devices. Superlubricity detected with atomic force microscopy appears in examples like sliding large…
The fission of highly charged sodium clusters with fissilities X>1 is studied by {\em ab initio} molecular dynamics. Na_{24}^{4+} is found to undergo predominantly sequential Na_{3}^{+} emission on a time scale of 1 ps, while Na_{24}^{Q+}…
Using a series of three-dimensional, hydrodynamic simulations on an adaptive grid, we have performed a systematic study on the effect of bubble-induced motions on metallicity profiles in clusters of galaxies. In particular, we have studied…
The theme of this contribution is the idea that the metals in the intracluster medium (ICM) may be inhomogeneously distributed on small scales. We focus on the possible interplay between this and the cooling flow process. We begin with a…
A quantum mechanical approach and local response theory are applied to study plasmons propagating in nanometer-thin gold slabs sandwiched between different dielectrics. The metal slab supports two different kinds of modes, classified as…
The textbook thermophoretic force which acts on a body in a fluid is proportional to the local temperature gradient. The same is expected to hold for the macroscopic drift behavior of a diffusive cluster or molecule physisorbed on a solid…
Atomic scale friction, an indispensable element of nanotechnology, requires a direct access to, under actual growing shear stress, its successive live phases: from static pinning, to depinning and transient evolution, eventually ushering in…
Alkali halide (100) crystal surfaces are poorly wetted by their own melt at the triple point. We carried out simulations for NaCl(100) within the well tested BMHFT model potential. Calculations of the solid-vapor, solid-liquid and…
The magnetic behavior of bcc iron nanoclusters, with diameters between 2 and 8 nm, is investigated by means of spin dynamics (SD) simulations coupled to molecular dynamics (MD-SD), using a distance-dependent exchange interaction.…
We examine the possibility of probing superconductivity effects in metal nanoclusters via diamond magnetometry. Metal nanoclusters have been proposed as constitutive elements of high T$_c$ superconducting nanostructured materials.…
The surface of a crystal made of roughly spherical molecules exposes, above its bulk rotational phase transition at T= T$_r$, a carpet of freely rotating molecules, possibly functioning as "nanobearings" in sliding friction. We explored by…
A correlation is established between the macro-scale friction regimes of metals and a transition between two dominant atomistic mechanisms of deformation. Metals tend to exhibit bi-stable friction behavior -- low and converging or high and…
Diffusion and drift of a graphene flake on a graphite surface are analyzed. A potential energy relief of the graphene flake is computed using ab initio and empirical calculations. Based on the analysis of this relief, different mechanisms…
The scaling of friction with the contact size $A$ and (in)commensurabilty of nanoscopic and mesoscopic crystals on a regular substrate are investigated analytically for triangular nanocrystals on hexagonal substrates. The crystals are…
Approximate symmetries abound in Nature. If these symmetries are also spontaneously broken, the would-be Goldstone modes acquire a small mass, or inverse correlation length, and are referred to as pseudo-Goldstones. At nonzero temperature,…
Extensive numerical simulation are reported for the structure and dynamics of large clusters on metal(100) surfaces. Different types of perimeter hopping processes makes center-of-mass of the cluster to follow a a random walk trajectory.…
Density-functional tight-binding and classical molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the structural deformations and melting of planar carbon nano-clusters $C_{N}$ with N=2-55. The minimum energy configurations for…
Temperature-controlled-growth of silver nanoclusters in soda glass matrix is investigated by low-frequency Raman scattering spectroscopy. Growth of the nanoclusters is ascribed to the diffusion-controlled precipitation of silver atoms due…
Friction force acting on silver and nickel nanoparticles sheared on a graphene sheet in different lateral directions is investigated using classical molecular dynamics simulations. The results reveal the existence of frictional anisotropy…