The formation of spiral arms and rings in barred galaxies

In this and in a previous paper (Romero-Gomez et al. 2006) we propose a theory to explain the formation of both spirals and rings in barred galaxies using a common dynamical framework. It is based on the orbital motion driven by the unstable equilibrium points of the rotating bar potential. Thus, spirals, rings and pseudo-rings are related to the invariant manifolds associated to the periodic orbits around these equilibrium points. We examine the parameter space of three barred galaxy models and discuss the formation of the different morphological structures according to the properties of the bar model. We also study the influence of the shape of the rotation curve in the outer parts, by making families of models with rising, flat, or falling rotation curves in the outer parts. The differences between spiral and ringed structures arise from differences in the dynamical parameters of the host galaxies. The results presented here will be discussed and compared with observations in a forthcoming paper.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, accepted in A&A. High resolution version available at http://www.oamp.fr/dynamique/pap/merce.htm

Evidences of evanescent Bloch waves in Phononic Crystals

We show both experimentally and theoretically the evanescent behaviour of modes in the Band Gap (BG) of finite Phononic Crystal (PC). Based on experimental and numerical data we obtain the imaginary part of the wave vector in good agreement with the complex band structures obtained by the Extended Plane Wave Expansion (EPWE). The calculated and measured acoustic field of a localized mode out of the point defect inside the PC presents also evanescent behaviour. The correct understanding of evanescent modes is fundamental for designing narrow filters and wave guides based on Phononic Crystals with defects.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Correlates of Smoking Cessation Among Filipino Immigrant Men

A survey on tobacco use among 318 Filipino immigrant men aged 40–75 years was conducted in Los Angeles, California. Those who reported more English language use with their family, friends and neighbors (OR = 1.31) and who lived in households with complete smoking prohibition (OR = 3.82) were more likely to be successful in quitting smoking. Those who endorsed more positive beliefs on physical and social consequences of smoking (OR = 0.69) and who had mostly smoking friends (OR = 0.37) were less likely to be successful in quitting smoking. Our findings suggest that prohibiting smoking in households, creating social networks of non-smokers, and education or counseling are important components of a smoking cessation intervention for Filipino immigrant men

Freeze-thaw durability of recycled concrete from construction and demolition wastes

Road engineering is one of the most accepted applications for concrete including recycled aggregates from construction and demolition wastes as a partial replacement of the natural coarse aggregates. Amongst the durability concerns of such application, the deterioration due to freeze-thaw cycles is one of the most important causes decreasing the life span of concrete in countries with a continental climate. Moreover, the use of de-icing salts, which is a common practice to prevent ice formation on roadways and walkways, increases the superficial degradation of concrete due to frost-salt scaling. Thus, this paper aims to assess the resistance to frost salt with de-icing salts of two recycled concrete mixtures containing a 50% replacement of the conventional gravel by recycled aggregates both of mixed and ceramic nature, i.e. containing ceramic percentages of 34% and 100%, in comparison to a conventional concrete made with siliceous gravel. Therefore, the surface scaling was evaluated based on EN 1339 (2004) on 28 days cured cylinders, exposed to 7, 14, 21 and 28 freeze-thaw cycles in the presence of sodium chloride solution. Given that no airentraining admixture was used in any of the mixtures, the scaling of both conventional and recycled concretes exceeded the 1 kg/m2 limit established by the European standard. Nonetheless, for the casting surface, the recycled concrete with low ceramic content exhibited a similar behaviour to the conventional concrete, whereas the performance of the recycled concrete with high ceramic content was better. However, as expected, trowelled surfaces showed a worse performance and both recycled concretes had a lower freeze-thaw durability than the conventional mixture. In any case, the results suggested that the composition of the recycled aggregates could be used as a factor to limit the differences in performance between recycled and conventional mixtures

Dynamic regimes and damping of relaxation oscillations in III-V/Si external cavity lasers

We report how external cavity IIIV/Si hybrid lasers operate in regimes of ultradamped relaxation oscillations or in turbulent and selfpulsing regimes. The different regimes are reached by detuning the lasing wavelength respect to the mirror effective reflectivity peak and are the consequence of the dispersive narrow band reflectivity of the silicon photonics mirror, the linewidth enhancement factor and fourwave mixing in the gain medium

On the origin of rR_1 ring structures in barred galaxies

We propose a new theory for the formation of rR_1 ring structures, i.e. for ring structures with both an inner and an outer ring, the latter having the form of ``8''. We propose that these rings are formed by material from the stable and unstable invariant manifolds associated with the Lyapunov orbits around the equilibrium points of a barred galaxy. We discuss the shape and velocity structure of the rings thus formed and argue that they are in agreement with the observed properties of rR_1 structures.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics. High quality figures are available upon reques

Invariant manifolds as building blocks for the formation of spiral arms and rings in barred galaxies

We propose a theory to explain the formation of spiral arms and of all types of outer rings in barred galaxies, extending and applying the technique used in celestial mechanics to compute transfer orbits. Thus, our theory is based on the chaotic orbital motion driven by the invariant manifolds associated to the periodic orbits around the hyperbolic equilibrium points. In particular, spiral arms and outer rings are related to the presence of heteroclinic or homoclinic orbits. Thus, R1 rings are associated to the presence of heteroclinic orbits, while R1R2 rings are associated to the presence of homoclinic orbits. Spiral arms and R2 rings, however, appear when there exist neither heteroclinic nor homoclinic orbits. We examine the parameter space of three realistic, yet simple, barred galaxy models and discuss the formation of the different morphologies according to the properties of the galaxy model. The different morphologies arise from differences in the dynamical parameters of the galaxy.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, in the proceedings of the conference: "Chaos in Astronomy", Athens, September 2007, G. Contopoulos and P.A. Patsis (eds), to be published by Springe