The long-term optical behavior of MRK421

All data available in B band for the BL Lac object MRK421 from 22 publications are used to construct a historical light curve, dating back to 1900. It is found that the light curve is very complicated and consists of a set of outbursts with very large duration. The brightness of MRK421 varies from 11.6 magnitude to more than 16 magnitude. Analyses with Jurkevich method of computing period of cyclic phenomena reveal in the light curve two kinds of behaviors. The first one is non-periodic with rapid, violent variations in intensity on time scales of hours to days. The second one is periodic with a possible period of $23.1\pm 1.1$ years. Another possible period of $15.3\pm 0.7$ years is not very significant. We have tested the robustness of the Jurkevich method. The period of about one year found in the light curves of MRK421 and of other objects is a spurious period due to the method and the observing window. We try to explain the period of $23.1 \pm1.1$ years under the thermal instability of a slim accretion disk around a massive black hole of mass of $2 *10^6 M_\odot$.Comment: Tex, 14 pages, 5 Postscript figures. Accepted for publication in A&A Supplement Serie

Thixotropic behavior of metal-containing coordination polymers: Melt viscosity of neutral aliphatic polyesters with Zn carboxylates

The viscosity behavior of polymer melts containing complexes formed between the neutralized polyester poly(diethylene glycol-co-succinic acid) and Zn acetates is discussed. The melt viscosity of these materials increases with the concentration of metal ions, and shows strong thixotropy and shear thinning. This behavior is attributed to the formation of coordination bonds between the electron donor groups within the polyester chain, and empty coordination sites of the various Zn acetate salts. The coordination complexes were obtained in situ in the polymer melt, which contains well-dispersed ZnO, by adding an equimolar amount of CH3COOH. It is proposed that the shear applied to the polymer melt destroys the polar network of the coordination polymer at a rate that is greater than the rate of reformation of the coordination bonds for the sample returning back to equilibrium, following a shear deformation

Local spin polarisation of electrons in Rashba semiconductor nanowires: effects of the bound state

The local spin polarisation (LSP) of electrons in two typical semiconductor nanowires under the modulation of Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) is investigated theoretically. The influence of both the SOI- and structure-induced bound states on the LSP is taken into account via the spin-resolved lattice Green function method. It is discovered that high spin-density islands with alternative signs of polarisation are formed inside the nanowires due to the interaction between the bound states and the Rashba effective magnetic field. Further study shows that the spin-density islands caused by the structure-induced bound state exhibit a strong robustness against disorder. These findings may provide an efficient way to create local magnetic moments and store information in semiconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Do methanethiol adsorbates on the Au(111) surface dissociate?

The interaction of methanethiol molecules CH$_{3}$SH with the Au(111) surface is investigated, and it is found for the first time that the S-H bond remains intact when the methanethiol molecules are adsorbed on the regular Au(111) surface. However, it breaks if defects are present in the Au(111) surface. At low coverage, the fcc region is favored for S atom adsorption, but at saturated coverage the adsorption energies at various sites are almost iso-energetic. The presented calculations show that a methanethiol layer on the regular Au(111) surface does not dimerize.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Differential quadrature method for space-fractional diffusion equations on 2D irregular domains

In mathematical physics, the space-fractional diffusion equations are of particular interest in the studies of physical phenomena modelled by L\'{e}vy processes, which are sometimes called super-diffusion equations. In this article, we develop the differential quadrature (DQ) methods for solving the 2D space-fractional diffusion equations on irregular domains. The methods in presence reduce the original equation into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by introducing valid DQ formulations to fractional directional derivatives based on the functional values at scattered nodal points on problem domain. The required weighted coefficients are calculated by using radial basis functions (RBFs) as trial functions, and the resultant ODEs are discretized by the Crank-Nicolson scheme. The main advantages of our methods lie in their flexibility and applicability to arbitrary domains. A series of illustrated examples are finally provided to support these points.Comment: 25 pages, 25 figures, 7 table

Hadron-quark phase transition in asymmetric matter with dynamical quark masses

The two-Equation of State (EoS) model is used to describe the hadron-quark phase transition in asymmetric matter formed at high density in heavy-ion collisions. For the quark phase, the three-flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) effective theory is used to investigate the influence of dynamical quark mass effects on the phase transition. At variance to the MIT-Bag results, with fixed current quark masses, the main important effect of the chiral dynamics is the appearance of an End-Point for the coexistence zone. We show that a first order hadron-quark phase transition may take place in the region T=(50-80)MeV and \rho_B=(2-4)\rho_0, which is possible to be probed in the new planned facilities, such as FAIR at GSI-Darmstadt and NICA at JINR-Dubna. From isospin properties of the mixed phase somepossible signals are suggested. The importance of chiral symmetry and dynamical quark mass on the hadron-quark phase transition is stressed. The difficulty of an exact location of Critical-End-Point comes from its appearance in a region of competition between chiral symmetry breaking and confinement, where our knowledge of effective QCD theories is still rather uncertain.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures (revtex

Optical fiber sensors for coal mine shaft integrity and equipment condition monitoring

Shaft is an important structure of mine. Deep mining increases mine pressure, induces shaft deformation and affects mine normal lifting. How to improve the inspection efficiency, reduce the maintenance cost and ensure the normal operation of the shaft is an important problem facing the mine. The paper introduces the optical fiber sensing technology to monitor the equipment status of the main shaft, puts forward the implementation scheme of the optical fiber monitoring of shaft deformation, and sets up a shaft equipment condition monitoring system based on the optical fiber sensing technology. It can realize equipment displacement monitoring, strain monitoring and vibration signal monitoring in the process of shaft operation. Comprehensive on-line monitoring of shaft running state can be realized, which opens up a new method for shaft deformation monitoring technology. Fiber optic sensing monitoring technology is of great significance to the safe operation of shaft

Application of density dependent parametrization models to asymmetric nuclear matter

Density dependent parametrization models of the nucleon-meson effective couplings, including the isovector scalar \delta-field, are applied to asymmetric nuclear matter. The nuclear equation of state and the neutron star properties are studied in an effective Lagrangian density approach, using the relativistic mean field hadron theory. It is known that the introduction of a \delta-meson in the constant coupling scheme leads to an increase of the symmetry energy at high density and so to larger neutron star masses, in a pure nucleon-lepton scheme. We use here a more microscopic density dependent model of the nucleon-meson couplings to study the properties of neutron star matter and to re-examine the \delta-field effects in asymmetric nuclear matter. Our calculations show that, due to the increase of the effective \delta coupling at high density, with density dependent couplings the neutron star masses in fact can be even reduced.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure