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Y. Okamoto

Publications and source records attributed to Y. Okamoto.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2011

Heterogeneous spin state in the field-induced phase of volborthite as seen via 51V nuclear magnetic resonance

We report results of 51V NMR in the field-induced phase of volborthite Cu3V2O7(OH)dot2H2O, a spin-1/2 antiferromagnet on a distorted kagome lattice. In magnetic fields above 4.5 T, two types of V sites with different spin-echo decay rates are observed. The hyperfine field at the fast decaying sites has a distribution, while it is more homogeneous at the slowly decaying sites. Our results indicate a heterogeneous state consisting of two spatially alternating Cu spin systems, one of which exhibits anomalous spin fluctuations contrasting with the other showing a conventional static order.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2009

Phase Diagram and Spin Dynamics in Volborthite with a Distorted Kagome Lattice

We report 51V-NMR study on a high-quality powder sample of volborthite Cu3V2O7(OH)2/2H2O, a spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a distorted kagome lattice formed by isosceles triangles. In the magnetic fields below 4.5 T, a sharp peak in the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 accompanied with line broadening revealed a magnetic transition near 1 K. The low temperature phase shows anomalies such as a Lorentzian line shape, a 1/T1 propto T behavior indicating dense low energy excitations, and a large spin-echo decay rate 1/T2 pointing to unusually slow fluctuations. Another magnetic phase appears above 4.5 T with less anomalous spectral shape and dynamics.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2009

Evidence for Oxygen Holes due to d-p Rehybridization in Thermoelectric Sr_{1-x}Rh_{2}O_{4}

Soft-x-ray photoemission and absorption spectroscopies are employed to investigate the electronic structures of Sr_{1-x}Rh_{2}O_{4}. Similarly to the layered cobaltates such as Na_{1-x}CoO_{2}, a valence-band satellite feature (VBS) occurs at higher binding energy to the O 2p band. We find that the VBS resonates at the O 1s edge. Additionally, core absorption shows clear x dependence in the O 1s edge rather than in the Rh 3p edge. These results indicate that the holes in the initial state mainly have O 2p character presumably due to d-p rehybridizations affected by Sr^{2+} vacancy potentials. The resultant inhomogenous charge texture may have impact on the TE transport properties at low x.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2007

Superconductivity in Rh$_2$Ga$_9$ and Ir$_2$Ga$_9$ without Inversion Symmetry

Superconductivity with $T_{\rm c}$ $\simeq$ 2 K was discovered in the intermetallic binary compounds Rh$_2$Ga$_9$ and Ir$_2$Ga$_9$. This is the first observation of superconductivity in the Rh-Ga and Ir-Ga binary systems. Both compounds crystallize in a distorted Co$_2$Al$_9$-type structure (monoclinic, space group: $Pc$), which lacks spatial inversion symmetry. Specific heat measurements revealed that both compounds are weak-coupling BCS superconductors having an isotropic superconducting gap. Measurements in magnetic fields indicated type-I superconductivity with a critical field $H_{\rm c}(0)$ $\simeq$ 130 Oe for Rh$_2$Ga$_9$ and type-II superconductivity with an upper critical field $H_{\rm c2}(0)$ $\simeq$ 250 Oe for Ir$_2$Ga$_9$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2003

The Earliest Optical Observations of GRB 030329

We present the earliest optical imaging observations of GRB 030329 related to SN 2003dh. The burst was detected by the HETE-2 satellite at 2003 March 29, 11:37:14.67 UT. Our wide-field monitoring started 97 minutes before the trigger and the burst position was continuously observed. We found no precursor or contemporaneous flare brighter than $V=5.1$ ($V=5.5$) in 32 s (64 s) timescale between 10:00 and 13:00 UT. Follow-up time series photometries started at 12:51:39 UT (75 s after position notice through the GCN) and continued for more than 5 hours. The afterglow was $Rc= 12.35\pm0.07$ at $t=74$ min after burst. Its fading between 1.2 and 6.3 hours is well characterized by a single power-law of the form $f{\rm(mJy)} = (1.99\pm0.02{\rm (statistic)}\pm0.14{\rm (systematic)}) \times (t/1 {\rm day})^{-0.890\pm 0.006 {\rm (statistic)}\pm 0.010 {\rm (systematic)}}$ in $Rc$-band. No significant flux variation was detected and upper limits are derived as $(Δf/f)_{\rm RMS} = 3-5$% in minutes to hours timescales and $(Δf/f)_{\rm RMS} = 35-5$% in seconds to minutes timescales. Such a featureless lightcurve is explained by the smooth distribution of circumburst medium. Another explanation is that the optical band was above the synchrotron cooling frequency where emergent flux is insensitive to the ambient density contrasts. Extrapolation of the afterglow lightcurve to the burst epoch excludes the presence of an additional flare component at $t<10$ minutes as seen in GRB 990123 and GRB 021211.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2003

