1,302 research outputs found
On the Gravitational Collapse of a Gas Cloud in Presence of Bulk Viscosity
We analyze the effects induced by the bulk viscosity on the dynamics
associated to the extreme gravitational collapse. Aim of the work is to
investigate whether the presence of viscous corrections to the evolution of a
collapsing gas cloud influence the fragmentation process. To this end we study
the dynamics of a uniform and spherically symmetric cloud with corrections due
to the negative pressure contribution associated to the bulk viscosity
phenomenology. Within the framework of a Newtonian approach (whose range of
validity is outlined), we extend to the viscous case either the Lagrangian,
either the Eulerian motion of the system and we treat the asymptotic evolution
in correspondence to a viscosity coefficient of the form ( being the cloud density and ). We show how,
in the adiabatic-like behavior of the gas (i.e. when the politropic index takes
values ), density contrasts acquire, asymptotically, a
vanishing behavior which prevents the formation of sub-structures. We can
conclude that in the adiabatic-like collapse the top down mechanism of
structures formation is suppressed as soon as enough strong viscous effects are
taken into account. Such a feature is not present in the isothermal-like (i.e.
) collapse because the sub-structures formation is yet present
and outlines the same behavior as in the non-viscous case. We emphasize that in
the adiabatic-like collapse the bulk viscosity is also responsible for the
appearance of a threshold scale beyond which perturbations begin to increase.Comment: 13 pages, no figur
A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Accreting Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS J121209.31+013627.7 and its Substellar Companion
The nature of the excess near-infrared emission associated with the magnetic
white dwarf commonly known as SDSS 1212 is investigated primarily through
spectroscopy, and also via photometry. The inferred low mass secondary in this
system has been previously detected by the emission and variation of H,
and the m spectral data presented here are consistent with the
presence of a late L or early T dwarf. The excess flux seen beyond 1.5 m
in the phase-averaged spectrum is adequately modeled with an L8 dwarf
substellar companion and cyclotron emission in a 7 MG magnetic field. This
interesting system manifests several observational properties typical of
polars, and is most likely an old interacting binary with a magnetic white
dwarf and a substellar donor in an extended low state.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, Accepted to Ap
Implicit Solutions of PDE's
Further investigations of implicit solutions to non-linear partial
differential equations are pursued. Of particular interest are the equations
which are Lorentz invariant. The question of which differential equations of
second order for a single unknown are solved by the imposition of an
inhomogeneous quadratic relationship among the independent variables, whose
coefficients are functions of is discussed, and it is shown that if the
discriminant of the quadratic vanishes, then an implicit solution of the
so-called Universal Field Equation is obtained. The relation to the general
solution is discussed.Comment: 11 pages LaTeX2
The generation of nonlinear internal waves
Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 25, No. 2 (2012): 108–123, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.46.Nonlinear internal waves are found in many parts of the world ocean. Their widespread distribution is a result of their origin in the barotropic tide and in the variety of ways they can be generated, including by lee waves, tidal beams, resonance, plumes, and the transformation of the internal tide. The differing generation mechanisms and diversity of generation locations and conditions all combine to produce waves that range in scale from a few tens of meters to kilometers, but with all properly described by solitary wave theory. The ability of oceanic nonlinear internal waves to persist for days after generation and the key role internal waves play in connecting large-scale tides to smaller-scale turbulence make them important for understanding the ocean environment.Christopher Jackson gratefully acknowledges
the support of the Office of
Naval Research through contract
N0001409C0224
Electronic doping of graphene by deposited transition metal atoms
We perform a phenomenological analysis of the problem of the electronic
doping of a graphene sheet by deposited transition metal atoms, which aggregate
in clusters. The sample is placed in a capacitor device such that the
electronic doping of graphene can be varied by the application of a gate
voltage and such that transport measurements can be performed via the
application of a (much smaller) voltage along the graphene sample, as reported
in the work of Pi et al. [Phys. Rev. B 80, 075406 (2009)]. The analysis allows
us to explain the thermodynamic properties of the device, such as the level of
doping of graphene and the ionisation potential of the metal clusters in terms
of the chemical interaction between graphene and the clusters. We are also
able, by modelling the metallic clusters as perfect conducting spheres, to
determine the scattering potential due to these clusters on the electronic
carriers of graphene and hence the contribution of these clusters to the
resistivity of the sample. The model presented is able to explain the
measurements performed by Pi et al. on Pt-covered graphene samples at the
lowest metallic coverages measured and we also present a theoretical argument
based on the above model that explains why significant deviations from such a
theory are observed at higher levels of coverage.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Gravito-magnetic instabilities in anisotropically expanding fluids
Gravitational instabilities in a magnetized Friedman - Robertson - Walker
(FRW) Universe, in which the magnetic field was assumed to be too weak to
destroy the isotropy of the model, are known and have been studied in the past.
Accordingly, it became evident that the external magnetic field disfavors the
perturbations' growth, suppressing the corresponding rate by an amount
proportional to its strength. However, the spatial isotropy of the FRW Universe
is not compatible with the presence of large-scale magnetic fields. Therefore,
in this article we use the general-relativistic (GR) version of the
(linearized) perturbed magnetohydrodynamic equations with and without
resistivity, to discuss a generalized Jeans criterion and the potential
formation of density condensations within a class of homogeneous and
anisotropically expanding, self-gravitating, magnetized fluids in curved
space-time. We find that, for a wide variety of anisotropic cosmological
models, gravito-magnetic instabilities can lead to sub-horizonal, magnetized
condensations. In the non-resistive case, the power spectrum of the unstable
cosmological perturbations suggests that most of the power is concentrated on
large scales (small k), very close to the horizon. On the other hand, in a
resistive medium, the critical wave-numbers so obtained, exhibit a delicate
dependence on resistivity, resulting in the reduction of the corresponding
Jeans lengths to smaller scales (well bellow the horizon) than the
non-resistive ones, while increasing the range of cosmological models which
admit such an instability.Comment: 10 pages RevTex, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the
International Journal of Modern Physics
Airway events in obese vs. non-obese elective surgical patients: a cross-sectional observational study
Obesity is an increasingly prevalent comorbidity within the UK population. The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of obese patients in an elective surgical population. The second aim was to determine the choice of airway equipment and incidence of airway events in obese vs. non-obese patients. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study over two 24-h periods in March 2018 across 39 hospitals in the greater London area. Data were collected regarding 1874 patients. The incidence of obesity was 32% in the study population compared with 26% in the general UK population (p < 0.0001). Minor airway events were defined as: desaturation to Sp O2 < 90%; failed mask ventilation; supraglottic airway device problem; aspiration; airway trauma and difficult intubation; or recognised oesophageal intubation. Major airway events were defined as: unrecognised oesophageal intubation; a 'cannot intubate cannot oxygenate' emergency; the need for unplanned front-of-neck airway; cardiac arrest; or unplanned intensive care unit admission due to an airway event. In total, 89 minor and two major airway events were recorded. Obese patients were more likely to experience a minor airway event (RR 2.39, 95%CI 1.60-3.57), the most common being desaturation (Sp O2 < 90%). The use of a supraglottic airway device in obese vs. non-obese patients was associated with increased airway events (RR 3.46 [1.88-6.40]). Tracheal intubation vs. supraglottic airway device use increased with obesity class but was not associated with a decrease in airway events (RR 0.90 [0.53-1.55]). Our data suggest that obesity is more common in the elective surgical vs. general population and minor airway events are more common in obese vs. non-obese elective patients
On the Origin of the Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets
We develop a phenomenological theory that aims to account for the origin of
the large eccentricities of extrasolar planets and that of the small
eccentricities in the solar system, the preference for apsidal alignment in
non-resonant multiplanet systems, and the origin of the similarities in the
eccentricity distribution of extra-solar planets and that of spectroscopic
binary stars. We show that if a physical process is weakly dependent on the
local dynamics of the companion and imparts a small relative acceleration to
the star-companion system, the eccentricity of the companion's orbit is excited
to large values depending on the direction and duration of acceleration. A
natural candidate for such processes are asymmetric stellar jets and star-disk
winds. When the acceleration originates from a precessing jet, large
eccentricities can be excited by the resonance of the jet's precession
frequency with the induced acceleration's excitation frequency even for nearly
perpendicular jets. Precession also reduces the eccentricity amplitude far
inside the resonance radius. The acceleration's strength is best constrained in
multiplanet systems because of the companions' mutual gravitational
perturbations, while the acceleration's duration is bounded by the condition
that the residual velocity imparted to the star is smaller than the stellar
velocity dispersion in the Galaxy. In the outer parts of the star-companion
system where the acceleration excitation time is comparable to or smaller than
the orbital period, significant radial migration takes place which may have
important consequences for the dynamics of the minor body populations in the
solar system. The theory is illustrated with the Andromedae binary
system.Comment: 41 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
Equation of the field lines of an axisymmetric multipole with a source surface
Optical spectropolarimeters can be used to produce maps of the surface magnetic fields of stars and hence to determine how stellar magnetic fields vary with stellar mass, rotation rate, and evolutionary stage. In particular, we now can map the surface magnetic fields of forming solar-like stars, which are still contracting under gravity and are surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. Their large scale magnetic fields are almost dipolar on some stars, and there is evidence for many higher order multipole field components on other stars. The availability of new data has renewed interest in incorporating multipolar magnetic fields into models of stellar magnetospheres. I describe the basic properties of axial multipoles of arbitrary degree ℓ and derive the equation of the field lines in spherical coordinates. The spherical magnetic field components that describe the global stellar field topology are obtained analytically assuming that currents can be neglected in the region exterior to the star, and interior to some fixed spherical equipotential surface. The field components follow from the solution of Laplace’s equation for the magnetostatic potential
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