30,344 research outputs found
Interface Fluctuations, Burgers Equations, and Coarsening under Shear
We consider the interplay of thermal fluctuations and shear on the surface of
the domains in various systems coarsening under an imposed shear flow. These
include systems with nonconserved and conserved dynamics, and a conserved order
parameter advected by a fluid whose velocity field satisfies the Navier-Stokes
equation. In each case the equation of motion for the interface height reduces
to an anisotropic Burgers equation. The scaling exponents that describe the
growth and coarsening of the interface are calculated exactly in any dimension
in the case of conserved and nonconserved dynamics. For a fluid-advected
conserved order parameter we determine the exponents, but we are unable to
build a consistent perturbative expansion to support their validity.Comment: 10 RevTeX pages, 2 eps figure
Evolution and Modern Approaches for Thermal Analysis of Electrical Machines
In this paper, the authors present an extended survey on the evolution and the modern approaches in the thermal analysis of electrical machines. The improvements and the new techniques proposed in the last decade are analyzed in depth and compared in order to highlight the qualities and defects of each. In particular, thermal analysis based on lumped-parameter thermal network, finite-element analysis, and computational fluid dynamics are considered in this paper. In addition, an overview of the problems linked to the thermal parameter determination and computation is proposed and discussed. Taking into account the aims of this paper, a detailed list of books and papers is reported in the references to help researchers interested in these topics
Dynamical excitonic effects in metals and semiconductors
The dynamics of an electron--hole pair induced by the time--dependent
screened Coulomb interaction is discussed. In contrast to the case where the
static electron--hole interaction is considered we demonstrate the occurrence
of important dynamical excitonic effects in the solution of the Bethe--Salpeter
equation.This is illustrated in the calculated absorption spectra of noble
metals (copper and silver) and silicon. Dynamical corrections strongly affect
the spectra, partially canceling dynamical self--energy effects and leading to
good agreement with experiment.Comment: Accepted for publication on Phys. Rev. Let
Nanoscale Electrostatic Control of Oxide Interfaces
We develop a robust and versatile platform to define nanostructures at oxide
interfaces via patterned top gates. Using LaAlO/SrTiO as a model
system, we demonstrate controllable electrostatic confinement of electrons to
nanoscale regions in the conducting interface. The excellent gate response,
ultra-low leakage currents, and long term stability of these gates allow us to
perform a variety of studies in different device geometries from room
temperature down to 50 mK. Using a split-gate device we demonstrate the
formation of a narrow conducting channel whose width can be controllably
reduced via the application of appropriate gate voltages. We also show that a
single narrow gate can be used to induce locally a superconducting to
insulating transition. Furthermore, in the superconducting regime we see
indications of a gate-voltage controlled Josephson effect.Comment: Version after peer review; includes additional data on
superconductivit
Young Binary Stars and Associated Disks
The typical product of the star formation process is a binary star. Binaries
have provided the first dynamical measures of the masses of pre-main-sequence
(PMS) stars, providing support for the calibrations of PMS evolutionary tracks.
Surprisingly, in some star-forming regions PMS binary frequencies are higher
than among main-sequence solar-type stars. The difference in PMS and
main-sequence binary frequencies is apparently not an evolutionary effect;
recent attention has focussed on correlations between binary frequency and
stellar density or cloud temperatures. Accretion disks are common among young
binary stars. Binaries with separations between 1 AU and 100 AU have
substantially less submillimeter emission than closer or wider binaries,
suggesting that they have truncated their disks. Evidence of dynamical clearing
has been seen in several binaries. Remarkably, PMS binaries of all separations
show evidence of circumstellar disks and continued accretion. This suggests
that the circumstellar disks are replenished from circumbinary disks or
envelopes. The frequent presence of disks suggests that planet formation can
occur in binary environments, and formation of planets in wide binaries is
already established by their discovery. Circumbinary disk masses around very
short period binaries are ample to form planetary systems such as our own. The
nature of planetary systems among the most common binaries, with separations
between 10 AU and 100 AU, is less clear given the observed reduction in disk
mass, though they may have disk masses adequate for the formation of
terrestrial-like planets.Comment: 32 pages, including 6 Postscript figures (TeX, uses psfig.sty); to
appear in "Protostars & Planets IV". Gif figures with captions and high-res
Postscript color figure available at
http://hven.swarthmore.edu/~jensen/preprints/ppiv.htm
Response of human engineered cartilage based on articular or nasal chondrocytes to interleukin-1? and low oxygen
