11,031 research outputs found
Extracting 3D parametric curves from 2D images of Helical objects
Helical objects occur in medicine, biology, cosmetics, nanotechnology, and engineering. Extracting a 3D parametric curve from a 2D image of a helical object has many practical applications, in particular being able to extract metrics such as tortuosity, frequency, and pitch. We present a method that is able to straighten the image object and derive a robust 3D helical curve from peaks in the object boundary. The algorithm has a small number of stable parameters that require little tuning, and the curve is validated against both synthetic and real-world data. The results show that the extracted 3D curve comes within close Hausdorff distance to the ground truth, and has near identical tortuosity for helical objects with a circular profile. Parameter insensitivity and robustness against high levels of image noise are demonstrated thoroughly and quantitatively
Suitably graded THB-spline refinement and coarsening: Towards an adaptive isogeometric analysis of additive manufacturing processes
In the present work we introduce a complete set of algorithms to efficiently
perform adaptive refinement and coarsening by exploiting truncated hierarchical
B-splines (THB-splines) defined on suitably graded isogeometric meshes, that
are called admissible mesh configurations. We apply the proposed algorithms to
two-dimensional linear heat transfer problems with localized moving heat
source, as simplified models for additive manufacturing applications. We first
verify the accuracy of the admissible adaptive scheme with respect to an
overkilled solution, for then comparing our results with similar schemes which
consider different refinement and coarsening algorithms, with or without taking
into account grading parameters. This study shows that the THB-spline
admissible solution delivers an optimal discretization for what concerns not
only the accuracy of the approximation, but also the (reduced) number of
degrees of freedom per time step. In the last example we investigate the
capability of the algorithms to approximate the thermal history of the problem
for a more complicated source path. The comparison with uniform and
non-admissible hierarchical meshes demonstrates that also in this case our
adaptive scheme returns the desired accuracy while strongly improving the
computational efficiency.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure
The Structure and Dynamical Evolution of Dark Matter Halos
(Shortened) We use N-body simulations to investigate the structure and
dynamical evolution of dark matter halos in galaxy clusters. Our sample
consists of nine massive halos from an EdS universe with scale free power
spectrum and n = -1. Halos are resolved by ~20000 particles each, with a
dynamical resolution of 20-25 kpc. Large scale tidal fields are included up to
L=150 Mpc using background particles. The halo formation process can be
characterized by the alternation of two dynamical configurations: a merging
phase and a relaxation phase, defined by their signature on the evolution of
the total mass and rms velocity. Halos spend on average one 1/3 of their
evolution in the merging phase and 2/3 in the relaxation phase. Using this
definition, we study the density profiles and their change during the halo
history. The average density profiles are fitted by the NFW analytical model
with an rms residual of 17% between the virial radius Rv and 0.01 Rv. The
Hernquist (1990) profiles fits the same halos with an rms residual of 26%. The
trend with mass of the scale radius of these fits is marginally consistent with
that found by Cole & Lacey (1996): in comparison our halos are more centrally
concentrated, and the relation between scale radius and halo mass is slightly
steeper. We find a moderately large scatter in this relation, due both to
dynamical evolution within halos and to fluctuations in the halo population. We
analyze the dynamical equilibrium of our halos using the Jeans' equation, and
find that on average they are approximately in equilibrium within their virial
radius. Finally, we find that the projected mass profiles of our simulated
halos are in very good agreement with the profiles of three rich galaxy
clusters derived from strong and weak gravitational lensing observations.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, with all figures included. Modified to match the
published versio
The Genesis of an Impulsive Coronal Mass Ejection observed at Ultra-High Cadence by AIA on SDO
The study of fast, eruptive events in the low solar corona is one of the
science objectives of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) imagers on the
recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which take full disk images
in ten wavelengths with arcsecond resolution and 12 sec cadence. We study with
AIA the formation of an impulsive coronal mass ejection (CME) which occurred on
June 13, 2010 and was associated with an M1.0 class flare. Specifically, we
analyze the formation of the CME EUV bubble and its initial dynamics and
thermal evolution in the low corona using AIA images in three wavelengths (171,
193 and 211 A). We derive the first ultra-high cadence measurements of the
temporal evolution of the CME bubble aspect ratio
(=bubble-height/bubble-radius). Our main result is that the CME formation
undergoes three phases: it starts with a slow self-similar expansion followed
by a fast but short-lived (~ 70 sec) period of strong lateral over-expansion
which essentially creates the CME. Then the CME undergoes another phase of
self-similar expansion until it exits the AIA field of view. During the studied
interval, the CME height-time profile shows a strong, short-lived, acceleration
followed by deceleration. The lateral overexpansion phase coincides with the
deceleration phase. The impulsive flare heating and CME acceleration are
closely coupled. However, the lateral overexpansion of the CME occurs during
the declining phase and is therefore not linked to flare reconnection. In
addition, the multi-thermal analysis of the bubble does not show significant
evidence of temperature change.Comment: 2010 in pres
Density Waves Inside Inner Lindblad Resonance: Nuclear Spirals in Disk Galaxies
We analyze formation of grand-design two-arm spiral structure in the nuclear
regions of disk galaxies. Such morphology has been recently detected in a
number of objects using high-resolution near-infrared observations. Motivated
by the observed (1) continuity between the nuclear and kpc-scale spiral
structures, and by (2) low arm-interarm contrast, we apply the density wave
theory to explain the basic properties of the spiral nuclear morphology. In
particular, we address the mechanism for the formation, maintenance and the
detailed shape of nuclear spirals. We find, that the latter depends mostly on
the shape of the underlying gravitational potential and the sound speed in the
gas. Detection of nuclear spiral arms provides diagnostics of mass distribution
within the central kpc of disk galaxies. Our results are supported by 2D
numerical simulations of gas response to the background gravitational potential
of a barred stellar disk. We investigate the parameter space allowed for the
formation of nuclear spirals using a new method for constructing a
gravitational potential in a barred galaxy, where positions of resonances are
prescribed.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, higher resolution available at
http://www.pa.uky.edu/~ppe/papers/nucsp.ps.g
Dynamical friction and the evolution of satellites in virialized halos: the theory of linear response
The evolution of a small satellite inside a more massive truncated isothermal
spherical halo is studied using both the Theory of Linear Response for
dynamical friction and N-Body simulations. The analytical approach includes the
effects of the gravitational wake, of the tidal deformation and the shift of
the barycenter of the primary, so unifying the local versus global
interpretation of dynamical friction. Sizes, masses, orbital energies and
eccentricities are chosen as expected in hierarchical clustering models. We
find that in general the drag force in self-gravitating backgrounds is weaker
than in uniform media and that the orbital decay is not accompanied by a
significant circularization. We also show that the dynamical friction time
scale is weakly dependent on the initial circularity. We provide a fitting
formula for the decay time that includes the effect of mass and angular
momentum loss. Live satellites with dense cores can survive disruption up to an
Hubble time within the primary, notwithstanding the initial choice of orbital
parameters. Dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way, like Sagittarius A
and Fornax, have already suffered mass stripping and, with their present
masses, the sinking times exceed 10 Gyr even if they are on very eccentric
orbits.Comment: 27 pages including 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal. Part 2, issue November 10 1999, Volume 52
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