9,050 research outputs found
Short- and intermediate-time behavior of the linear stress relaxation in semiflexible polymers
The linear viscoelasticity of semiflexible polymers is studied through Brownian Dynamics simulations covering a broad range of chain stiffness and time scales. Our results agree with existing theoretical predictions in the flexible and stiff limits; however, we find that over a wide intermediate-time window spanning several decades, the stress relaxation is described by a single power law t^(-alpha), with the exponent alpha apparently varying continuously from 1/2 for flexible chains, to 5/4 for stiff ones. Our study identifies the limits of validity of the t^(-3/4) power law at short times predicted by recent theories. An additional regime is identified, the "ultrastiff" chains, where this behavior disappears. In the absence of Brownian motion, the purely mechanical stress relaxation produces a t^(-3/4) power law for both short and intermediate times
Vacuum Polarisation and the Black Hole Singularity
In order to investigate the effects of vacuum polarisation on mass inflation
singularities, we study a simple toy model of a charged black hole with cross
flowing radial null dust which is homogeneous in the black hole interior. In
the region we find an approximate analytic solution to the
classical field equations. The renormalized stress-energy tensor is evaluated
on this background and we find the vacuum polarisation backreaction corrections
to the mass function . Asymptotic analysis of the semiclassical mass
function shows that the mass inflation singularity is much stronger in the
presence of vacuum polarisation than in the classical case.Comment: 12 pages, RevTe
Cosmic Censorship: As Strong As Ever
Spacetimes which have been considered counter-examples to strong cosmic
censorship are revisited. We demonstrate the classical instability of the
Cauchy horizon inside charged black holes embedded in de Sitter spacetime for
all values of the physical parameters. The relevant modes which maintain the
instability, in the regime which was previously considered stable, originate as
outgoing modes near to the black hole event horizon. This same mechanism is
also relevant for the instability of Cauchy horizons in other proposed
counter-examples of strong cosmic censorship.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX style, 1 figure included using epsfi
Anisotropic Diffusion Limited Aggregation
Using stochastic conformal mappings we study the effects of anisotropic
perturbations on diffusion limited aggregation (DLA) in two dimensions. The
harmonic measure of the growth probability for DLA can be conformally mapped
onto a constant measure on a unit circle. Here we map preferred directions
for growth of angular width to a distribution on the unit circle which
is a periodic function with peaks in such that the width
of each peak scales as , where defines the
``strength'' of anisotropy along any of the chosen directions. The two
parameters map out a parameter space of perturbations that allows a
continuous transition from DLA (for or ) to needle-like fingers
as . We show that at fixed the effective fractal dimension of
the clusters obtained from mass-radius scaling decreases with
increasing from to a value bounded from below by
. Scaling arguments suggest a specific form for the dependence
of the fractal dimension on for large , form which compares
favorably with numerical results.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Gauge symmetry breaking on orbifolds
We discuss a new method for gauge symmetry breaking in theories with one
extra dimension compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2. If we assume that fields
and their derivatives can jump at the orbifold fixed points, we can implement a
generalized Scherk-Schwarz mechanism that breaks the gauge symmetry. We show
that our model with discontinuous fields is equivalent to another with
continuous but non periodic fields; in our scheme localized lagrangian terms
for bulk fields appear.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Talk given at the XXXVIIth Rencontres de Moriond,
"Electroweak interactions and unified theories", Les Arcs, France, 9-16 Mar
2002. Minor changes, one reference adde
Gravitational collapse from smooth initial data with vanishing radial pressure
We study here the spherical gravitational collapse assuming initial data to
be necessarily smooth, as motivated by the requirements based on physical
reasonableness. A tangential pressure model is constructed and analyzed in
order to understand the final fate of collapse explicitly in terms of the
density and pressure parameters at the initial epoch from which the
collapsedevelops. It is seen that both black holes and naked singularities are
produced as collapse end states even when the initial data is smooth. We show
that the outcome is decided entirely in terms of the initial data, as given by
density, pressure and velocity profiles at the initial epoch, from which the
collapse evolves.Comment: 10 pages,3 figures,revtex4,Revised Versio
Stability of degenerate Cauchy horizons in black hole spacetimes
In the multihorizon black hole spacetimes, it is possible that there are
degenerate Cauchy horizons with vanishing surface gravities. We investigate the
stability of the degenerate Cauchy horizon in black hole spacetimes. Despite
the asymptotic behavior of spacetimes (flat, anti-de Sitter, or de Sitter), we
find that the Cauchy horizon is stable against the classical perturbations, but
unstable quantum mechanically.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, no figures, references adde
LISA data analysis: The monochromatic binary detection and initial guess problems
We consider the detection and initial guess problems for the LISA
gravitational wave detector. The detection problem is the problem of how to
determine if there is a signal present in instrumental data and how to identify
it. Because of the Doppler and plane-precession spreading of the spectral power
of the LISA signal, the usual power spectrum approach to detection will have
difficulty identifying sources. A better method must be found. The initial
guess problem involves how to generate {\it a priori} values for the parameters
of a parameter-estimation problem that are close enough to the final values for
a linear least-squares estimator to converge to the correct result. A useful
approach to simultaneously solving the detection and initial guess problems for
LISA is to divide the sky into many pixels and to demodulate the Doppler
spreading for each set of pixel coordinates. The demodulated power spectra may
then be searched for spectral features. We demonstrate that the procedure works
well as a first step in the search for gravitational waves from monochromatic
binaries.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
âAll in all it is just a judgement callâ: issues surrounding sexual consent in young peopleâs heterosexual encounters
In the UK, there has been growing concern about young peopleâs understanding of sexual consent, with the views of young people themselves often lost in academic and educational policy debates. However, the focus on high rates of sexual violence has meant a lack of attention on the everyday negotiation of consensual heterosexual activity, leading to assumptions being made regarding young peopleâs lack of understanding of sexual consent. This paper emerges from a wider study of over 500 young people which sought to uncover their understanding of the issues. Drawing on data from workshops and the open text responses to an on-line survey the findings presented in this paper show that the majority of heterosexual young people understood the complexity of sexual consent as an embodied process, which can be difficult to define, talk about or practice uniformly. This complex understanding, in which sexual consent is a continuum rather than a dichotomy, has implications for sexual education initiatives. We argue that it is only by providing a closer understanding of how - within consensual sexual activities - young people understand and enact sexual consent through a range of embodied communication strategies that education surrounding sexual assault will become meaningful
The effect of fabric strain during pressure steaming on fabric dimensional properties
It is shown that tension applied to fabric which is then permanently set by steaming under pressure for a short time has a significant effect on fabric dimensional properties. Increasing levels of stretch applied to fabric before pressure steaming resulted in decreases in fabric hygral expansion and relaxation shrinkage and also lowered fabric shrinkage that resulted from permanent setting. The setting conditions resembled those used in conventional pressure decatising, and it is suggested that in batch decatising, precise control of the length and width of fabric as it is batched up with the wrapper before steaming under pressure could enable predictable changes in fabric dimensions, relaxation shrinkage and hygral expansion to be obtained. <br /
- âŠ