Tidal disruption of inviscid protoplanets

Roche showed that equilibrium is impossible for a small fluid body synchronously orbiting a primary within a critical radius now termed the Roche limit. Tidal disruption of orbitally unbound bodies is a potentially important process for planetary formation through collisional accumulation, because the area of the Roche limit is considerably larger then the physical cross section of a protoplanet. Several previous studies were made of dynamical tidal disruption and different models of disruption were proposed. Because of the limitation of these analytical models, we have used a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code to model the tidal disruption process. The code is basically the same as the one used to model giant impacts; we simply choose impact parameters large enough to avoid collisions. The primary and secondary both have iron cores and silicate mantles, and are initially isothermal at a molten temperature. The conclusions based on the analytical and numerical models are summarized

Simultaneous Triggered Collapse of the Presolar Dense Cloud Core and Injection of Short-Lived Radioisotopes by a Supernova Shock Wave

Cosmochemical evidence for the existence of short-lived radioisotopes (SLRI) such as $^{26}$Al and $^{60}$Fe at the time of the formation of primitive meteorites requires that these isotopes were synthesized in a massive star and then incorporated into chondrites within $\sim 10^6$ yr. A supernova shock wave has long been hypothesized to have transported the SLRI to the presolar dense cloud core, triggered cloud collapse, and injected the isotopes. Previous numerical calculations have shown that this scenario is plausible when the shock wave and dense cloud core are assumed to be isothermal at $\sim 10$ K, but not when compressional heating to $\sim 1000$ K is assumed. We show here for the first time that when calculated with the FLASH2.5 adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamics code, a 20 km/sec shock wave can indeed trigger the collapse of a 1 $M_\odot$ cloud while simultaneously injecting shock wave isotopes into the collapsing cloud, provided that cooling by molecular species such as H$_2$O, CO$_2$, and H$_2$ is included. These calculations imply that the supernova trigger hypothesis is the most likely mechanism for delivering the SLRI present during the formation of the solar system.Comment: 12 pages, 4 color figures. Astrophysical Journal Letters (in press

A new upper limit on the reflected starlight from Tau Bootis b

Using improved doppler tomographic signal-analysis techniques we have carried out a deep search for starlight reflected from the giant planet orbiting the star Tau Bootis. We combined echelle spectra secured at the 4.2 m William Herschel telescope in 1998 and 1999 (which yielded a tentative detection of a reflected starlight component from the orbiting companion) with new data obtained in 2000 (which failed to confirm the detection). The combined dataset comprises 893 high resolution spectra with a total integration time of 75 hr 32 min spanning 17 nights. We establish an upper limit on the planet's geometric albedo p<0.39 (at the 99.9 % significance level) at the most probable orbital inclination i=36 degrees, assuming a grey albedo, a Venus-like phase function and a planetary radius R_p=1.2 R_Jup. We are able to rule out some combinations of the predicted planetary radius and atmospheric albedo models with high, reflective cloud decks. Although a weak candidate signal appears near to the most probable radial velocity amplitude, its statistical significance is insufficient for us to claim a detection with any confidence.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS accepted 12 June 200

Triggering Collapse of the Presolar Dense Cloud Core and Injecting Short-Lived Radioisotopes with a Shock Wave. I. Varied Shock Speeds

The discovery of decay products of a short-lived radioisotope (SLRI) in the Allende meteorite led to the hypothesis that a supernova shock wave transported freshly synthesized SLRI to the presolar dense cloud core, triggered its self-gravitational collapse, and injected the SLRI into the core. Previous multidimensional numerical calculations of the shock-cloud collision process showed that this hypothesis is plausible when the shock wave and dense cloud core are assumed to remain isothermal at ~10 K, but not when compressional heating to ~1000 K is assumed. Our two-dimensional models (Boss et al. 2008) with the FLASH2.5 adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamics code have shown that a 20 km/sec shock front can simultaneously trigger collapse of a 1 solar mass core and inject shock wave material, provided that cooling by molecular species such as H2O, CO, and H2 is included. Here we present the results for similar calculations with shock speeds ranging from 1 km/sec to 100 km/sec. We find that shock speeds in the range from 5 km/sec to 70 km/sec are able to trigger the collapse of a 2.2 solar mass cloud while simultaneously injecting shock wave material: lower speed shocks do not achieve injection, while higher speed shocks do not trigger sustained collapse. The calculations continue to support the shock-wave trigger hypothesis for the formation of the solar system, though the injection efficiencies in the present models are lower than desired.Comment: 39 pages, 14 figures. in press, Ap

