Corrigan-Ramond Extension of QCD at Nonzero Baryon Density

We investigate the Corrigan-Ramond extension of one massless flavor Quantum Chromo Dynamics at nonzero quark chemical potential. Since the extension requires the fermions to transform in the two index antisymmetric representation of the gauge group, one finds that the number of possible channels is richer than in the 't Hooft limit. We first discuss the diquark channels and show that for a number of colors larger than three a new diquark channel appears. We then study the infinite number of color limit and show that the Fermi surface is unstable to the formation of the Deryagin-Grigoriev-Rubakov chiral waves. We discover, differently from the 't Hooft limit, the possibility of a colored chiral wave breaking the color symmetry as well as translation invariance.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 2 figure

The Rise and Fall of Canada\u27s Cold War Air Force, 1948-1968

This thesis examines the expansion of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) under the St. Laurent government with the concept of the Big Air Force that emerged from the defence re-armament programme announced on 5 February 1951. During this critical Cold War period, the RCAF became Canada’s first line of defence, making an essential contribution to the collective defence of Western Europe through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Concurrently, the RCAF underwent tremendous expansion in Canada contributing to North American defence, along with significant increases in its training, maritime and transport capabilities. The RCAF developed into the largest military service with the biggest portion of the defence budget. The notion of “airmindedness” that permeated all aspects of Canadian society enabled the development and implementation of the Big Air Force concept. Underlying the Big Air Force concept were two conflicting visions of air power, derived from leading theorists of the 1920s. The first was an independent role for aviation, “Douhet with nukes,” a Cold War reference to the ideas of Italian General Giulio Douhet. The second approach was American General William Mitchell’s “anything that flies” construct that embraced missions under the control of the army and navy and support to other agencies in such undertakings as air transport. By the late 1950s, the Big Air Force could not be sustained, thus marking its decline under the Diefenbaker and Pearson governments that was complete by the late 1960s. Despite some modernization in the late 1970s, successive governments adhered to the notion of a “minimalist air force” after 1969 until the end of the Cold War. This thesis considers the expansion and decline of the air force from the perspective of three inter-related thematic pillars – politics and economics, military strategy and technology. The predominance of air power represented the Canadian “way of war” during this time, and this legacy still resonates today with the ongoing debate regarding the F-35 aircraft for the RCAF’s Next Generation Fighter Capability programme

WASP-1: A lithium- and metal-rich star with an oversized planet

In this paper we present our results of a comprehensive spectroscopicanalysis of WASP-1, the host star to the exoplanet WASP-1b. We derive T_eff = 6110 +/- 45 K, log g = 4.28 +/- 0.15, and [M/H] = 0.23 +/- 0.08, and also a high abundance of lithium, log n(Li) = 2.91 +/- 0.05. These parameters suggests an age for the system of 1-3 Gyr and a stellar mass of 1.25-1.35 M_sun. This means that WASP-1 has properties very similar to those of HD 149026, the host star for the highest density planet yet detected. Moreover, their planets orbit at comparable distances and receive comparable irradiating fluxes from their host stars. However, despite the similarity of WASP-1 with HD 149026, their planets have strongly different densities. This suggests that gas-giant planet density is not a simple function of host-star metallicity or of radiation environment at ages of ~2 Gyr.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 6 pages, 4 figure

Sounding stellar cycles with Kepler - preliminary results from ground-based chromospheric activity measurements

Due to its unique long-term coverage and high photometric precision, observations from the Kepler asteroseismic investigation will provide us with the possibility to sound stellar cycles in a number of solar-type stars with asteroseismology. By comparing these measurements with conventional ground-based chromospheric activity measurements we might be able to increase our understanding of the relation between the chromospheric changes and the changes in the eigenmodes. In parallel with the Kepler observations we have therefore started a programme at the Nordic Optical Telescope to observe and monitor chromospheric activity in the stars that are most likely to be selected for observations for the whole satellite mission. The ground-based observations presented here can be used both to guide the selection of the special Kepler targets and as the first step in a monitoring programme for stellar cycles. Also, the chromospheric activity measurements obtained from the ground-based observations can be compared with stellar parameters such as ages and rotation in order to improve stellar evolution models.Comment: submitted to the proceedings of the IAU symposium No. 264, 200

