Probing Nuclear Matter with Jet Conversions

We discuss the flavor of leading jet partons as a valuable probe of nuclear matter. We point out that the coupling of jets to nuclear matter naturally leads to an alteration of jet chemistry even at high transverse momentum $p_T$. In particular, QCD jets coupling to a chemically equilibrated quark gluon plasma in nuclear collisions, will lead to hadron ratios at high transverse momentum $p_T$ that can differ significantly from their counterparts in $p+p$ collisions. Flavor measurements could complement energy loss as a way to study interactions of hard QCD jets with nuclear matter. Roughly speaking they probe the inverse mean free path $1/\lambda$, while energy loss probes the average squared momentum transfer $\mu^2/\lambda$. We present some estimates for the rate of jet conversions in a consistent Fokker-Planck framework and their impact on future high-$p_T$ identified hadron measurements at RHIC and LHC. We also suggest some novel observables to test flavor effects.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, version to appear in PR

Cathode chemistries and electrode parameters affecting the fast charging performance of li-ion batteries

Li-ion battery fast-charging technology plays an important role in popularizing electric vehicles (EV), which critically need a charging process that is as simple and quick as pumping fuel for conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. To ensure stable and safe fast charging of Li-ion battery, understanding the electrochemical and thermal behaviors of battery electrodes under high rate charges is crucial, since it provides insight into the limiting factors that restrict the battery from acquiring energy at high rates. In this work, charging simulations are performed on Li-ion batteries that use the LiCoO2 (LCO), LiMn2O4 (LMO), and LiFePO4 (LFP) as the cathodes. An electrochemical-thermal coupling model is first developed and experimentally validated on a 2.6Ah LCO based Li-ion battery and is then adjusted to study the LMO and LFP based batteries. LCO, LMO, and LFP based Li-ion batteries exhibited different thermal responses during charges due to their different entropy profiles, and results show that the entropy change of the LCO battery plays a positive role in alleviating its temperature rise during charges. Among the batteries, the LFP battery is difficult to be charged at high rates due to the charge transfer limitation caused by the low electrical conductivity of the LFP cathode, which, however, can be improved through doping or adding conductive additives. A parametric study is also performed by considering different electrode thicknesses and secondary particle sizes. It reveals that the concentration polarization at the electrode and particle levels can be weaken by using thin electrodes and small solid particles, respectively. These changes are helpful to mitigate the diffusion limitation and improve the performance of Li-ion batteries during high rate charges, but careful consideration should be taken when applying these changes since they can reduce the energy density of the batteries

Andreev Bound states in One Dimensional Topological Superconductor

We study the charge character of the Andreev bound states (ABSs) in one-dimensional topological superconductors with spatial inversion symmetry (SIS) breaking. Despite the absence of the SIS, we show a hidden symmetry for the Bogoliubov de Gennes equations around Fermi points in addition to the particle-hole symmetry. This hidden symmetry protects that the charge of the ABSs is solely dependent on the corresponding Fermi velocities. On the other hand, if the SIS is present, the ABSs are charge neutral, similar to Majorana fermions. We demonstrate that the charge of the ABSs can be experimentally measured in the tunneling transport spectroscopy from the resonant differential tunneling conductance.Comment: 4 pages plus appendix; 4 figure

Vertical distribution of ozone and the variation of tropopause heights based on ozonesonde and satellite observations

The distribution of atmospheric ozone is nonuniform both in space and time. Local ozone concentration vary with altitude, latitude, longitude, and season. Two year ozonesonde data, January 1981 to December 1982, observed at four Canadian stations and 2.5 year backscattered ultraviolet experiment data on the Nimbus-4 satellite, April 1970 to August 1972, observed over five American stations were used to study the relationship between the total ozone, vertical height distribution of the ozone mixing ratio, vertical height distribution of half total ozone, and the local tropopause height. The results show that there is a postive correlation between total ozone in Dobson Units and the tropopause height in terms of atmospheric pressure. This result suggests that local intrusion of the statosphere into the troposphere, or the local decreasing of tropopause height could occur if there is a local increasing of total ozone. A comparison of the vertical height distribution of the ozone mixing ratio, the modified pressure height of half total ozone and the tropopause height shows that the pressure height of an ozone mixing ratio of 0.3 micrograms/g, and the modified pressure height of half total ozone are very well correlated with the tropopause pressure height

A CFD-informed quasi-steady model of flapping-wing aerodynamics

Aerodynamic performance and agility during flapping flight are determined by the combination of wing shape and kinematics. The degree of morphological and kinematic optimization is unknown and depends upon a large parameter space. Aimed at providing an accurate and computationally inexpensive modelling tool for flapping-wing aerodynamics, we propose a novel CFD (computational fluid dynamics)-informed quasi-steady model (CIQSM), which assumes that the aerodynamic forces on a flapping wing can be decomposed into quasi-steady forces and parameterized based on CFD results. Using least-squares fitting, we determine a set of proportional coefficients for the quasi-steady model relating wing kinematics to instantaneous aerodynamic force and torque; we calculate power as the product of quasi-steady torques and angular velocity. With the quasi-steady model fully and independently parameterized on the basis of high-fidelity CFD modelling, it is capable of predicting flapping-wing aerodynamic forces and power more accurately than the conventional blade element model (BEM) does. The improvement can be attributed to, for instance, taking into account the effects of the induced downwash and the wing tip vortex on the force generation and power consumption. Our model is validated by comparing the aerodynamics of a CFD model and the present quasi-steady model using the example case of a hovering hawkmoth. This demonstrates that the CIQSM outperforms the conventional BEM while remaining computationally cheap, and hence can be an effective tool for revealing the mechanisms of optimization and control of kinematics and morphology in flapping-wing flight for both bio-flyers and unmanned aerial systems

Applications of concurrent access patterns in web usage mining

This paper builds on the original data mining and modelling research which has proposed the discovery of novel structural relation patterns, applying the approach in web usage mining. The focus of attention here is on concurrent access patterns (CAP), where an overarching framework illuminates the methodology for web access patterns post-processing. Data pre-processing, pattern discovery and patterns analysis all proceed in association with access patterns mining, CAP mining and CAP modelling. Pruning and selection of access pat-terns takes place as necessary, allowing further CAP mining and modelling to be pursued in the search for the most interesting concurrent access patterns. It is shown that higher level CAPs can be modelled in a way which brings greater structure to bear on the process of knowledge discovery. Experiments with real-world datasets highlight the applicability of the approach in web navigation

Solar optical telescope primary mirror controller

The development of a technique to control the articulated primary mirror (APM) of the solar optical telescope (SOT) is discussed. Program results indicate that a single, all digital controller has sufficient capability to totally handle the computational requirements for control of the SOT APM

Quantum Manifestation of Elastic Constants in Nanostructures

Generally, there are two distinct effects in modifying the properties of low-dimensional nanostructures: surface effect (SS) due to increased surface-volume ratio and quantum size effect (QSE) due to quantum confinement in reduced dimension. The SS has been widely shown to affect the elastic constants and mechanical properties of nanostructures. Here, using Pb nanofilm and graphene nanoribbon as model systems, we demonstrate the QSE on the elastic constants of nanostructures by first-principles calculations. We show that generally QSE is dominant in affecting the elastic constants of metallic nanostructures while SS is more pronounced in semiconductor and insulator nanostructures. Our findings have broad implications in quantum aspects of nanomechanics