2,851 research outputs found
Casimir repulsion between metallic objects in vacuum
We give an example of a geometry in which two metallic objects in vacuum
experience a repulsive Casimir force. The geometry consists of an elongated
metal particle centered above a metal plate with a hole. We prove that this
geometry has a repulsive regime using a symmetry argument and confirm it with
numerical calculations for both perfect and realistic metals. The system does
not support stable levitation, as the particle is unstable to displacements
away from the symmetry axis.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; added references, replaced Fig.
Preliminary results of the flight investigation between Mach numbers of 0.80 and 1.36 of a rocket-powered model of a supersonic airplane configuration having a tapered wing with circular-arc sections and 40 degree sweepback
Modeling near-field radiative heat transfer from sharp objects using a general 3d numerical scattering technique
We examine the non-equilibrium radiative heat transfer between a plate and
finite cylinders and cones, making the first accurate theoretical predictions
for the total heat transfer and the spatial heat flux profile for
three-dimensional compact objects including corners or tips. We find
qualitatively different scaling laws for conical shapes at small separations,
and in contrast to a flat/slightly-curved object, a sharp cone exhibits a local
\emph{minimum} in the spatially resolved heat flux directly below the tip. The
method we develop, in which a scattering-theory formulation of thermal transfer
is combined with a boundary-element method for computing scattering matrices,
can be applied to three-dimensional objects of arbitrary shape.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Corrected background information in the
introduction, results and discussion unchange
The Low-Mass X-ray Binary X1822-330 in the Globular Cluster NGC 6652: A Serendipitous ASCA Observation
The Low Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB) X1822-330 in NGC 6652 is one of 12 bright,
or transient, X-ray sources to have been discovered in Globular Clusters. We
report on a serendipitous ASCA observation of this Globular Cluster LMXB,
during which a Type I burst was detected and the persistent, non-burst emission
of the source was at its brightest level recorded to date. No orbital
modulation was detected, which argues against a high inclination for the
X1822-330 system. The spectrum of the persistent emission can be fit with a
power law plus a partial covering absorber, although other models are not ruled
out. Our time-resolved spectral analysis through the burst shows, for the first
time, clear evidence for spectral cooling from kT=2.4+/-0.6 keV to kT=1.0+/0.1
keV during the decay. The measured peak flux during the burst is ~10% of the
Eddington luminosity for a 1.4 Msun neutron star. These are characteristic of a
Type I burst, in the context of the relatively low quiescent luminosity of
X1822-330.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for Ap
The environmental security debate and its significance for climate change
Policymakers, military strategists and academics all increasingly hail climate change as a security issue. This article revisits the (comparatively) long-standing “environmental security debate” and asks what lessons that earlier debate holds for the push towards making climate change a security issue. Two important claims are made. First, the emerging climate security debate is in many ways a re-run of the earlier dispute. It features many of the same proponents and many of the same disagreements. These disagreements concern, amongst other things, the nature of the threat, the referent object of security and the appropriate policy responses. Second, given its many different interpretations, from an environmentalist perspective, securitisation of the climate is not necessarily a positive development
Calculation of nonzero-temperature Casimir forces in the time domain
We show how to compute Casimir forces at nonzero temperatures with
time-domain electromagnetic simulations, for example using a finite-difference
time-domain (FDTD) method. Compared to our previous zero-temperature
time-domain method, only a small modification is required, but we explain that
some care is required to properly capture the zero-frequency contribution. We
validate the method against analytical and numerical frequency-domain
calculations, and show a surprising high-temperature disappearance of a
non-monotonic behavior previously demonstrated in a piston-like geometry.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physical Review A Rapid
Communicatio
IPHAS J062746.41+014811.3: a deeply eclipsing intermediate polar
We present time-resolved photometry of a cataclysmic variable discovered in
the Isaac Newton Telescope Photometric Halpha Survey of the northern galactic
plane, IPHAS J062746.41+014811.3 and classify the system as the fourth deeply
eclipsing intermediate polar known with an orbital period of Porb=8.16 h, and
spin period of Pspin=2210 s. The system shows mild variations of its
brightness, that appear to be accompanied by a change in the amplitude of the
spin modulation at optical wavelengths, and a change in the morphology of the
eclipse profile. The inferred magnetic moment of the white dwarf is mu_wd = 6-7
x 10^33 Gcm^3, and in this case IPHAS J0627 will either evolve into a
short-period EX Hya-like intermediate polar with a large Pspin\Porb ratio, or,
perhaps more likely, into a synchronised polar. Swift observations show that
the system is an ultraviolet and X-ray source, with a hard X-ray spectrum that
is consistent with those seen in other intermediate polars. The ultraviolet
light curve shows orbital modulation and an eclipse, while the low
signal-to-noise ratio X-ray light curve does not show a significant modulation
on the spin period. The measured X-ray flux is about an order of magnitude
lower than would be expected from scaling by the optical fluxes of well-known
X-ray selected intermediate polars.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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