The time evolution of marginally trapped surfaces

In previous work we have shown the existence of a dynamical horizon or marginally trapped tube (MOTT) containing a given strictly stable marginally outer trapped surface (MOTS). In this paper we show some results on the global behavior of MOTTs assuming the null energy condition. In particular we show that MOTSs persist in the sense that every Cauchy surface in the future of a given Cauchy surface containing a MOTS also must contain a MOTS. We describe a situation where the evolving outermost MOTS must jump during the coalescence of two seperate MOTSs. We furthermore characterize the behavior of MOTSs in the case that the principal eigenvalue vanishes under a genericity assumption. This leads to a regularity result for the tube of outermost MOTSs under the genericity assumption. This tube is then smooth up to finitely many jump times. Finally we discuss the relation of MOTSs to singularities of a space-time.Comment: 21 pages. This revision corrects some typos and contains more detailed proofs than the original versio

Optical and X-ray emission from stable millisecond magnetars formed from the merger of binary neutron stars

The coalescence of binary neutron stars (NSs) may in some cases produce a stable massive NS remnant rather than a black hole. Due to the substantial angular momentum from the binary, such a remnant is born rapidly rotating and likely acquires a strong magnetic field (a `millisecond magnetar'). Magnetic spin-down deposits a large fraction of the rotational energy from the magnetar behind the small quantity of mass ejected during the merger. This has the potential for creating a bright transient that could be useful for determining whether a NS or black hole was formed in the merger. We investigate the expected signature of such an event, including for the first time the important impact of electron/positron pairs injected by the millisecond magnetar into the surrounding nebula. These pairs cool via synchrotron and inverse Compton emission, producing a pair cascade and hard X-ray spectrum. A fraction of these X-rays are absorbed by the ejecta walls and re-emitted as thermal radiation, leading to an optical/UV transient peaking at a luminosity of ~1e43-1e44 erg/s on a timescale of several hours to days. This is dimmer than predicted by simpler analytic models because the large optical depth of electron/positron pairs across the nebula suppresses the efficiency with which the magnetar spin down luminosity is thermalized. Nevertheless, the optical/UV emission is more than two orders of magnitude brighter than a radioactively powered `kilonova.' In some cases nebular X-rays are sufficiently luminous to re-ionize the ejecta, in which case non-thermal X-rays escape the ejecta unattenuated with a similar peak luminosity and timescale as the optical radiation. We discuss the implications of our results for the temporally extended X-ray emission that is observed to follow some short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), including the kilonova candidates GRB 080503 and GRB 130603B.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 2 appendices, submitted to MNRA

Water detection at the moon, Mars and comets with a combined neutron gamma ray instrument

Measuring the fluxes of thermal and epithermal neutrons at a planetary object in conjunction with gamma-ray spectroscopic observations will provide information about the chemical composition of the surface which is less model dependent than the gamma ray measurements by themselves. Researchers devised a passive neutron detector for this purpose. An experimental model was designed and built. Three variables provided the basis for a set of experiments: thickness of the Sm and B layers, the presence or absence of the ACS, and the position of the source relative to the PND's cylindrical axis. Experimental results are given

Jet array impingement flow distributions and heat transfer characteristics: Effects of initial crossflow and nonuniform array geometry

Flow distributions and heat transfer characteristics for two-dimensional arrays of circular air jets impinging on a surface parallel to the jet orifice plate were determined. The configurations considered were intended to model those of interest in current and contemplated gas turbine airfoil midchord cooling applications. The geometry of the airfoil applications considered dictates that all of the jet flow, after impingement, exit in the chordwise (i.e., streamwise) direction toward the trailing edge. Experimental results for the effect of an initial crossflow on both flow distributions and heat transfer characteristics for a number of the prior uniform array geometries. The effects of nonuniform array geometries on flow distributions and heat transfer characteristics for noninitial crossflow configurations are discussed

The Merger of Small and Large Black Holes

We present simulations of binary black holes mergers in which, after the common outer horizon has formed, the marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs) corresponding to the individual black holes continue to approach and eventually penetrate each other. This has very interesting consequences according to recent results in the theory of MOTSs. Uniqueness and stability theorems imply that two MOTSs which touch with a common outer normal must be identical. This suggests a possible dramatic consequence of the collision between a small and large black hole. If the penetration were to continue to completion then the two MOTSs would have to coalesce, by some combination of the small one growing and the big one shrinking. Here we explore the relationship between theory and numerical simulations, in which a small black hole has halfway penetrated a large one.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure

The Influence of Curiosity on Intentional and Incidental Learning

Previous research has indicated that the level of curiosity of an individual is related to the amount of information which that individual can acquire incidentally. The present study was conducted to test two hypotheses: (a) High curiosity children will learn more material incidentally than low curiosity children, and (b) the level of curiosity will effect intentional learning. Twenty-eight fifth grade students (14 high curious, 14 low) were selected as subjects from a pool of 77 on the basis of scores attained on the Penney and McCann (1964) Children’s Reactive Curiosity Scale. The intentional learning task was a paired-associate presentation of nine stimulus-response items using the anticipation method. The incidental cues were colored borders on the stimulus response cards of the intentional task. The intentional task was run to a criterion of two perfect recitations. When a subject reached criterion on the intentional task, he was asked to recall the incidental cues from each card. No differences were found between groups on the intentional or the incidental learning tasks. The failure to find differences is explained in terms of Postman\u27s (1964) Intrinsic-Extrinsic Stimulus Hypothesis