20,172 research outputs found
Flow visualization in long neck Helmholtz resonators with grazing flow
Both oscillating and steady flows were applied to a single plexiglass resonator cavity with colored dyes injected in both the orifice and grazing flow field to record the motion of the fluid. For oscillatory flow, the instantaneous dye streamlines were similar for both the short and long-neck orifices. The orifice flow blockage appears to be independent of orifice length for a fixed amplitude of flow oscillation and magnitude of the grazing flow. The steady flow dye studies showed that the acoustic and steady flow resistances do not necessarily correspond for long neck orifices
On the formation time scale and core masses of gas giant planets
Numerical simulations show that the migration of growing planetary cores may
be dominated by turbulent fluctuations in the protoplanetary disk, rather than
by any mean property of the flow. We quantify the impact of this stochastic
core migration on the formation time scale and core mass of giant planets at
the onset of runaway gas accretion. For standard Solar Nebula conditions, the
formation of Jupiter can be accelerated by almost an order of magnitude if the
growing core executes a random walk with an amplitude of a few tenths of an au.
A modestly reduced surface density of planetesimals allows Jupiter to form
within 10 Myr, with an initial core mass below 10 Earth masses, in better
agreement with observational constraints. For extrasolar planetary systems, the
results suggest that core accretion could form massive planets in disks with
lower metallicities, and shorter lifetimes, than the Solar Nebula.Comment: ApJL, in pres
Differences in the Angular Dependencies of Spin- and Symmetry-Forbidden Excitation Cross Sections by Low-Energy Electron Impact Spectroscopy
Optically forbidden electronic transitions can be produced by low-energy electron impact. Recent experimental investigations of helium (1-3) have shown that the differential scattering cross sections for forbidden excitations are generally enhanced relative to those for allowed ones at low incident energies and large scattering angles.
We have now observed marked differences in the angular and energy dependencies of differential cross sections for various kinds of forbidden (spin, symmetry, or both) transitions in helium at low incident energies. Such differences may well provide a basis for determining the nature of optically forbidden transitions detected by electron-impact spectroscopy in other atoms and molecules
Towards a Comprehensive Fueling-Controlled Theory on the Growth of Massive Black Holes and Host Spheroids
We study the relation between nuclear massive black holes and their host
spheroid gravitational potential. Using AMR numerical simulations, we analyze
how gas is transported in the nuclear (central kpc) regions of galaxies. We
study the gas fueling onto the inner accretion disk (sub-pc scale) and the star
formation in a massive nuclear disk like those generally found in
proto-spheroids (ULIRGs, SCUBA Galaxies). These sub-pc resolution simulation of
gas fueling that is mainly depleted by star formation naturally satisfy the
`M_BH - $M_virial' relation, with a scatter considerably less than the observed
one. We found a generalized version of Kennicutt-Schmidt Law for starbursts is
satisfied, in which the total gas depletion rate (dot{M}_gas = dot{M}_BH +
dot{M}_SF) is the one that scales as M_gas/t_orbital. We also found that the
`M_BH - sigma' relation is a byproduct of the `M_BH - M_virial' relation in the
fueling controlled scenario.Comment: 12 pages, figures, submited to ApJ, email: [email protected]
The Magnetic Topology of the Weak-Lined T Tauri Star V410 - A Simultaneous Temperature and Magnetic Field Inversion
We present a detailed temperature and magnetic investigation of the T Tauri
star V410 Tau by means of a simultaneous Doppler- and Zeeman-Doppler Imaging.
Moreover we introduce a new line profile reconstruction method based on a
singular value decomposition (SVD) to extract the weak polarized line profiles.
One of the key features of the line profile reconstruction is that the SVD line
profiles are amenable to radiative transfer modeling within our Zeeman-Doppler
Imaging code iMap. The code also utilizes a new iterative regularization scheme
which is independent of any additional surface constraints. To provide more
stability a vital part of our inversion strategy is the inversion of both
Stokes I and Stokes V profiles to simultaneously reconstruct the temperature
and magnetic field surface distribution of V410 Tau. A new image-shear analysis
is also implemented to allow the search for image and line profile distortions
induced by a differential rotation of the star. The magnetic field structure we
obtain for V410 Tau shows a good spatial correlation with the surface
temperature and is dominated by a strong field within the cool polar spot. The
Zeeman-Doppler maps exhibit a large-scale organization of both polarities
around the polar cap in the form of a twisted bipolar structure. The magnetic
field reaches a value of almost 2 kG within the polar region but smaller fields
are also present down to lower latitudes. The pronounced non-axisymmetric field
structure and the non-detection of a differential rotation for V410 Tau
supports the idea of an underlying -type dynamo, which is predicted
for weak-lined T Tauri stars.Comment: Accepted for A&A, 18 pages, 10 figure
Macrophage-sensory neuronal interaction in HIV-1 gp120-induced neurotoxicity
Acknowledgements We thank Dr Jim Perkins of University College London for his help with the statistical analysis of our gene array data. We thank Prof. Maria Papathanasopoulos from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the gift of gp120Bal.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Rotational Symmetry Breaking in Sodium Doped Cuprates
For reasonable parameters a hole bound to a Na^{+} acceptor in
Ca_{2-x}Na_{x}CuO_{2}Cl_{2} has a doubly degenerate ground state whose
components can be represented as states with even (odd) reflection symmetry
around the x(y) -axes. The conductance pattern for one state is anisotropic as
the tip of a tunneling microscope scans above the Cu-O-Cu bonds along the
x(y)-axes. This anisotropy is pronounced at lower voltages but is reduced at
higher voltages. Qualitative agreement with recent experiments leads us to
propose this effect as an explanation of the broken local rotational symmetry.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Cracks Cleave Crystals
The problem of finding what direction cracks should move is not completely
solved. A commonly accepted way to predict crack directions is by computing the
density of elastic potential energy stored well away from the crack tip, and
finding a direction of crack motion to maximize the consumption of this energy.
I provide here a specific case where this rule fails. The example is of a crack
in a crystal. It fractures along a crystal plane, rather than in the direction
normally predicted to release the most energy. Thus, a correct equation of
motion for brittle cracks must take into account both energy flows that are
described in conventional continuum theories and details of the environment
near the tip that are not.Comment: 6 page
Astrometric signatures of self-gravitating protoplanetary discs
We use high resolution numerical simulations to study whether gravitational
instabilities within circumstellar discs can produce astrometrically detectable
motion of the central star. For discs with masses of M_disc = 0.1 M_star, which
are permanantly stable against fragmentation, we find that the magnitude of the
astrometric signal depends upon the efficiency of disc cooling. Short cooling
times produce prominent filamentary spiral structures in the disc, and lead to
stellar motions that are potentially observable with future high precision
astrometric experiments. For a disc that is marginally unstable within radii of
\~10 au, we estimate astrometric displacements of 10-100 microarcsec on decade
timescales for a star at a distance of 100 pc. The predicted displacement is
suppressed by a factor of several in more stable discs in which the cooling
time exceeds the local dynamical time by an order of magnitude. We find that
the largest contribution comes from material in the outer regions of the disc
and hence, in the most pessimistic scenario, the stellar motions caused by the
disc could confuse astrometric searches for low mass planets orbiting at large
radii. They are, however, unlikely to present any complications in searches for
embedded planets orbiting at small radii, relative to the disc size, or Jupiter
mass planets or greater orbiting at large radii.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
- âŠ