1,721,239 research outputs found
Current challenges for statistical physics in fracture and plasticity
No full textStatistical physics has been applied in the last decades to several problems in mechanics, including fracture and plasticity. Concept drawn from percolation, fractal geometry, phase-transitions, and interface depinning have been used with varying degrees of success to understand these problems. In this colloquium, I describe recent successes and current challenging problems for statistical physics in fracture and plasticity, focusing on the roughness of cracks, fracture size effects and micron-scale plasticity
Complex dynamics of magnetic domain walls
No full textWe resume the recent theoretical and experimental results which point towards a deeper comprehension of the complex dynamics of magnetic domain walls, i.e., the Barkhausen noise. In particular, we show how the theoretical framework of depinning transition is able to correctly describe the various experimental scaling exponents, included the power spectral exponent which has been investigated without success since the earlier papers
Avalanche localization and crossover scaling in amorphous plasticity
Full text linkWe perform large-scale simulations of a two-dimensional lattice model for amorphous plasticity with random local yield stresses and long-range quadrupolar elastic interactions. We show that as the external stress increases towards the yielding phase transition, the scaling behavior of the avalanches crosses over from mean-field theory to a different universality class. This behavior is associated with strain localization, which significantly depends on the short-range properties of the interaction kernel
Size effects in dislocation depinning models for plastic yield
No full textTypically, the plastic yield stress of a sample is determined from a stress-strain curve by defining a yield strain and reading off the stress required to attain it. However, it is not a priori clear that yield strengths of microscale samples measured this way should display the correct finite size scaling. Here we study plastic yield as a depinning transition of a 1 + 1 dimensional interface, and consider how finite size effects depend on the choice of yield strain, as well as the presence of hardening and the strength of elastic coupling. Our results indicate the existence of a crossover length that depends on the yield strain. It is only above this length scale that standard finite size scaling is expected to hold. These results are also expected to be particularly relevant for simulations of single dislocations, such as those used to study strengthening due to included particles
Grain Boundary diffusion in a Peierls potential
No full textWe investigate the diffusion of a grain boundary in a crystalline material. We consider in particular the case of a regularly spaced low-angle grain boundary schematized as an array of dislocations that interact with each other through long-range stress fields and with the crystalline Peierls–Nabarro potential. The methodology employed to analyze the dynamics of the center of mass of the grain boundary and its spatio-temporal fluctuations is based on overdamped Langevin equations. The generality and the efficiency of this technique is proved by the agreement with molecular dynamics simulations
Dislocation mutual interactions mediated by mobile impurities and the conditions for plastic instabilities
No full textMetallic alloys, such as Al and Cu or mild steel, display plastic instabilities in a well-defined range of temperatures and deformation rates, a phenomenon known as the Portevin-Le Chatelelier effect. The stick-slip behavior, or serration, typical of this effect is due to the discontinuous motion of dislocations as they interact with solute atoms. Here we study a simple model of interacting dislocations and show how the classical Einstein fluctuation-dissipation relation can be used to define the temperature over a range of model parameters and to construct a phase diagram of serration that can be compared to experimental results. Furthermore, by performing analytic calculations and numerically integrating the equations of motion, we clarify the crucial role played by dislocation mutual interactions in serration
Scaling exponent for Barkhausen avalanches in polycrystalline and amorphous ferromagnets
No full textHuman breast and melanoma cancer stem cells biomarkers
No full textCancer progression in humans is difficult to infer because we do not routinely sample patients at multiple stages of their disease. The identification cancer stem cell (CSC) subpopulations inside tumor opens a new view of cancer development, since it implies that tumors can only be eradicated by targeting CSCs. Several markers have been proposed in the literature to identify CSCs both in breast and melanoma but no consensus has been reached, leading to the hypothesis that the CSC phenotype might be dynamically switched. Herein we provide a critical discussion of the biological markers described in the literature for breast cancer and melanoma. Due to its complexity the field would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach to investigate tumor heterogeneity and its progression. Similar considerations could also be relevant for normal tissue stem cells
Do cancer cells undergo phenotypic switching? The case for imperfect cancer stem cell markers
No full textThe identification of cancer stem cells in vivo and in vitro relies on specific surface markers that should allow to sort cancer cells in phenotypically distinct subpopulations. Experiments report that sorted cancer cell populations after some time tend to express again all the original markers, leading to the hypothesis of phenotypic switching, according to which cancer cells can transform stochastically into cancer stem cells. Here we explore an alternative explanation based on the hypothesis that markers are not perfect and are thus unable to identify all cancer stem cells. Our analysis is based on a mathematical model for cancer cell proliferation that takes into account phenotypic switching, imperfect markers and error in the sorting process. Our conclusion is that the observation of reversible expression of surface markers after sorting does not provide sufficient evidence in support of phenotypic switching
- …
