Hydrothermal oxidation of Navy shipboard excess hazardous materials

This study demonstrated effective destruction, using a novel supercritical water oxidation reactor, of oil, jet fuel, and hydraulic fluid, common excess hazardous materials found on-board Navy vessels. This reactor uses an advanced injector design to mix the hazardous compounds with water, oxidizer, and a supplementary fuel and it uses a transpiring wall to protect the surface of the reactor from corrosion and salt deposition. Our program was divided into four parts. First, basic chemical kinetic data were generated in a simple, tubular-configured reactor for short reaction times (5 seconds) as a function of temperature. Second, using the data, an engineering model was developed for the more complicated industrial reactor mentioned above. Third, the three hazardous materials were destroyed in a quarter-scale version of the industrial reactor. Finally, the test data were compared with the model. The model and the experimental results for the quarter-scale reactor are described and compared in this report. A companion report discusses the first part of the program to generate basic chemical kinetic data. The injector and reactor worked as expected. The oxidation reaction with the supplementary fuel was initiated between 400 {degrees}C and 450 {degrees}C. The released energy raised the reactor temperature to greater than 600 {degrees}C. At that temperature, the hazardous materials were efficiently destroyed in less than five seconds. The model shows good agreement with the test data and has proven to be a useful tool in designing the system and understanding the test results. 16 refs., 17 figs., 11 tabs

Quantum-critical pairing with varying exponents

We analyse the onset temperature T_p for the pairing in cuprate superconductors at small doping, when tendency towards antiferromagnetism is strong. We consider the model of Moon and Sachdev (MS), which assumes that electron and hole pockets survive in a paramagnetic phase. Within this model, the pairing between fermions is mediated by a gauge boson, whose propagator remains massless in a paramagnet. We relate the MS model to a generic \gamma-model of quantum-critical pairing with the pairing kernel \lambda (\Omega) \propto 1/\Omega^{\gamma}. We show that, over some range of parameters, the MS model is equivalent to the \gamma-model with \gamma =1/3 (\lambda (\Omega) \propto \Omega^{-1/3}). We find, however, that the parameter range where this analogy works is bounded on both ends. At larger deviations from a magnetic phase, the MS model becomes equivalent to the \gamma-model with varying \gamma >1/3, whose value depends on the distance to a magnetic transition and approaches \gamma =1 deep in a paramagnetic phase. Very near the transition, the MS model becomes equivalent to the \gamma-model with varying \gamma <1/3. Right at the magnetic QCP, the MS model is equivalent to the \gamma-model with \gamma =0+ (\lambda (\Omega) \propto \log \Omega), which is the model for color superconductivity. Using this analogy, we verified the formula for T_c derived for color superconductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted to JLTP for a focused issue on Quantum Phase Transition

Renormalization Group and Decoupling in Curved Space: II. The Standard Model and Beyond

We continue the study of the renormalization group and decoupling of massive fields in curved space, started in the previous article and analyse the higher derivative sector of the vacuum metric-dependent action of the Standard Model. The QCD sector at low-energies is described in terms of the composite effective fields. For fermions and scalars the massless limit shows perfect correspondence with the conformal anomaly, but similar limit in a massive vector case requires an extra compensating scalar. In all three cases the decoupling goes smoothly and monotonic. A particularly interesting case is the renormalization group flow in the theory with broken supersymmetry, where the sign of one of the beta-functions changes on the way from the UV to IR.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

StableClim, continuous projections of climate stability from 21000 BP to 2100 CE at multiple spatial scales

Paleoclimatic data are used in eco-evolutionary models to improve knowledge of biogeographical processes that drive patterns of biodiversity through time, opening windows into past climate-biodiversity dynamics. Applying these models to harmonised simulations of past and future climatic change can strengthen forecasts of biodiversity change. StableClim provides continuous estimates of climate stability from 21,000 years ago to 2100 C.E. for ocean and terrestrial realms at spatial scales that include biogeographic regions and climate zones. Climate stability is quantified using annual trends and variabilities in air temperature and precipitation, and associated signal-to-noise ratios. Thresholds of natural variability in trends in regional- and global-mean temperature allow periods in Earth's history when climatic conditions were warming and cooling rapidly (or slowly) to be identified and climate stability to be estimated locally (grid-cell) during these periods of accelerated change. Model simulations are validated against independent paleoclimate and observational data. Projections of climatic stability, accessed through StableClim, will improve understanding of the roles of climate in shaping past, present-day and future patterns of biodiversity.Stuart C. Brown, Tom M. L. Wigley, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner and Damien A. Fordha

