Near threshold Lambda and Sigma production in pp collisions

A model calculation for the reactions $pp\to p\Lambda K^+$ and $pp\to N\Sigma K$ near their thresholds is presented. It is argued that the experimentally observed strong suppression of $\Sigma^0$ production compared to $\Lambda$ production at the same excess energy could be due to a destructive interference between the $\pi$ and $K$ exchange contributions in the reaction $pp\to p\Sigma^0 K^+$. Predictions for $pp\to p\Sigma^+ K^0$ and $pp\to n\Sigma^+ K^+$ are given.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, uses espcrc1.sty, contribution presented at the 16th International Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, Taipei, Taiwan, 6-10 March 200

Baryon vector and axial content up to the 7Q component

We have used the light-cone formulation of Chiral-Quark Soliton Model to investigate the vector and axial content of octet, decuplet and the hypothetical antidecuplet in the flavor SU(3) symmetry limit. We have extended previous works by computing the 7Q contribution to vector and axial charges for the octet and antidecuplet but stayed at the 5Q sector for the decuplet where the full computation needs much more time. As expected the 7Q component has a weaker impact on the quantities but still changes them by a few percent. We give also a detailed decomposition of those charges into flavor, valence quark, sea quark and antiquark contributions. Many of them are of course not (yet) measured or estimated and constitute then a theoretical estimation. Among the different interesting observations made in this work are the explicit quadrupole deformation of decuplet baryons due to the pion field and the sum of quark spins larger than the pentaquark one.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figures and 17 tables, revised and more explicit versio

Natural resources of Lake Earl and Smith River Delta

The Lake Earl/Smith River Delta area is a key coastal wetland situated in northern California. The Lake and Delta have retained much of their value to wildlife and serve as an important link in a chain of such wetlands that extend southward along the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to South America. Millions of water-associated birds of the Pacific Flyway utilize these areas as feeding and resting stops along their migration paths. In California, these wetlands also serve as a significant portion of the available wintering grounds for a major share of the birds within the flyway. The Smith River is also one of the State's most productive salmon and steelhead streams. Anadromous fish produced here provide thousands of angler use days to sport fishermen and contribute substantially to the commercial fishing catch off the northern coast. Because of the importance of coastal wetlands to the fish and wildlife of California, the Department of Fish and Game has initiated a high priority statewide inventory and assessment of these wetlands. This publication is an integral part of that program. This report identifies specific resources and uses; directs attention to problems; and recommends courses of action needed to insure resource protection. It is intended as a guide for citizens, planners, administrators and other interested in the use and development of California's coastal land and waters. (132pp.

Metagenomic analysis of nitrogen and methane cycling in the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZ) are areas in the global ocean where oxygen concentrations drop to below one percent. Low oxygen concentrations allow alternative respiration with nitrate and nitrite as electron acceptor to become prevalent in these areas, making them main contributors to oceanic nitrogen loss. The contribution of anammox and denitrification to nitrogen loss seems to vary in different OMZs. In the Arabian Sea, both processes were reported. Here, we performed a metagenomics study of the upper and core zone of the Arabian Sea OMZ, to provide a comprehensive overview of the genetic potential for nitrogen and methane cycling. We propose that aerobic ammonium oxidation is carried out by a diverse community of Thaumarchaeota in the upper zone of the OMZ, whereas a low diversity of Scalindua-like anammox bacteria contribute significantly to nitrogen loss in the core zone. Aerobic nitrite oxidation in the OMZ seems to be performed by Nitrospina spp. and a novel lineage of nitrite oxidizing organisms that is present in roughly equal abundance as Nitrospina. Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA) can be carried out by yet unknown microorganisms harbouring a divergent nrfA gene. The metagenomes do not provide conclusive evidence for active methane cycling; however, a low abundance of novel alkane monooxygenase diversity was detected. Taken together, our approach confirmed the genomic potential for an active nitrogen cycle in the Arabian Sea and allowed detection of hitherto overlooked lineages of carbon and nitrogen cycle bacteria

Examining flow-flame interaction and the characteristic stretch rate in vortex-driven combustion dynamics using PIV and numerical simulation

