A combined experimental-numerical study to tensile behaviour of limestone

In this paper, a combined experimental-computational study of double-edge notched stone specimen subject to cyclic tensile loading is presented. In the experimental part, the load-deformation response and the local displacement field are recorded. Both experimental results are used to validate a numerical model for the description of fracture within finite elements. The model uses displacement discontinuities to model cracks. These discontinuities are implemented using the partition of unity property of finite element shape functions. In the discontinuity, a combined damage-plasticity cohesive law is used. Numerical simulations are compared with experimental observations

A discrete model for cyclic mode I loading

AbstractThe cyclic behaviour of a double-edge notched specimen loaded in tension is studied. Cracks in the material are modelled by displacement discontinuities that can propagate during computation. Within these discontinuities, a cohesive zone model is used. The model assumes an additive split of the inelastic jump into a recoverable and an unrecoverable part. The influence of model parameters and discretisation is studied and the results have been compared with experimental data

Coulomb Distortion Effects for (e,e'p) Reactions at High Electron Energy

We report a significant improvement of an approximate method of including electron Coulomb distortion in electron induced reactions at momentum transfers greater than the inverse of the size of the target nucleus. In particular, we have found a new parametrization for the elastic electron scattering phase shifts that works well at all electron energies greater than 300 $MeV$. As an illustration, we apply the improved approximation to the $(e,e'p)$ reaction from medium and heavy nuclei. We use a relativistic ``single particle'' model for $(e,e'p)$ as as applied to $^{208}Pb(e,e'p)$ and to recently measured data at CEBAF on $^{16}O(e,e'p)$ to investigate Coulomb distortion effects while examining the physics of the reaction.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, PRC submitte

Type Ia Supernovae and Accretion Induced Collapse

Using the population synthesis binary evolution code StarTrack, we present theoretical rates and delay times of Type Ia supernovae arising from various formation channels. These channels include binaries in which the exploding white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass limit (DDS, SDS, and helium-rich donor scenario) as well as the sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario, in which a white dwarf accretes from a helium-rich companion and explodes as a SN Ia before reaching the Chandrasekhar mass limit. We find that using a common envelope parameterization employing energy balance with alpha=1 and lambda=1, the supernova rates per unit mass (born in stars) of sub-Chandrasekhar mass SNe Ia exceed those of all other progenitor channels at epochs t=0.7 - 4 Gyr for a burst of star formation at t=0. Additionally, the delay time distribution of the sub-Chandrasekhar model can be divided in to two distinct evolutionary channels: the `prompt' helium-star channel with delay times < 500 Myr, and the `delayed' double white dwarf channel with delay times > 800 Myr spanning up to a Hubble time. These findings are in agreement with recent observationally-derived delay time distributions which predict that a large number of SNe Ia have delay times < 1 Gyr, with a significant fraction having delay times < 500 Myr. We find that the DDS channel is also able to account for the observed rates of SNe Ia. However, detailed simulations of white dwarf mergers have shown that most of these mergers will not lead to SNe Ia but rather to the formation of a neutron star via accretion-induced collapse. If this is true, our standard population synthesis model predicts that the only progenitor channel which can account for the rates of SNe Ia is the sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario, and none of the other progenitors considered can fully account for the observed rates.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, to appear in proceedings for "Binary Star Evolution: Mass Loss, Accretion and Mergers

Systematic study of Coulomb distortion effects in exclusive (e,e'p) reactions

A technique to deal with Coulomb electron distortions in the analysis of (e,e'p) reactions is presented. Thereby, no approximations are made. The suggested technique relies on a partial-wave expansion of the electron wave functions and a multipole decomposition of the electron and nuclear current in momentum space. In that way, we succeed in keeping the computational times within reasonable limits. This theoretical framework is used to calculate the quasielastic (e,e'p) reduced cross sections for proton knockout from the valence shells in $^{16}$O, $^{40}$Ca, $^{90}$Zr and $^{208}$Pb. The final-state interaction of the ejected proton with the residual nucleus is treated within an optical potential model. The role of electron distortion on the extracted spectroscopic factors is discussed.Comment: 45 pages, 10 encapsulated postscript figures, Revtex, uses epsfig.sty and fancybox.sty, to be published in Physical Review

