55,867 research outputs found
A New High Resolution CO Map of the inner 2.'5 of M51 I. Streaming Motions and Spiral Structure
[Abridged] The Owens Valley mm-Array has been used to map the CO 1--0
emission in the inner 2'.5 of the grand design spiral galaxy M51 at 2''-3''
resolution. The molecular spiral arms are revealed with unprecedented clarity:
supermassive cloud complexes, Giant Molecular Associations, are for the first
time resolved both along and perpendicular to the arms. Major complexes occur
symmetrically opposite each other in the two major arms. Streaming motions can
be studied in detail along the major and minor axes of M51. The streaming
velocities are very large, 60-150 km/s. For the first time, sufficient
resolution to resolve the structure in the molecular streaming motions is
obtained. Our data support the presence of galactic shocks in the arms of M51.
In general, velocity gradients across arms are higher by a factor of 2-10 than
previously found. They vary in steepness along the spiral arms, becoming
particularly steep in between GMAs. The steep gradients cause conditions of
strong reverse shear in several regions in the arms, and thus the notion that
shear is generally reduced by streaming motions in spiral arms will have to be
modified. Of the three GMAs studied on the SW arm, only one shows reduced
shear. We find an expansion in the NE molecular arm at 25'' radius SE of the
center. This broadening occurs right after the end of the NE arm at the Inner
Lindblad Resonance. Bifurcations in the molecular spiral arm structure, at a
radius of 73'', may be evidence of a secondary compression of the gas caused by
the 4/1 ultraharmonic resonance. Inside the radius of the ILR, we detect narrow
(~ 5'') molecular spiral arms possibly related to the K-band arms found in the
same region. We find evidence of non-circular motions in the inner 20'' which
are consistent with gas on elliptical orbits in a bar.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures, uses latex macros for ApJ; accepted for
publication in Ap
Light Collimation and Focussing by a Thin Flat Metallic Slab
We present experimental and theoretical work showing that a flat metallic
slab can collimate and focus light impinging on the slab from a punctual
source. The effect is optimised when the radiation is around the bulk, not at
the surface, plasma frequency. And the smaller the imaginary part of the
permittivity is, the better the collimation. Experiments for Ag in the visible
as well as calculations are presented. We also discuss the interesting case of
the Aluminium whose imaginary part of the permittivity is very small at the
plasma frequency in UV radiation. Generalization to other materials and
radiations are also discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. To be published on Optics Lette
Stochastic modelling of intermittent scrape-off layer plasma fluctuations
Single-point measurements of fluctuations in the scrape-off layer of
magnetized plasmas are generally found to be dominated by large-amplitude
bursts which are associated with radial motion of blob-like structures. A
stochastic model for these fluctuations is presented, with the plasma density
given by a random sequence of bursts with a fixed wave form. Under very general
conditions, this model predicts a parabolic relation between the skewness and
kurtosis moments of the plasma fluctuations. In the case of exponentially
distributed burst amplitudes and waiting times, the probability density
function for the fluctuation amplitudes is shown to be a Gamma distribution
with the scale parameter given by the average burst amplitude and the shape
parameter given by the ratio of the burst duration and waiting times.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Measurement of the Higgs Boson Mass with a Linear e+e- Collider
The potential of a linear e+e- collider operated at a centre-of-mass energy
of 350 GeV is studied for the measurement of the Higgs boson mass. An
integrated luminosity of 500 fb-1 is assumed. For Higgs boson masses of 120,
150 and 180 GeV the uncertainty on the Higgs boson mass measurement is
estimated to be 40, 65 and 70 MeV, respectively. The effects of beam related
systematics, namely a bias in the beam energy measurement, the beam energy
spread and the luminosity spectrum due to beamstrahlung, on the precision of
the Higgs boson mass measurement are investigated. In order to keep the
systematic uncertainty on the Higgs boson mass well below the level of the
statistical error, the beam energy measurement must be controlled with a
relative precision better than 10-4.Comment: 19 pages, 10 Figure
Exploring the molecular chemistry and excitation in obscured luminous infrared galaxies: An ALMA mm-wave spectral scan of NGC 4418
We obtained an ALMA Cycle 0 spectral scan of the dusty LIRG NGC 4418,
spanning a total of 70.7 GHz in bands 3, 6, and 7. We use a combined local
thermal equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE (NLTE) fit of the spectrum in order to
identify the molecular species and derive column densities and excitation
temperatures. We derive molecular abundances and compare them with other
Galactic and extragalactic sources by means of a principal component analysis.
We detect 317 emission lines from a total of 45 molecular species, including 15
isotopic substitutions and six vibrationally excited variants. Our LTE/NLTE fit
find kinetic temperatures from 20 to 350 K, and densities between 10 and
10 cm. The spectrum is dominated by vibrationally excited HCN,
HCN, and HNC, with vibrational temperatures from 300 to 450 K. We find high
abundances of HCN, SiO, HS, and c-HCCCH and a low CHOH abundance. A
principal component analysis shows that NGC 4418 and Arp 220 share very similar
molecular abundances and excitation, which clearly set them apart from other
Galactic and extragalactic environments. The similar molecular abundances
observed towards NCG 4418 and Arp 220 are consistent with a hot gas-phase
chemistry, with the relative abundances of SiO and CHOH being regulated by
shocks and X-ray driven dissociation. The bright emission from vibrationally
excited species confirms the presence of a compact IR source, with an effective
diameter 350 K. The molecular abundances
and the vibrationally excited spectrum are consistent with a young
AGN/starburst system. We suggest that NGC 4418 may be a template for a new kind
of chemistry and excitation, typical of compact obscured nuclei (CON). Because
of the narrow line widths and bright molecular emission, NGC 4418 is the ideal
target for further studies of the chemistry in CONs.Comment: accepted by A&A on 29/06/201
Modeling and Optimization of Lactic Acid Synthesis by the Alkaline Degradation of Fructose in a Batch Reactor
The present work deals with the determination of the optimal operating conditions of lactic acid synthesis by the alkaline degradation of fructose. It is a complex transformation for which detailed knowledge is not available. It is carried out in a batch
or semi-batch reactor. The ‘‘Tendency Modeling’’ approach, which consists of the development of an approximate stoichiometric and kinetic model, has been used.
An experimental planning method has been utilized as the database for model development.
The application of the experimental planning methodology allows comparison between the experimental and model response. The model is then used in an optimization procedure to compute the optimal process. The optimal control problem is converted into a nonlinear programming problem solved using the sequencial quadratic programming procedure coupled with the golden search method. The strategy developed allows simultaneously optimizing the different variables, which may be constrained. The validity of the methodology is illustrated by the determination
of the optimal operating conditions of lactic acid production
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