Microfluidic immunomagnetic multi-target sorting – a model for controlling deflection of paramagnetic beads

We describe a microfluidic system that uses a magnetic field to sort paramagnetic beads by deflecting them in the direction normal to the flow. Our experiments systematically study the dependence of the beads’ deflection on: bead size and susceptibility, magnet strength, fluid speed and viscosity, and device geometry. We also develop a design parameter that can aid in the design of microfluidic devices for immunomagnetic multi-target sorting

An experimental and theoretical investigation of particle–wall impacts in a T-junction

Understanding the behaviour of particles entrained in a fluid flow upon changes in flow direction is crucial in problems where particle inertia is important, such as the erosion process in pipe bends.We present results on the impact of particles in a T-shaped channel in the laminar-turbulent transitional regime. The impacting event for a given system is described in terms of the Reynolds number and the particle Stokes number. Experimental results for the impact are compared with the trajectories predicted by theoretical particle tracing models for a range of configurations to determine the role of the viscous boundary layer in retarding the particles and reducing the rate of collision with the substrate. In particular a 2D model based on a stagnation point flow is used together with 3D numerical simulations. We show how the simple 2D model provides a tractable way of understanding the general collision behaviour, while more advanced 3D simulation can be helpful in understanding the details of the flow

Interaction between U/UO2 bilayers and hydrogen studied by in-situ X-ray diffraction

This paper reports experiments investigating the reaction of H$_{2}$ with uranium metal-oxide bilayers. The bilayers consist of $\leq$ 100 nm of epitaxial $\alpha$-U (grown on a Nb buffer deposited on sapphire) with a UO$_{2}$ overlayer of thicknesses of between 20 and 80 nm. The oxides were made either by depositing via reactive magnetron sputtering, or allowing the uranium metal to oxidise in air at room temperature. The bilayers were exposed to hydrogen, with sample temperatures between 80 and 200 C, and monitored via in-situ x-ray diffraction and complimentary experiments conducted using Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy - Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (STEM-EELS). Small partial pressures of H$_{2}$ caused rapid consumption of the U metal and lead to changes in the intensity and position of the diffraction peaks from both the UO$_{2}$ overlayers and the U metal. There is an orientational dependence in the rate of U consumption. From changes in the lattice parameter we deduce that hydrogen enters both the oxide and metal layers, contracting the oxide and expanding the metal. The air-grown oxide overlayers appear to hinder the H$_{2}$-reaction up to a threshold dose, but then on heating from 80 to 140 C the consumption is more rapid than for the as-deposited overlayers. STEM-EELS establishes that the U-hydride layer lies at the oxide-metal interface, and that the initial formation is at defects or grain boundaries, and involves the formation of amorphous and/or nanocrystalline UH$_{3}$. This explains why no diffraction peaks from UH$_{3}$ are observed. {\textcopyright British Crown Owned Copyright 2017/AWE}Comment: Submitted for peer revie

Boson stars and oscillatons in an inflationary universe

Spherically symmetric gravitationally bound, oscillating scalar lumps (boson stars and oscillatons) are considered in Einstein's gravity coupled to massive scalar fields in 1+D dimensional de Sitter-type inflationary space-times. We show that due to inflation bosons stars and oscillatons lose mass through scalar radiation, but at a rate that is exponentially small when the expansion rate is slow.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

Three fermions with six single particle states can be entangled in two inequivalent ways

Using a generalization of Cayley's hyperdeterminant as a new measure of tripartite fermionic entanglement we obtain the SLOCC classification of three-fermion systems with six single particle states. A special subclass of such three-fermion systems is shown to have the same properties as the well-known three-qubit ones. Our results can be presented in a unified way using Freudenthal triple systems based on cubic Jordan algebras. For systems with an arbitrary number of fermions and single particle states we propose the Pl\"ucker relations as a sufficient and necessary condition of separability.Comment: 23 pages LATE

Expanding, axisymmetric pure-radiation gravitational fields with a simple twist

New expanding, axisymmetric pure-radiation solutions are found, exploiting the analogy with the Euler-Darboux equation for aligned colliding plane waves.Comment: revtex, 5 page

On the dimension of subspaces with bounded Schmidt rank

We consider the question of how large a subspace of a given bipartite quantum system can be when the subspace contains only highly entangled states. This is motivated in part by results of Hayden et al., which show that in large d x d--dimensional systems there exist random subspaces of dimension almost d^2, all of whose states have entropy of entanglement at least log d - O(1). It is also related to results due to Parthasarathy on the dimension of completely entangled subspaces, which have connections with the construction of unextendible product bases. Here we take as entanglement measure the Schmidt rank, and determine, for every pair of local dimensions dA and dB, and every r, the largest dimension of a subspace consisting only of entangled states of Schmidt rank r or larger. This exact answer is a significant improvement on the best bounds that can be obtained using random subspace techniques. We also determine the converse: the largest dimension of a subspace with an upper bound on the Schmidt rank. Finally, we discuss the question of subspaces containing only states with Schmidt equal to r.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX4 forma

P,T-Violating Nuclear Matrix Elements in the One-Meson Exchange Approximation

Expressions for the P,T-violating NN potentials are derived for $\pi$, $\rho$ and $\omega$ exchange. The nuclear matrix elements for $\rho$ and $\omega$ exchange are shown to be greatly suppressed, so that, under the assumption of comparable coupling constants, $\pi$ exchange would dominate by two orders of magnitude. The ratio of P,T-violating to P-violating matrix elements is found to remain approximately constant across the nuclear mass table, thus establishing the proportionality between time-reversal-violation and parity-violation matrix elements. The calculated values of this ratio suggest a need to obtain an accuracy of order $5 \times 10^{-4}$ for the ratio of the PT-violating to P-violating asymmetries in neutron transmission experiments in order to improve on the present limits on the isovector pion coupling constant.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Quartic double solids with ordinary singularities

We study the mixed Hodge structure on the third homology group of a threefold which is the double cover of projective three-space ramified over a quartic surface with a double conic. We deal with the Torelli problem for such threefolds.Comment: 14 pages, presented at the Conference Arnol'd 7