arXiv subjects

P. K. Mohanty

Publications and source records attributed to P. K. Mohanty.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Small-scale cosmic ray anisotropy observed by the GRAPES-3 experiment at TeV energies

GRAPES-3 is a mid-altitude (2200 m) and near equatorial ($11.4^{\circ}$ North) air shower array, overlapping in its field of view for cosmic ray observations with experiments that are located in Northern and Southern hemispheres. We analyze a sample of $3.7\times10^9$ cosmic ray events collected by the GRAPES-3 experiment between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2016 with a median energy of $\sim16$ TeV for study of small-scale ($<60^{\circ}$) angular scale anisotropies. We observed two structures labeled as A and B, deviate from the expected isotropic distribution of cosmic rays in a statistically significant manner. Structure `A' spans $50^{\circ}$ to $80^{\circ}$ in the right ascension and $-15^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$ in the declination coordinate. The relative excess observed in the structure A is at the level of $(6.5\pm1.3)\times10^{-4}$ with a statistical significance of 6.8 standard deviations. Structure `B' is observed in the right ascension range of $110^{\circ}$ to $140^{\circ}$. The relative excess observed in this region is at the level of $(4.9\pm1.4)\times10^{-4}$ with a statistical significance of 4.7 standard deviations. These structures are consistent with those reported by Milagro, ARGO-YBJ, and HAWC. These observations could provide a better understanding of the cosmic ray sources, propagation and the magnetic structures in our Galaxy.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Nonexistence of motility induced phase separation transition in one dimension

We introduce and study a model of hardcore particles obeying run-and-tumble dynamics on a one-dimensional lattice, where particles run in either +ve or -ve $x$-direction with an effective speed $v$ and tumble (change their direction of motion) with a constant rate $ω.$ We show that the coarse-grained dynamics of the system can be mapped to a beads-in-urn model called misanthrope process where particles are identified as urns and vacancies as beads that hop to a neighbouring urn situated in the direction opposite to the current. The hop rate, same as the magnitude of the current, depends on the total number of beads present in the departure and the arrival urn; we calculate it analytically and show that it does not satisfy the criteria required for a phase separation transition. Tumbling is generally detrimental to the stability of jamming; thus, our results for this restricted tumbling model strongly suggest that motility induced phase separation transition can not occur in one dimension.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Many universality classes in an interface model restricted to non-negative heights

We present a simple one dimensional stochastic model with three control parameters and a surprisingly rich zoo of phase transitions. At each (discrete) site $x$ and time $t$, an integer $n(x,t)$ satisfies a linear interface equation with added random noise. Depending on the control parameters, this noise may or may not satisfy the detailed balance condition, so that the growing interfaces are in the Edwards-Wilkinson (EW) or in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. In addition, there is also a constraint $n(x,t) \geq 0$. Points $x$ where $n>0$ on one side and $n=0$ on the other are called ``fronts". These fronts can be ``pushed" or ``pulled", depending on the control parameters. For pulled fronts, the lateral spreading is in the directed percolation (DP) universality class, while it is of a novel type for pushed fronts, with yet another novel behavior in between. In the DP case, the activity at each active site can in general be arbitrarily large, in contrast to previous realizations of DP. Finally, we find two different types of transitions when the interface detaches from the line $n=0$ (with $\langle n(x,t)\rangle \to$ const on one side, and $\to \infty$ on the other), again with new universality classes. We also discuss a mapping of this model to the avalanche propagation in a directed Oslo rice pile model in specially prepared backgrounds.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Room-temperature surface multiferroicity in Y$_2$NiMnO$_6$ nanorods

