Dynamic simulation of an electrorheological fluid

A molecular-dynamics-like method is presented for the simulation of a suspension of dielectric particles in a nonconductive solvent forming an electrorheological fluid. The method accurately accounts for both hydrodynamic and electrostatic interparticle interactions from dilute volume fractions to closest packing for simultaneous shear and electric fields. The hydrodynamic interactions and rheology are determined with the Stokesian dynamics methodology, while the electrostatic interactions, in particular, the conservative electrostatic interparticle forces, are determined from the electrostatic energy of the suspension. The energy of the suspension is computed from the induced particle dipoles by a method previously developed [R. T. Bonnecaze and J. F. Brady, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 430, 285 (1990)]. Using the simulation, the dynamics can be directly correlated to the observed macroscopic rheology of the suspension for a range of the so-called Mason number, Ma, the ratio of viscous to electrostatic forces. The simulation is specifically applied to a monolayer of spherical particles of areal fraction 0.4 with a particle-to-fluid dielectric constant ratio of 4 for Ma=10^−4 to [infinity]. The effective viscosity of the suspension increases as Ma^−1 or with the square of the electric field for small Ma and has a plateau value at large Ma, as is observed experimentally. This rheological behavior can be interpreted as Bingham plastic-like with a dynamic yield stress. The first normal stress difference is negative, and its magnitude increases as Ma^−1 at small Ma with a large Ma plateau value of zero. In addition to the time averages of the rheology, the time traces of the viscosities are presented along with selected "snapshots" of the suspension microstructure. In particular, at small Ma, the suspension dynamics exhibit two distinct motions: a slow elastic-body-like deformation where electrostatic energy is stored, followed by a rapid microstructural rearrangement where energy is viscously dissipated. It is suggested that the observed dynamic yield stress is associated with these dynamics

Searching Gravitational Waves from Pulsars, Using Laser Beam Interferometers

We use recent population synthesis results to investigate the distribution of pulsars in the frequency space, having a gravitational strain high enough to be detected by the future generations of laser beam interferometers. We find that until detectors become able to recover the entire population, the frequency distribution of the 'detectable' population will be very dependent on the detector noise curve. Assuming a mean equatorial deformation $\epsilon =10^{-6}$, the optimal frequency is around 450 Hz for interferometers of the first generation (LIGO or VIRGO) and shifts toward 85 Hz for advanced detectors. An interesting result for future detection stategies is the significant narrowing of the distribution when improving the sensitivity: with an advanced detector, it is possible to have 90% of detection probability while exploring less than 20% of the parameter space (7.5% in the case of $\epsilon =10^{-5}$). In addition, we show that in most cases the spindown of 'detectable' pulsars represents a period shift of less than a tens of nanoseconds after one year of observation, making them easier to follow in the frequency space.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Speech Communication

Contains reports on two research projects.National Science FoundationUnited States Air Force, Cambridge Research Center, Air Research and Development Command (Contract AF19(604)-6102

Does memory enhancement training alter perceptual representations?

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Gauge symmetry breaking on orbifolds

We discuss a new method for gauge symmetry breaking in theories with one extra dimension compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2. If we assume that fields and their derivatives can jump at the orbifold fixed points, we can implement a generalized Scherk-Schwarz mechanism that breaks the gauge symmetry. We show that our model with discontinuous fields is equivalent to another with continuous but non periodic fields; in our scheme localized lagrangian terms for bulk fields appear.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Talk given at the XXXVIIth Rencontres de Moriond, "Electroweak interactions and unified theories", Les Arcs, France, 9-16 Mar 2002. Minor changes, one reference adde

Homothetic Wyman Spacetimes

The time-dependent, spherically symmetric, Wyman sector of the Unified Field Theory is shown to be equivalent to a self-gravitating scalar field with a positive-definite, repulsive self-interaction potential. A homothetic symmetry is imposed on the fundamental tensor, and the resulting autonomous system is numerically integrated. Near the critical point (between the collapsing and non-collapsing spacetimes) the system displays an approximately periodic alternation between collapsing and dispersive epochs.Comment: 15 pages with 6 figures; requires amsart, amssymb, amsmath, graphicx; formatted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Do naked singularities generically occur in generalized theories of gravity?

A new mechanism for causing naked singularities is found in an effective superstring theory. We investigate the gravitational collapse in a spherically symmetric Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton system in the presence of a pure cosmological constant "potential", where the system has no static black hole solution. We show that once gravitational collapse occurs in the system, naked singularities necessarily appear in the sense that the field equations break down in the domain of outer communications. This suggests that in generalized theories of gravity, the non-minimally coupled fields generically cause naked singularities in the process of gravitational collapse if the system has no static or stationary black hole solution.Comment: 4 pages including 2 eps figures, to be published in Physical Review Letter