4,148 research outputs found
On the dynamic tensile strength of Zirconium
Despite its fundamental nature, the process of dynamic tensile failure (spall) is poorly understood. Spall initiation via cracks, voids, etc, before subsequent coalesce, is known to be highly microstructure-dependant. In particular, the availability of slip planes and other methods of plastic deformation controls the onset (or lack thereof) of spall. While studies have been undertaken into the spall response of BCC and FCC materials, less attention has paid to the spall response of highly anisotropic HCP materials. Here the dynamic behaviour of zirconium is investigated via plate-impact experiments, with the aim of building on an ongoing in-house body of work investigating these highly complex materials. In particular, in this paper the effect of impact stress on spall in a commercially sourced Zr rod is considered, with apparent strain-rate softening highlighted
From SICs and MUBs to Eddington
This is a survey of some very old knowledge about Mutually Unbiased Bases
(MUB) and Symmetric Informationally Complete POVMs (SIC). In prime dimensions
the former are closely tied to an elliptic normal curve symmetric under the
Heisenberg group, while the latter are believed to be orbits under the
Heisenberg group in all dimensions. In dimensions 3 and 4 the SICs are
understandable in terms of elliptic curves, but a general statement escapes us.
The geometry of the SICs in 3 and 4 dimensions is discussed in some detail.Comment: 12 pages; from the Festschrift for Tony Sudber
The private, the public and the hybrid in umbilical cord blood banking – a global perspective
No description supplie
Lateral stress evolution in chromium sulfide cermets with varying excess chromium
The shock response of chromium sulfide-chromium, a cermet of potential interest as a matrix material for ballistic applications, has been investigated at two molar ratios. Using a combustion synthesis technique allowed for control of the molar ratio of the material, which was investigated under near-stoichiometric (cermet) and excess chromium (interpenetrating composite) conditions, representing chromium:sulfur molar ratios of 1.15:1 and 4:1, respectively. The compacts were investigated via the plate-impact technique, which allowed the material to be loaded under a onedimensional state of strain. Embedded manganin stress gauges were employed to monitor the temporal evolution of longitudinal and lateral components of stress in both materials. Comparison of these two components has allowed assessment of the variation of material shear strength both with impact pressure/strain-rate and time for the two molar ratio conditions. The two materials exhibited identical material strength despite variations in their excess chromium content
Long quantum channels for high-quality entanglement transfer
High-quality quantum-state and entanglement transfer can be achieved in an
unmodulated spin bus operating in the ballistic regime, which occurs when the
endpoint qubits A and B are coupled to the chain by an exchange interaction
comparable with the intrachain exchange. Indeed, the transition amplitude
characterizing the transfer quality exhibits a maximum for a finite optimal
value , where is the channel length. We show that
scales as for large and that it ensures a
high-quality entanglement transfer even in the limit of arbitrarily long
channels, almost independently of the channel initialization. For instance, the
average quantum-state transmission fidelity exceeds 90% for any chain length.
We emphasize that, taking the reverse point of view, should be
experimentally constrained, high-quality transfer can still be obtained by
adjusting the channel length to its optimal value.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
The Strength of two HMX based plastic bonded explosives during one dimensional shock loading
A series of experiments have been performed to probe the mechanical response of two HMX based plastic bonded explosives to one dimensional shock loading. Manganin stress gauges in longitudinal and lateral orientation to the loading axis have been used as the diagnostic. Results indicate that despite major differences in the binder phase and smaller differences in the HMX crystal loading and morphology, the Hugoniot and shear strengths behind the shock front are near identical. We have proposed that this is due to the HMX crystals forming a network that supports the bulk of the applied stress
Control of quantum interference in the quantum eraser
We have implemented an optical quantum eraser with the aim of studying this
phenomenon in the context of state discrimination. An interfering single photon
is entangled with another one serving as a which-path marker. As a consequence,
the visibility of the interference as well as the which-path information are
constrained by the overlap (measured by the inner product) between the
which-path marker states, which in a more general situation are non-orthogonal.
In order to perform which-path or quantum eraser measurements while analyzing
non-orthogonal states, we resort to a probabilistic method for the unambiguous
modification of the inner product between the two states of the which-path
marker in a discrimination-like process.Comment: Submitted to New Journal of Physics, March 200
Pelletizing
DURING the last 15 or 20 years we have witnessed an extra-ordinary increase in the quantity of artificial agglomera-tes used in blast-furnace burdens. This expansion has occurred in two fields, the first being sintering, a
technique applied particularly to the agglomeration of
low grade 'earthy' ores and to screenings from high quality
Jump
SIC~POVMs and Clifford groups in prime dimensions
We show that in prime dimensions not equal to three, each group covariant
symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure (SIC~POVM)
is covariant with respect to a unique Heisenberg--Weyl (HW) group. Moreover,
the symmetry group of the SIC~POVM is a subgroup of the Clifford group. Hence,
two SIC~POVMs covariant with respect to the HW group are unitarily or
antiunitarily equivalent if and only if they are on the same orbit of the
extended Clifford group. In dimension three, each group covariant SIC~POVM may
be covariant with respect to three or nine HW groups, and the symmetry group of
the SIC~POVM is a subgroup of at least one of the Clifford groups of these HW
groups respectively. There may exist two or three orbits of equivalent
SIC~POVMs for each group covariant SIC~POVM, depending on the order of its
symmetry group. We then establish a complete equivalence relation among group
covariant SIC~POVMs in dimension three, and classify inequivalent ones
according to the geometric phases associated with fiducial vectors. Finally, we
uncover additional SIC~POVMs by regrouping of the fiducial vectors from
different SIC~POVMs which may or may not be on the same orbit of the extended
Clifford group.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figure, section 4 revised and extended, published in J.
Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43, 305305 (2010
On the effects of powder morphology on the post-comminution ballistic strength of ceramics
In this paper in order to try and elucidate the effects of particle morphology on ballistic response of comminuted systems, a series of experiments were carried out via the use of powder compacts with differing initial particle morphologies. This approach provided a route to readily manufacture comminuted armour analogues with significantly different microstructural compositions. In this study pre-formed `fragmented-ceramic' analogues were cold-pressed using plasma-spray alumina powders with two differing initial morphologies (angular and spherical). These compacts were then impacted using 7.62-mm FFV AP (Förenade Fabriksverken Armour Piercing) rounds with the subsequent depth-of-penetration of the impacting projectile into backing Al 6082 blocks used to provide a measure of pressed ceramic ballistic response. When material areal density was accounted for via differing ballistic efficiency calculations a strong indication of particle morphology influence on post-impact ceramic properties was apparent. These results were reinforced by a separate small series of plate-impact experiments, whose results indicated that powder morphology had a strong influence on the nature of compact collapse
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