Boston College
Boston College Department of Physics
bc physics online





Department News

Prof. Kalman's paper recently appeared in Phys. Rev. Letters

March 24, 2008

A paper of Res. Prof. Gabor Kalman and his graduate student John Feldmann has recently appeared in the Feb.29 2008 issue of the Phys. Rev. Letters journal (see paper .pdf). This year is a special year for Physical Review Letters as the journal celebrates its 50th anniversary. This event was widely celebrated at the recent 2008 APS March Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

In their Letter, the BC physicists and their colleagues from the University of California - San Diego and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences develop a theory of the ground state configuration of a system of magnetic dipoles fixed on a two-dimensional lattice. The results of the theoretical analysis were accompanied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.  

The authors consider the systems of magnetic dipoles fixed on sites of a given 2D lattice that interact solely via the magnetic dipole-dipole potential. Secondly, they address a scenario in a complex plasma, where the magnetic interaction competes with the dominant screened electrostatic Yukawa interaction between the grains. The system is considered to be a quasi 2D system by assuming the case when the ground state energy is dominated by the intrachain interactions. In this paper, the energy of such system for the equilibrium lattice configuration was calculated. In addition to theoretical calculations, the authors conducted the molecular dynamics simulations of the system of a two-dimensional lattice in complex plasmas. The MD simulation showed an excellent agreement with theoretical predictions.

Prof. Kalman and his co-authors show that the theoretical results calculated in their Letter are going to be feasible for future experiments on plasma crystals, and expect a great interest to the remarkable physics of such systems.

 

 



Undergraduate | Graduate | Research | Facilities | Courses Offered
People | Course Web Pages | Seminars | Postions Available
Contact Us | Directions | Sitemap | Links

© 2005 Boston College, Department of Physics, 335 Higgins Hall
140 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Phone (617) 552-3575    Fax (617) 552-8478
Report Site Problems - Webmaster


 

Prof. Padilla lab reports on metamaterials' properties with promising new applications
MORE | BC News Release>>
 
 

The Department of Physics acknowledges its AY 07-08 award winners
MORE>>
 
 

Professor George Goldsmith celebrates 85th birthday
MORE>>
 
 

The Department of Physics makes successful contribution to scientific agenda of 2008 March Meeting
MORE>>
 
 

Nanotech fuels thermoelectric breakthrough
BC INFO | Science | APS-DCMP News | Boston Globe | MORE>>
 
 

Prof. Kalman's paper recently appeared in Phys. Rev. Letters
MORE>>
 
 

Department news archive
MORE>>