2,777 research outputs found
Silicon nanoparticles and interstellar extinction
To examine a recently proposed hypothesis that silicon nanoparticles are the
source of extended red emission (ERE) in the interstellar medium, we performed
a detailed modeling of the mean Galactic extinction in the presence of silicon
nanoparticles. For this goal we used the appropriate optical constants of
nanosized Si, essentially different from those of bulk Si due to quantum
confinement. It was found that a dust mixture of silicon nanoparticles, bare
graphite grains, silicate core-organic refractory mantle grains and three-layer
silicate-water ice-organic refractory grains works well in explaining the
extinction and, in addition, results in the acceptable fractions of UV/visible
photons absorbed by silicon nanoparticles: 0.071-0.081. Since these fractions
barely agree with the fraction of UV/visible photons needed to excite the
observed ERE, we conclude that the intrinsic photon conversion efficiency of
the photoluminescence by silicon nanoparticles must be near 100%, if they are
the source of the ERE.Comment: Latex2e, uses emulateapj.sty (included), multicol.sty, epsf.sty, 6
pages, 3 figures (8 Postscript files), accepted for publication in ApJ
Letters, complete Postscript file is also available at
http://physics.technion.ac.il/~zubko/eb.html#SNP
Subclasses Of Multivalent Harmonic Mappings Defined By Convolution.
Harmonic mappings have been recently investigated from the perspective of geometric function theory. These mappings are important in the study of minimal surfaces. Although harmonic mappings need not be analytic, they have been studied as generalizations of conformal mappings. The seminal works of Clunie and Sheil-Small [4] and Sheil-Small [B] showed that while certain classical results for conformal mappings have analogues for harmonic mappings, many other basic questions remain unsolved
The Ammount of Interstellar Carbon Locked in Solid Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbon
We review the literature and present new experimental data to determine the
amount of carbon likely to be locked in form of solid hydrogenated amorphous
carbon (HAC) grains. We conclude on the basis of a thorough analysis of the
intrinsic strength of the C-H stretching band at 3.4 micron that between 10 and
80 ppM H of carbon is in the form of HAC grains. We show that it is necessary
to know the level of hydrogenation (H/C) of the interstellar HAC to determine
more precisely the amount of carbon it ties up. We present optical constants,
photoluminescence spectroscopy, and IR absorption spectroscopy for a particular
HAC sample that is shown to have a 3.4 micron absorption feature that is
quantatively consistent with that observed in the diffuse interstellar medium.Comment: This paper is 14 pages long with 5 figures and will appear in the 1
December 1999 issue of Ap
Quantum Smoluchowski equation: Escape from a metastable state
We develop a quantum Smoluchowski equation in terms of a true probability
distribution function to describe quantum Brownian motion in configuration
space in large friction limit at arbitrary temperature and derive the rate of
barrier crossing and tunneling within an unified scheme. The present treatment
is independent of path integral formalism and is based on canonical
quantization procedure.Comment: 10 pages, To appear in the Proceedings of Statphys - Kolkata I
Critical behaviour of the Rouse model for gelling polymers
It is shown that the traditionally accepted "Rouse values" for the critical
exponents at the gelation transition do not arise from the Rouse model for
gelling polymers. The true critical behaviour of the Rouse model for gelling
polymers is obtained from spectral properties of the connectivity matrix of the
fractal clusters that are formed by the molecules. The required spectral
properties are related to the return probability of a "blind ant"-random walk
on the critical percolating cluster. The resulting scaling relations express
the critical exponents of the shear-stress-relaxation function, and hence those
of the shear viscosity and of the first normal stress coefficient, in terms of
the spectral dimension of the critical percolating cluster and the
exponents and of the cluster-size distribution.Comment: 9 pages, slightly extended version, to appear in J. Phys.
Viscoelasticity near the gel-point: a molecular dynamics study
We report on extensive molecular dynamics simulations on systems of soft
spheres of functionality f, i.e. particles that are capable of bonding
irreversibly with a maximum of f other particles. These bonds are randomly
distributed throughout the system and imposed with probability p. At a critical
concentration of bonds, p_c approximately equal to 0.2488 for f=6, a gel is
formed and the shear viscosity \eta diverges according to \eta ~ (p_c-p)^{-s}.
