14,865 research outputs found
Viscosity and tribology of copper oxide nanofluids
Nanofluids, a term proposed by Choi in 1995 [1], are composites consisting of solid nanoparticles with sizes varying generally from 1 to 100 nm dispersed in a liquid. Numerous nanoparticles used as oil additives have been investigated in recent years [2-7]. Results show that they deposit on the rubbing surface and improve the tribological properties of the base oil, displaying good friction and wear reduction characteristics even at concentrations below 2%wt. Although the viscosity of the nanofluids is a property of crucial importance for film forming, and hence friction and wear reduction, which are characteristic of lubricants, only Hwang et al. [8] have studied thermal characteristics, kinematic viscosity and tribological properties of nanofluids simultaneously. In this paper, we present measurements of dynamic viscosity of nanofluids formed by copper oxide nanoparticles dispersed in a polyalphaolefin, for temperatures and concentrations varying from 20 to 60ÂşC and 0.5 to 2% wt., respectively. Dependence of the nanofluid viscosity to the solid fraction and temperature was compared with existing models and its influence on lubrication was also analysed
The properties of the stellar populations in ULIRGs I: sample, data and spectral synthesis modelling
We present deep long-slit optical spectra for a sample of 36 Ultraluminous
Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), taken with the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on
La Palma with the aim of investigating the star formation histories and testing
evolutionary scenarios for such objects. Here we present the sample, the
analysis techniques and a general overview of the properties of the stellar
populations. Spectral synthesis modelling has been used in order to estimate
the ages of the stellar populations found in the diffuse light sampled by the
spectra in both the nuclear and extended regions of the target galaxies. We
find that adequate fits can be obtained using combinations of young stellar
populations (YSPs,t_YSP<=2 Gyr), with ages divided into two groups: very young
stellar populations (VYSPs, t_VYSP <=100 Myr) and intermediate-young stellar
populations (IYSPs, 0.1 < t_IYSP <= 2 Gyr). Our results show that YSPs are
present at all locations of the galaxies covered by our slit positions, with
the exception of the northern nuclear region of the ULIRG IRAS 23327+2913.
Furthermore, VYSPs are presents in at least 85% of the 133 extraction apertures
used for this study. Old stellar populations (OSPs, t_{OSP} > 2 Gyr) do not
make a major contribution to the optical light in the majority of the apertures
extracted. In fact they are essential for fitting the spectra in only 5% (7) of
the extracted apertures. The estimated total masses for the YSPs (VYSPs+IYSPs)
are in the range 0.18 x 10^{10} <= M_YSP <= 50 x 10^{10} Msun. We have also
estimated the bolometric luminosities associated with the stellar populations
detected at optical wavelengths, finding that they fall in the range 0.07 x
10^{12} < L_bol < 2.2 x 10^{12} Lsun. In addition, we find that reddening is
significant at all locations in the galaxies.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRA
Crossover between the Dense Electron-Hole Phase and the BCS Excitonic Phase in Quantum Dots
Second order perturbation theory and a Lipkin-Nogami scheme combined with an
exact Monte Carlo projection after variation are applied to compute the
ground-state energy of electron-hole pairs confined in a
parabolic two-dimensional quantum dot. The energy shows nice scaling properties
as N or the confinement strength is varied. A crossover from the high-density
electron-hole phase to the BCS excitonic phase is found at a density which is
roughly four times the close-packing density of excitons.Comment: Improved variational and projection calculations. 17 pages, 3 ps
figures. Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Moving embedded lattice solitons
It was recently proved that isolated unstable "embedded lattice solitons"
(ELS) may exist in discrete systems. The discovery of these ELS gives rise to
relevant questions such as the following: are there continuous families of
ELS?, can ELS be stable?, is it possible for ELS to move along the lattice?,
how do ELS interact?. The present work addresses these questions by showing
that a novel differential-difference equation (a discrete version of a complex
mKdV equation) has a two-parameter continuous family of exact ELS. The
numerical tests reveal that these solitons are stable and robust enough to
withstand collisions. The model may apply to the description of a Bose-Einstein
condensate with dipole-dipole interactions between the atoms, trapped in a deep
optical-lattice potential.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure
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