21,610 research outputs found
Apparatus for determining thermophysical properties of test specimens
Apparatus is described for directly measuring the quantity square root of pck of a test specimen such as a wind tunnel model where p is density, c is the specific heat and k is the thermal conductivity of the specimen. The test specimen and a reference specimen are simultaneously subjected to the heat from a heat source. A thermocouple is attached to the reference specimen for producing a first electrical analog signal proportional to the heat rate Q that the test specimen is subjected to and an infrared radiometer that is aimed at the test specimen produces a second electrical analog signal proportional to the surface temperature T of the test specimen. An analog-to-digital converter converts the first and second electrical analog signals to digital signals. These digital signals are applied to a computer for determining the quantity
Automated electronic system for measuring thermophysical properties
Phase-charge coatings are used to measure surface temperature accurately under transient heating conditions. Coating melts when surface reaches calibrated phase-charge temperature. Temperature is monitored by infrared thermometer, and corresponding elapsed time is recorded by electronic data-handling system
Revivals of quantum wave-packets in graphene
We investigate the propagation of wave-packets on graphene in a perpendicular
magnetic field and the appearance of collapses and revivals in the
time-evolution of an initially localised wave-packet. The wave-packet evolution
in graphene differs drastically from the one in an electron gas and shows a
rich revival structure similar to the dynamics of highly excited Rydberg
states.
We present a novel numerical wave-packet propagation scheme in order to solve
the effective single-particle Dirac-Hamiltonian of graphene and show how the
collapse and revival dynamics is affected by the presence of disorder. Our
effective numerical method is of general interest for the solution of the Dirac
equation in the presence of potentials and magnetic fields.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, 3 movies, to appear in New Journal of Physic
NMR evidence for a strong modulation of the Bose-Einstein Condensate in BaCuSiO
We present a Cu and Si NMR study of the quasi-2D coupled
spin 1/2 dimer compound BaCuSiO in the magnetic field range 13-26 T and
at temperatures as low as 50 mK. NMR data in the gapped phase reveal that below
90 K different intra-dimer exchange couplings and different gaps
( = 1.16) exist in every second plane along
the c-axis, in addition to a planar incommensurate (IC) modulation. Si
spectra in the field induced magnetic ordered phase reveal that close to the
quantum critical point at = 23.35 T the average boson density
of the Bose-Einstein condensate is strongly modulated along the
c-axis with a density ratio for every second plane
. An IC modulation of the local
density is also present in each plane. This adds new constraints for the
understanding of the 2D value = 1 of the critical exponent describing
the phase boundary
Electron propagation in crossed magnetic and electric fields
Laser-atom interaction can be an efficient mechanism for the production of
coherent electrons. We analyze the dynamics of monoenergetic electrons in the
presence of uniform, perpendicular magnetic and electric fields. The Green
function technique is used to derive analytic results for the field--induced
quantum mechanical drift motion of i) single electrons and ii) a dilute Fermi
gas of electrons. The method yields the drift current and, at the same time it
allows us to quantitatively establish the broadening of the (magnetic) Landau
levels due to the electric field: Level number k is split into k+1 sublevels
that render the th oscillator eigenstate in energy space. Adjacent Landau
levels will overlap if the electric field exceeds a critical strength. Our
observations are relevant for quantum Hall configurations whenever electric
field effects should be taken into account.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitte
Lingering grains of truth around comet 17P/Holmes
Comet 17P/Holmes underwent a massive outburst in 2007 Oct., brightening by a
factor of almost a million in under 48 hours. We used infrared images taken by
the Wide-Field Survey Explorer mission to characterize the comet as it appeared
at a heliocentric distance of 5.1 AU almost 3 years after the outburst. The
comet appeared to be active with a coma and dust trail along the orbital plane.
We constrained the diameter, albedo, and beaming parameter of the nucleus to
4.135 0.610 km, 0.03 0.01 and 1.03 0.21, respectively. The
properties of the nucleus are consistent with those of other Jupiter Family
comets. The best-fit temperature of the coma was 134 11 K, slightly
higher than the blackbody temperature at that heliocentric distance. Using
Finson-Probstein modeling we found that the morphology of the trail was
consistent with ejection during the 2007 outburst and was made up of dust
grains between 250 m and a few cm in radius. The trail mass was 1.2
- 5.3 10 kg.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 2 tables, 4 figure
A periodically active pulsar giving insight into magnetospheric physics
PSR B1931+24 (J1933+2421) behaves as an ordinary isolated radio pulsar during
active phases that are 5-10 days long. However, the radio emission switches off
in less than 10 seconds and remains undetectable for the next 25-35 days, then
it switches on again. This pattern repeats quasi-periodically. The origin of
this behaviour is unclear. Even more remarkably, the pulsar rotation slows down
50% faster when it is on than when it is off. This indicates a massive increase
in magnetospheric currents when the pulsar switches on, proving that pulsar
wind plays a substantial role in pulsar spin-down. This allows us, for the
first time, to estimate the currents in a pulsar magnetospheric during the
occurrence of radio emission.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Exact Charged 2-Body Motion and the Static Balance Condition in Lineal Gravity
We find an exact solution to the charged 2-body problem in
dimensional lineal gravity which provides the first example of a relativistic
system that generalizes the Majumdar-Papapetrou condition for static balance.Comment: latex,7 pages, 2 figure
Entanglement entropy and multifractality at localization transitions
The von Neumann entanglement entropy is a useful measure to characterize a
quantum phase transition. We investigate the non-analyticity of this entropy at
disorder-dominated quantum phase transitions in non-interacting electronic
systems. At these critical points, the von Neumann entropy is determined by the
single particle wave function intensity which exhibits complex scale invariant
fluctuations. We find that the concept of multifractality is naturally suited
for studying von Neumann entropy of the critical wave functions. Our numerical
simulations of the three dimensional Anderson localization transition and the
integer quantum Hall plateau transition show that the entanglement at these
transitions is well described using multifractal analysis.Comment: v3, 5 pages, published versio
Prospects for probing strong gravity with a pulsar-black hole system
The discovery of a pulsar (PSR) in orbit around a black hole (BH) is expected
to provide a superb new probe of relativistic gravity and BH properties. Apart
from a precise mass measurement for the BH, one could expect a clean
verification of the dragging of space-time caused by the BH spin. In order to
measure the quadrupole moment of the BH for testing the no-hair theorem of
general relativity (GR), one has to hope for a sufficiently massive BH. In this
respect, a PSR orbiting the super-massive BH in the center of our Galaxy would
be the ultimate laboratory for gravity tests with PSRs. But even for gravity
theories that predict the same properties for BHs as GR, a PSR-BH system would
constitute an excellent test system, due to the high grade of asymmetry in the
strong field properties of these two components. Here we highlight some of the
potential gravity tests that one could expect from different PSR-BH systems,
utilizing present and future radio telescopes, like FAST and SKA.Comment: Proceedings of IAUS 291 "Neutron Stars and Pulsars: Challenges and
Opportunities after 80 years", J. van Leeuwen (ed.); 6 pages, 3 figure
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