Previous studies showed that human nasal chondrocytes (HNC) exhibit higher proliferation and chondrogenic capacity as compared to human articular chondrocytes (HAC). To consider HNC as a relevant alternative cell source for the repair of articular cartilage defects it is necessary to test how these cells react when exposed to environmental factors typical of an injured joint. We thus aimed this study at investigating the responses of HNC and HAC to exposure to interleukin (IL)-1? and low oxygen. For this purpose HAC and HNC harvested from the same donors (N=5) were expanded in vitro and then cultured in pellets or collagen-based scaffolds at standard (19%) or low oxygen (5%) conditions. Resulting tissues were analyzed after a short (3 days) exposure to IL-1?, mimicking the initially inflammatory implantation site, or following a recovery time (1 or 2 weeks for pellets and scaffolds, respectively). After IL-1? treatment, constructs generated by both HAC and HNC displayed a transient loss of GAG (up to 21.8% and 36.8%, respectively) and, consistently, an increased production of metalloproteases (MMP)-1 and -13. Collagen type II and the cryptic fragment of aggrecan (DIPEN), both evaluated immunohistochemically, displayed a trend consistent with GAG and MMPs production. HNC-based constructs exhibited a more efficient recovery upon IL-1? withdrawal, resulting in a higher accumulation of GAG (up to 2.6-fold) compared to the corresponding HAC-based tissues. On the other hand, HAC displayed a positive response to low oxygen culture, while HNC were only slightly affected by oxygen percentage. Collectively, under the conditions tested mimicking the postsurgery articular environment, HNC retained a tissue-forming capacity, similar or even better than HAC. These results represent a step forward in validating HNC as a cell source for cartilage tissue engineering strategies
Relation between spectral changes and the presence of the lower kHz QPO in the neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53
We fitted the -keV spectrum of all the observations of the
neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 163653 taken with the {\it Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer} using a model that includes a thermal Comptonisation
component. We found that in the low-hard state the power-law index of this
component, , gradually increases as the source moves in the
colour-colour diagram. When the source undergoes a transition from the hard to
the soft state drops abruptly; once the source is in the soft state
increases again and then decreases gradually as the source spectrum
softens further. The changes in , together with changes of the electron
temperature, reflect changes of the optical depth in the corona. The lower
kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation (kHz QPO) in this source appears only in
observations during the transition from the hard to the soft state, when the
optical depth of the corona is high and changes depends strongly upon the
position of the source in the colour-colour diagram. Our results are consistent
with a scenario in which the lower kHz QPO reflects a global mode in the system
that results from the resonance between, the disc and/or the neutron-star
surface, and the Comptonising corona.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Directed percolation with incubation times
We introduce a model for directed percolation with a long-range temporal
diffusion, while the spatial diffusion is kept short ranged. In an
interpretation of directed percolation as an epidemic process, this
non-Markovian modification can be understood as incubation times, which are
distributed accordingly to a Levy distribution. We argue that the best approach
to find the effective action for this problem is through a generalization of
the Cardy-Sugar method, adding the non-Markovian features into the geometrical
properties of the lattice. We formulate a field theory for this problem and
renormalize it up to one loop in a perturbative expansion. We solve the various
technical difficulties that the integrations possess by means of an asymptotic
analysis of the divergences. We show the absence of field renormalization at
one-loop order, and we argue that this would be the case to all orders in
perturbation theory. Consequently, in addition to the characteristic scaling
relations of directed percolation, we find a scaling relation valid for the
critical exponents of this theory. In this universality class, the critical
exponents vary continuously with the Levy parameter.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. v.2: minor correction
New analytic solutions of the collective Bohr hamiltonian for a beta-soft, gamma-soft axial rotor
New analytic solutions of the quadrupole collective Bohr hamiltonian are
proposed, exploiting an approximate separation of the beta and gamma variables
to describe gamma-soft prolate axial rotors. The model potential is a sum of
two terms: a beta-dependent term taken either with a Coulomb-like or a
Kratzer-like form, and a gamma-dependent term taken as an harmonic oscillator.
In particular it is possible to give a one parameter paradigm for a beta-soft,
gamma-soft axial rotor that can be applied, with a considerable agreement, to
the spectrum of 234U.Comment: (Dipartimento di Fisica ``G.Galilei'' and INFN, via Marzolo 8,
I-35131 Padova, Italy) 10 pages, 3 figure
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