Hydrodynamics: Fluctuating Initial Conditions and Two-particle Correlations

Event-by-event hydrodynamics (or hydrodynamics with fluctuating initial conditions) has been developed in the past few years. Here we discuss how it may help to understand the various structures observed in two-particle correlations.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, presented at the Workshop on Saturation, the Color Glass Condensate and Glasma: What Have we Learned from RHIC

Dynamic noise, chaos and parameter estimation in population biology

We revisit the parameter estimation framework for population biological dynamical systems, and apply it to calibrate various models in epidemiology with empirical time series, namely influenza and dengue fever. When it comes to more complex models such as multi-strain dynamics to describe the virus–host interaction in dengue fever, even the most recently developed parameter estimation techniques, such as maximum likelihood iterated filtering, reach their computational limits. However, the first results of parameter estimation with data on dengue fever from Thailand indicate a subtle interplay between stochasticity and the deterministic skeleton. The deterministic system on its own already displays complex dynamics up to deterministic chaos and coexistence of multiple attractors

Sensitivity curves for spaceborne gravitational wave interferometers

To determine whether particular sources of gravitational radiation will be detectable by a specific gravitational wave detector, it is necessary to know the sensitivity limits of the instrument. These instrumental sensitivities are often depicted (after averaging over source position and polarization) by graphing the minimal values of the gravitational wave amplitude detectable by the instrument versus the frequency of the gravitational wave. This paper describes in detail how to compute such a sensitivity curve given a set of specifications for a spaceborne laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory. Minor errors in the prior literature are corrected, and the first (mostly) analytic calculation of the gravitational wave transfer function is presented. Example sensitivity curve calculations are presented for the proposed LISA interferometer. We find that previous treatments of LISA have underestimated its sensitivity by a factor of $\sqrt{3}$.Comment: 27 pages + 5 figures, REVTeX, accepted for publication in Phys Rev D; Update reflects referees comments, figure 3 clarified, figure 5 corrected for LISA baselin

Imaginary Phases in Two-Level Model with Spontaneous Decay

We study a two-level model coupled to the electromagnetic vacuum and to an external classic electric field with fixed frequency. The amplitude of the external electric field is supposed to vary very slow in time. Garrison and Wright [{\it Phys. Lett.} {\bf A128} (1988) 177] used the non-hermitian Hamiltonian approach to study the adiabatic limit of this model and obtained that the probability of this two-level system to be in its upper level has an imaginary geometric phase. Using the master equation for describing the time evolution of the two-level system we obtain that the imaginary phase due to dissipative effects is time dependent, in opposition to Garrison and Wright result. The present results show that the non-hermitian hamiltonian method should not be used to discuss the nature of the imaginary phases in open systems.Comment: 11 pages, new version, to appear in J. Phys.

Mix design, properties and cost analysis of fly ash-based geopolymer foam

This study has investigated the joint effect of several mix parameters on the properties of foam geopolymers. The mix parameters analysed through a laboratory experiment of 54 different mortar mixes were, sodium silicate/sodium hydroxide mass ratio (2.5, 3.5, 4.5), activator/binder mass ratio (0.6, 0.8, 1.0), chemical foaming agent type (hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and sodium perborate (NaBO3)) and foaming agent mass ratio content (1%, 2%, 3%). Properties, SEM and FTIR analysis and cost analysis are included. The results show that the sodium perborate over performs hydrogen peroxide leading to a lower overall thermal conductibility of foam geopolymers. Mixtures with a low thermal conductivity of around 0.1 W/ (m K) and a compressive strength of around 6 MPa were achieved. The cost analysis show that the foaming agents are responsible for a small percentage of foam geopolymers total cost being that the alkaline activators are responsible for more than 80%

Importance of Granular Structure in the Initial Conditions for the Elliptic Flow

We show effects of granular structure of the initial conditions (IC) of hydrodynamic description of high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions on some observables, especially on the elliptic-flow parameter v2. Such a structure enhances production of isotropically distributed high-pT particles, making v2 smaller there. Also, it reduces v2 in the forward and backward regions where the global matter density is smaller, so where such effects become more efficacious.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics for Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

The method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is developped appropriately for the study of relativistic heavy ion collision processes. In order to describe the flow of a high energy but low baryon number density fluid, the entropy is taken as the SPH base. We formulate the method in terms of the variational principle. Several examples show that the method is very promising for the study of hadronic flow in RHIC physics.Comment: 14 pages, 8figure

New order parameters in the Potts model on a Cayley tree

For the $q-$state Potts model new order parameters projecting on a group of spins instead of a single spin are introduced. On a Cayley tree this allows the physical interpretation of the Potts model at noninteger values q of the number of states. The model can be solved recursively. This recursion exhibits chaotic behaviour changing qualitatively at critical values of $q_0$ . Using an additional order parameter belonging to a group of zero extrapolated size the additional ordering is related to a percolation problem. This percolation distinguishes different phases and explains the critical indices of percolation class occuring at the Peierls temperature.Comment: 16 pages TeX, 5 figures PostScrip

Performance of a fly ash geopolymeric mortar for coating of ordinary portland cement concrete exposed to harsh chemical environments

Premature degradation of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete infrastructures is a current and serious problem with overwhelming costs amounting to several trillion dollars. The use of concrete surface treatments with waterproofing materials to prevent the access of aggressive substances is an important way of enhancing concrete durability. The most common surface treatments use polymeric resins based on epoxy, silicone (siloxane), acrylics, polyurethanes or polymethacrylate. However, epoxy resins have low resistance to ultraviolet radiation while polyurethanes are sensitive to high alkalinity environments. Geopolymers constitute a group of materials with high resistance to chemical attack that could also be used for coating of concrete infrastructures exposed to harsh chemical environments. This article presents results of an experimental investigation on the resistance to chemical attack (by sulfuric and nitric acid) of several materials: OPC concrete, high performance concrete (HPC), epoxy resin, acrylic painting and a fly ash based geopolymeric mortar. Three types of acids, each with high concentrations of 10%, 20% and 30%, were used to simulate long term degradation by chemical attack. The results show that the epoxy resin had the best resistance to chemical attack, irrespective of the acid type and acid concentration