100 research outputs found
Generation of Porous Particle Structures using the Void Expansion Method
The newly developed "void expansion method" allows for an efficient
generation of porous packings of spherical particles over a wide range of
volume fractions using the discrete element method. Particles are randomly
placed under addition of much smaller "void-particles". Then, the void-particle
radius is increased repeatedly, thereby rearranging the structural particles
until formation of a dense particle packing.
The structural particles' mean coordination number was used to characterize
the evolving microstructures. At some void radius, a transition from an
initially low to a higher mean coordination number is found, which was used to
characterize the influence of the various simulation parameters. For structural
and void-particle stiffnesses of the same order of magnitude, the transition is
found at constant total volume fraction slightly below the random close packing
limit. For decreasing void-particle stiffness the transition is shifted towards
a smaller void-particle radius and becomes smoother.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
The Influence of the Degree of Heterogeneity on the Elastic Properties of Random Sphere Packings
The macroscopic mechanical properties of colloidal particle gels strongly
depend on the local arrangement of the powder particles. Experiments have shown
that more heterogeneous microstructures exhibit up to one order of magnitude
higher elastic properties than their more homogeneous counterparts at equal
volume fraction. In this paper, packings of spherical particles are used as
model structures to computationally investigate the elastic properties of
coagulated particle gels as a function of their degree of heterogeneity. The
discrete element model comprises a linear elastic contact law, particle bonding
and damping. The simulation parameters were calibrated using a homogeneous and
a heterogeneous microstructure originating from earlier Brownian dynamics
simulations. A systematic study of the elastic properties as a function of the
degree of heterogeneity was performed using two sets of microstructures
obtained from Brownian dynamics simulation and from the void expansion method.
Both sets cover a broad and to a large extent overlapping range of degrees of
heterogeneity. The simulations have shown that the elastic properties as a
function of the degree of heterogeneity are independent of the structure
generation algorithm and that the relation between the shear modulus and the
degree of heterogeneity can be well described by a power law. This suggests the
presence of a critical degree of heterogeneity and, therefore, a phase
transition between a phase with finite and one with zero elastic properties.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; Granular Matter (published online: 11. February
2012
Measurement of the Eta Production in Proton Proton Collisions with the COSY Time of Flight Spectrometer
The reaction pp -> pp eta was measured at excess energies of 15 and 41 MeV at
an external target of the Juelich Cooler Synchrotron COSY with the Time of
Flight Spectrometer. About 25000 events were measured for the excess energy of
15 MeV and about 8000 for 41 MeV. Both protons of the process pp eta were
detected with an acceptance of nearly 100% and the eta was reconstructed by the
missing mass technique. For both excess energies the angular distributions are
found to be nearly isotropic. In the invariant mass distributions strong
deviations from the pure phase space distributions are seen.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 4 table
Single-Pion Production in pp Collisions at 0.95 GeV/c (II)
The single-pion production reactions , and
were measured at a beam momentum of 0.95 GeV/c (
400 MeV) using the short version of the COSY-TOF spectrometer. The central
calorimeter provided particle identification, energy determination and neutron
detection in addition to time-of-flight and angle measurements from other
detector parts. Thus all pion production channels were recorded with 1-4
overconstraints. Main emphasis is put on the presentation and discussion of the
channel, since the results on the other channels have already been
published previously. The total and differential cross sections obtained are
compared to theoretical calculations. In contrast to the channel we
find in the channel a strong influence of the excitation
already at this energy close to threshold. In particular we find a dependence in the pion angular distribution, typical for a
pure s-channel excitation and identical to that observed in the
channel. Since the latter is understood by a s-channel resonance in
the partial wave, we discuss an analogous scenario for the
channel
Production of mesons in proton-proton collisions
The cross section for the production of mesons in proton-proton
collisions has been measured in a previously unexplored region of incident