We report observation of surface-defect-induced room temperature multiferroicity - surface ferromagnetism ($M_S$ at 50 kOe $\sim$0.005 emu/g), ferroelectricity ($P_R$ $\sim$2 nC/cm$^2$), and significantly large magnetoelectric coupling (decrease in $P_R$ by $\sim$80\% under $\sim$15 kOe field) - in nanorods (diameter $\sim$100 nm) of double perovskite Y$_2$NiMnO$_6$ compound. In bulk form, this system exhibits multiferroicity only below its magnetic transition temperature $T_N$ $\approx$ 70 K. On the other hand, the oxygen vacancies, formed at the surface region (thickness $\sim$10 nm) of the nanorods, yield long-range magnetic order as well as ferroelectricity via Dzyloshinskii-Moriya exchange coupling interactions with strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Sharp drop in $P_R$ under magnetic field indicates strong cross-coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity as well. Observation of room temperature magnetoelectric coupling in nanoscale for a compound which, in bulk form, exhibits multiferroicity only below 70 K underscores an alternative pathway for inducing magnetoelectric multiferroicity via surface defects and, thus, in line with magnetoelectric property observed, for example, in domain walls or boundaries or interfaces of heteroepitaxially grown thin films which do not exhibit such features in their bulk.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Steady State Of Random Dynamical Systems

Random dynamical systems (RDS) evolve by a dynamical rule chosen independently with a certain probability, from a given set of deterministic rules. These dynamical systems in an interval reach a steady state with a unique well-defined probability density only under certain conditions, namely Pelikan's criterion. We investigate and characterize the steady state of a bounded RDS when Pelikan's criterion breaks down. In this regime, the system is attracted to a common fixed point (CFP) of all the maps, which is attractive for at least one of the constituent mapping functions. If there are many such fixed points, the initial density is shared among the CFPs; we provide a mapping of this problem with the well known hitting problem of random walks and find the relative weights at different CFPs. The weights depend upon the initial distribution.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2020

Large structure-dependent room temperature exchange bias in self-assembled BiFeO3 nanoparticles

We studied the magnetic properties of self-assembled aggregates of BiFeO3 nanoparticles (~ 20-40 nm). The aggregates formed two different structures - one with limited and another with massive cross-linking - via `drying-mediated self-assembly' process following dispersion of the nanoparticles within different organic solvents. They exhibit large coercivity H_C (>1000 Oe) and exchange bias field H_E (~ 350-900 Oe) in comparison to what is observed in isolated nanoparticles (H_C ~ 250 Oe; H_E ~ 0). The H_E turns out to be switching from negative to positive depending on the structure of the aggregates with |H_E| being larger. The magnetic force microscopy reveals the magnetic domains (extending across 7-10 nanoparticles) as well as the domain switching characteristics and corroborate the results of magnetic measurements. Numerical simulation of the `drying-mediated-self-assembly' process shows that the nanoparticle-solvent interaction plays an important role in forming the `nanoparticle aggregate structures' observed experimentally. Numerical simulation of the magnetic hysteresis loops, on the other hand, points out the importance of spin pinning at the surface of nanoparticles as a result of surface functionalization of the particles in different suspension media. Depending on the concentration of pinned spins at the surface pointing preferably along the easy-axis direction - from greater than 50\% to less than 50% - H_E switches from negative to positive. Quite aside from bulk sample and isolated nanoparticle, nanoparticle aggregates - resulting from surface functionalization - therefore, offer remarkable tunability of properties depending on structures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Energy sensitivity of the GRAPES-3 EAS array for primary cosmic ray protons

Low energy ground-based cosmic ray air shower experiments generally have energy threshold in the range of a few tens to a few hundreds of TeV. The shower observables are measured indirectly with an array of detectors. The atmospheric absorption of low energy secondaries limits their detection frequencies at the Earth's surface. However, due to selection effects, a tiny fraction of low energy showers, which are produced in the lower atmosphere can reach the observational level. But, due to less information of shower observables, the reconstruction of these showers are arduous. Hence, it is believed that direct measurements by experiments aboard on satellites and balloon flights are more reliable at low energies. Despite having very small efficiency ($\sim$0.1%) at low energies, the large acceptance ($\sim$5 m$^2$sr) of GRAPES-3 experiment allows observing primary cosmic rays down below to $\sim$1 TeV and opens up the possibility to measure primary energy spectrum spanning from a few TeV to beyond cosmic ray knee (up to 10$^{16}$ eV), covering five orders of magnitude. The GRAPES-3 energy threshold for primary protons through Monte Carlo simulations are calculated, which gives reasonably good agreement with data. Furthermore, the total efficiencies and acceptance are also calculated for protons primaries. The ability of GRAPES-3 experiment to cover such a broader energy range may provide a unique handle to bridge the energy spectrum between direct measurements at low energies and indirect measurements at ultra-high energies.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

