Ordering of disordered materials occurs during the activated process of nucleation that requires the formation of critical clusters that have to surmount a thermodynamic barrier. The characterization of these clusters is experimentally challenging but mandatory to improve nucleation theory. In this paper, the nucleation of a magnesium alumino-silicate glass containing the nucleating oxide TiO(2...

Motivated by recent experiments on intracellular calcium dynamics, we study the general issue of fluctuation-induced nucleation of waves in excitable media. We utilize a stochastic Fitzhugh-Nagumo model for this study, a spatially extended nonpotential pair of equations driven by thermal (i.e., white) noise. The nucleation rate is determined by finding the most probable escape path via minimiza...

The field sweep rate (upsilon = dH/dt) and temperature (T) dependence of the magnetization reversal of a single-chain magnet is studied at low temperatures. As expected for a thermally activated process, the nucleation field (H(n)) increases with decreasing T and increasing upsilon. The set of H(n)(T,upsilon) data is analyzed with a model of thermally activated nucleation of magnetization rever...

Microseismicity associated with fluid pressurization in the subsurface occurs during injection but can also be triggered after shut-in. Understanding extent and duration of post-injection microseismicity is critical to limit risk fluid-induced seismicity insure safe utilization subsurface. Using theoretical numerical techniques, we investigated how aseismic slip on a fault plane evolves stops e...