ParaSites: initial report and research context

The ongoing, practice-led research project ParaSites explores the potential of using behaviours and strategies of parasites as a model for sculptural propositions in the built environment and investigates how these interventions might resonate with architectural, urban, historical and socio-cultural issues. We treat the term parasitism both literally and metaphorically, and are particularly inspired by Michel Serres’ philosophical writing "The Parasite" (2007). Considering its different significations in French language (biological, social, static/noise), Serres uses the parasite to extrapolate ideas about human relations, society, history and communication while emphasising its destabilising and transformative powers. With this in mind, we are keen to explore the potential of using the polysemic notion of the parasite as an integrated conceptual framework and methodological tool to feed new sculptural interventions, and to investigate their impact on our relationship with the built environment (sonic, visual, structural, historical, ecological, symbolic and socio-cultural). "ParaSites: Initial Report and Research Context" presents a preliminary artistic intervention at a dilapidated edifice in Paris which has initiated this ongoing research. This is followed by a brief discussion of the methodological framework that has evolved from this, originally rather intuitive, practical investigation. The second part of this paper provides an overview of the research context, ranging from artistic and architectural explorations of site-specificity to socially engaged projects

ParaSites: new propositions

The ongoing, practice-led research project ParaSites explores the potential of using behaviours and strategies of parasites as a model for sculptural propositions in the built environment and investigates how these interventions might resonate with architectural, urban, historical and socio-cultural issues. We treat the term parasitism both literally and metaphorically, and are particularly inspired by Michel Serres’ philosophical writing "The Parasite" (2007). Considering its different significations in French language (biological, social, static/noise), Serres uses the parasite to extrapolate ideas about human relations, society, history and communication while emphasising its destabilising and transformative powers. With this in mind, we are keen to explore the potential of using the polysemic notion of the parasite as an integrated conceptual framework and methodological tool to feed new sculptural interventions, and to investigate their impact on our relationship with the built environment (sonic, visual, structural, historical, ecological, symbolic and socio-cultural). "ParaSites: New Propositions" presents a preliminary artistic intervention at a dilapidated edifice in Paris which has initiated this ongoing research. This is followed by a discussion of the theoretical framework that has evolved from this, originally rather intuitive, practical investigation. We then introduce two new artistic propositions which have been developed within the context of this research and debate to what extent they correspond with and/or elicit our theoretical ideas

The dynamics of internal working surfaces in MHD jets

The dynamical effects of magnetic fields in models of radiative, Herbig-Haro (HH) jets have been studied in a number of papers. For example, magnetized, radiative jets from variable sources have been studied with axisymmetric and 3D numerical simulations. In this paper, we present an analytic model describing the effect of a toroidal magnetic field on the internal working surfaces that result from a variability in the ejection velocity. We find that for parameters appropriate for HH jets the forces associated with the magnetic field dominate over the gas pressure force within the working surfaces. Depending on the ram pressure radial cross section of the jet, the magnetic field can produce a strong axial pinch, or, alternatively, a broadening of the internal working surfaces. We check the validity of the analytic model with axisymmetric numerical simulations of variable, magnetized jets.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. ApJ in pres

Extracting the Mass Dependence and Quantum Numbers of Short-Range Correlated Pairs from A(e,e'p) and A(e,e'pp) Scattering

The nuclear mass dependence of the number of short-range correlated (SRC) proton-proton (pp) and proton-neutron (pn) pairs in nuclei is a sensitive probe of the dynamics of short-range pairs in the ground state of atomic nuclei. This work presents an analysis of electroinduced single-proton and two-proton knockout measurements off 12C, 27Al, 56Fe, and 208Pb in kinematics dominated by scattering off SRC pairs. The nuclear mass dependence of the observed A(e,e'pp)/12C(e,e'pp) cross-section ratios and the extracted number of pp- and pn-SRC pairs are much softer than the mass dependence of the total number of possible pairs. This is in agreement with a physical picture of SRC affecting predominantly nucleon-nucleon pairs in a nodeless relative-S state of the mean-field basis.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Tomographic reconstruction of the three-dimensional structure of the HH30 jet