The angular resolution of GRAPES-3 EAS array after correction for the shower front curvature

The angular resolution of an extensive air shower (EAS) array plays a critical role in determining its sensitivity for the detection of point $γ$-ray sources in the multi-TeV energy range. The GRAPES-3 an EAS array located at Ooty in India (11.4$^{\circ}$N, 76.7$^{\circ}$E, 2200 m altitude) is designed to study $γ$-rays in the TeV-PeV energy range. It comprises of a dense array of 400 plastic scintillators deployed over an area of 25000 m$^2$ and a large area (560 m$^2$) muon telescope. A new statistical method allowed real time determination of the propagation delay of each detector in the GRAPES-3 array. The shape of shower front is known to be curved and here the details of a new method developed for accurate measurement of the shower front curvature is presented. These two developments have led to a sizable improvement in the angular resolution of GRAPES-3 array. It is shown that the curvature depends on the size and age of an EAS. By employing two different techniques, namely, the odd-even and the left-right methods, independent estimates of the angular resolution are obtained. The odd-even method estimates the best achievable resolution of the array. For obtaining the angular resolution, the left-right method is used after implementing the size and age dependent curvature corrections. A comparison of the angular resolution as a function of EAS energy by these two methods shows them be virtually indistinguishable. The angular resolution of GRAPES-3 array is 47$^{\prime}$ for energies E$>$5 TeV and improves to 17$^{\prime}$ at E$>$100 TeV and finally approaching 10$^{\prime}$ at E$>$500 TeV.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Effect of surface pinning on magnetic nanostuctures

Magnetic nanostructures are often considered as highly functional materials because they exhibit unusual magnetic properties under different external conditions. We study the effect of surface pinning on the core-shell magnetic nanostuctures of different shapes and sizes considering the spin-interaction to be Ising-like. We explore the hysteresis properties and find that the exchange bias, even under zero field cooled conditions, increases with increase of, the pinning density and the fraction of up-spins among the pinned ones. We explain these behavior analytically by introducing a simple model of the surface. The asymmetry in hysteresis is found to be more prominent in a inverse core-shell structure, where spin interaction in the core is antiferromagnetic and that in the shell is ferromagnetic. These studied of inverse core-shell structure are extended to different shapes, sizes, and different spin interactions, namely Ising, XY- and Heisenberg models in three dimension. We also briefly discuss the pinning effects on magnetic heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Modeling of rigidity dependent CORSIKA simulations for GRAPES-3

The GRAPES-3 muon telescope located in Ooty, India records 4x10^9 muons daily. These muons are produced by interaction of primary cosmic rays (PCRs) in the atmosphere. The high statistics of muons enables GRAPES-3 to make precise measurement of various sun-induced phenomenon including coronal mass ejections (CME), Forbush decreases, geomagnetic storms (GMS) and atmosphere acceleration during the overhead passage of thunderclouds. However, the understanding and interpretation of observed data requires Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of PCRs and subsequent development of showers in the atmosphere. CORSIKA is a standard MC simulation code widely used for this purpose. However, these simulations are time consuming as large number of interactions and decays need to be taken into account at various stages of shower development from top of the atmosphere down to ground level. Therefore, computing resources become an important consideration particularly when billion of PCRs need to be simulated to match the high statistical accuracy of the data. During the GRAPES-3 simulations, it was observed that over 60% of simulated events don't really reach the Earth's atmosphere. The geomagnetic field (GMF) creates a threshold to PCRs called cutoff rigidity Rc, a direction dependent parameter below which PCRs can't reach the Earth's atmosphere. However, in CORSIKA there is no provision to set a direction dependent threshold. We have devised an efficient method that has taken into account of this Rc dependence. A reduction by a factor ~3 in simulation time and ~2 in output data size was achieved for GRAPES-3 simulations. This has been incorporated in CORSIKA version v75600 onwards. Detailed implementation of this along the potential benefits are discussed in this work.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Measurement of the Electrical Properties of a Thundercloud Through Muon Imaging by the GRAPES-3 Experiment

