5,931 research outputs found
Outflow boundary conditions for 3D simulations of non-periodic blood flow and pressure fields in deformable arteries
The simulation of blood flow and pressure in arteries requires outflow
boundary conditions that incorporate models of downstream domains. We
previously described a coupled multidomain method to couple analytical models
of the downstream domains with 3D numerical models of the upstream vasculature.
This prior work either included pure resistance boundary conditions or
impedance boundary conditions based on assumed periodicity of the solution.
However, flow and pressure in arteries are not necessarily periodic in time due
to heart rate variability, respiration, complex transitional flow or acute
physiological changes. We present herein an approach for prescribing lumped
parameter outflow boundary conditions that accommodate transient phenomena. We
have applied this method to compute haemodynamic quantities in different
physiologically relevant cardiovascular models, including patient-specific
examples, to study non-periodic flow phenomena often observed in normal
subjects and in patients with acquired or congenital cardiovascular disease.
The relevance of using boundary conditions that accommodate transient phenomena
compared with boundary conditions that assume periodicity of the solution is
discussed
Penrose limits of Lie Branes and a Nappi--Witten braneworld
Departing from the observation that the Penrose limit of AdS_3 x S^3 is a
group contraction in the sense of Inonu and Wigner, we explore the relation
between the symmetric D-branes of AdS_3 x S^3 and those of its Penrose limit, a
six-dimensional symmetric plane wave analogous to the four-dimensional
Nappi--Witten spacetime. Both backgrounds are Lie groups admitting bi-invariant
lorentzian metrics and symmetric D-branes wrap their (twisted) conjugacy
classes. We determine the (twisted and untwisted) symmetric D-branes in the
plane wave background and we prove the existence of a space-filling D5-brane
and, separately, of a foliation by D3-branes with the geometry of the
Nappi--Witten spacetime which can be understood as the Penrose limit of the
AdS_2 x S^2 D3-brane in AdS_3 x S^3. Parenthetically we also derive a simple
criterion for a symmetric plane wave to be isometric to a lorentzian Lie group.
In particular we observe that the maximally supersymmetric plane wave in IIB
string theory is isometric to a lorentzian Lie group, whereas the one in
M-theory is not.Comment: 21 pages (v2: references added
Strain in epitaxial MnSi films on Si(111) in the thick film limit studied by polarization-dependent extended x-ray absorption fine structure
We report a study of the strain state of epitaxial MnSi films on Si(111)
substrates in the thick film limit (100-500~\AA) as a function of film
thickness using polarization-dependent extended x-ray absorption fine structure
(EXAFS). All films investigated are phase-pure and of high quality with a sharp
interface between MnSi and Si. The investigated MnSi films are in a thickness
regime where the magnetic transition temperature assumes a
thickness-independent enhanced value of 43~K as compared with that of
bulk MnSi, where . A detailed refinement of
the EXAFS data reveals that the Mn positions are unchanged, whereas the Si
positions vary along the out-of-plane [111]-direction, alternating in
orientation from unit cell to unit cell. Thus, for thick MnSi films, the unit
cell volume is essentially that of bulk MnSi --- except in the vicinity of the
interface with the Si substrate (thin film limit). In view of the enhanced
magnetic transition temperature we conclude that the mere presence of the
interface, and its specific characteristics, strongly affects the magnetic
properties of the entire MnSi film, even far from the interface. Our analysis
provides invaluable information about the local strain at the MnSi/Si(111)
interface. The presented methodology of polarization dependent EXAFS can also
be employed to investigate the local structure of other interesting interfaces.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Supersymmetry and homogeneity of M-theory backgrounds
We describe the construction of a Lie superalgebra associated to an arbitrary
supersymmetric M-theory background, and discuss some examples. We prove that
for backgrounds with more than 24 supercharges, the bosonic subalgebra acts
locally transitively. In particular, we prove that backgrounds with more than
24 supersymmetries are necessarily (locally) homogeneous.Comment: 19 pages (Erroneous Section 6.3 removed from the paper.
Penrose limits, supergravity and brane dynamics
We investigate the Penrose limits of classical string and M-theory
backgrounds. We prove that the number of (super)symmetries of a supergravity
background never decreases in the limit. We classify all the possible Penrose
limits of AdS x S spacetimes and of supergravity brane solutions. We also
present the Penrose limits of various other solutions: intersecting branes,
supersymmetric black holes and strings in diverse dimensions, and cosmological
models. We explore the Penrose limit of an isometrically embedded spacetime and
find a generalisation to spaces with more than one time. Finally, we show that
the Penrose limit is a large tension limit for all branes including those with
fields of Born--Infeld type.Comment: 67 page
D-branes in the Euclidean and T-duality
We show that D-branes in the Euclidean can be naturally associated to
the maximally isotropic subgroups of the Lu-Weinstein double of SU(2). This
picture makes very transparent the residual loop group symmetry of the D-brane
configurations and gives also immediately the D-branes shapes and the
-model boundary conditions in the de Sitter T-dual of the
WZW model.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX, references adde
New Branes and Boundary States
We examine D-branes on , and find a three-brane wrapping the entire
, in addition to 1-branes and instantonic 2-branes previously discussed
in the literature. The three-brane is found using a construction of Maldacena,
Moore, and Seiberg. We show that all these branes satisfy Cardy's condition and
extract the open string spectrum on them.Comment: 18 pages, late
Complete Characterization of Quantum-Optical Processes
The technologies of quantum information and quantum control are rapidly
improving, but full exploitation of their capabilities requires complete
characterization and assessment of processes that occur within quantum devices.
We present a method for characterizing, with arbitrarily high accuracy, any
quantum optical process. Our protocol recovers complete knowledge of the
process by studying, via homodyne tomography, its effect on a set of coherent
states, i.e. classical fields produced by common laser sources. We demonstrate
the capability of our protocol by evaluating and experimentally verifying the
effect of a test process on squeezed vacuum.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
First Astronomical Application of a Cryogenic TES Spectrophotometer
We report on the first astronomical observations with a photon counting pixel
detector that provides arrival time- (delta t = 100ns) and energy- (delta
E_gamma < 0.15eV) resolved measurements from the near IR through the near UV.
Our test observations were performed by coupling this Transition Edge Sensor
(TES) device to a 0.6m telescope; we have obtained the first simultaneous
optical near-IR phase-resolved spectra of the Crab pulsar. A varying infrared
turnover gives evidence of self-absorption in the pulsar plasma. The potential
of such detectors in imaging arrays from a space platform are briefly
described.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
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