33,270 research outputs found
Three dimensional global modeling of atmospheric CO2
A model was developed to study the prospects of extracting information on carbon dioxide sources and sinks from observed CO2 variations. The approach uses a three dimensional global transport model, based on winds from a 3-D general circulation model (GCM), to advect CO2 noninteractively, i.e., as a tracer, with specified sources and sinks of CO2 at the surface. The 3-D model employed is identified and biosphere, ocean and fossil fuel sources and sinks are discussed. Some preliminary model results are presented
Anomalous structural and mechanical properties of solids confined in quasi one dimensional strips
We show using computer simulations and mean field theory that a system of
particles in two dimensions, when confined laterally by a pair of parallel hard
walls within a quasi one dimensional channel, possesses several anomalous
structural and mechanical properties not observed in the bulk. Depending on the
density and the distance between the walls , the system shows
structural characteristics analogous to a weakly modulated liquid, a strongly
modulated smectic, a triangular solid or a buckled phase. At fixed , a
change in leads to many reentrant discontinuous transitions involving
changes in the number of layers parallel to the confining walls depending
crucially on the commensurability of inter-layer spacing with . The solid
shows resistance to elongation but not to shear. When strained beyond the
elastic limit it fails undergoing plastic deformation but surprisingly, as the
strain is reversed, the material recovers completely and returns to its
original undeformed state. We obtain the phase diagram from mean field theory
and finite size simulations and discuss the effect of fluctuations.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures; revised version, accepted in J. Chem. Phy
Dielectric response of a polar fluid trapped in a spherical nanocavity
We present extensive Molecular Dynamics simulation results for the structure,
static and dynamical response of a droplet of 1000 soft spheres carrying
extended dipoles and confined to spherical cavities of radii , 3, and 4
nm embedded in a dielectric continuum of permittivity . The
polarisation of the external medium by the charge distribution inside the
cavity is accounted for by appropriate image charges. We focus on the influence
of the external permittivity on the static and dynamic properties
of the confined fluid. The density profile and local orientational order
parameter of the dipoles turn out to be remarkably insensitive to .
Permittivity profiles inside the spherical cavity are calculated
from a generalised Kirkwood formula. These profiles oscillate in phase with the
density profiles and go to a ``bulk'' value away from the
confining surface; is only weakly dependent on , except
for (vacuum), and is strongly reduced compared to the
permittivity of a uniform (bulk) fluid under comparable thermodynamic
conditions.
The dynamic relaxation of the total dipole moment of the sample is found to
be strongly dependent on , and to exhibit oscillatory behaviour when
; the relaxation is an order of magnitude faster than in the bulk.
The complex frequency-dependent permittivity is sensitive to
at low frequencies, and the zero frequency limit
is systematically lower than the ``bulk'' value
of the static primitivity.Comment: 12 pages including 17 figure
Solution of the Percus-Yevick equation for hard discs
We solve the Percus-Yevick equation in two dimensions by reducing it to a set
of simple integral equations. We numerically obtain both the pair correlation
function and the equation of state for a hard disc fluid and find good
agreement with available Monte-Carlo calculations. The present method of
resolution may be generalized to any even dimension.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Analytical Rescaling of Polymer Dynamics from Mesoscale Simulations
We present a theoretical approach to scale the artificially fast dynamics of
simulated coarse-grained polymer liquids down to its realistic value. As
coarse-graining affects entropy and dissipation, two factors enter the
rescaling: inclusion of intramolecular vibrational degrees of freedom, and
rescaling of the friction coefficient. Because our approach is analytical, it
is general and transferable. Translational and rotational diffusion of
unentangled and entangled polyethylene melts, predicted from mesoscale
simulations of coarse-grained polymer melts using our rescaling procedure, are
in quantitative agreement with united atom simulations and with experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Percolation-to-hopping crossover in conductor-insulator composites
Here, we show that the conductivity of conductor-insulator composites in
which electrons can tunnel from each conducting particle to all others may
display both percolation and tunneling (i.e. hopping) regimes depending on few
characteristics of the composite. Specifically, we find that the relevant
parameters that give rise to one regime or the other are (where is
the size of the conducting particles and is the tunneling length) and the
specific composite microstructure. For large values of , percolation
arises when the composite microstructure can be modeled as a regular lattice
that is fractionally occupied by conducting particle, while the tunneling
regime is always obtained for equilibrium distributions of conducting particles
in a continuum insulating matrix. As decreases the percolating behavior
of the conductivity of lattice-like composites gradually crosses over to the
tunneling-like regime characterizing particle dispersions in the continuum. For
values lower than the conductivity has tunneling-like
behavior independent of the specific microstructure of the composite.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Design considerations for large space electric power systems
As power levels of spacecraft rise to the 50 to 100 kW range, it becomes apparent that low voltage (28 V) dc power distribution and management systems will not operate efficiently at these higher power levels. The concept of transforming a solar array voltage at 150 V dc into a 1000 V ac distribution system operating at 20 kHz is examined. The transformation is accomplished with series-resonant inverter by using a rotary transformer to isolate the solar array from the spacecraft. The power can then be distributed in any desired method such as three phase delta to delta. The distribution voltage can be easily transformed to any desired load voltage and operating frequency. The reasons for the voltage limitations on the solar array due to plasma interactions and the many advantages of a high voltage, high frequency at distribution system are discussed
Phase behaviour of a symmetrical binary fluid mixture
We have investigated the phase behaviour of a symmetrical binary fluid
mixture for the situation where the chemical potentials and of
the two species differ. Attention is focused on the set of interparticle
interaction strengths for which, when , the phase diagram exhibits
both a liquid-vapor critical point and a tricritical point. The corresponding
phase behaviour for the case is investigated via
integral-equation theory calculations within the mean spherical approximation
(MSA), and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations. We find that two
possible subtypes of phase behaviour can occur, these being distinguished by
the relationship between the critical lines in the full phase diagram in the
space of temperature, density, and concentration. We present the detailed form
of the phase diagram for both subtypes and compare with the results from GCMC
simulations, finding good overall agreement. The scenario via which one subtype
evolves into the other, is also studied, revealing interesting features.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figure
Mapping a Homopolymer onto a Model Fluid
We describe a linear homopolymer using a Grand Canonical ensemble formalism,
a statistical representation that is very convenient for formal manipulations.
We investigate the properties of a system where only next neighbor interactions
and an external, confining, field are present, and then show how a general pair
interaction can be introduced perturbatively, making use of a Mayer expansion.
Through a diagrammatic analysis, we shall show how constitutive equations
derived for the polymeric system are equivalent to the Ornstein-Zernike and
P.Y. equations for a simple fluid, and find the implications of such a mapping
for the simple situation of Van der Waals mean field model for the fluid.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
- …