3,103 research outputs found
Theoretical limits of scaling-down internal combustion engines
Small-scale energy conversion devices are being developed for a variety of applications; these include propulsion units for micro aerial vehicles (MAV). The high specific energy of hydrocarbon and hydrogen fuels, as compared to other energy storing means, like batteries, elastic elements, flywheels and pneumatics, appears to be an important advantage, and favors the ICE as a candidate. In addition, the specific power (power per mass of unit) of the ICE seems to be much higher than that of other candidates.
However, micro ICE engines are not simply smaller versions of full-size engines. Physical processes such as combustion and gas exchange, are performed in regimes different from those that occur in full-size engines. Consequently, engine design principles are different at a fundamental level and have to be re-considered before they are applied to micro-engines. When a spark-ignition (SI) cycle is considered, part of the energy that is released during combustion is used to heat up the mixture in the quenching volume, and therefore the flame-zone temperature is lower and in some cases can theoretically fall below the self-sustained combustion temperature. Flame quenching thus seems to limit the minimum dimensions of a SI engine. This limit becomes irrelevant when a homogeneous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) cycle is considered. In this case friction losses and charge leakage through the cylinder-piston gap become dominant, constrain the engine size and impose minimum engine speed limits.
In the present work a phenomenological model has been developed to consider the relevant processes inside the cylinder of a homogeneous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) engine. An approximated analytical solution is proposed to yield the lower possible limits of scaling-down HCCI cycle engines. We present a simple algebraic equation that shows the inter-relationships between the pertinent parameters and constitutes the lower possible miniaturization limits of IC engines
DNA sequence of the mouse H-2Dd transplantation antigen gene
The inbred BALB/c mouse has three transplantation antigens, H2-Kd, H2-Ld, and H2-Dd. We present the complete nucleotide sequence of the H2-Dd gene as well as 777 residues of previously unpublished H-2Dd protein sequence. These data complete the sequences of all the BALB/c transplantation antigen genes and permit detailed comparison with each other and with their counterparts from the inbred C57BL/10 mouse. Transplantation antigens may differ from one another by as much as 5%-15% of their amino acid sequence for the external domains. These extensive differences may arise by gene conversion. The H-2D region of the BALB/c mouse encodes the H2-Dd and the H2-Ld genes. Serologic data suggest that at least two additional transplantation antigen molecules, H2-Rd and H2-Md, are encoded in the H-2D region of the major compatibility complex. Paradoxically, gene cloning studies have only identified the H2-Dd and the H2-Ld genes in the H-2D region. A complete DNA sequence of the H2-Dd gene shows that a variety of alternative splice sites exist throughout the gene, which may lead to additional gene products and may explain the multiplicity of H-2D-encoded polypeptides
InN dielectric function from the midinfrared to the visible range
The dispersion of the dielectric function for wurtzite InN is analytically
evaluated in the region near the fundamental energy gap. The real part of the
dielectric function has a logarithmic singularity at the absorption edge. This
results in the large contribution into the optical dielectric constant. For
samples with degenerate carriers, the real part of the dielectric function is
divergent at the absorption edge. The divergence is smeared with temperatures
or relaxation rate. The imaginary part of the dielectric function has a plateau
far away from the absorption onset.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Holographic Electroweak Symmetry Breaking from D-branes
We observe several interesting phenomena in a technicolor-like model of
electroweak symmetry breaking based on the D4-D8-D8bar system of Sakai and
Sugimoto. The benefit of holographic models based on D-brane configurations is
that both sides of the holographic duality are well understood. We find that
the lightest technicolor resonances contribute negatively to the
Peskin-Takeuchi S-parameter, but heavy resonances do not decouple and lead
generically to large, positive values of S, consistent with standard estimates
in QCD-like theories. We study how the S parameter and the masses and decay
constants of the vector and axial-vector techni-resonances vary over a
one-parameter family of D8-brane configurations. We discuss possibilities for
the consistent truncation of the theory to the first few resonances and suggest
some generic predictions of stringy holographic technicolor models.Comment: REVTeX, 25 pages, 8 eps figures, version published in PR
Note on tree-level unitarity in the General Two Higgs Doublet Model
Tree-level unitarity constraints on the masses of the Higgs bosons in the
general Two Higgs Doublet Model (THDM) are studied. We first consider the case
where the Higgs potential is invariant under a discrete symmetry
transformation, and derive strong constraints on the mass of the lightest
CP-even Higgs boson () as a function of . We then show that the
inclusion of the discrete symmetry breaking term weakens the mass bounds
considerably. It is suggested that a measurement of and may
enable discrimination between the two Higgs potentials.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, 2 PostScript figure
Renormalization-group improved effective potential for gauge theories in curved spacetime
The renormalization-group improved effective potential for an arbitrary
renormalizable massless gauge theory in curved spacetime is found,thus
generalizing Coleman-Weinberg's approach corresponding to flat space.Some
explicit examples are considered,among of them:scalar self-interacting
theory,scalar electrody namics,the asymptotically-free SU(2) gauge model,and
the SU(5) GUT theory. The possibility of curvature-induced phase transitions is
analyzed.It is shown that such a phase transition may take place in a SU(5)
inflationary universe.The inclusion of quantum gravity effects isbriefly
discussed.Comment: Latex file,11page
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