22,555 research outputs found
An Initial Value Problem for Oscillations of the Interstellar Gas
Initial value problem for oscillations in interstellar ga
Effect of doping and pressure on magnetism and lattice structure of Fe-based superconductors
Using first principles calculations, we analyze structural and magnetic
trends as a function of charge doping and pressure in BaFeAs, and
compare to experimentally established facts. We find that density functional
theory, while accurately reproducing the structural and magnetic ordering at
ambient pressure, fails to reproduce some structural trends as pressure is
increased. Most notably, the Fe-As bondlength which is a gauge of the magnitude
of the magnetic moment, , is rigid in experiment, but soft in calculation,
indicating residual local Coulomb interactions. By calculating the magnitude of
the magnetic ordering energy, we show that the disruption of magnetic order as
a function of pressure or doping can be qualitatively reproduced, but that in
calculation, it is achieved through diminishment of , and therefore
likely does not reflect the same physics as detected in experiment. We also
find that the strength of the stripe order as a function of doping is strongly
site-dependent: magnetism decreases monotonically with the number of electrons
doped at the Fe site, but increases monotonically with the number of electrons
doped at the Ba site. Intra-planar magnetic ordering energy (the difference
between checkerboard and stripe orderings) and interplanar coupling both follow
a similar trend. We also investigate the evolution of the orthorhombic
distortion, as a function of , and find that in the
regime where experiment finds a linear relationship, our calculations are
impossible to converge, indicating that in density functional theory, the
transition is first order, signalling anomalously large higher order terms in
the Landau functional
Elastomer-modified phosphorus-containing imide resins
Phosphine oxide-containing polyimide resins modified by elastomers, are disclosed which have improved mechanical properties. These products are particularly useful in the production of fiber or fabric-reinforced composites or laminates
Phosphorus-containing bisimide resins
The production of fire-resistant resins particularly useful for making laminates with inorganic fibers such as graphite fibers is discussed. The resins are by (1) condensation of an ethylenically unsaturated cyclic anhydride with a bis(diaminophenyl) phosphine oxide, and (2) by addition polymerization of the bisimide so obtained. Up to about 50%, on a molar basis, of benzophenonetetracarboxylic acid anhydride can be substituted for some of the cyclic anhydride to alter the properties of the products. Graphite cloth laminates made with these resins show 800 C char yields greater than 70% by weight in nitrogen. Limiting oxygen indexes of more than 100% are determined for these resins
The H\alpha\ surface brightness - radius relation: a robust statistical distance indicator for planetary nebulae
Measuring the distances to Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) has been an
intractable problem for many decades. We have now established a robust optical
statistical distance indicator, the H surface brightness- radius or S-r
relation, which addresses this problem. We developed this relation from a
critically evaluated sample of primary calibrating PNe. The robust nature of
the method results from our revised calibrating distances with significantly
reduced systematic uncertainties, and the recent availability of high-quality
data, including updated nebular diameters and integrated H fluxes. The
S-r technique is simple in its application, requiring only an angular size, an
integrated H\alpha\ flux, and the reddening to the PN. From these quantities,
an intrinsic radius is calculated, which when combined with the angular size,
yields the distance directly. Furthermore, we have found that optically thick
PNe tend to populate the upper bound of the trend, while optically-thin PNe
fall along the lower boundary in the S-r plane. This enables sub-trends to be
developed which offer even better precision in the determination of distances,
as good as 18 per cent in the case of optically-thin, high-excitation PNe. This
is significantly better than any previous statistical indicator. We use this
technique to create a catalogue of statistical distances for over 1100 Galactic
PNe, the largest such compilation in the literature to date. Finally, in an
appendix, we investigate both a set of transitional PNe and a range of PN
mimics in the S-r plane, to demonstrate its use as a diagnostic tool.
Interestingly, stellar ejecta around massive stars plot on a tight locus in S-r
space with the potential to act as a separate distance indicator for these
objects.Comment: 49 pages, 17 tables, 8 figures. Published in MNRAS; supplementary
tables are included at end of this manuscrip
Acceleration radiation, transition probabilities, and trans-Planckian physics
An important question in the derivation of the acceleration radiation, which
also arises in Hawking's derivation of black hole radiance, is the need to
invoke trans-Planckian physics for the quantum field that originates the
created quanta. We point out that this issue can be further clarified by
reconsidering the analysis in terms of particle detectors, transition
probabilities, and local two-point functions. By writing down separate
expressions for the spontaneous- and induced-transition probabilities of a
uniformly accelerated detector, we show that the bulk of the effect comes from
the natural (non trans-Planckian) scale of the problem, which largely
diminishes the importance of the trans-Planckian sector. This is so, at least,
when trans-Planckian physics is defined in a Lorentz invariant way. This
analysis also suggests how to define and estimate the role of trans-Planckian
physics in the Hawking effect itself.Comment: 19 page
Acceleration of the universe, vacuum metamorphosis, and the large-time asymptotic form of the heat kernel
We investigate the possibility that the late acceleration observed in the
rate of expansion of the universe is due to vacuum quantum effects arising in
curved spacetime. The theoretical basis of the vacuum cold dark matter (VCDM),
or vacuum metamorphosis, cosmological model of Parker and Raval is revisited
and improved. We show, by means of a manifestly nonperturbative approach, how
the infrared behavior of the propagator (related to the large-time asymptotic
form of the heat kernel) of a free scalar field in curved spacetime causes the
vacuum expectation value of its energy-momentum tensor to exhibit a resonance
effect when the scalar curvature R of the spacetime reaches a particular value
related to the mass of the field. we show that the back reaction caused by this
resonance drives the universe through a transition to an accelerating expansion
phase, very much in the same way as originally proposed by Parker and Raval.
Our analysis includes higher derivatives that were neglected in the earlier
analysis, and takes into account the possible runaway solutions that can follow
from these higher-derivative terms. We find that the runaway solutions do not
occur if the universe was described by the usual classical FRW solution prior
to the growth of vacuum energy-density and negative pressure (i.e., vacuum
metamorphosis) that causes the transition to an accelerating expansion of the
universe in this theory.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review D15 (Dec 23, 2003).
v2: 1 reference added. No other change
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