2,599 research outputs found
Gravitational waves in preheating
We study the evolution of gravitational waves through the preheating era that
follows inflation. The oscillating inflaton drives parametric resonant growth
of scalar field fluctuations, and although super-Hubble tensor modes are not
strongly amplified, they do carry an imprint of preheating. This is clearly
seen in the Weyl tensor, which provides a covariant description of
gravitational waves.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Revte
(Giant) Vortex - (anti) vortex interaction in bulk superconductors: The Ginzburg-Landau theory
The vortex-vortex interaction potential in bulk superconductors is calculated
within the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory and is obtained from a numerical
solution of a set of two coupled non-linear GL differential equations for the
vector potential and the superconducting order parameter, where the merger of
vortices into a giant vortex is allowed. Further, the interaction potentials
between a vortex and a giant vortex and between a vortex and an antivortex are
obtained for both type-I and type-II superconductors. Our numerical results
agree asymptotically with the analytical expressions for large inter-vortex
separations which are available in the literature. We propose new empirical
expressions valid over the full interaction range, which are fitted to our
numerical data for different values of the GL parameter
Bogomol'nyi Limit For Magnetic Vortices In Rotating Superconductor
This work is the sequel of a previous investigation of stationary and
cylindrically symmetric vortex configurations for simple models representing an
incompressible non-relativistic superconductor in a rigidly rotating
background. In the present paper, we carry out our analysis with a generalized
Ginzburg-Landau description of the superconductor, which provides a
prescription for the radial profile of the normal density within the vortex.
Within this framework, it is shown that the Bogomol'nyi limit condition marking
the boundary between type I and type II behavior is unaffected by the rotation
of the background.Comment: 7 pages, uses RevTeX, submitted to Phys.Rev.
Evolution of an elliptical bubble in an accelerating extensional flow
Mathematical models that describe the dynamical behavior of a thin gas bubble embedded in a glass fiber during a fiber drawing process have been discussed and analyzed.
The starting point for the mathematical modeling was the equations presented in [1] for a glass fiber with a hole undergoing extensional flow. These equations were reconsidered here with the additional reduction that the hole, i.e. the gas bubble, was thin as compared to the radius of the fiber and of finite extent. The primary model considered was one in which the mass of the gas inside the bubble was fixed. This fixed-mass model involved equations for the axial velocity and fiber radius, and equations for the radius of the bubble and the gas pressure inside the bubble. The model equations assumed that the temperature of the furnace of the drawing tower was known.
The governing equations of the bubble are hyperbolic and predict that the bubble cannot extend beyond the limiting characteristics specified by the ends of the initial bubble shape. An analysis of pinch-off was performed, and it was found that pinch-off can occur, depending on the parameters of the model, due to surface tension when the bubble radius is small.
In order to determine the evolution of a bubble, a numerical method of solution was presented. The method was used to study the evolution of two different initial bubble shapes, one convex and the other non-convex. Both initial bubble shapes had fore-aft symmetry, and it was found that the bubbles stretched and elongated severely during the drawing process. For the convex shape, fore-aft symmetry was lost in the middle of the drawing process, but the symmetry was re-gained by the end of the drawing tower. A small amount of pinch-off was observed at each end for this case, so that the final bubble length was slightly shorter than its theoretical maximum length. For the non-convex initial shape, pinch-off occurred in the middle of the bubble resulting in two bubbles by the end of the fiber draw.
The two bubbles had different final pressures and did not have fore-aft symmetry.
An extension of the fixed-mass model was considered in which the gas in the bubble was allowed to diffuse into the surrounding glass. The governing equations for this leaky-mass model were developed and manipulated into a form suitable for a numerical treatment
Spin picture of the one-dimensional Hubbard model: Two-fluid structure and phase dynamics
We propose a scheme for investigating the quantum dynamics of interacting
electron models by means of time-dependent variational principle and spin
coherent states of space lattice operators. We apply such a scheme to the
one-dimensional hubbard model, and solve the resulting equations in different
regimes. In particular, we find that at low densities the dynamics is mapped
into two coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations, whereas near half-filling
the model is described by two coupled Josephson junction arrays. Focusing then
to the case in which only the phases of the spin variables are dynamically
active, we examine a number of different solutions corresponding to the
excitations of few macroscopic modes. Based on fixed point equation of the
simpler among them, we show that the standard one-band ground state phase space
is found.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, to appear on Phys. Rev.