In this paper, we experimentally investigate the combustion dynamics in lean premixed flames in a laboratory scale backward-facing step combustor in which flame-vortex driven dynamics are observed. A series of tests was conducted using propane/hydrogen/air mixtures for various mixture compositions at the inlet temperature ranging from 300 K to 500 K and at atmospheric pressure. Pressure measurements and high speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) are used to generate pressure response curves and phase-averaged vorticity and streamlines as well as the instantaneous flame front, respectively, which describe unsteady flame and flow dynamics in each operating regime. This work was motivated in part by our earlier study where we showed that the strained flame consumption speed S[subscript c] can be used to collapse the pressure response curves over a wide range of operating conditions. In previous studies, the stretch rate at which S[subscript c] was computed was determined by trial and error. In this study, flame stretch is estimated using the instantaneous flame front and velocity field from the PIV measurement. Independently, we also use computed strained flame speed and the experimental data to determine the characteristic values of stretch rate near the mode transition points at which the flame configuration changes. We show that a common value of the characteristic stretch rate exists across all the flame configurations. The consumption speed computed at the characteristic stretch rate captures the impact of different operating parameters on the combustor dynamics. These results suggest that the unsteady interactions between the turbulent flow and the flame dynamics can be encapsulated in the characteristic stretch rate, which governs the critical flame speed at the mode transitions and thereby plays an important role in determining the stability characteristics of the combustor.King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Grant KUS-110-010-01

Fundamental studies in hydrogen-rich combustion : instability mechanisms and dynamic mode selection

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-127).Hydrogen-rich alternative fuels are likely to play a significant role in future power generation systems. The emergence of the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) as one of the favored technologies for incorporating carbon capture into coal-based power plants increases the need for gas turbine combustors which can operate on a range of fuels, particularly syngas, a hydrogen-rich fuel produced by coal gasification. Lean premixed combustion, the preferred high-efficiency, low-emissions operating mode in these combustors, is susceptible to strong instabilities even in ordinary fuels. Because hydrogen-rich fuels have combustion properties which depend strongly on composition, avoiding the dynamics that energize combustion instability across all operating conditions is a significant challenge. In order to explore the effect of fuel composition on combustion dynamics, a series of experiments were carried out in two optically-accessible laboratory-scale combustors: a planar backward-facing step combustor and an axisymmetric swirlstabilized combustor. Fuels consisting of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, or propane and hydrogen were tested over a range of equivalence ratios and at various inlet temperatures. Dynamic pressure and chemiluminescence measurements were taken for each case. High-speed video and stereographic particle imaging velocimetry were used to explore the dynamic interactions between the flame and the flow field of the combustor. Stable, quasi-stable, and unstable operating modes were identified in each combustor, with each mode characterized by a distinct dynamic flame shape and acoustic response which is dependent on the composition of the reactants and the inlet temperature. In both combustors, the quasi-stable and unstable modes are associated with acoustically driven flame-vortex interactions in the combustion-anchoring region. In the planar combustor, the flame is convoluted around a large wake vortex, which is periodically shed from the step. In the swirl-stabilized combustor, the flame shape is controlled by the dynamics of the inner recirculation zone formed as a result of vortex breakdown. In both cases, the unstable mode is associated with velocity oscillation amplitudes that exceed the mean flow velocity. The apparent similarity between the response curves and flame dynamics in the two combustors indicate that the intrinsic local dynamics--instead of global acoustics--govern the flame response. Analysis shows that for each combustor, the pressure response curves across a range of operating conditions can be collapsed onto a single curve by introducing an appropriate similarity parameter that captures the flame response to the vortex. Computations are performed for stretched flames in hydrogen-rich fuels and the results are used to explain the observed similarity and to define the form of the similarity parameter. This similarity parameter works equally well for both experiments across fuel compositions and different inlet conditions, demonstrating that it fundamentally embodies the reciprocity between the flow and the combustion process that drives the instability. A linear model of the combustor's acoustics shows that the onset of combustion instability at a particular frequency can be related to a time delay between the velocity and the exothermic response of the flame that is inversely proportional to the local burning velocity. This analysis captures the impact of the fuel composition and operating temperature on the mode selection through an appropriately-weighted strained flame consumption speed, further emphasizing the influence of local transport-chemistry interactions on the system response. This new result confirms the role of turbulent combustion dynamics in driving thermoacoustic instabilities.by Raymond Levi Speth.Ph.D

