507 research outputs found
Beating the teapot effect
We investigate the dripping of liquids around solid surfaces in the regime of
inertial flows, a situation commonly encountered with the so-called "teapot
effect". We demonstrate that surface wettability is an unexpected key factor in
controlling flow separation and dripping, the latter being completely
suppressed in the limit of superhydrophobic substrates. This unforeseen
coupling is rationalized in terms of a novel hydro-capillary adhesion
framework, which couples inertial flows to surface wettability effects. This
description of flow separation successfully captures the observed dependence on
the various experimental parameters - wettability, flow velocity, solid surface
edge curvature-. As a further illustration of this coupling, a real-time
control of dripping is demonstrated using electro-wetting for contact angle
actuation.Comment: 4 pages; movies at http://lpmcn.univ-lyon1.fr/~lbocque
The Influence of Thermal Pressure on Equilibrium Models of Hypermassive Neutron Star Merger Remnants
The merger of two neutron stars leaves behind a rapidly spinning hypermassive
object whose survival is believed to depend on the maximum mass supported by
the nuclear equation of state, angular momentum redistribution by
(magneto-)rotational instabilities, and spindown by gravitational waves. The
high temperatures (~5-40 MeV) prevailing in the merger remnant may provide
thermal pressure support that could increase its maximum mass and, thus, its
life on a neutrino-cooling timescale. We investigate the role of thermal
pressure support in hypermassive merger remnants by computing sequences of
spherically-symmetric and axisymmetric uniformly and differentially rotating
equilibrium solutions to the general-relativistic stellar structure equations.
Using a set of finite-temperature nuclear equations of state, we find that hot
maximum-mass critically spinning configurations generally do not support larger
baryonic masses than their cold counterparts. However, subcritically spinning
configurations with mean density of less than a few times nuclear saturation
density yield a significantly thermally enhanced mass. Even without decreasing
the maximum mass, cooling and other forms of energy loss can drive the remnant
to an unstable state. We infer secular instability by identifying approximate
energy turning points in equilibrium sequences of constant baryonic mass
parametrized by maximum density. Energy loss carries the remnant along the
direction of decreasing gravitational mass and higher density until instability
triggers collapse. Since configurations with more thermal pressure support are
less compact and thus begin their evolution at a lower maximum density, they
remain stable for longer periods after merger.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Fast Magnetosonic Waves Driven by Gravitational Waves
The propagation of a gravitational wave (GW) through a magnetized plasma is
considered. In particular, we study the excitation of fast magnetosonic waves
(MSW) by a gravitational wave, using the linearized general-relativistic
hydromagnetic equations. We derive the dispersion relation for the plasma,
treating the gravitational wave as a perturbation in a Minkowski background
space-time. We show that the presence of gravitational waves will drive
magnetosonic waves in the plasma and discuss the potential astrophysical
implications.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics in pres
IL-18 Does not Increase Allergic Airway Disease in Mice When Produced by BCG
Whilst BCG inhibits allergic airway responses in murine models, IL-18 has adversary effects depending on its environment. We therefore constructed a BCG strain producing murine IL-18 (BCG-IL-18) and evaluated its efficiency to prevent an asthma-like reaction in mice. BALB/cByJ mice were sensitized (day (D) 1 and D10) by intraperitoneal injection of ovalbumin (OVA)-alum and primary (D20–22) and secondary (D62, 63) challenged with OVA aerosols. BCG or BCG-IL-18 were intraperitonealy administered 1 hour before each immunization (D1 and D10). BCG-IL-18 and BCG were shown to similarly inhibit the development of AHR, mucus production, eosinophil influx, and local Th2 cytokine production in BAL, both after the primary and secondary challenge.
These data show that IL-18 did not increase allergic airway responses in the context of the mycobacterial infection, and suggest that BCG-IL-18 and BCG are able to prevent the development of local Th2 responses and therefore inhibit allergen-induced airway responses even after restimulation
Making a splash with water repellency
A 'splash' is usually heard when a solid body enters water at large velocity.
This phenomena originates from the formation of an air cavity resulting from
the complex transient dynamics of the free interface during the impact. The
classical picture of impacts on free surfaces relies solely on fluid inertia,
arguing that surface properties and viscous effects are negligible at
sufficiently large velocities. In strong contrast to this large-scale
hydrodynamic viewpoint, we demonstrate in this study that the wettability of
the impacting body is a key factor in determining the degree of splashing. This
unexpected result is illustrated in Fig.1: a large cavity is evident for an
impacting hydrophobic sphere (1.b), contrasting with the hydrophilic sphere's
impact under the very same conditions (1.a). This unforeseen fact is
furthermore embodied in the dependence of the threshold velocity for air
entrainment on the contact angle of the impacting body, as well as on the ratio
between the surface tension and fluid viscosity, thereby defining a critical
capillary velocity. As a paradigm, we show that superhydrophobic impacters make
a big 'splash' for any impact velocity. This novel understanding provides a new
perspective for impacts on free surfaces, and reveals that modifications of the
detailed nature of the surface -- involving physico-chemical aspects at the
nanometric scales -- provide an efficient and versatile strategy for
controlling the water entry of solid bodies at high velocity.Comment: accepted for publication in Nature Physic
Conformally Flat Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics: Application to Neutron Star Mergers
We present a new 3D SPH code which solves the general relativistic field +
hydrodynamics equations in the conformally flat approximation. Several test
cases are considered to test different aspects of the code. We finally apply
then the code to the coalescence of a neutron star binary system. The neutron
stars are modeled by a polytropic equation of state (EoS) with adiabatic
indices , and . We calculate the
gravitational wave signals, luminosities and frequency spectra by employing the
quadrupole approximation for emission and back reaction in the slow motion
limit. In addition, we consider the amount of ejected mass.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. v3:
Final Versio
Computing the Complete Gravitational Wavetrain from Relativistic Binary Inspiral
We present a new method for generating the nonlinear gravitational wavetrain
from the late inspiral (pre-coalescence) phase of a binary neutron star system
by means of a numerical evolution calculation in full general relativity. In a
prototype calculation, we produce 214 wave cycles from corotating polytropes,
representing the final part of the inspiral phase prior to reaching the ISCO.
Our method is based on the inequality that the orbital decay timescale due to
gravitational radiation is much longer than an orbital period and the
approximation that gravitational radiation has little effect on the structure
of the stars. We employ quasi-equilibrium sequences of binaries in circular
orbit for the matter source in our field evolution code. We compute the
gravity-wave energy flux, and, from this, the inspiral rate, at a discrete set
of binary separations. From these data, we construct the gravitational waveform
as a continuous wavetrain. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our current
calculation, planned improvements, and potential applications of our method to
other inspiral scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The MiMeS Project: Overview and Current Status
The Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Project is a consensus collaboration
among many of the foremost international researchers of the physics of hot,
massive stars, with the basic aim of understanding the origin, evolution and
impact of magnetic fields in these objects. At the time of writing, MiMeS Large
Programs have acquired over 950 high-resolution polarised spectra of about 150
individual stars with spectral types from B5-O4, discovering new magnetic
fields in a dozen hot, massive stars. The quality of this spectral and magnetic
mat\'eriel is very high, and the Collaboration is keen to connect with
colleagues capable of exploiting the data in new or unforeseen ways. In this
paper we review the structure of the MiMeS observing programs and report the
status of observations, data modeling and development of related theory.Comment: Proceedings of IAUS272: Active OB star
Molecular characterisation of a versatile peroxidase from a bjerkandera strain
The cloning and sequencing of the rbpa gene coding for a versatile peroxidase from a novel Bjerkandera strain is hereby
reported. The 1777 bp isolated fragment contained a 1698 bp peroxidase-encoding gene, interrupted by 11 introns. The 367
amino acid-deduced sequence includes a 27 amino acid-signal peptide. The molecular model, built via homology modelling with crystal structures of four fungal peroxidases, highlighted the amino acid residues putatively involved in manganese binding and aromatic substrate oxidation. The potential heme pocket residues (R44, F47, H48, E79, N85, H177, F194 and D239) include both distal and proximal histidines (H48 and H177). RBP possesses potential calcium-binding residues (D49, G67, D69, S71,
S178, D195, T197, I200 and D202) and eight cysteine residues (C3, C15, C16, C35, C121, C250, C286, C316). In addition, RBP
includes residues involved in substrate oxidation: three acidic residues (E37, E41 and D183)—putatively involved in manganese
binding and H83 and W172—potentially involved in oxidation of aromatic substrates. Characterisation of nucleotide and amino acid sequences include RBP in versatile peroxidase group sharing catalytic properties of both LiP and MnP. In addition, the RBP enzyme appears to be closely related with the ligninolytic peroxidases from the Trametes versicolor strai
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