A shock wave approach to the noise of supersonic propellers

To model propeller noise expected for a turboprop aircraft, the pressure ratio across the shock at the propeller tip was calculated and compared with noise data from three propellers. At helical tip Mach numbers over 1.0, using only the tip shock wave, the model gave a fairly good prediction of the noise for a bladed propeller and for a propeller swept for aerodynamic purposes. However for another propeller, which was highly swept and designed to have noise cancellations from the inboard propeller sections, the shock strength from the tip over predicted the noise. In general the good agreement indicates that shock theory is a viable method for predicting the noise from these supersonic propellers but that the shock strengths from all of the blade sections need to be properly included

Noise of fan designed to reduce stator lift fluctuations

An existing fan stage was redesigned to reduce stator lift fluctuations and was acoustically tested at three nozzle sizes for reduced noise generation. The lift fluctuations on the stator were reduced by increasing the stator cord, adjusting incidence angles, and adjusting the rotor velocity diagrams. Broadband noise levels were signficantly reduced in the middle to high frequencies. Blade passage tone sound power was not lessened, but decreases in the harmonics were observed. Aerodynamic improvements in both performance and efficiency were obtained

Effects of long-chord acoustically treated stator vanes on fan noise. 1: Effect of long chord (taped stator)

A set of long-chord stator vanes was designed to replace the vanes in an existing fan stage. The long vanes consisted of a turning section and axial extension pieces, both of which incorporated acoustic damping material. The acoustic damping material was made inactive for these tests by covering with metal tape, and the stator vanes were tested in three length configurations. Compared to the values for the original stage, broadband noise was reduced in the middle to high frequencies with the long stator vanes, but a broadband noise increase was observed at the low frequencies. No change was observed in the blade passage tone, but some aft end reduction in the overtones was observed

Effects of long-chord acoustically treated stator vanes on fan noise. 2: Effect of acoustical treatment

A set of long chord stator vanes was designed to replace the vanes in an existing fan stage. The long chord stator vanes consisted of a turning section and axial extension pieces, all of which incorporated acoustic damping material. The long chord stator vanes were tested in two lengths, with the long version giving more noise reduction than the short, primarily because of the additional lining material. The noise reduction achieved with the acoustically treated long chord stator vanes was compared with the reduction achieved by an acoustically treated exhaust splitter. The long chord stator was at least as good as the splitter as a method for incorporating acoustic lining material. In addition, comparing an acoustic three ring inlet and an acoustic wall-only inlet discloses that the wall-only inlet could be used in an engine where the noise reduction requirements are not too stringent

Higgs and SUSY Searches at LHC

I start with a brief introduction to Higgs mechanism and supersymmetry. Then I discuss the theoretical expectations, current limits and search strategies for Higgs boson(s) at LHC --- first in the SM and then in the MSSM. Finally I discuss the signatures and search strategies for the superparticles.Comment: Typos and figure styles corrected; LaTeX (28 pages) including 13 ps files containing 11 figures; Invited talk at the 5th Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-5), Pune, India, 12 - 25 January 199

Endothelial PKA activity regulates angiogenesis by limiting autophagy through phosphorylation of ATG16L1

The cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) regulates various cellular functions in health and disease. In endothelial cells PKA activity promotes vessel maturation and limits tip cell formation. Here, we used a chemical genetic screen to identify endothelial-specific direct substrates of PKA in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) that may mediate these effects. Amongst several candidates, we identified ATG16L1, a regulator of autophagy, as novel target of PKA. Biochemical validation, mass spectrometry and peptide spot arrays revealed that PKA phosphorylates ATG16L1α at Ser268 and ATG16L1β at Ser269, driving phosphorylation-dependent degradation of ATG16L1 protein. Reducing PKA activity increased ATG16L1 protein levels and endothelial autophagy. Mouse in vivo genetics and pharmacological experiments demonstrated that autophagy inhibition partially rescues vascular hypersprouting caused by PKA deficiency. Together these results indicate that endothelial PKA activity mediates a critical switch from active sprouting to quiescence in part through phosphorylation of ATG16L1, which in turn reduces endothelial autophagy

Early (and Later) LHC Search Strategies for Broad Dimuon Resonances

Resonance searches generally focus on narrow states that would produce a sharp peak rising over background. Early LHC running will, however, be sensitive primarily to broad resonances. In this paper we demonstrate that statistical methods should suffice to find broad resonances and distinguish them from both background and contact interactions over a large range of previously unexplored parameter space. We furthermore introduce an angular measure we call ellipticity, which measures how forward (or backward) the muon is in eta, and allows for discrimination between models with different parity violation early in the LHC running. We contrast this with existing angular observables and demonstrate that ellipticity is superior for discrimination based on parity violation, while others are better at spin determination.Comment: 31 pages, 19 figures. References added, minor modifications made to section

Top Pair Production Beyond Double-Pole Approximation: pp, pp~ --> 6 Fermions and 0, 1 or 2 Additional Partons

Hadron collider cross sections for tt~ production and di-lepton, single-lepton and all-jet decays with up to 2 additional jets are calculated using complete LO matrix elements with 6-, 7- and 8-particle final states. The fixed-width, complex-mass and overall-factor schemes (FWS, CMS & OFS) are employed and the quality of narrow-width and double-pole approximations (NWA & DPA) is investigated for inclusive production and suppressed backgrounds to new particle searches. NWA and DPA cross sections differ by 1% or less. The inclusion of sub- and non-resonant amplitudes effects a cross section increase of 5-8% at pp supercolliders, but only minor changes at the Tevatron. On-shell tt~/Wtb backgrounds for the H --> WW decay in weak boson fusion, the hadronic \tau decay of a heavy H^\pm and the \phi --> hh --> \tau\tau bb~ radion decay at the LHC are updated, with corrections ranging from 3% to 30%. FWS and CMS cross sections are uniformly consistent, but OFS cross sections are up to 6% smaller for some backgrounds.Comment: 20 pages, 6 tables, 1 figur

Finite-Width Effects in Top Quark Production at Hadron Colliders

Production cross sections for t\bar{t} and t\bar{t}j events at hadron colliders are calculated, including finite width effects and off resonance contributions for the entire decay chain, t --> bW --> b\ell\nu, for both top quarks. Resulting background rates to Higgs search at the CERN LHC are updated for inclusive H --> WW studies and for H --> \tau\tau and H --> WW decays in weak boson fusion events. Finite width effects are large, increasing t\bar{t}(j) rates by 20% or more, after typical cuts which are employed for top-background rejection.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables; minor changes, reference added, to be published in Phys. Rev.