The GRAPES-3 muon telescope located in Ooty, India records rapid ($\sim$10 min) variations in the muon intensity during major thunderstorms. Out of a total of 184 thunderstorms recorded during the interval April 2011-December 2014, the one on 1 December 2014 produced a massive potential of 1.3 GV. The electric field measured by four well-separated (up to 6 km) monitors on the ground was used to help estimate some of the properties of this thundercloud including its altitude and area that were found to be 11.4 km above mean sea level (amsl) and $\geq$380 km$^2$, respectively. A charging time of 6 min to reach 1.3 GV implied the delivery of a power of $\geq$2 GW by this thundercloud that was moving at a speed of $\sim$60 km h$^{-1}$. This work possibly provides the first direct evidence for the generation of GV potentials in thunderclouds that could also possibly explain the production of highest energy (100 MeV) $γ$-rays in the terrestrial $γ$-ray flashes.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Assisted exchange models in one dimension

We introduce an assisted exchange model (AEM) on a one dimensional periodic lattice with (K+1) different species of hard core particles, where the exchange rate depends on the pair of particles which undergo exchange and their immediate left neighbor. We show that this stochastic process has a pair factorized steady state for a broad class of exchange dynamics. We calculate exactly the particle current and spatial correlations (K+1)-species AEM using a transfer matrix formalism. Interestingly the current in AEM exhibits density dependent current reversal and negative differential mobility- both of which have been discussed elaborately by using a two species exchange model which resembles the partially asymmetric conserved lattice gas model in one dimension. Moreover, multi-species version of AEM exhibits additional features like multiple points of current reversal, and unusual response of particle current.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Was the cosmic ray burst detected by the GRAPES-3 on 22 June 2015 caused by transient weakening of geomagnetic field or by an interplanetary anisotropy?

The GRAPES-3 muon telescope in Ooty, India had claimed detection of a 2 hour (h) high-energy ($\sim$20 GeV) burst of galactic cosmic-rays (GCRs) through a $>$50$σ$ surge in GeV muons, was caused by reconnection of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in the magnetosphere that led to transient weakening of Earth's magnetic shield. This burst had occurred during a G4-class geomagnetic storm (storm) with a delay of $\frac{1}{2}$h relative to the coronal mass ejection (CME) of 22 June 2015 (Mohanty et al., 2016). However, recently a group interpreted the occurrence of the same burst in a subset of 31 neutron monitors (NMs) to have been the result of an anisotropy in interplanetary space (Evenson et al., 2017) in contrast to the claim in (Mohanty et al., 2016). A new analysis of the GRAPES-3 data with a fine 10.6$^{\circ}$ angular segmentation shows the speculation of interplanetary anisotropy to be incorrect, and offers a possible explanation of the NM observations. The observed 28 minutes (min) delay of the burst relative to the CME can be explained by the movement of the reconnection front from the bow shock to the surface of Earth at an average speed of 35 km/s, much lower than the CME speed of 700 km/s. This measurement may provide a more accurate estimate of the start of the storm.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Negative Differential Mobility in Interacting Particle Systems

Driven particles in presence of crowded environment, obstacles or kinetic constraints often exhibit negative differential mobility (NDM) due to their decreased dynamical activity. We propose a new mechanism for complex many-particle systems where slowing down of certain {\it non-driven} degrees of freedom by the external field can give rise to NDM. This phenomenon, resulting from inter-particle interactions, is illustrated in a pedagogical example of two interacting random walkers, one of which is biased by an external field while the same field only slows down the other keeping it unbiased. We also introduce and solve exactly the steady state of several driven diffusive systems, including a two species exclusion model, asymmetric misanthrope and zero-range processes, to show explicitly that this mechanism indeed leads to NDM.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Multi-chain models of Conserved Lattice Gas

