1,901 research outputs found
A Gedanken spacecraft that operates using the quantum vacuum (Dynamic Casimir effect)
Conventional rockets are not a suitable technology for deep space missions.
Chemical rockets require a very large weight of propellant, travel very slowly
compared to light speed, and require significant energy to maintain operation
over periods of years. For example, the 722 kg Voyager spacecraft required
13,600 kg of propellant to launch and would take about 80,000 years to reach
the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, about 4.3 light years away. There have been
various attempts at developing ideas on which one might base a spacecraft that
would permit deep space travel, such as spacewarps. In this paper we consider
another suggestion from science fiction and explore how the quantum vacuum
might be utilized in the creation of a novel spacecraft. The spacecraft is
based on the dynamic Casimir effect, in which electromagnetic radiation is
emitted when an uncharged mirror is properly accelerated in the vacuum. The
radiative reaction produces a dissipative force on the mirror that tends to
resist the acceleration of the mirror. This force can be used to accelerate a
spacecraft attached to the mirror. We also show that, in principal, one could
obtain the power to operate the accelerated mirror in such a spacecraft using
energy extracted from the quantum vacuum using the standard Casimir effect
witha parallel plate geometry. Unfortunately the method as currently conceived
generates a miniscule thrust, and is no more practical than a spacewarp, yet it
does provide an interesting demonstration of our current understanding of the
physics of the quantized electromagnetic field in vacuum.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
Neural-inspired sensors enable sparse, efficient classification of spatiotemporal data
Sparse sensor placement is a central challenge in the efficient
characterization of complex systems when the cost of acquiring and processing
data is high. Leading sparse sensing methods typically exploit either spatial
or temporal correlations, but rarely both. This work introduces a new sparse
sensor optimization that is designed to leverage the rich spatiotemporal
coherence exhibited by many systems. Our approach is inspired by the remarkable
performance of flying insects, which use a few embedded strain-sensitive
neurons to achieve rapid and robust flight control despite large gust
disturbances. Specifically, we draw on nature to identify targeted
neural-inspired sensors on a flapping wing to detect body rotation. This task
is particularly challenging as the rotational twisting mode is three
orders-of-magnitude smaller than the flapping modes. We show that nonlinear
filtering in time, built to mimic strain-sensitive neurons, is essential to
detect rotation, whereas instantaneous measurements fail. Optimized sparse
sensor placement results in efficient classification with approximately ten
sensors, achieving the same accuracy and noise robustness as full measurements
consisting of hundreds of sensors. Sparse sensing with neural inspired encoding
establishes a new paradigm in hyper-efficient, embodied sensing of
spatiotemporal data and sheds light on principles of biological sensing for
agile flight control.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figure
Resonances in Pulsatile Channel Flow with an Elastic Wall
Interactions between fluids and elastic solids are ubiquitous in application
ranging from aeronautical and civil engineering to physiological flows. Here we
study the pulsatile flow through a two-dimensional Starling resistor as a
simple model for unsteady flow in elastic vessels. We numerically solve the
equations governing the flow and the large-displacement elasticity and show
that the system responds as a forced harmonic oscillator with non-conventional
damping. We derive an analytical prediction for the amplitude of the
oscillatory wall deformation, and thus the conditions under which resonances
occur or vanish
Catalyst Acceleration for Gradient-Based Non-Convex Optimization
We introduce a generic scheme to solve nonconvex optimization problems using
gradient-based algorithms originally designed for minimizing convex functions.
Even though these methods may originally require convexity to operate, the
proposed approach allows one to use them on weakly convex objectives, which
covers a large class of non-convex functions typically appearing in machine
learning and signal processing. In general, the scheme is guaranteed to produce
a stationary point with a worst-case efficiency typical of first-order methods,
and when the objective turns out to be convex, it automatically accelerates in
the sense of Nesterov and achieves near-optimal convergence rate in function
values. These properties are achieved without assuming any knowledge about the
convexity of the objective, by automatically adapting to the unknown weak
convexity constant. We conclude the paper by showing promising experimental
results obtained by applying our approach to incremental algorithms such as
SVRG and SAGA for sparse matrix factorization and for learning neural networks
The motion of a deforming capsule through a corner
A three-dimensional deformable capsule convected through a square duct with a
corner is studied via numerical simulations. We develop an accelerated boundary
integral implementation adapted to general geometries and boundary conditions.
A global spectral method is adopted to resolve the dynamics of the capsule
membrane developing elastic tension according to the neo-Hookean constitutive
law and bending moments in an inertialess flow. The simulations show that the
trajectory of the capsule closely follows the underlying streamlines
independently of the capillary number. The membrane deformability, on the other
hand, significantly influences the relative area variations, the advection
velocity and the principal tensions observed during the capsule motion. The
evolution of the capsule velocity displays a loss of the time-reversal symmetry
of Stokes flow due to the elasticity of the membrane. The velocity decreases
while the capsule is approaching the corner as the background flow does,
reaches a minimum at the corner and displays an overshoot past the corner due
to the streamwise elongation induced by the flow acceleration in the downstream
branch. This velocity overshoot increases with confinement while the maxima of
the major principal tension increase linearly with the inverse of the duct
width. Finally, the deformation and tension of the capsule are shown to
decrease in a curved corner
Cyclic Density Functional Theory : A route to the first principles simulation of bending in nanostructures
We formulate and implement Cyclic Density Functional Theory (Cyclic DFT) -- a
self-consistent first principles simulation method for nanostructures with
cyclic symmetries. Using arguments based on Group Representation Theory, we
rigorously demonstrate that the Kohn-Sham eigenvalue problem for such systems
can be reduced to a fundamental domain (or cyclic unit cell) augmented with
cyclic-Bloch boundary conditions. Analogously, the equations of electrostatics
appearing in Kohn-Sham theory can be reduced to the fundamental domain
augmented with cyclic boundary conditions. By making use of this symmetry cell
reduction, we show that the electronic ground-state energy and the
Hellmann-Feynman forces on the atoms can be calculated using quantities defined
over the fundamental domain. We develop a symmetry-adapted finite-difference
discretization scheme to obtain a fully functional numerical realization of the
proposed approach. We verify that our formulation and implementation of Cyclic
DFT is both accurate and efficient through selected examples.
The connection of cyclic symmetries with uniform bending deformations
provides an elegant route to the ab-initio study of bending in nanostructures
using Cyclic DFT. As a demonstration of this capability, we simulate the
uniform bending of a silicene nanoribbon and obtain its energy-curvature
relationship from first principles. A self-consistent ab-initio simulation of
this nature is unprecedented and well outside the scope of any other systematic
first principles method in existence. Our simulations reveal that the bending
stiffness of the silicene nanoribbon is intermediate between that of graphene
and molybdenum disulphide. We describe several future avenues and applications
of Cyclic DFT, including its extension to the study of non-uniform bending
deformations and its possible use in the study of the nanoscale flexoelectric
effect.Comment: Version 3 of the manuscript, Accepted for publication in Journal of
the Mechanics and Physics of Solids,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002250961630368
Computational methods and software systems for dynamics and control of large space structures
Two key areas of crucial importance to the computer-based simulation of large space structures are discussed. The first area involves multibody dynamics (MBD) of flexible space structures, with applications directed to deployment, construction, and maneuvering. The second area deals with advanced software systems, with emphasis on parallel processing. The latest research thrust in the second area involves massively parallel computers
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