Electroinduced two-nucleon knockout and correlations in nuclei

We present a model to calculate cross sections for electroinduced two-nucleon emission from finite nuclei. Short-range correlations in the wave functions and meson-exchange contributions to the photoabsorption process are implemented. Effects of the short-range correlations are studied with the aid of a perturbation expansion method with various choices of the Jastrow correlation function. The model is used to investigate the relative importance of the different reaction mechanisms contributing to the A(e,e$'$pn) and A(e,e$'$pp) process. Representative examples for the target nuclei $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O and for kinematical conditions accessible with contemporary high-duty cycle electron accelerators are presented. A procedure is outlined to calculate the two-nucleon knockout contribution to the semi-exclusive (e,e$'$p) cross section. Using this technique we investigate in how far semi-exclusive (e,e$'$p) reactions can be used to detect high-momentum components in the nuclear spectral function.Comment: 51 pages, Latex, uses epsf.sty and elsart.sty, 17 figures (in eps format

Parameter estimation of spinning binary inspirals using Markov-chain Monte Carlo

We present a Markov-chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) technique to study the source parameters of gravitational-wave signals from the inspirals of stellar-mass compact binaries detected with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors such as LIGO and Virgo, for the case where spin is present in the more massive compact object in the binary. We discuss aspects of the MCMC algorithm that allow us to sample the parameter space in an efficient way. We show sample runs that illustrate the possibilities of our MCMC code and the difficulties that we encounter.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit

Random template placement and prior information

In signal detection problems, one is usually faced with the task of searching a parameter space for peaks in the likelihood function which indicate the presence of a signal. Random searches have proven to be very efficient as well as easy to implement, compared e.g. to searches along regular grids in parameter space. Knowledge of the parameterised shape of the signal searched for adds structure to the parameter space, i.e., there are usually regions requiring to be densely searched while in other regions a coarser search is sufficient. On the other hand, prior information identifies the regions in which a search will actually be promising or may likely be in vain. Defining specific figures of merit allows one to combine both template metric and prior distribution and devise optimal sampling schemes over the parameter space. We show an example related to the gravitational wave signal from a binary inspiral event. Here the template metric and prior information are particularly contradictory, since signals from low-mass systems tolerate the least mismatch in parameter space while high-mass systems are far more likely, as they imply a greater signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and hence are detectable to greater distances. The derived sampling strategy is implemented in a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm where it improves convergence.Comment: Proceedings of the 8th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves. 7 pages, 4 figure

Stability of helium accretion discs in ultracompact binaries

Stellar companions of accreting neutron stars in ultra compact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) are hydrogen-deficient. Their helium or C/O accretion discs are strongly X-ray irradiated. Both the chemical composition and irradiation determine the disc stability with respect to thermal and viscous perturbations. At shorter periods, UCXBs are persistent, whereas longer-period systems are mostly transient. To understand this behaviour one has to derive the stability criteria for X-ray irradiated hydrogen-poor accretion discs. We use a modified and updated version of the Dubus et al. code describing time-dependent irradiated accretion discs around compact objects. We obtained the relevant stability criteria and compared the results to observed properties of UCXBs. Although the general trend in the stability behaviour of UCXBs is consistent with the prediction of the disc instability model, in a few cases the inconsistency of theoretical predictions with the system observed properties is weak enough to be attributed to observational and/or theoretical uncertainties. Two systems might require the presence of some amount of hydrogen in the donor star.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in pres

Compact Binary Coalescences in the Band of Ground-based Gravitational-Wave Detectors

As the ground-based gravitational-wave telescopes LIGO, Virgo, and GEO 600 approach the era of first detections, we review the current knowledge of the coalescence rates and the mass and spin distributions of merging neutron-star and black-hole binaries. We emphasize the bi-directional connection between gravitational-wave astronomy and conventional astrophysics. Astrophysical input will make possible informed decisions about optimal detector configurations and search techniques. Meanwhile, rate upper limits, detected merger rates, and the distribution of masses and spins measured by gravitational-wave searches will constrain astrophysical parameters through comparisons with astrophysical models. Future developments necessary to the success of gravitational-wave astronomy are discussed.Comment: Replaced with version accepted by CQG