The physical parameters of Herbig-Haro jets are usually determined from emission line ratios, obtained from spectroscopy or narrow band imaging, assuming that the emitting region is homogeneous along the line of sight. Under the more general hypothesis of axisymmetry, we apply tomographic reconstruction techniques to the analysis of Herbig-Haro jets. We use data of the HH30 jet taken by Hartigan & Morse (2007) with the Hubble space telescope using the slitless spectroscopy technique. Using a non-parametric Tikhonov regularization technique, we determine the volumetric emission line intensities of the [SII]6716,6731, [OI]6300 and [NII]6583 forbidden emission lines. From our tomographic analysis of the corresponding line ratios, we produce "three-dimensional" images of the physical parameters. The reconstructed density, temperature and ionization fraction present much steeper profiles than those inferred using the assumption of homogeneity. Our technique reveals that the reconstructed jet is much more collimated than the observed one close to the source (a width ~ 5 AU vs. ~ 20 AU at a distance of 10 AU from the star), while they have similar widths at larger distances. In addition, our results show a much more fragmented and irregular jet structure than the classical analysis, suggesting that the the ejection history of the jet from the star-disk system has a shorter timescale component (~ some months) superimposed on a longer, previously observed timescale (of a few years). Finally, we discuss the possible application of the same technique to other stellar jets and planetary nebulae.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap

Origin of the bilateral structure of the supernova remnant G296.5+10

In this work, we have modelled the supernova remnant (SNR) G296.5+10, by means of 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations. This remnant belongs to the bilateral SNR group and has an additional striking feature: the rotation measure (RM) in its eastern and western parts are very different. In order to explain both the morphology observed in radio-continuum and the RM, we consider that the remnant expands into a medium shaped by the superposition of the magnetic field of the progenitor star with a constant Galactic magnetic field. We have also carried out a polarization study from our MHD results, obtaining synthetic maps of the linearly polarized intensity and the Stokes parameters. This study reveals that both the radio morphology and the reported RM for G296.5+10 can be explained if the quasi-parallel acceleration mechanism is taking place in the shock front of this remnant.Fil: Moranchel-Basurto, A.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Velazquez, P.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Giacani, Elsa Beatriz. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Toledo Roy, J. C.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Schneiter, E.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: De Colle, F.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Esquivel, A.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Méxic

High mobility n-channel organic field-effect transistors based on soluble C60 and C70 fullerene derivatives

We report on n-channel organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on the solution processable methanofullerenes [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid ester ([60]PCBM) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester ([70]PCBM). Despite the fact that both derivatives form glassy films when processed from solution, their electron mobilities are high and on the order of 0.21 cm2/V s and 0.1 cm2/V s, for [60]PCBM and [70]PCBM, respectively. Although the derived mobility of [60]PCBM is comparable to the best values reported in the literature, the electron mobility of [70]PCBM is the highest value reported to date for any C70 based molecule. We note that this is the only report in which C60 and C70 methanofullerenes exhibit comparable electron mobilities. The present findings could have significant implications in the area of large-area organic electronics and organic photovoltaics where C60 derivatives have so far been the most widely used electron acceptor materials.

Determination of a Wave Function Functional

In this paper we propose the idea of expanding the space of variations in standard variational calculations for the energy by considering the wave function $\psi$ to be a functional of a set of functions $\chi: \psi = \psi[\chi]$, rather than a function. In this manner a greater flexibility to the structure of the wave function is achieved. A constrained search in a subspace over all functions $\chi$ such that the wave function functional $\psi[\chi]$ satisfies a constraint such as normalization or the Fermi-Coulomb hole charge sum rule, or the requirement that it lead to a physical observable such as the density, diamagnetic susceptibility, etc. is then performed. A rigorous upper bound to the energy is subsequently obtained by variational minimization with respect to the parameters in the approximate wave function functional. Hence, the terminology, the constrained-search variational method. The \emph{rigorous} construction of such a constrained-search--variational wave function functional is demonstrated by example of the ground state of the Helium atom.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, changes made, references adde