Conserved lattice gas (CLG) models in one dimension exhibit absorbing state phase transition (APT) with simple integer exponents $β=1=ν=η$ whereas the same on a ladder belong to directed percolation (DP)universality. We conjecture that additional stochasticity in particle transfer is a relevant perturbation and its presence on a ladder force the APT to be in DP class. To substantiate this we introduce a class of restricted conserved lattice gas models on a multi-chain system ($M\times L$ square lattice with periodic boundary condition in both directions), where particles which have exactly one vacant neighbor are active and they move deterministically to the neighboring vacant site. We show that for odd number of chains , in the thermodynamic limit $L \to \infty,$ these models exhibit APT at $ρ_c= \frac{1}{2}(1+\frac1M)$ with $β=1.$ On the other hand, for even-chain systems transition occurs at $ρ_c=\frac12$ with $β=1,2$ for $M=2,4$ respectively, and $β= 3$ for $M\ge6.$ We illustrate this unusual critical behavior analytically using a transfer matrix method.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Matrix Product States for Interacting Particles without Hardcore Constraints

We construct matrix product steady state for a class of interacting particle systems where particles do not obey hardcore exclusion, meaning each site can occupy any number of particles subjected to the global conservation of total number of particles in the system. To represent the arbitrary occupancy of the sites, the matrix product ansatz here requires an infinite set of matrices which in turn leads to an algebra involving infinite number of matrix equations. We show that these matrix equations, in fact, can be reduced to a single functional relation when the matrices are parametric functions of the representative occupation number. We demonstrate this matrix formulation in a class of stochastic particle hopping processes on a one dimensional periodic lattice where hop rates depend on the occupation numbers of the departure site and its neighbors within a finite range; this includes some well known stochastic processes like, totally asymmetric zero range process, misanthrope process, finite range process and partially asymmetric versions of the same processes but with different rate functions depending on the direction of motion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Zero range and finite range processes with asymmetric rate functions

We introduce and solve exactly a class of interacting particle systems in one dimension where particles hop asymmetrically. In its simplest form, namely asymmetric zero range process (AZRP), particles hop on a one dimensional periodic lattice with asymmetric hop rates; the rates for both right and left moves depend only on the occupation at the departure site but their functional forms are different. We show that AZRP leads to a factorized steady state (FSS) when its rate-functions satisfy certain constraints. We demonstrate with explicit examples that AZRP exhibits certain interesting features which were not possible in usual zero range process. Firstly, it can undergo a condensation transition depending on how often a particle makes a right move compared to a left one and secondly, the particle current in AZRP can reverse its direction as density is changed. We show that these features are common in other asymmetric models which have FSS, like the asymmetric misanthrope process where rate functions for right and left hops are different, and depend on occupation of both the departure and the arrival site. We also derive sufficient conditions for having cluster-factorized steady states for finite range process with such asymmetric rate functions and discuss possibility of condensation there.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Continuously Varying Critical Exponents Beyond Weak Universality

Renormalization group theory does not restrict the from of continuous variation of critical exponents which occurs in presence of a marginal operator. However, the continuous variation of critical exponents, observed in different contexts, usually follows a weak universality scenario where some of the exponents (e.g., $β, γ, ν$) vary keeping others (e.g., $δ, η$) fixed. Here we report a ferromagnetic phase transition in (Sm$_{1-y}$Nd$_{y}$)$_{0.52}$Sr$_{0.48}$MnO$_3$ $(0.5\le y\le1)$ single crystal where all critical exponents vary with $y.$ Such variation clearly violates both universality and weak universality hypothesis. We propose a new scaling theory that explains the present experimental results, reduces to the weak universality as a special case, and provides a generic route leading to continuous variation of critical exponents and multicriticality.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