Visco-elastic regularization and strain softening

In this paper it is intended to verify the capacity of regularization of the numerical solution of an elasto-plastic problem with linear strain softening. The finite element method with a displacement approach is used. Drucker-Prager yield criteria is considered. The radial return method is used for the integration of the elasto-plastic constitutive relations. An elastovisco- plastic scheme is used to regularize the numerical solution. Two constitutive laws have been developed and implemented in a FE-program, the first represent the radial return method applied to Drucker-Prager yield criteria and the second is a time integration procedure for the Maxwell visco-elastic model. Attention is paid to finite deformations. An associative plastic flow is considered in the Drucker-Prager elasto-plastic model. The algorithms are tested in two problems with softening. Figures showing the capability of the algorithms to regularize the solution are presented

Duality Symmetries and Supersymmetry Breaking in String Compactifications

We discuss the spontaneous supersymetry breaking within the low-energy effective supergravity action of four-dimensional superstrings. In particular, we emphasize the non-universality of the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters, the $\mu$-problem and the duality symmetries.Comment: (invited talk to the 27th ICHEP, Glasgow, July 1994), 11 page

Unidimensional reduction of the 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equation with two- and three-body interactions

We deal with the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which is used to describe a cloud of dilute bosonic atoms that interact under competing two- and three-body scattering potentials. We study the case where the cloud of atoms is strongly confined in two spatial dimensions, allowing us to build an unidimensional nonlinear equation, controlled by the nonlinearities and the confining potentials that trap the system along the longitudinal coordinate. We focus attention on specific limits, dictated by the cubic and quintic coefficients, and we implement numerical simulations to help us to quantify the validity of the procedure.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; version to appear in PR

Heterotic String Theory on non-Kaehler Manifolds with H-Flux and Gaugino Condensate

We discuss compactifications of heterotic string theory to four dimensions in the presence of H-fluxes, which deform the geometry of the internal manifold, and a gaugino condensate which breaks supersymmetry. We focus on the compensation of the two effects in order to obtain vacua with zero cosmological constant and we comment on the effective superpotential describing these vacua.Comment: 6 page

Simultaneous occurrence of sliding and crossing limit cycles in piecewise linear planar vector fields

In the present study we consider planar piecewise linear vector fields with two zones separated by the straight line $x=0$. Our goal is to study the existence of simultaneous crossing and sliding limit cycles for such a class of vector fields. First, we provide a canonical form for these systems assuming that each linear system has center, a real one for $y<0$ and a virtual one for $y>0$, and such that the real center is a global center. Then, working with a first order piecewise linear perturbation we obtain piecewise linear differential systems with three crossing limit cycles. Second, we see that a sliding cycle can be detected after a second order piecewise linear perturbation. Finally, imposing the existence of a sliding limit cycle we prove that only one adittional crossing limit cycle can appear. Furthermore, we also characterize the stability of the higher amplitude limit cycle and of the infinity. The main techniques used in our proofs are the Melnikov method, the Extended Chebyshev systems with positive accuracy, and the Bendixson transformation.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

Van der Waals spin valves

We propose spin valves where a 2D non-magnetic conductor is intercalated between two ferromagnetic insulating layers. In this setup, the relative orientation of the magnetizations of the insulating layers can have a strong impact on the in-plane conductivity of the 2D conductor. We first show this for a graphene bilayer, described with a tight-binding model, placed between two ferromagnetic insulators. In the anti-parallel configuration, a band gap opens at the Dirac point, whereas in the parallel configuration, the graphene bilayer remains conducting. We then compute the electronic structure of graphene bilayer placed between two monolayers of the ferromagnetic insulator CrI$_3$, using density functional theory. Consistent with the model, we find that a gap opens at the Dirac point only in the antiparallel configuration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The world-sheet corrections to dyons in the Heterotic theory

All the linear alpha-prime corrections, however excluding the gravitational Chern-Simons correction, are studied in the toroidally compactified critical Heterotic string theory. These corrections are computed to the entropy for a BPS static spherical four dimensional dyonic black hole which represents a wrapped fundamental string carrying arbitrary winding and momentum charges along one cycle in the presence of KK-monopole and H-monopole charges associated to another cycle. It is verified that after the inclusion of the gravitational Chern-Simons corrections [hep-th/0608182], all the linear alpha-prime corrections to the entropy for the supersymmetric dyon can be reproduced by the inclusion of only the Gauss-Bonnet Lagrangian to the supergravity approximation of the induced Lagrangian.Comment: JHEP style, 17 Pages; v2: a typo corrected ; v3: The coupling of the gravitational Chern-Simons terms to the three form field strength taken into account. The conclusion correcte

Entropy function for rotating extremal black holes in very special geometry

We use the relation between extremal black hole solutions in five- and in four-dimensional N=2 supergravity theories with cubic prepotentials to define the entropy function for extremal black holes with one angular momentum in five dimensions. We construct two types of solutions to the associated attractor equations.Comment: 15 pages, minor change