Emergent Phenomena in

mesoscopic systems
S. Frauendorf

Department of Physics
University of Notre Dame

Emergent structures and

properties in nature
An emergent behaviour or emergent property can appear
when a number of simple entities (agents) operate in an environment,
forming more complex behaviours as a collective
Emergent structures are patterns not created by a single
event or rule. There is nothing that commands the system to
form a pattern, but instead the interactions of each part to its
immediate surroundings causes a complex process which
leads to order
The complex behaviour or properties are not a property
of any single such entity, nor can they easily be
predicted or deduced from behaviour in the lower-level
entities: they are irreducible.

Living systems-ant colony

A more detailed biological example is an ant
colony. The queen does not give direct orders
and does not tell the ants what to do. Instead,
each ant reacts to stimuli in the form of
chemical scent from larvae, other ants,
intruders, food and build up of waste, and
leaves behind a chemical trail, which, in turn,
provides a stimulus to other ants. Here each
ant is an autonomous unit that reacts
depending only on its local environment and
the genetically encoded rules for its variety of
ant. Despite the lack of centralized decision
making, ant colonies exhibit complex
behavior and have even been able to
demonstrate the ability to solve geometric
problems. For example, colonies routinely
find the maximum distance from all colony
entrances to dispose of dead bodies.
A termite "cathedral" mound produced by a termite colony:
a classic example of emergence in nature.

Physics
Emergence means complex organizational
structure growing out of simple rule. (p. 200)
Protection generates exactness and reliability,
The universal properties of ordering of rigid bodies,
the flow of superfluids, and even the emptiness of
space are among the many concrete,
well documented examples of this effect. (p. 144)
Macroscopic emergence, like rigidity, becomes increasingly
exact in the limit of large sample size, hence the
idea of emerging. There is nothing preventing organizational
phenomena from developing at small scale,. (p. 170)

Emergent phenomena

Liquid-Gas Phase boundary

Rigid Phase Lattice
Superconductivity (Meissner effect, vortices)
Laws of Hydrodynamics
Laws of Thermodynamics
Quantum sound
e2
= 25812.8
Quantum Hall resistance
h
Fermi and Bose Statistics of composite particles

Mesoscopic systems
N ~ 10 10
2

Emergence of a macroscopic phenomena with N.

Appearance of finite size corrections to familiar macroscopic
phenomena in very small probes (quantum dots, quantum wells,
quantum junctions, quantum wires).

Abundance in the cluster beam

Emergence of cubic crystal structure in salt clusters

T. P.Martin Physics Reports 273 (1966) 199-241

Ca clusters: the transition to the bulk is not smooth

fcc lattice: Close packing with
translational symmetry

Abundance in the cluster beam

Icosahedra: Close packing with small surface

bulk
T. P.Martin Physics Reports 273 (1966) 199-241

Water - dramatic example

Emergent phenomena - nuclei

The nucleon liquid
Superfluidity,
superconductivity
Shell structure
Spatial orientation
Temperature
Phases and phase
transitions

Extrapolation
to bulk

Finite nuclei

Neutron stars
Suprafluid, superconducting nuclear matter and more.
Studying the scaling of
clusters properties seems
instructive, because
these properties are well
known for the bulk.

B = 108 Tesla
SGR 1806-20

Astrophysics:
What is the equation of state for nuclear matter?
Nuclei are only stable for A<300.

Clusters can be made for any N.

Liquid drop model:
Volume + Surface energy

E B = aV N aS N

2/3

Transition to the bulk liquid

The liquid drop model scaling law seems reliable.
Binding energy of K clusters
Coulomb
energy
Neutral one
component

EB
1 / 3
= aV aS N
N
8

Ionization energy of Na clusters

IEbulk + Ecoulomb ( N )
= ab + aC N

1 / 3

Other quantities
scale in the same way.
9

Nuclei: charged two-component liquid

EB
1 / 3
2 4 / 3
2 2
= aV aS A aC Z A aS ( N Z ) A
A
Strong correlation
How good is it? Symmetry energy ????
Is there a term

( N Z ) 4 A4 ?

What is the bulk equation of state?

For example: compressibility

dE
d

Clusters may
provide examples
for scaling.
10

He droplets getting really close to

nuclei
3

He clusters are most similar to nuclei.

Liquid at zero temperature
Electrical neutral: Limit N-> easily achieved.

He

He clusters probably exist only for N>50

produced for all N.

Strong zero point motion.

Weakly bound nuclei

Very hard to experiment with, because of small energy scale.

11

Study of

He :

theory

Experiment?

