47 research outputs found
Synthesis of niobium-alumina composite aggregates and their application in coarse-grained refractory ceramic-metal castables
Niobium-alumina aggregate fractions with particle sizes up to 3150 µm were produced by crushing pre-synthesised fine-grained composites. Phase separation with niobium enrichment in the aggregate class 45–500 µm was revealed by XRD/Rietveld analysis. To reduce the amount of carbon-based impurities, no organic additives were used for the castable mixtures, which resulted in water demands of approximately 27 vol.% for the fine- and coarse-grained castables. As a consequence, open porosities of 18% and 30% were determined for the fine- and coarse-grained composites, respectively. Due to increased porosity, the modulus of rupture at room temperature decreased from 52 MPa for the fine-grained composite to 11 MPa for the coarse-grained one. However, even the compressive yield strength decreased from 49 MPa to 18 MPa at 1300 °C for the fine-grained to the coarse-grained composite, the latter showed still plasticity with a strain up to 5%. The electrical conductivity of fine-grained composite samples was in the range between 40 and 60 S/cm, which is fifteen magnitudes above the values of pure corundum
The Sum over Topologies in Three-Dimensional Euclidean Quantum Gravity
In Hawking's Euclidean path integral approach to quantum gravity, the
partition function is computed by summing contributions from all possible
topologies. The behavior such a sum can be estimated in three spacetime
dimensions in the limit of small cosmological constant. The sum over topologies
diverges for either sign of , but for dramatically different reasons:
for , the divergent behavior comes from the contributions of very
low volume, topologically complex manifolds, while for it is a
consequence of the existence of infinite sequences of relatively high volume
manifolds with converging geometries. Possible implications for
four-dimensional quantum gravity are discussed.Comment: 12 pages (LaTeX), UCD-92-1
Steel ceramic composite anodes based on recycled MgO–C lining bricks for applications in cryolite/aluminum melts
Novel manufacturing route for composite inert anodes containing 60:40 of 316 L stainless steel and MgO powder obtained from recycled MgO–C brick material has been developed and evaluated. After burnout of residual carbon from the recycled MgO–C powder, MgO and steel were granulated and pre-sintered in order to generate agglomerates of composite material acting as coarse grains within the composite material, and thus lowering the sintering-related shrinkage. The pre-sintered granules were mixed with raw steel and MgO powder in order to achieve a high particle packing and subsequently cold isostatically pressed in the form of electrodes. All manufactured anode samples were subjected to sintering at 1350 °C and pre-oxidation at different temperatures – 800 °C, 900 °C, and 1000 °C. Afterwards, mechanical and electrical properties of the manufactured electrodes were characterized. The results show that upcycling of the MgO–C material enables manufacturing of sophisticated electrode products, which can be applied in the aluminum industry
Cyclic Statistics In Three Dimensions
While 2-dimensional quantum systems are known to exhibit non-permutation,
braid group statistics, it is widely expected that quantum statistics in
3-dimensions is solely determined by representations of the permutation group.
This expectation is false for certain 3-dimensional systems, as was shown by
the authors of ref. [1,2,3]. In this work we demonstrate the existence of
``cyclic'', or , {\it non-permutation group} statistics for a system of n
> 2 identical, unknotted rings embedded in . We make crucial use of a
theorem due to Goldsmith in conjunction with the so called Fuchs-Rabinovitch
relations for the automorphisms of the free product group on n elements.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, LaTex, minor page reformattin
Properties of 3-manifolds for relativists
In canonical quantum gravity certain topological properties of 3-manifolds
are of interest. This article gives an account of those properties which have
so far received sufficient attention, especially those concerning the
diffeomorphism groups of 3-manifolds. We give a summary of these properties and
list some old and new results concerning them. The appendix contains a
discussion of the group of large diffeomorphisms of the -handle 3-manifold.Comment: 20 pages. Plain-TeX, no figures, 1 Table (A4 format
Quantum Geons and Noncommutative Spacetimes
Physical considerations strongly indicate that spacetime at Planck scales is
noncommutative. A popular model for such a spacetime is the Moyal plane. The
Poincar\`e group algebra acts on it with a Drinfel'd-twisted coproduct. But the
latter is not appropriate for more complicated spacetimes such as those
containing the Friedman-Sorkin (topological) geons. They have rich
diffeomorphism groups and in particular mapping class groups, so that the
statistics groups for N identical geons is strikingly different from the
permutation group . We generalise the Drinfel'd twist to (essentially)
generic groups including to finite and discrete ones and use it to modify the
commutative spacetime algebras of geons as well to noncommutative algebras. The
latter support twisted actions of diffeos of geon spacetimes and associated
twisted statistics. The notion of covariant fields for geons is formulated and
their twisted versions are constructed from their untwisted versions.
Non-associative spacetime algebras arise naturally in our analysis. Physical
consequences, such as the violation of Pauli principle, seem to be the outcomes
of such nonassociativity.
The richness of the statistics groups of identical geons comes from the
nontrivial fundamental groups of their spatial slices. As discussed long ago,
extended objects like rings and D-branes also have similar rich fundamental
groups. This work is recalled and its relevance to the present quantum geon
context is pointed out.Comment: 41 page
Low-density, one-dimensional quantum gases in a split trap
We investigate degenerate quantum gases in one dimension trapped in a
harmonic potential that is split in the centre by a pointlike potential. Since
the single particle eigenfunctions of such a system are known for all strengths
of the central potential, the dynamics for non-interacting fermionic gases and
low-density, strongly interacting bosonic gases can be investigated exactly
using the Fermi-Bose mapping theorem. We calculate the exact many-particle
ground-state wave-functions for both particle species, investigate soliton-like
solutions, and compare the bosonic system to the well-known physics of Bose
gases described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We also address the
experimentally important questions of creation and detection of such states.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Kappa-deformation of phase space; generalized Poincare algebras and R-matrix
We deform Heisenberg algebra and corresponding coalgebra by twist. We present
undeformed and deformed tensor identities. Coalgebras for the generalized
Poincar\'{e} algebras have been constructed. The exact universal -matrix for
the deformed Heisenberg (co)algebra is found. We show, up to the third order in
the deformation parameter, that in the case of -Poincar\'{e} Hopf
algebra this -matrix can be expressed in terms of Poincar\'{e} generators
only. This implies that the states of any number of identical particles can be
defined in a -covariant way.Comment: 10 pages, revtex4; discussion enlarged, references adde
The Superspace of Geometrodynamics
Wheeler's Superspace is the arena in which Geometrodynamics takes place. I
review some aspects of its geometrical and topological structure that Wheeler
urged us to take seriously in the context of canonical quantum gravity.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. To appear in the Wheeler memorial volume of
General Relativity and Gravitatio