US-Mexico Cooperative Research: Theoretical Study of Surfaces and Magnetic Alloys

该奖项将支持哥伦比亚大学胡安·桑切斯教授与墨西哥圣路易斯波托西自治大学弗朗西斯科·梅西亚-利拉教授的研究合作。研究人员计划继续他们之前在下列领域建立的研究合作：磁性合金的相平衡；紧密堆积结构中的表面现象；超导陶瓷中的有序现象；以及小金属团簇的热力学。研究的主要目的是表征磁相互作用和平面缺陷对合金相稳定性的影响。为了实现这些目标，我们将使用统计力学中的团簇变分方法来研究几个实际的和模型的合金系统，由此可以计算自由能。由于研究人员使用的技术介于严格的分析技术和非常计算机密集的技术(蒙特卡洛模拟)之间，他们能够将它们应用于日益复杂的系统。因此，拟议的工作具有进一步应用的潜力，特别是在磁性材料的表面性质至关重要的磁记录领域。

This award will support Professor Juan Sanchez of Columbia University in a research collaboration with Professor Francisco Mejia-Lira of the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The investigators plan to continue their previously established research collaboration in the following areas: phase equilibrium in magnetic alloys; surface phenomena in close-packed structures; ordering phenomena in superconducting ceramics; and thermodynamics of small metallic clusters. The main objective of the research is the characterization of the effects of magnetic interactions and of planar defects on alloy phase stability. To accomplish these objectives, several real and model alloy systems will be investigated using the cluster variation method of statistical mechanics from which free energies can be calculated. Because the techniques used by the researchers lie between strictly analytical techniques and very computer intensive techniques (Monte Carlo simulations) they are able to apply them to increasingly complex systems. Consequently, the proposed work has the potential for further application, particularly in the areas of magnetic recording where surface properties of magnetic materials are of critical importance.