Injection of Radioactivities into the Forming Solar System

Meteorite studies have revealed the presence of short-lived radioactivities in the early solar system. The current data suggests that the origin of at least some of the radioactivities requires contribution from recent nucleosynthesis at a stellar site. This sets a strict time limit on the time available for the formation of the solar system and argues for the theory of the triggered origin of the solar system. According to this scenario, the formation of our planetary system was initiated by the impact of an interstellar shock wave on a molecular cloud core. The shock wave originated from a nearby explosive stellar event and carried with it radioactivities produced in the stellar source. In addition to triggering the collapse of the molecular cloud core, the shock wave also deposited some of the freshly synthesized radioactivities into the collapsing system. The radioactivities were then incorporated into the first solar system solids, in this manner leaving a record of the event in the meteoritic material. The viability of the scenario can be investigated through numerical simulations studying the processes involved in mixing shock wave material into the collapsing system. The high-resolution calculations presented here show that injection occurs through Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, the injection efficiency is approximately 10%, and temporal and spatial heterogeneities in the abundances of the radioactivities existed at the time of their arrival in the forming solar system.Comment: 13 pages, including 3 figures. Better-quality figures available at http://www.public.asu.edu/~hvanhal/pubs

New thiophene-based conjugated macrocycles for optoelectronic applications

GC acknowledges the EPSRC for funding (EP/E036244/1). JMS acknowledges the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 for PhD funding. JMS also acknowledges Dr Nor Basid Adiwibawa Prasetya for helpful advice. Dr L. K. Jagadamma acknowledges support from a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (European Commission) (MCIF: No. 745776).Thiophene-based semiconductors are amongst the most successful materials in organic electronics. In this contribution, we present the synthesis and characterisation of two thiophene-based macrocycles as well as their evaluation in organic-electronic devices. McT-1 is composed of ten thiophene moieties, whereas in McT-2, four additional electron-deficient benzothiadiazole moieties are incorporated to form a donor–acceptor (D–A) π-system. Red-shifted and broadened absorption spectra as well as more positive redox potentials are observed in McT-2, whereas McT-1 displays a sharper absorption band with a higher extinction coefficient. Macrocycle McT-1 shows emission in the yellow region whereas McT-2 displays emission in the red wavelength region. DFT calculations predict the macrocycles to comprise of mainly the E,E isomers with a near-planar structure, which is further supported by the single crystal X-ray structure for McT-1. Their charge transporting properties are determined by fabricating thin-film OFETs. The photovoltaic properties of McT-1 and McT-2 are also investigated by fabricating bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices and their potential as photodetectors has been evaluated.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Recent Decisions

Recent Decisions ADMIRALTY--COGSA--BILL OF LADING CARGO DESCRIPTION AND PACKER IDENTITY DETERMINE WHEN A CONTAINER IS A PACKAGE IN COGSA LIABILITY PROCEEDINGS Alan L. Marchisotto ============================ ADMIRALTY--JURISDICTION OVER AVIATION TORT CLAIMS--ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION DOES NOT EXTEND TO AVIATION TORT CLAIMS IN THE ABSENCE OF A SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TORT AND TRADITIONAL MARITIME ACTIVITIES W. H. Schwarzschild III ============================ ALIENS--ALIENS MAY MAINTAIN A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION UNDER 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (1970) Mark M. Greisberger ============================ ANTITRUST--ARTICLE 86 OF THE EEC TREATY APPLIES TO CERTAIN CHANGES IN INTERNAL CORPORATE STRUCTURE Richard P. Granfield =========================== CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--EXECUTIVE POWER--PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO NEGOTIATE FOREIGN COMMERCIAL AGREEMENTS PURSUANT TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS POWER IS NOT CIRCUMSCRIBED ABSENT EX-PLICIT LEGISLATION Donald B. Cameron, Jr. ========================== JURISDICTION--SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934--SECTION 10(b) APPLIES TO A TRANSACTION IN UNLISTED FOREIGN SECURITIES WHEN SIGNIFICANT FRAUDULENT CONDUCT OCCURS IN THE UNITED STATES Isaac H. Braddock ========================= TARIFFS--TRADE AGREEMENT CONCESSIONS MAY BE SUSPENDED ON A MOST-FAVORED-NATION BASIS WHEN SUCH TREATMENT IS REQUIRED BY INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES David A. Boillo

The multicovering radius problem for some types of discrete structures

The covering radius problem is a question in coding theory concerned with finding the minimum radius $r$ such that, given a code that is a subset of an underlying metric space, balls of radius $r$ over its code words cover the entire metric space. Klapper introduced a code parameter, called the multicovering radius, which is a generalization of the covering radius. In this paper, we introduce an analogue of the multicovering radius for permutation codes (cf. Keevash and Ku, 2006) and for codes of perfect matchings (cf. Aw and Ku, 2012). We apply probabilistic tools to give some lower bounds on the multicovering radii of these codes. In the process of obtaining these results, we also correct an error in the proof of the lower bound of the covering radius that appeared in Keevash and Ku (2006). We conclude with a discussion of the multicovering radius problem in an even more general context, which offers room for further research.Comment: To appear in Designs, Codes and Cryptography (2012