We find s is approximately 0.7 in agreement with some experiments and with a
recent theoretical prediction based on Rouse dynamics of phantom chains. The
diffusion constant decreases as the gel point is approached but does not
display a well-defined power law.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Dust Emission Features in NGC 7023 between 0.35 and 2.5 micron: Extended Red Emission (0.7 micron) and Two New Emission Features (1.15 and 1.5 micron)
We present 0.35 to 2.5 micron spectra of the south and northwest filaments in
the reflection nebula NGC 7023. These spectra were used to test the theory of
Seahra & Duley that carbon nanoparticles are responsible for Extended Red
Emission (ERE). Our spectra fail to show their predicted second emission band
at 1.0 micron even though both filaments exhibit strong emission in the
familiar 0.7 micron ERE band. The northwest filament spectrum does show one,
and possibly two, new dust emission features in the near-infrared. We clearly
detect a strong emission band at 1.5 micron which we tentatively attribute to
beta-FeSi_2 grains. We tentatively detect a weaker emission band at 1.15 micron
which coincides with the location expected for transitions from the conduction
band to mid-gap defect states of silicon nanoparticles. This is added evidence
that silicon nanoparticles are responsible for ERE as they already can explain
the observed behavior of the main visible ERE band.Comment: 9 pages, color figures, accepted to the ApJ, color and b/w versions
available at http://dirty.as.arizona.edu/~kgordon/papers/ere_1um.htm
Critical Behaviour of Non-Equilibrium Phase Transitions to Magnetically Ordered States
We describe non-equilibrium phase transitions in arrays of dynamical systems
with cubic nonlinearity driven by multiplicative Gaussian white noise.
Depending on the sign of the spatial coupling we observe transitions to
ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic ordered states. We discuss the phase
diagram, the order of the transitions, and the critical behaviour. For global
coupling we show analytically that the critical exponent of the magnetization
exhibits a transition from the value 1/2 to a non-universal behaviour depending
on the ratio of noise strength to the magnitude of the spatial coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Jung und Alt im Hörsaal:Erfahrungen jüngerer Studierender mit dem „Studium im Alter“ an der Universität Münster
Das „Studium im Alter“ ist ein Weiterbildungsangebot der Universität Münster für Personen im mittleren und höheren Lebensalter, die als Gasthörer gemeinsam mit jüngeren, regulären Studierenden Vorlesungen und Seminare an der Hochschule besuchen. In der Presse erschienen von Zeit zu Zeit Berichte über Konflikte, die das Gaststudium der Älteren in den Hörsälen verursacht. Das nahm eine Gruppe von Teilnehmern am „Studium im Alter“ zum Anlass, in einem zweisemestrigen Forschungsprojekt zu untersuchen, inwiefern solche Berichte die Regel oder Einzelfälle beschreiben. Das Ergebnis der schriftlichen Befragung regulärer Studierender zu Ihren Erfahrungen mit Studierenden im Alter liegt mit dieser Studie vor. Abgesehen von wenigen Ausnahmen belegt sie ein grundsätzlich harmonisches Miteinander von jüngeren und älteren Studierenden in den Hörsälen der Universität Münster
Interfacial layering in a three-component polymer system
We study theoretically the temporal evolution and the spatial structure of
the interface between two polymer melts involving three different species (A,
A* and B). The first melt is composed of two different polymer species A and A*
which are fairly indifferent to one another (Flory parameter chi_AA* ~ 0). The
second melt is made of a pure polymer B which is strongly attracted to species
A (chi_AB 0). We then show
that, due to these contradictory tendencies, interesting properties arise
during the evolution of the interface after the melts are put into contact: as
diffusion proceeds, the interface structures into several adjacent
"compartments", or layers, of differing chemical compositions, and in addition,
the central mixing layer grows in a very asymmetric fashion. Such unusual
behaviour might lead to interesting mechanical properties, and demonstrates on
a specific case the potential richness of multi-component polymer interfaces
(as compared to conventional two-component interfaces) for various
applications.Comment: Revised version, to appear in Macromolecule
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