Matière | EPFL Graph Search

En physique, la matière est ce qui compose tout corps (objet ayant une réalité spatiale et massique). C'est-à-dire plus simplement une substance matérielle et donc occupe de l'espace. Les quatre états les plus communs sont l'état solide, l'état liquide, l'état gazeux et l'état plasma. Réciproquement, en physique, tout ce qui a une masse est de la matière. La matière ordinaire qui nous entoure est formée principalement de baryons et constitue la matière baryonique. Cette définition exclut les bosons fondamentaux, qui transportent les quatre forces fondamentales, bien qu'ils aient une masse et/ou une énergie. Ne pas confondre avec matériau, qui est le type, la sorte ou la classe de matière utilisé pour réaliser une pièce. Étymologie Du latin « materia » (bois, matériaux de construction) correspondant au grec « hyle » (matériaux forêt, jungle, bois, construction). En langue française, on trouve historiquement du jusqu'au le concept de substance mat

Numerical investigations of 3D CFTs using conformal bootstrap methods

Marten Jan Reehorst

Conformal field theories (CFTs) play a very significant role in modern physics, appearing in such diverse fields as particle physics, condensed matter and statistical physics and in quantum gravity both as the string worldsheet theory and through the AdS/CFT correspondence. In recent years major breakthroughs have been made in solving these CFTs through a method called numerical conformal bootstrap. This method uses consistency conditions on the CFT data in order to find and constrain conformal field theories and obtain precise measurements of physical observables. In this thesis we apply the conformal bootstrap to study among others the O(2)- and the ARP^3- models in 3D. In the first chapter we extend the conventional scalar numerical conformal bootstrap to a mixed system of correlators involving a scalar field charged under a global U(1) symmetry and the associated conserved spin-1 current J. The inclusion of a conserved spinning operator is an important advance in the numerical bootstrap program. Using numerical bootstrap techniques we obtain bounds on new observables not accessible in the usual scalar bootstrap. Concentrating on the O(2) model we extract rigorous bounds on the three-point function coefficient of two currents and the unique relevant scalar singlet, as well as those of two currents and the stress tensor. Using these results, and comparing with a quantum Monte Carlo simulation of the O(2) model conductivity, we give estimates of the thermal one-point function of the relevant singlet and the stress tensor. We also obtain new bounds on operators in various sectors. In the second chapter we investigate the existence of a second-order phase transition in the ARP^3 model. This model has a global O(4) symmetry and a discrete Z_2 gauge symmetry. It was shown by a perturbative renormalization group analysis that its Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson effective description does not have any stable fixed point, thus disallowing a second-order phase transition. However, it was also shown that lattice simulations contradict this, finding strong evidence for the existence of a second-order phase transition. In this chapter we apply conformal bootstrap methods to the correlator of four scalars t transforming in the traceless symmetric representation of O(4) in order to investigate the existence of this second order phase transition. We find various features that stand out in the region predicted by the lattice data. Moreover, under reasonable assumptions a candidate island can be isolated. We also apply a mixed t-s bootstrap setup in which this island persists. In addition we study the kink-landscape for all representations appearing in the t times t OPE for general N. Among others, we find a new family of kinks in the upper-bound on the dimension of the first scalar operator in the "Box" and "Hook" representations.

EPFL2020

Thermodynamic and kinetic degradation reactions of organic substances in groundwater modelled with PHREEQC

Johann Jakob Holch

Aim of this diploma thesis is to approach to kinetic modelling of subsurface hydrochemistry with the program code phreeqc. The reaction considered is the degradation of organic mass and its concomitant reactions. Phreeqc is a program for thermodynamical based equilibrium calculations of geo- and hydrochemistry. Although the degradation of organic matter, and the associated reduction reactions due to the oxidation of organic matter, can be modelled with phreeqc, it does not account for kinetically controlled reactions, whose characteristic feature is the dependency of time. This study focuses on the state of the art of environmental modelling, the thermodynamical based calculation of the degradation of organic matter and on two mathematical approaches to model bacterial degradation of a contaminant, the Monod equation and the Michaelis-Menten approach. Sensitivity analyses of the respective models runs were done. As a result one can see, that the redox chemistry of a natural water depends strongly on the abundance of oxygen and nitrate and, as a matter of course, on the abundance of organic matter. Considering bacterial activity within the degradation process, two basic mathematical formulations have been stated. The Monod equation and the Michaelis-Menten formulation were implemented in a BASIC interpreter in PHREEQC. The sensitivity analyses show, that that a accurate determination of the parameters in laboratory or field is essential. The coupling of kinetically controlled reactions and thermodynamical based equilibrium calculations might lead to auspicious hydrochemical modelling capabilities.

2008

Motile dislocations knead odd crystals into whorls

Sofia Magkiriadou, Alexis Poncet

The competition between thermal fluctuations and potential forces governs the stability of matter in equilibrium, in particular the proliferation and annihilation of topological defects. However, driving matter out of equilibrium allows for a new class of forces that are neither attractive nor repulsive, but rather transverse. The possibility of activating transverse forces raises the question of how they affect basic principles of material self-organization and control. Here we show that transverse forces organize colloidal spinners into odd elastic crystals crisscrossed by motile dislocations. These motile topological defects organize into a polycrystal made of grains with tunable length scale and rotation rate. The self-kneading dynamics drive super-diffusive mass transport, which can be controlled over orders of magnitude by varying the spinning rate. Simulations of both a minimal model and fully resolved hydrodynamics establish the generic nature of this crystal whorl state. Using a continuum theory, we show that both odd and Hall stresses can destabilize odd elastic crystals, giving rise to a generic state of crystalline active matter. Adding rotations to a material's constituents has far-reaching consequences for continuous control of structures and transport at all scales. The addition of transverse forces to an ensemble of colloidal spinners induces the appearance of odd elastic crystals, featuring self-propelled defects that organize the system into a 'self-kneading' crystal whorl state.

NATURE PORTFOLIO2021

Numerical investigations of 3D CFTs using conformal bootstrap methods

Marten Jan Reehorst

EPFL2020