energies. Cross sections were extracted at 92 MeV and 173 MeV excess energy,
respectively. The angular distribution of the at =173 MeV is
strongly anisotropic, demonstrating the importance of partial waves beyond pure
s-wave production at this energy.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures submitted to Physics Letters B v2: figure 1
added, discussion detailing the data analysis, figure 3 (fig. 2 in v1)
modified in line styles and systematic errors displayed on dat
Comparison of Isoscalar Vector Meson Production Cross Sections in Proton-Proton Collisions
The reaction was investigated with the TOF
spectrometer, which is an external experiment at the accelerator COSY
(Forschungszentrum J\"ulich, Germany). Total as well as differential cross
sections were determined at an excess energy of (). Using the total cross section of for the
reaction determined here and existing data for the reaction
, the ratio
turns out to be
significantly larger than expected by the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule. The
uncertainty of this ratio is considerably smaller than in previous
determinations. The differential distributions show that the
production is still dominated by S-wave production at this excess energy,
however higher partial waves clearly contribute. A comparison of the measured
angular distributions for production to published distributions for
production at shows that the data are consistent with an
identical production mechanism for both vector mesons
On the Production of Pairs in pp Collisions at 0.8 GeV
Data accumulated recently for the exclusive measurement of the reaction at a beam energy of 0.793 GeV using the COSY-TOF
spectrometer have been analyzed with respect to possible events from the reaction channel. The latter is expected to be the only
production channel, which contains no major contributions from
resonance excitation close to threshold and hence should be a good testing
ground for chiral dynamics in the production process. No single event
has been found, which meets all conditions for being a candidate for the reaction. This gives an upper limit for the cross section of
0.16 b (90% C.L.), which is more than an order of magnitude smaller than
the cross sections of the other two-pion production channels at the same
incident energy
Production of Lambda and Sigma^0 hyperons in proton-proton collisions
This paper reports results on simultaneous measurements of the reaction
channels pp -> pK+\Lambda and pp -> pK+\Sigma^0 at excess energies of 204, 239,
and 284 MeV (\Lambda) and 127, 162, and 207 MeV (\Sigma^0). Total and
differential cross sections are given for both reactions. It is concluded from
the measured total cross sections that the high energy limit of the cross
section ratio is almost reached at an excess energy of only about 200 MeV. From
the differential distributions observed in the overall CMS as well as in the
Jackson and helicity frames, a significant contribution of interfering nucleon
resonances to the \Lambda production mechanism is concluded while resonant
\Sigma^0-production seems to be of lesser importance and takes place only
through specific partial waves of the entrance channel. The data also indicate
that kaon exchange plays a minor role in the case of \Lambda- but an important
role for \Sigma^0-production. Thus the peculiar energy dependence of the
\Lambda-to-\Sigma^0 cross section ratio appears in a new light as its
explanation requires more than mere differences between the p\Lambda and the
p\Sigma^0 final state interaction. The data provide a benchmark for theoretical
models already available or yet to come.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures; accepted by The European Physical Journal A
(EPJ A
Nuclear Reaction Rates and Primordial Li
We examine the possibility that Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) may produce
non-trivial amounts of Li. If a primordial component of this isotope could
be observed, it would provide a new fundamental test of Big-Bang cosmology, as
well as new constraints on the baryon density of the universe. At present,
however, theoretical predictions of the primordial Li abundance are
extremely uncertain due to difficulties in both theoretical estimates and
experimental determinations of the deuterium-plus-alpha radiative capture
reaction cross-section. We also argue that present observational capabilities
do not yet allow the detection of primeval Li in very metal-poor stars of
the galactic halo. However, if the critical cross section is towards the upper
end of its plausible range, then improvements in Li detection capabilities
may allow the establishment of Li as another product of BBN. It is also
noted that a primordial Li detection could help resolve current concerns
about the extragalactic D/H determination.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX, 5 PostScript figures with psfig. Submitted to
Physical Review
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