9,998 research outputs found
Reproduction capabilities of penalized hyperbolic-polynomial splines
This paper investigates two important analytical properties of
hyperbolic-polynomial penalized splines, HP-splines for short. HP-splines,
obtained by combining a special type of difference penalty with
hyperbolic-polynomial B-splines (HB-splines), were recently introduced by the
authors as a generalization of P-splines. HB-splines are bell-shaped basis
functions consisting of segments made of real exponentials and linear functions multiplied by these exponentials,
and . Here, we show that these type of
penalized splines reproduce function in the space , that is they fit exponential data exactly. Moreover, we show
that they conserve the first and second 'exponential' moments.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Optical supercavitation in soft-matter
We investigate theoretically, numerically and experimentally nonlinear
optical waves in an absorbing out-of-equilibrium colloidal material at the
gelification transition. At sufficiently high optical intensity, absorption is
frustrated and light propagates into the medium. The process is mediated by the
formation of a matter-shock wave due to optically induced thermodiffusion, and
largely resembles the mechanism of hydrodynamical supercavitation, as it is
accompanied by a dynamic phase-transition region between the beam and the
absorbing material.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, revised version: corrected typos and reference
The Stellar Content of Obscured Galactic Giant HII Regions. VI: W51A
We present K-band spectra of newly born OB stars in the obscured Galactic
giant H II region W51A and ~ 0.8'' angular resolution images in the J, H and
K_S-bands. Four objects have been spectroscopically classified as O-type stars.
The mean spectroscopic parallax of the four stars gives a distance of 2.0 \pm
0.3 kpc (error in the mean), significantly smaller than the radio recombination
line kinematic value of 5.5 kpc or the values derived from maser propermotion
observations (6--8 kpc). The number of Lyman continuum photons from the
contribution of all massive stars (NLyc ~ 1.5 x 10^{50} s^{-1}) is in good
agreement with that inferred from radio recombination lines (NLyc = 1.3 x
10^{50} s^{-1}) after accounting for the smaller distance derived here.
We present analysis of archival high angular resolution images (NAOS CONICA
at VLT and T-ReCS at Gemini) of the compact region W51 IRS2. The K_S--band
images resolve the infrared source IRS~2 indicating that it is a very young
compact HII region. Sources IRS2E was resolved into compact cluster (within 660
AU of projected distance) of 3 objects, but one of them is just bright extended
emission. W51d1 and W51d2 were identified with compact clusters of 3 objects
(maybe 4 in the case of W51d1) each one. Although IRS~2E is the brightest
source in the K-band and at 12.6 \micron, it is not clearly associated with a
radio continuum source. Our spectrum of IRS~2E shows, similar to previous work,
strong emission in Br and HeI, as well as three forbidden emission
lines of FeIII and emission lines of molecular hydrogen (H_2) marking it as a
massive young stellar object.Comment: 31 pages and 9 figures, submitted to A
Optical amplification enhancement in photonic crystals
Improving and controlling the efficiency of a gain medium is one of the most
challenging problems of laser research. By measuring the gain length in an opal
based photonic crystal doped with laser dye, we demonstrate that optical
amplification is more than twenty-fold enhanced along the Gamma-K symmetry
directions of the face centered cubic photonic crystal. These results are
theoretically explained by directional variations of the density of states,
providing a quantitative connection between density of the states and light
amplification
Electron beam transfer line design for plasma driven Free Electron Lasers
Plasma driven particle accelerators represent the future of compact
accelerating machines and Free Electron Lasers are going to benefit from these
new technologies. One of the main issue of this new approach to FEL machines is
the design of the transfer line needed to match of the electron-beam with the
magnetic undulators. Despite the reduction of the chromaticity of plasma beams
is one of the main goals, the target of this line is to be effective even in
cases of beams with a considerable value of chromaticity. The method here
explained is based on the code GIOTTO [1] that works using a homemade genetic
algorithm and that is capable of finding optimal matching line layouts directly
using a full 3D tracking code.Comment: 9 Pages, 4 Figures. A related poster was presented at EAAC 201
Time-dependent Nonlinear Optical Susceptibility of an Out-of-Equilibrium Soft Material
We investigate the time-dependent nonlinear optical absorption of a clay
dispersion (Laponite) in organic dye (Rhodamine B) water solution displaying
liquid-arrested state transition. Specifically, we determine the characteristic
time of the nonlinear susceptibility build-up due as to the Soret
effect. By comparing with the relaxation time provided by standard
dynamic light scattering measurements we report on the decoupling of the two
collective diffusion times at the two very different length scales during the
aging of the out-of-equilibrium system. With this demonstration experiment we
also show the potentiality of nonlinear optics measurements in the study of the
late stage of arrest in soft materials
Evaluation of Electrical Energy Production Patterns. Commission of the European Communities: Energy, 1975
Recommended from our members
Improved Method for the Seismic Design of Anchored Steel Sheet Pile Walls
This paper describes a new pseudostatic approach for an efficient seismic design of anchored steel sheet pile (ASSP) walls supported by shallow passive anchorages. As for other retaining structures, energy dissipation during strong earthquakes leading to reduced inertia forces can be achieved by allowing the activation of ductile plastic mechanisms. To this end, a robust method is required to identify all the possible yielding mechanisms and to guarantee the desired strength hierarchy. It is shown that dissipative mechanisms for ASSP walls correspond either to the local attainment of the soil shear strength in the supporting soil and around the anchor, or in the activation of a log-spiral global failure surface. A new limit equilibrium method is proposed to compute the critical acceleration of the system, corresponding to the actual mobilization of its strength, and the maximum internal forces in the structural members. Theoretical findings are validated against both existing dynamic centrifuge data and the results of original pseudostatic and fully dynamic numerical analyses
Area-preserving dynamics of a long slender finger by curvature: a test case for the globally conserved phase ordering
A long and slender finger can serve as a simple ``test bed'' for different
phase ordering models. In this work, the globally-conserved,
interface-controlled dynamics of a long finger is investigated, analytically
and numerically, in two dimensions. An important limit is considered when the
finger dynamics are reducible to the area-preserving motion by curvature. A
free boundary problem for the finger shape is formulated. An asymptotic
perturbation theory is developed that uses the finger aspect ratio as a small
parameter. The leading-order approximation is a modification of ``the Mullins
finger" (a well-known analytic solution) which width is allowed to slowly vary
with time. This time dependence is described, in the leading order, by an
exponential law with the characteristic time proportional to the (constant)
finger area. The subleading terms of the asymptotic theory are also calculated.
Finally, the finger dynamics is investigated numerically, employing the
Ginzburg-Landau equation with a global conservation law. The theory is in a
very good agreement with the numerical solution.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Latex; corrected typo
Exciton condensates in semiconductor quantum wells emit coherent light
We show that a quasi-two dimensional condensate of optically active excitons
emits coherent light even in the absence of population inversion. This allows
an unambiguous and clear experimental detection of the condensed phase. We
prove that, due to the exciton-photon coupling, quantum and thermal
fluctuations do not destroy condensation at finite temperature. Suitable
conditions to achieve condensation are temperatures of a few K for typical
exciton densities, and the use of a pulsed, and preferably circularly
polarized, laser.Comment: 5 pages, no figure
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