Assessing protocol adherence in a clinical trial with ordered treatment regimens: Quantifying the pragmatic, randomized optimal platelet and plasma ratios (PROPPR) trial experience
AbstractBackgroundMedication dispensing errors are common in clinical trials, and have a significant impact on the quality and validity of a trial. Therefore, the definition, calculation and evaluation of such errors are important for supporting a trial’s conclusions. A variety of medication dispensing errors can occur. In this paper, we focus on errors in trials where the intervention includes multiple therapies that must be given in a pre-specified order that varies across treatment arms and varies in duration.MethodsThe Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios (PROPPR) trial was a Phase III multi-site, randomized trial to compare the effectiveness and safety of 1:1:1 transfusion ratios of plasma and platelets to red blood cells with a 1:1:2 ratio. In this trial, these three types of blood products were to be transfused in a pre-defined order that differed by treatment arm. In this paper, we present approaches from the PROPPR trial that we used to define and calculate the occurrence of out of order blood transfusion errors. We applied the proposed method to calculate protocol adherence to the specified order of transfusion in each treatment arm.ResultsUsing our proposed method, protocol adherence was greater in the 1:1:1 group than in the 1:1:2 group (96% vs 93%) (p<0.0001), although out of order transfusion errors in both groups were low. Final transfusion ratios of plasma to platelets to red blood cells for the 1:1:1 ratio group was 0.93:1.32:1, while the transfusion ratio for the 1:1:2 ratio group was 0.48:0.48:1.ConclusionsOverall, PROPPR adherence to blood transfusion order pre-specified in the protocol was high, and the required order of transfusions for the 1:1:2 group was more difficult to achieve. The approaches proposed in this manuscript were useful in evaluating the PROPPR adherence and are potentially useful for other trials where a specific treatment orders with varying durations must be maintained
Gravitational Collapse of Filamentary Magnetized Molecular Clouds
We develop models for the self-similar collapse of magnetized isothermal
cylinders. We find solutions for the case of a fluid with a constant toroidal
flux-to-mass ratio (Gamma_phi=constant) and the case of a fluid with a constant
gas to magnetic pressure ratio (beta=constant). In both cases, we find that a
low magnetization results in density profiles that behave as rho ~ r^{-4} at
large radii, and at high magnetization we find density profiles that behave as
rho ~ r^{-2}. This density behaviour is the same as for hydrostatic filamentary
structures, suggesting that density measurements alone cannot distinguish
between hydrostatic and collapsing filaments--velocity measurements are
required. Our solutions show that the self-similar radial velocity behaves as
v_r ~ r during the collapse phase, and that unlike collapsing self-similar
spheres, there is no subsequent accretion (i.e. expansion-wave) phase. We also
examine the fragmentation properties of these cylinders, and find that in both
cases, the presence of a toroidal field acts to strengthen the cylinder against
fragmentation. Finally, the collapse time scales in our models are shorter than
the fragmentation time scales. Thus, we anticipate that highly collapsed
filaments can form before they are broken into pieces by gravitational
fragmentation.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Ap
Plasma Properties in the Plume of a Hall Thruster Cluster
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76225/1/AIAA-3765-486.pd
Electron-muon heat conduction in neutron star cores via the exchange of transverse plasmons
We calculate the thermal conductivity of electrons and muons kappa_{e-mu}
produced owing to electromagnetic interactions of charged particles in neutron
star cores and show that these interactions are dominated by the exchange of
transverse plasmons (via the Landau damping of these plasmons in
nonsuperconducting matter and via a specific plasma screening in the presence
of proton superconductivity). For normal protons, the Landau damping strongly
reduces kappa_{e-mu} and makes it temperature independent. Proton
superconductivity suppresses the reduction and restores the Fermi-liquid
behavior kappa_{e-mu} ~ 1/T. Comparing with the thermal conductivity of
neutrons kappa_n, we obtain kappa_{e-mu}> kappa_n for T>2 GK in normal matter
and for any T in superconducting matter with proton critical temperatures
T_c>3e9 K. The results are described by simple analytic formulae.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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