On the phase between pressure and heat release fluctuations for propane/hydrogen flames and its role in mode transitions

This paper presents an experimental investigation into mode-transitions observed in a 50-kW, atmospheric pressure, backward-facing step combustor burning lean premixed C[subscript 3]H[subscript 8]/H[subscript 2] fuel mixtures over a range of equivalence ratios, fuel compositions and preheat temperatures. The combustor exhibits distinct acoustic response and dynamic flame shape (collectively referred to as “dynamic modes”) depending on the operating conditions. We simultaneously measure the dynamic pressure and flame chemiluminescence to examine the phase between pressure (p′) and heat release fluctuations (q′) in the observed dynamic modes. Results show that the heat release is in phase with the pressure oscillations (θ[subscript qp] ≈ 0) at the onset of a dynamic mode, while as the operating conditions change within the mode, the phase grows until it reaches a critical value θ[subscript qp] = θ[subscript c], at which the combustor switches to another dynamic mode. According to the classical Rayleigh criterion, this critical phase (θ[subscript c]) should be π/2, whereas our data show that the transition occurs well below this value. A linear acoustic energy balance shows that this critical phase marks the point where acoustic losses across the system boundaries equal the energy addition from the combustion process to the acoustic field. Based on the extended Rayleigh criterion in which the acoustic energy fluxes through the system boundaries as well as the typical Rayleigh source term (p′q′) are included, we derive an extended Rayleigh index defined as R[subscript e] = θ[subscript qp]/θ[subscript c], which varies between 0 and 1. This index, plotted against a density-weighted strained consumption speed, indicates that the impact of the operating parameters on the dynamic mode selection of the combustor collapses onto a family of curves, which quantify the state of the combustor within a dynamic mode. At R[subscript e] = 0, the combustor enters a mode, and switches to another as R[subscript e] approaches 1. The results provide a metric for quantifying the instability margins of fuel-flexible combustors operating at a wide range of conditions.King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Grant KUS-110-010-01

Effects of curvature and strain on a lean premixed methane-hydrogen-air flame

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-77).The elemental flame is a subgrid model for turbulent combustion, parameterized by time-varying strain rate and curvature. This thesis develops the unsteady one-dimensional governing equations for the elemental flame incorporating detailed chemical kinetics and transport and a robust and efficient numerical method for solving the governing equations. Hydrogen enrichment of some hydrocarbon fuels has been shown to improve stability and extend flammability limits of lean premixed combustion in a number of recent experiments. It is suggested that these trends may be explained by the impact of hydrogen on the flame response to stretch and curvature. The elemental flame model is used to simulate premixed hydrogen-enriched methane flames in positively curved, negatively curved and planar configurations at varying strain rates. Curvature and stretch couple with non-unity species Lewis numbers to affect the burning rates and flame structure. Hydrogen addition is found to increase burning rate and resistance to flame stretch under all conditions. Positive curvature reinforces the effect of hydrogen enrichment, while negative curvature diminishes it.(cont.) The effects of strong curvature cannot be explained solely in terms of flame stretch. Hydrogen enriched flames display increases in radical concentrations and a broadening of the reaction zone. Detailed analysis of the chemical kinetics shows that high strain rates lead to incomplete oxidation; hydrogen addition tends to mitigate this effect.by Raymond Levi Speth.S.M

On Properties of the Isoscalar Giant Dipole Resonance

Main properties (strength function, energy-dependent transition density, branching ratios for direct nucleon decay) of the isoscalar giant dipole resonance in several medium-heavy mass spherical nuclei are described within a continuum-RPA approach, taking into account the smearing effect. All model parameters used in the calculations are taken from independent data. Calculation results are compared with available experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure