8,224 research outputs found
Effects of gravity on laminar gas jet diffusion flames
Zero gravity effects on laminar gas jet diffusion flame
Failure mechanisms of graphene under tension
Recent experiments established pure graphene as the strongest material known
to mankind, further invigorating the question of how graphene fails. Using
density functional theory, we reveal the mechanisms of mechanical failure of
pure graphene under a generic state of tension. One failure mechanism is a
novel soft-mode phonon instability of the -mode, whereby the graphene
sheet undergoes a phase transition and is driven towards isolated benzene rings
resulting in a reduction of strength. The other is the usual elastic
instability corresponding to a maximum in the stress-strain curve. Our results
indicate that finite wave vector soft modes can be the key factor in limiting
the strength of monolayer materials
Evidence for Past Subduction Earthquakes at a Plate Boundary with Widespread Upper Plate Faulting: Southern Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand
At the southern Hikurangi margin, New Zealand, we use salt marsh stratigraphy, sedimentology, micropaleontology, and radiocarbon dating to document evidence of two earthquakes producing coseismic subsidence and (in one case) a tsunami over the past 1000 yrs. The earthquake at 520-470 yrs before present (B.P.) produced 0.25 +/- 0.1 m of subsidence at Big Lagoon. The earthquake at 880-800 yrs B.P. produced 0.45 +/- 0.1 m of subsidence at Big Lagoon and was accompanied by a tsunami that inundated >= 360 m inland with a probable height of >= 3.3 m. Distinguishing the effects of upper plate faulting from plate interface earthquakes is a significant challenge at this margin. We use correlation with regional upper plate paleoearthquake chronologies and elastic dislocation modeling to determine that the most likely cause of the subsidence and tsunami events is subduction interface rupture, although the older event may have been a synchronous subduction interface and upper plate fault rupture. The southern Hikurangi margin has had no significant (M > 6.5) documented subduction interface earthquakes in historic times, and previous assumptions that this margin segment is prone to rupture in large to great earthquakes were based on seismic and geodetic evidence of strong contemporary plate coupling. This is the first geologic evidence to confirm that the southern Hikurangi margin ruptures in large earthquakes. The relatively short-time interval between the two subduction earthquakes (similar to 350 yrs) is shorter than in current seismic-hazard models.GNSEQC Biennial ProjectNew Zealand Natural Hazards Research Platform and Foundation for Research Science and TechnologyInstitute for Geophysic
The bends on a quantum waveguide and cross-products of Bessel functions
A detailed analysis of the wave-mode structure in a bend and its
incorporation into a stable algorithm for calculation of the scattering matrix
of the bend is presented. The calculations are based on the modal approach. The
stability and precision of the algorithm is numerically and analytically
analysed. The algorithm enables precise numerical calculations of scattering
across the bend. The reflection is a purely quantum phenomenon and is discussed
in more detail over a larger energy interval. The behaviour of the reflection
is explained partially by a one-dimensional scattering model and heuristic
calculations of the scattering matrix for narrow bends. In the same spirit we
explain the numerical results for the Wigner-Smith delay time in the bend.Comment: 34 pages, 21 figure
The planet search programme at the ESO CES and HARPS. IV. The search for Jupiter analogues around solar-like stars
In 1992 we began a precision radial velocity (RV) survey for planets around
solar-like stars with the Coude Echelle Spectrograph and the Long Camera (CES
LC) at the 1.4 m telescope in La Silla (Chile). We have continued the survey
with the upgraded CES Very Long Camera (VLC) and HARPS, both at the 3.6 m
telescope, until 2007. The observations for 31 stars cover a time span of up to
15 years and the RV precision permit a search for Jupiter analogues. We perform
a joint analysis for variability, trends, periodicities, and Keplerian orbits
and compute detection limits. Moreover, the HARPS RVs are analysed for
correlations with activity indicators (CaII H&K and CCF shape). We achieve a
long-term RV precision of 15 m/s (CES+LC, 1992-1998), 9 m/s (CES+VLC,
1999-2006), and 2.8 m/s (HARPS, 2003-2009, including archive data), resp. This
enables us to confirm the known planets around Iota Hor, HR 506, and HR 3259. A
steady RV trend for Eps Ind A can be explained by a planetary companion. On the
other hand, we find previously reported trends to be smaller for Beta Hyi and
not present for Alp Men. The candidate planet Eps Eri b was not detected
despite our better precision. Also the planet announced for HR 4523 cannot be
confirmed. Long-term trends in several of our stars are compatible with known
stellar companions. We provide a spectroscopic orbital solution for the binary
HR 2400 and refined solutions for the planets around HR 506 and Iota Hor. For
some other stars the variations could be attributed to stellar activity. The
occurrence of two Jupiter-mass planets in our sample is in line with the
estimate of 10% for the frequency of giant planets with periods smaller than 10
yr around solar-like stars. We have not detected a Jupiter analogue, while the
detections limits for circular orbits indicate at 5 AU a sensitivity for
minimum mass of at least 1 M_Jup (2 M_Jup) for 13% (61%) of the stars.Comment: 63 pages, 24 figures (+33 online figures), 13 Tables, accepted for
publication in A&A (2012-11-13
Elemental Abundances of Solar Sibling Candidates
Dynamical information along with survey data on metallicity and in some cases
age have been used recently by some authors to search for candidates of stars
that were born in the cluster where the Sun formed. We have acquired high
resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra for 30 of these objects to
determine, using detailed elemental abundance analysis, if they could be true
solar siblings. Only two of the candidates are found to have solar chemical
composition. Updated modeling of the stars' past orbits in a realistic Galactic
potential reveals that one of them, HD162826, satisfies both chemical and
dynamical conditions for being a sibling of the Sun. Measurements of
rare-element abundances for this star further confirm its solar composition,
with the only possible exception of Sm. Analysis of long-term high-precision
radial velocity data rules out the presence of hot Jupiters and confirms that
this star is not in a binary system. We find that chemical tagging does not
necessarily benefit from studying as many elements as possible, but instead
from identifying and carefully measuring the abundances of those elements which
show large star-to-star scatter at a given metallicity. Future searches
employing data products from ongoing massive astrometric and spectroscopic
surveys can be optimized by acknowledging this fact.Comment: ApJ, in press. Tables 2 and 4 are available in full in the "Other
formats: source" downloa
Temperature driven to phase-transformation in Ti, Zr and Hf from first principles theory combined with lattice dynamics
Lattice dynamical methods used to predict phase transformations in crystals
typically deal with harmonic phonon spectra and are therefore not applicable in
important situations where one of the competing crystal structures is unstable
in the harmonic approximation, such as the bcc structure involved in the hcp to
bcc martensitic phase transformation in Ti, Zr and Hf. Here we present an
expression for the free energy that does not suffer from such shortcomings, and
we show by self consistent {\it ab initio} lattice dynamical calculations
(SCAILD), that the critical temperature for the hcp to bcc phase transformation
in Ti, Zr and Hf, can be effectively calculated from the free energy difference
between the two phases. This opens up the possibility to study quantitatively,
from first principles theory, temperature induced phase transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
The Lick Planet Search: Detectability and Mass Thresholds
We analyse 11 years of precise radial velocities for 76 solar type stars from
the Lick survey. Eight stars in this sample have previously reported
planetary-mass companions, all with mass (m sin i) less than 8 Jupiter masses
(MJ). For the stars without a detected companion, we place upper limits on
possible companion mass. For most stars, we can exclude companions with m sin i
> 0.7 MJ (a/AU)^1/2 for orbital radii a < 5 AU.
We use our results to interpret the observed masses and orbital radii of
planetary-mass companions. For example, we show that the finite duration of the
observations makes detection of Jupiter mass companions more and more difficult
for orbital radii beyond 3 AU. Thus it is possible that the majority of solar
type stars harbor Jupiter-mass companions much like our own, and if so these
companions should be detectable in a few years.
To search for periodicities, we adopt a "floating-mean" periodogram, which
improves on the traditional Lomb-Scargle periodogram by accounting for
statistical fluctuations in the mean of a sampled sinusoid. We discuss in
detail the normalization of the periodogram, an issue which has been of some
debate in the literature.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal (50 pages, LaTeX, including 11
figures
Asteroseismic determination of obliquities of the exoplanet systems Kepler-50 and Kepler-65
Results on the obliquity of exoplanet host stars -- the angle between the
stellar spin axis and the planetary orbital axis -- provide important
diagnostic information for theories describing planetary formation. Here we
present the first application of asteroseismology to the problem of stellar
obliquity determination in systems with transiting planets and Sun-like host
stars. We consider two systems observed by the NASA Kepler Mission which have
multiple transiting small (super-Earth sized) planets: the previously reported
Kepler-50 and a new system, Kepler-65, whose planets we validate in this paper.
Both stars show rich spectra of solar-like oscillations. From the asteroseismic
analysis we find that each host has its rotation axis nearly perpendicular to
the line of sight with the sines of the angles constrained at the 1-sigma level
to lie above 0.97 and 0.91, respectively. We use statistical arguments to show
that coplanar orbits are favoured in both systems, and that the orientations of
the planetary orbits and the stellar rotation axis are correlated.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 46 pages, 11 figure
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