Generalized-Ensemble Algorithms: Enhanced Sampling Techniques for Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

In complex systems with many degrees of freedom such as spin glass and biomolecular systems, conventional simulations in canonical ensemble suffer from the quasi-ergodicity problem. A simulation in generalized ensemble performs a random walk in potential energy space and overcomes this difficulty. From only one simulation run, one can obtain canonical-ensemble averages of physical quantities as functions of temperature by the single-histogram and/or multiple-histogram reweighting techniques. In this article we review the generalized-ensemble algorithms. Three well-known methods, namely, multicanonical algorithm, simulated tempering, and replica-exchange method, are described first. Both Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics versions of the algorithms are given. We then present five new generalized-ensemble algorithms which are extensions of the above methods.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2003

Monte Carlo Simulations in Multibaric-Multithermal Ensemble

We propose a new generalized-ensemble algorithm, which we refer to as the multibaric-multithermal Monte Carlo method. The multibaric-multithermal Monte Carlo simulations perform random walks widely both in volume space and in potential energy space. From only one simulation run, one can calculate isobaric-isothermal-ensemble averages at any pressure and any temperature. We test the effectiveness of this algorithm by applying it to the Lennard-Jones 12-6 potential system with 500 particles. It is found that a single simulation of the new method indeed gives accurate average quantities in isobaric-isothermal ensemble for a wide range of pressure and temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2003

Multi-Overlap Simulations for Transitions between Reference Configurations

We introduce a new procedure to construct weight factors, which flatten the probability density of the overlap with respect to some pre-defined reference configuration. This allows one to overcome free energy barriers in the overlap variable. Subsequently, we generalize the approach to deal with the overlaps with respect to two reference configurations so that transitions between them are induced. We illustrate our approach by simulations of the brainpeptide Met-enkephalin with the ECEPP/2 energy function using the global-energy-minimum and the second lowest-energy states as reference configurations. The free energy is obtained as functions of the dihedral and the root-mean-square distances from these two configurations. The latter allows one to identify the transition state and to estimate its associated free energy barrier.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2001

Generalized-ensemble simulations of spin systems and protein systems

In complex systems such as spin systems and protein systems, conventional simulations in the canonical ensemble will get trapped in states of energy local minima. We employ the generalized-ensemble algorithms in order to overcome this multiple-minima problem. Three well-known generalized-ensemble algorithms, namely, multicanonical algorithm, simulated tempering, and replica-exchange method, are described. We then present three new generalized-ensemble algorithms based on the combinations of the three methods. Effectiveness of the new methods are tested with a Potts model and protein systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2001

Free-Energy Calculations in Protein Folding by Generalized-Ensemble Algorithms

We review uses of the generalized-ensemble algorithms for free-energy calculations in protein folding. Two of the well-known methods are multicanonical algorithm and replica-exchange method; the latter is also referred to as parallel tempering. We present a new generalized-ensemble algorithm that combines the merits of the two methods; it is referred to as the replica-exchange multicanonical algorithm. We also give a multidimensional extension of the replica-exchange method. Its realization as an umbrella sampling method, which we refer to as the replica-exchange umbrella sampling, is a powerful algorithm that can give free energy in wide reaction coordinate space.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2000

Replica-Exchange Simulated Tempering Method for Simulations of Frustrated Systems

We propose a new method for the determination of the weight factor for the simulated tempering method. In this method a short replica-exchange simulation is performed and the simulated tempering weight factor is obtained by the multiple-histogram reweighting techniques. The new algorithm is particularly useful for studying frustrated systems with rough energy landscape where the determination of the simulated tempering weight factor by the usual iterative process becomes very difficult. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated by taking an example for protein folding.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv1998

The Folding Funnel Landscape of the Peptide Met-enkephalin

We study the free energy landscape of the small peptide Met-enkephalin. Our data were obtained from a generalized-ensemble Monte Carlo simulation taking the interactions among all atoms into account. We show that the free energy landscape resembles that of a funnel, indicating that this peptide is a good folder. Our work demonstrates that the energy landscape picture and folding concept, developed in the context of simplified protein models, can also be used to describe the folding in more realistic models.

cond-mat↗
arXiv1992

Rotation Curves of Spiral Galaxies and Large Scale Structure of Universe under Generalized Einstein Action

We consider an addition of the term which is a square of the scalar curvature to the Einstein-Hilbert action. Under this generalized action, we attempt to explain i) the flat rotation curves observed in spiral galaxies, which is usually attributed to the existence of dark matter, and ii) the contradicting observations of uniform cosmic microwave background and non-uniform galaxy distributions against redshift. For the former, we attain the flatness of velocities, although the magnitudes remain about half of the observations. For the latter, we obtain a solution with oscillating Hubble parameter under uniform mass distributions. This solution leads to several peaks of galaxy number counts as a function of redshift with the first peak corresponding to the Great Wall.

hep-ph↗