Variable stars in the Open Cluster M11 (NGC 6705)

V-band time-series CCD photometric observations of the intermediate-age open cluster M11 were performed to search for variable stars. Using these time-series data, we carefully examined light variations of all stars in the observing field. A total of 82 variable stars were discovered, of which 39 stars had been detected recently by Hargis et al. (2005). On the basis of observational properties such as variable period, light curve shape, and position on a color-magnitude diagram, we classified their variable types as 11 delta Scuti-type pulsating stars, 2 gamma Doradus-type pulsating stars, 40 W UMa-type contact eclipsing binaries, 13 Algol-type detached eclipsing binaries, and 16 eclipsing binaries with long period. Cluster membership for each variable star was deduced from the previous proper motion results (McNamara et al. 1977) and position on the color-magnitude diagram. Many pulsating stars and eclipsing binaries in the region of M11 are probable members of the cluster.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, and accepted for publication in PAS

Detection of Solar-like Oscillations in the G7 Giant Star xi Hya

We report the firm discovery of solar-like oscillations in a giant star. We monitored the star xi Hya (G7III) continuously during one month with the CORALIE spectrograph attached to the 1.2m Swiss Euler telescope. The 433 high-precision radial-velocity measurements clearly reveal multiple oscillation frequencies in the range 50 - 130 uHz, corresponding to periods between 2.0 and 5.5 hours. The amplitudes of the strongest modes are slightly smaller than 2 m/s. Current model calculations are compatible with the detected modes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication as a letter in A&

Inertial amplification of continuous structures: Large band gaps from small masses

Wave motion in a continuous elastic rod with a periodically attached inertial-amplification mechanism is investigated. The mechanism has properties similar to an "inerter" typically used in vehicle suspensions, however here it is constructed and utilized in a manner that alters the intrinsic properties of a continuous structure. The elastodynamic band structure of the hybrid rod-mechanism structure yields band gaps that are exceedingly wide and deep when compared to what can be obtained using standard local resonators, while still being low in frequency. With this concept, a large band gap may be realized with as much as twenty times less added mass compared to what is needed in a standard local resonator configuration. The emerging inertially enhanced continuous structure also exhibits unique qualitative features in its dispersion curves. These include the existence of a characteristic double-peak in the attenuation constant profile within gaps and the possibility of coalescence of two neighbouring gaps creating a large contiguous gap.Comment: Manuscript is under review for journal publicatio

Simulations of super-structure domain walls in two dimensional assemblies of magnetic nanoparticles

We simulate the formation of domain walls in two-dimensional assemblies of magnetic nanoparticles. Particle parameters are chosen to match recent electron holography and Lorentz microscopy studies of almost monodisperse cobalt nanoparticles assembled into regular, elongated lattices. As the particles are small enough to consist of a single magnetic domain each, their magnetic interactions can be described by a spin model in which each particle is assigned a macroscopic "superspin." Thus, the magnetic behaviour of these lattices may be compared to magnetic crystals with nanoparticle superspins taking the role of the atomic spins. The coupling is, however, different. The superspins interact only by dipolar interactions as exchange coupling between individual nanoparticles may be neglected due to interparticle spacing. We observe that it is energetically favorable to introduce domain walls oriented along the long dimension of nanoparticle assemblies rather than along the short dimension. This is unlike what is typically observed in continuous magnetic materials, where the exchange interaction introduces an energetic cost proportional to the area of the domain walls. Structural disorder, which will always be present in realistic assemblies, pins longitudinal domain walls when the external field is reversed, and makes a gradual reversal of the magnetization by migration of longitudinal domain walls possible, in agreement with previous experimental results. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC