Nanowires of complex morphologies, such as kinked wires, have been recently synthesized and demonstrated for novel devices and applications. However, the effects of these morphologies on thermal transport have not been well studied. Through systematic experimental measurements, we show that single-crystalline, defect-free kinks in boron carbide nanowires can pose a thermal resistance up to ∼30 ...

We consider a prototypical model in which a nonlinear field (continuum or discrete) evolves on a flexible substrate which feeds back to the evolution of the main field. We identify the underlying physics and potential applications of such a model and examine its simplest one-dimensional Hamiltonian form, which turns out to be a modified Frenkel-Kontorova model coupled to an extra linear equatio...

We present several one-parameter families of higher-order field theory models some which admit explicit kink solutions with an exponential tail while others a power-law tail. Various properties these are examined in detail. Further, by applying the recent Manton formalism, we provide estimates for kink–kink (KK) and antikink–kink (AK-K) acceleration hence ratio corresponding AK-K KK forces.

A discrete φ 4 system is proposed which preserves the topological lower bound on the kink energy. Existence of static kink solutions saturating this lower bound and occupying any position relative to the lattice is proved. Consequently, kinks of the model experience no Peierls-Nabarro barrier, and can move freely through the lattice without being pinned. Numerical simulations reveal that kink d...

When a soft elastic cylinder is bent beyond a critical radius of curvature, a sharp fold in the form of a kink appears catastrophically at its compressed side while the tensile side remains smooth. The critical radius increases linearly with the diameter of the cylinder but remains independent of its material properties such as modulus; the maximum deflection at the location of the kink depends...

We study traffic congestion by analyzing a one dimensional traffic flow model. Developing an asymptotic method to investigate the long time behavior near a critical point, we derive the modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation as the lowest order model. There are an infinite number of kink solitons to the mKdV equation, while it has been found by numerical simulations that the kink pattern ar...

The properties of gravitational kinks are studied within some simple models of two dimensional gravity. In spacetimes of cylindrical topology we prove the existence of kinks of constant curvature with arbitrary kink numbers. In R R spacetimes m = 1 kink solutions of the equation R = 0 are found, whereas jmj > 1 at kinks are proved not to exist. We give a detailed analysis of the behaviour of gr...

Local curvature, or bending, of a graphene sheet is known to increase the chemical reactivity presenting an opportunity for templated chemical functionalisation. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), we investigate the reaction barrier reduction for the adsorption of atomic hydrogen at linear bends in graphene. We find a significant barrier lowering (≈15%...

We consider a class of Hamiltonian nonlinear wave equations governing a field defined on a spatially discrete one dimensional lattice, with discreteness parameter, d = h −1 , where h > 0 is the lattice spacing. The specific cases we consider in detail are the discrete sine-Gordon (SG) and discrete φ 4 models. For finite d and in the continuum limit (d → ∞) these equations have static kink-like ...

A discrete 4 system is proposed which preserves the topological lower bound on the kink energy. Existence of static kink solutions saturating this lower bound and occupying any position relative to the lattice is proved. Consequently, kinks of the model experience no Peierls-Nabarro barrier, and can move freely through the lattice without being pinned. Numerical simulations reveal that kink dyn...