12

Superconductivity/Superfluidity
Described by the Landau Ginzburg equations for
the order parameter
(r ) = (r ) / G | (r ) |2 = Density of Cooper pairs
Controlled by

( inside the superconductor)

coherence length 0 = hvF / (size of Cooper pair)

penetration depth of magnetic field

L = ( 0 mc 2 / e 2 )1/ 2 G /
G, , Fermi energy F = mvF2 / 2 , and
critical Temperature Tc related by BCS theory.

13

Phase diagram of a macroscopic

type-I superconductor

normal
H
Meissner effect
super

32

Type II superconductor

Solid state, liquid He:

Calculation of
very problematic well protected.
Take Tc from experiment.

0 = hvF / ~ 15m << R

local

N Tc
1K
~
~
~ 5
N
F TF 10 K

BCS very good

Nuclei:
Calculation of not possible so far.
Adjusted to even-odd mass differences.

0 = hvF / ~ 40 fm >> R ~ 5 fm
N Tc
1MeV
~
~
~
N
F TF 40 MeV

How to extrapolate to stars?

highly non-local
BCS poor

16

Vortices, pinning of magnetic field?

Mesoscopic regime

17

Superfluidity

1
2

Intermediate state of
Reduced viscosity

Atttractive interaction between 3 He Fermions generates

Cooper pairs -> Superfluid

Moments of inertia at low spin are well reproduced by

cranking calculations including pair correlations.

rigid

irrotational

Non-local superfluidity: size of the Cooper pairs larger

than size of the nucleus.

18

He is superfluid
at this T.
3
He is not superfluid
at this T.
19

free

SF6

Rotational spectrum of SF6 in a 4 He droplet

Density of normal atoms

Moment of inertia larger

3
4
Rotational spectrum of OCS in a He- He droplet

60

He behave like a superfluid!

Title: SUPERFLUID HELIUM DROPLETS: AN ULTRACOLD NANOLABORATORY , By: Toennies, J. Peter, Vilesov, Andrej F., Whaley, K. Birgitta, Physics Today, 0031-9228,
February 1, 2001, Vol. 54, Issue 2

Shell
structure

21

Nuclei

Esh N

5/ 6

, EN

Esh
N 1/ 6
E
Nuclei:
magnitude OK,
damping with
N and T OK.
Clusters:
More washed out.
Dies out quicker.
Not quantitatively
understood.

experiment

0
-10

deformed
nuclei

theory

20 28
-10

discrepancy

50
82

126

0
-10

20

60
100
Number of neutrons

140

Na Clusters
1

Shell Energy (eV)

Fermions in
spherical Potential

Shell Energy (MeV)

10

experiment

22

0
-1
1

58
theory

92

138

198
spherical
clusters

T 400K
canonical

0
deformed
clusters

-1
50

100
150
200
Number of electrons

Frauendorf,
Pashkevich

Clusters allow us to
study shell structure
over a much larger range
than nuclei.

Explains the
gross shell structure

23

Supershell structure of Na clusters

N-dependent factor multiplied

for compensating the too
rapid damping with N!
24
Emergence of resistivity?

Imax>20

rgid

Nuclear moments of inertia at high spin

Pair correlations are quenched.
M. Deleplanque, S.F. et al. Phys. Rev. C 69 044309 (2004)

Currents caused
by nucleons on
periodic orbits
25

Larmor: System in
Magnetic field behaves
like in rotating system
(in linear order).

eB
L =
2mc

susceptibility :
V Rig

26

Emergence of thermodynamics
Region of high level density:
important for astrophysics, nuclear applications,
Limits to predictability of quantal states:
uncertainties in the Hamiltonian
deterministic chaos
Give up individual quantal states:
# states
average level density =
energy intervall
dE
entropy S = ln temperature T =
dS

28

Crossover phenomena

N exists
Phase transitions
solid-liquid
superfluid-normal
liquid-gas

N does not exist

T=0 transitions between
different symmetries in
nuclei.
Spherical
deformed
IBA symmetries
Artificial limit by mean
field approximation
29

The Casten Triangle of IBM

30

Super-normal phase transition

normal
H

super

32

Grand canonical
Canonical
Microcanonical
31

Grandcanonical ensemble

Canonical ensemble

33

Melting of Na clusters

34

Microcanonical

1 dS
=
T dE

q latent heat

35
M. Schmitd et al.

Transition from electronic to geometric shells

In Na clusters

T ~ 250 K

36

Similar emergent phenomena in nuclear and

non-nuclear mesoscopic systems.

37

Emerge with increasing particle number, while calculating

them microscopically becomes increasingly difficult.
New principles of organization (+ parameters) to be found.
Region where micro and makro calculations are possible.
Comparing different types mesoscopic systems is instructive.
Studies are complementary: bulk limit accessible or not,
energy scale, external heat bath, .
More contact between the communities!
More can be found in:
S. Frauendorf, C. Guet, Ann. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 51, 219 (2001)