11,189 research outputs found
Saturation-Dependence of Dispersion in Porous Media
In this study, we develop a saturation-dependent treatment of dispersion in
porous media using concepts from critical path analysis, cluster statistics of
percolation, and fractal scaling of percolation clusters. We calculate spatial
solute distributions as a function of time and calculate arrival time
distributions as a function of system size. Our previous results correctly
predict the range of observed dispersivity values over ten orders of magnitude
in experimental length scale, but that theory contains no explicit dependence
on porosity or relative saturation. This omission complicates comparisons with
experimental results for dispersion, which are often conducted at saturation
less than 1. We now make specific comparisons of our predictions for the
arrival time distribution with experiments on a single column over a range of
saturations. This comparison suggests that the most important predictor of such
distributions as a function of saturation is not the value of the saturation
per se, but the applicability of either random or invasion percolation models,
depending on experimental conditions
Land Deed, Thomas Allen to William Thompson
January 5, 1859. Deed between Thomas B. Allen to William Thompson, land lots in Oxford.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/wml_corr/1009/thumbnail.jp
The Origin of Hot Subluminous Horizontal-Branch Stars in Omega Centauri and NGC 2808
Hot subluminous stars lying up to 0.7 mag below the extreme horizontal branch
(EHB) are found in the UV color-magnitude diagrams of omega Cen and NGC 2808.
Such stars are unexplained by canonical HB theory. In order to explore the
origin of these subluminous stars, we evolved a set of low-mass stars from the
main sequence through the helium-core flash to the HB for a wide range in the
mass loss along the red-giant branch (RGB). Stars with the largest mass loss
evolve off the RGB to high effective temperatures before igniting helium in
their cores. Our results indicate that the subluminous EHB stars, as well as
the gap within the EHB of NGC 2808, can be explained if these stars undergo a
late helium-core flash on the white-dwarf cooling curve. Under these conditions
the flash convection will penetrate into the stellar envelope, thereby mixing
most, if not all, of the envelope hydrogen into the hot helium- burning
interior. This phenomenon is analogous to the "born-again" scenario for
producing hydrogen-deficient stars during a very late helium-shell flash.
"Flash mixing" greatly enhances the envelope helium and carbon abundances and,
as a result, leads to an abrupt increase in the HB effective temperature. We
argue that the EHB gap in NGC 2808 is caused by this theoretically predicted
dichotomy in the HB morphology. Using new helium- and carbon-rich stellar
atmospheres, we show that the flash-mixed stars have the same reduced UV flux
as the subluminous EHB stars. Moreover, we demonstrate that models without
flash mixing lie, at most, ~0.1 mag below the EHB and hence fail to explain the
observations. Flash mixing may also provide a new evolutionary channel for
producing the high gravity, He-rich sdO and sdB stars.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in "Omega Centauri: a Unique Window
into Astrophysics" (Cambridge, August, 2001), ASP Conf. Ser., edited by F.
van Leeuwen, G. Piotto, and J. Hughe
Gravitational Waves in Open de Sitter Space
We compute the spectrum of primordial gravitational wave perturbations in
open de Sitter spacetime. The background spacetime is taken to be the
continuation of an O(5) symmetric instanton saddle point of the Euclidean no
boundary path integral. The two-point tensor fluctuations are computed directly
from the Euclidean path integral. The Euclidean correlator is then analytically
continued into the Lorentzian region where it describes the quantum mechanical
vacuum fluctuations of the graviton field. Unlike the results of earlier work,
the correlator is shown to be unique and well behaved in the infrared. We show
that the infrared divergence found in previous calculations is due to the
contribution of a discrete gauge mode inadvertently included in the spectrum.Comment: 17 pages, compressed and RevTex file, including one postscript figure
fil
Web Applet For Predicting Structure And Thermodynamics Of Complex Fluids
Based on a recently introduced analytical strategy [Hollingshead et al., J. Chem. Phys. 139, 161102 (2013)], we present a web applet that can quickly and semi-quantitatively estimate the equilibrium radial distribution function and related thermodynamic properties of a fluid from knowledge of its pair interaction. We describe the applet's features and present two (of many possible) examples of how it can be used to illustrate concepts of interest for introductory statistical mechanics courses: the transition from ideal gas-like behavior to correlated-liquid behavior with increasing density, and the tradeoff between dominant length scales with changing temperature in a system with ramp-shaped repulsions. The latter type of interaction qualitatively captures distinctive thermodynamic properties of liquid water, because its energetic bias toward locally open structures mimics that of water's hydrogen-bond network. (C) 2015 American Association of Physics Teachers.Chemical Engineerin
The Discovery of Pulsating Hot Subdwarfs in NGC 2808
We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope program to search for
pulsating hot subdwarfs in the core of NGC 2808. These observations were
motivated by the recent discovery of such stars in the outskirts of omega Cen.
Both NGC 2808 and omega Cen are massive globular clusters exhibiting complex
stellar populations and large numbers of extreme horizontal branch stars. Our
far-UV photometric monitoring of over 100 hot evolved stars has revealed six
pulsating subdwarfs with periods ranging from 85 to 149 s and UV amplitudes of
2.0 to 6.8%. In the UV color-magnitude diagram of NGC 2808, all six of these
stars lie immediately below the canonical horizontal branch, a region populated
by the subluminous "blue-hook" stars. For three of these six pulsators, we also
have low-resolution far-UV spectroscopy that is sufficient to broadly constrain
their atmospheric abundances and effective temperatures. Curiously, and in
contrast to the omega Cen pulsators, the NGC 2808 pulsators do not exhibit the
spectroscopic or photometric uniformity one might expect from a well-defined
instability strip, although they all fall within a narrow band (0.2 mag) of
far-UV luminosity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, 2 color and 2 grayscale figures. Accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
Can Deterministic Mechanical Size Effects Contribute to Fracture and Microdamage Accumulation in Trabecular Bone?
Failure of bone under monotonic and cyclic loading is related to the bone mineral density, the quality of the bone matrix, and the evolution of microcracks. The theory of linear elastic fracture mechanics has commonly been applied to describe fracture in bone. Evidence is presented that bone failure can be described through a non-linear theory of fracture. Thereby, deterministic size effects are introduced. Concepts of a non-linear theory are applied to discern how the interaction among bone matrix constituents (collagen and mineral), microcrack characteristics, and trabecular architecture can create distinctively differences in the fracture resistance at the bone tissue level. The non-linear model is applied to interpret pre-clinical data concerning the effects of anti-osteoporotic agents on bone properties. The results show that bisphosphonate (BP) treatments that suppress bone remodeling will change trabecular bone in ways such that the size of the failure process zone relative to the trabecular thickness is reduced. Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) that suppress bone remodeling will change trabecular bone in ways such that the size of the failure process zone relative to the trabecular thickness is increased. The consequences of these changes are reflected in bone mechanical response and predictions are consistent with experimental observations in the animal model which show that BP treatment is associated with more brittle fracture and microcracks without altering the average length of the cracks, whereas SERM treatments lead to a more ductile fracture and mainly increase crack length with a smaller increase in microcrack density. The model suggests that BPs may be more effective in cases in which bone mass is very low, whereas SERMS may be more effective when milder osteoporotic symptoms are present
- …