Structural characterisation of MBE grown zinc-blende Ga1-xMnxN/GaAs(001) as a function of Ga flux

Ga1-xMnxN films grown on semi-insulating GaAs(001) substrates at 680°C with fixed Mn flux and varied Ga flux demonstrated a transition from zinc-blende/wurtzite mixed phase growth for low Ga flux (N-rich conditions) to zinc-blende single phase growth with surface Ga droplets for high Ga flux (Ga-rich conditions). N-rich conditions were found favourable for Mn incorporation in GaN lattice. α-MnAs inclusions were identified extending into the GaAs buffer layer

Semimicroscopical description of the simplest photonuclear reactions accompanied by excitation of the giant dipole resonance in medium-heavy mass nuclei

A semimicroscopical approach is applied to describe photoabsorption and partial photonucleon reactions accompanied by the excitation of the giant dipole resonance (GDR). The approach is based on the continuum-RPA (CRPA) with a phenomenological description for the spreading effect. The phenomenological isoscalar part of the nuclear mean field, momentum-independent Landau-Migdal particle-hole interaction, and separable momentum-dependent forces are used as input quantities for the CRPA calculations. The experimental photoabsorption and partial $(n,\gamma)$-reaction cross sections in the vicinity of the GDR are satisfactorily described for $^{89}$Y, $^{140}$Ce and $^{208}$Pb target nuclei. The total direct-neutron-decay branching ratio for the GDR in $^{48}$Ca and $^{208}$Pb is also evaluated.Comment: 19 pages, 5 eps figure

Bremsstrahlung in intermediate-energy nucleon reactions within an effective one-boson exchange model

Within a covariant effective one-boson exchange model for the $T$ matrix of $NN$ interactions we present detailed calculations of bremsstrahlung cross sections for proton - proton and proton - neutron reactions at beam energies in the 1 GeV region. Besides pure bremsstrahlung processes we consider photons from $\Delta$ decays and contributions from the $\eta \to \gamma \gamma$ process. At beam energies above 700 MeV the $\Delta$ decay channel dominates the spectra at large photon energies, where the interference between non-resonance processes and the $\Delta$ decay channel becomes also important. Low energy photons stem from pure bremsstrahlung processes. The available experimental data at 730 MeV beam energy is well described. We extrapolate the model down to 280 MeV, where more detailed experimental data exist, and find agreement with angular distributions.Comment: 20 pages with 10 figures, to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Zero mode solutions of quark Dirac equations in QCD as the sources of chirality violating condensates

It is demonstrated, that chirality violating condensates in massless QCD arise from zero mode solutions of Dirac equations in arbitrary gluon fields. Basing of this idea, the model is suggested, which allows one to calculate quark condensate magnetic susceptibilities in the external constant electromagnetic field.Comment: 7 page

Exact quantum states of a general time-dependent quadratic system from classical action

A generalization of driven harmonic oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency, by adding total time-derivative terms to the Lagrangian, is considered. The generalization which gives a general quadratic Hamiltonian system does not change the classical equation of motion. Based on the observation by Feynman and Hibbs, the propagators (kernels) of the systems are calculated from the classical action, in terms of solutions of the classical equation of motion: two homogeneous and one particular solutions. The kernels are then used to find wave functions which satisfy the Schr\"{o}dinger equation. One of the wave functions is shown to be that of a Gaussian pure state. In every case considered, we prove that the kernel does not depend on the way of choosing the classical solutions, while the wave functions depend on the choice. The generalization which gives a rather complicated quadratic Hamiltonian is simply interpreted as acting an unitary transformation to the driven harmonic oscillator system in the Hamiltonian formulation.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.