Back-flow ripples in troughs downstream of unit bars: Formation, preservation and value for interpreting flow conditions

Back-flow ripples are bedforms created within the lee-side eddy of a larger bedform with migration directions opposed or oblique to that of the host bedform. In the flume experiments described in this article, back-flow ripples formed in the trough downstream of a unit bar and changed with mean flow velocity; varying from small incipient back-flow ripples at low velocities, to well-formed back-flow ripples with greater velocity, to rapidly migrating transient back-flow ripples formed at the greatest velocities tested. In these experiments back-flow ripples formed at much lower mean back-flow velocities than predicted from previously published descriptions. This lower threshold mean back-flow velocity is attributed to the pattern of velocity variation within the lee-side eddy of the host bedform. The back-flow velocity variations are attributed to vortex shedding from the separation zone, wake flapping and increases in the size of, and turbulent intensity within, the flow separation eddy controlled by the passage of superimposed bedforms approaching the crest of the bar. Short duration high velocity packets, whatever their cause, may form back-flow ripples if they exceed the minimum bed shear stress for ripple generation for long enough or, if much faster, may wash them out. Variation in back-flow ripple cross-lamination has been observed in the rock record and, by comparison with flume observations, the preserved back-flow ripple morphology may be useful for interpreting formative flow and sediment transport dynamics

Cosmic Rays From Cosmic Strings

It has been speculated that cosmic string networks could produce ultra-high energy cosmic rays as a by-product of their evolution. By making use of recent work on the evolution of such networks, it will be shown that the flux of cosmic rays from cosmologically useful, that is GUT scale strings, is too small to be used as a test for strings with any foreseeable technology.Comment: 11, Imperial/TP/93-94/2

Surface tension of the isotropic-nematic interface

We present the first calculations of the pressure tensor profile in the vicinity of the planar interface between isotropic liquid and nematic liquid crystal, using Onsager's density functional theory and computer simulation. When the liquid crystal director is aligned parallel to the interface, the situation of lowest free energy, there is a large tension on the nematic side of the interface and a small compressive region on the isotropic side. By contrast, for perpendicular alignment, the tension is on the isotropic side. There is excellent agreement between theory and simulation both in the forms of the pressure tensor profiles, and the values of the surface tension.Comment: Minor changes; to appear in Phys. Rev.

Polaronic Signatures in Mid-Infrared Spectra: Prediction for LaMnO3 and CaMnO3

Hole-doped LaMnO3 and electron-doped CaMnO3 form self-trapped electronic states. The spectra of these states have been calculated using a two orbital (Mn eg Jahn-Teller) model, from which the non-adiabatic optical conductivity spectra are obtained. In both cases the optical spectrum contains weight in the gap region, whose observation will indicate the self-trapped nature of the carrier states. The predicted spectra are proportional to the concentration of the doped carriers in the dilute regime, with coefficients calculated with no further model parameters.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figures imbedde

Quantum and classical criticalities in the frustrated two-leg Heisenberg ladder

This talk was about the frustration-induced criticality in the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the two-leg ladder with exchange interactions along the chains, rungs, and diagonals, and also about the effect of thermal fluctuations on this criticlity. The method used is the bond mean-field theory, which is based on the Jordan-Wigner transformation in dimensions higher than one. In this paper, we will summarize the main results presented in this talk, and report on new results about the couplings and temperature dependences of the spin susceptibility.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at the Theory Canada 3 conference in 2007, submitted to the Canadian Journal of Physic

Phonon Hall effect in ionic crystals in the presence of static magnetic field

We study phonon Hall effect (PHE) for ionic crystals in the presence of static magnetic field. Using Green-Kubo formula, we present an exact calculation of thermal conductivity tensor by considering both positive and negative frequency phonons. Numerical results are shown for some lattices such as hexagonal lattices, triangular lattices, and square lattices. We find that the PHE occurs on the nonmagnetic ionic crystal NaCl, although the magnitude is very small which is due to the tiny charge-to-mass ratio of the ions. The off-diagonal thermal conductivity is finite for nonzero magnetic field and changes sign for high value of magnetic field at high temperature. We also found that the off-diagonal thermal conductivity diverges as $\pm{1/T}$ at low temperature

First-Order System Least Squares and the Energetic Variational Approach for Two-Phase Flow

This paper develops a first-order system least-squares (FOSLS) formulation for equations of two-phase flow. The main goal is to show that this discretization, along with numerical techniques such as nested iteration, algebraic multigrid, and adaptive local refinement, can be used to solve these types of complex fluid flow problems. In addition, from an energetic variational approach, it can be shown that an important quantity to preserve in a given simulation is the energy law. We discuss the energy law and inherent structure for two-phase flow using the Allen-Cahn interface model and indicate how it is related to other complex fluid models, such as magnetohydrodynamics. Finally, we show that, using the FOSLS framework, one can still satisfy the appropriate energy law globally while using well-known numerical techniques.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures submitted to Journal of Computational Physic

Superconductivity near the vibrational mode instability in MgCNi3

To understand the role of electron-phonon interaction in superconducting MgCNi$_{3}$ we have performed density functional based linear response calculations of its lattice dynamical properties. A large coupling constant $\lambda$= 1.51 is predicted and contributing phonons are identified as displacements of Ni atoms towards octahedral interstitials of the perovskite lattice. Instabilities found for some vibrational modes emphasize the role of anharmonic effects in resolving experimental controversies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures, replaces the older versio

Management plan for the procurement of shipping casks required to service proposed federal waste repositories

Development of transportation systems to move radioactive waste and unreprocessed spent fuel to proposed federal waste repositories is an integral part of the National Waste Terminal Storage Program. To meet this requirement, shipping casks must be designed, licensed, and fabricated. To assist the manager charged with this responsibility, a Cask Procurement Plan has been formulated. This plan is presented as a logic diagram that is suitable for computer analysis. In addition to the diagram, narrative material that describes various activities in the plan is also included. A preliminary computer analysis of the logic diagram indicates that, depending on the result of several decisions which must be made during the course of the work, the latest start dates which will allow prototype delivery of all types of casks by December 1985, range from November 1977 to March 1982. Document type: Repor