8,205 research outputs found
Potential-vorticity inversion and the wave-turbulence jigsaw: some recent clarifications
Two key ideas stand out as crucial to understanding atmosphere-ocean dynamics, and the dynamics of other planets including the gas giants. The first key idea is the invertibility principle for potential vorticity (PV). Without it, one can hardly give a coherent account of even so important and elementary a process as Rossby-wave propagation, going beyond the simplest textbook cases. Still less can one fully understand nonlinear processes like the self-sharpening or narrowing of jets – the once-mysterious "negative viscosity" phenomenon. The second key idea, also crucial to understanding jets, might be summarized in the phrase "there is no such thing as turbulence without waves", meaning Rossby waves especially. Without this idea one cannot begin to make sense of, for instance, momentum budgets and eddy momentum transports in complex large-scale flows. Like the invertibility principle the idea has long been recognized, or at least adumbrated. However, it is worth articulating explicitly if only because it can be forgotten when, in the usual way, we speak of "turbulence" and "turbulence theory" as if they were autonomous concepts. In many cases of interest, such as the well-studied terrestrial stratosphere, reality is more accurately described as a highly inhomogeneous "wave-turbulence jigsaw puzzle" in which wavelike and turbulent regions fit together and crucially affect each other's evolution. This modifies, for instance, formulae for the Rhines scale interpreted as indicating the comparable importance of wavelike and turbulent dynamics. Also, weakly inhomogeneous turbulence theory is altogether inapplicable. For instance there is no scale separation. Eddy scales are not much smaller than the sizes of the individual turbulent regions in the jigsaw. Here I review some recent progress in clarifying these ideas and their implications
Fluorine gas as a cleaning agent for Apollo bulk-sample containers
A technique has been developed for cleaning Apollo bulk sample containers using fluorine gas as the cleaning agent
Confinement of the Sun's interior magnetic field: some exact boundary-layer solutions
High-latitude laminar confinement of the Sun's interior magnetic field is
shown to be possible, as originally proposed by Gough and McIntyre (1998) but
contrary to a recent claim by Brun and Zahn (A&A 2006). Mean downwelling as
weak as 2x10^-6cm/s -- gyroscopically pumped by turbulent stresses in the
overlying convection zone and/or tachocline -- can hold the field in
advective-diffusive balance within a confinement layer of thickness scale ~
1.5Mm ~ 0.002 x (solar radius) while transmitting a retrograde torque to the
Ferraro-constrained interior. The confinement layer sits at the base of the
high-latitude tachocline, near the top of the radiative envelope and just above
the `tachopause' marking the top of the helium settling layer. A family of
exact, laminar, frictionless, axisymmetric confinement-layer solutions is
obtained for uniform downwelling in the limit of strong rotation and
stratification. A scale analysis shows that the flow is dynamically stable and
the assumption of laminar flow realistic. The solution remains valid for
downwelling values of the order of 10^-5cm/s but not much larger. This suggests
that the confinement layer may be unable to accept a much larger mass
throughput. Such a restriction would imply an upper limit on possible internal
field strengths, perhaps of the order of hundreds of gauss, and would have
implications also for ventilation and lithium burning.
The solutions have interesting chirality properties not mentioned in the
paper owing to space restrictions, but described at
http://www.atmos-dynamics.damtp.cam.ac.uk/people/mem/papers/SQBO/solarfigure.htmlComment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in conference proceedings: Unsolved
Problems in Stellar Physic
A Laser System for the Spectroscopy of Highly-Charged Bismuth Ions
We present and characterize a laser system for the spectroscopy on
highly-charged ^209Bi^82+ ions at a wavelength of 243.87 nm. For absolute
frequency stabilization, the laser system is locked to a near-infra-red laser
stabilized to a rubidium transition line using a transfer cavity based locking
scheme. Tuning of the output frequency with high precision is achieved via a
tunable rf offset lock. A sample-and-hold technique gives an extended tuning
range of several THz in the UV. This scheme is universally applicable to the
stabilization of laser systems at wavelengths not directly accessible to atomic
or molecular resonances. We determine the frequency accuracy of the laser
system using Doppler-free absorption spectroscopy of Te_2 vapour at 488 nm.
Scaled to the target wavelength of 244 nm, we achieve a frequency uncertainty
of \sigma_{244nm} = 6.14 MHz (one standard deviation) over six days of
operation.Comment: Contribution to the special issue on "Trapped Ions" in "Applied
Physics B
The Interaction between the ISM and Star Formation in the Dwarf Starburst Galaxy NGC 4214
We present the first interferometric study of the molecular gas in the
metal-poor dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4214. Our map of the 12CO(1-0) emission,
obtained at the OVRO millimeter array, reveals an unexpected structural wealth.
We detected three regions of molecular emission in the north-west (NW),
south-east (SE) and centre of NGC 4214 which are in very different and distinct
evolutionary stages (total molecular mass: 5.1 x 10^6 M_sun). These differences
are apparent most dramatically when the CO morphologies are compared to optical
ground based and HST imaging: massive star formation has not started yet in the
NW region; the well-known starburst in the centre is the most evolved and star
formation in the SE complex started more recently. We derive a star formation
efficiency of 8% for the SE complex. Using high--resolution VLA observations of
neutral hydrogen HI and our CO data we generated a total gas column density map
for NGC 4214 (HI + H_2). No clear correlation is seen between the peaks of HI,
CO and the sites of ongoing star formation. This emphasizes the irregular
nature of dwarf galaxies. The HI and CO velocities agree well, so do the
H-alpha velocities. In total, we cataloged 14 molecular clumps in NGC 4214. Our
results from a virial mass analysis are compatible with a Galactic CO-to-H_2
conversion factor for NGC 4214 (lower than what is usually found in metal-poor
dwarf galaxies).Comment: accepted for publication in the AJ (February 2001), full ps file at:
ftp://ftp.astro.caltech.edu/users/fw/ngc4214/walter_prep.p
Polarized Neutron Laue Diffraction on a Crystal Containing Dynamically Polarized Proton Spins
We report on a polarized-neutron Laue diffraction experiment on a single
crystal of neodynium doped lanthanum magnesium nitrate hydrate containing
polarized proton spins. By using dynamic nuclear polarization to polarize the
proton spins, we demonstrate that the intensities of the Bragg peaks can be
enhanced or diminished significantly, whilst the incoherent background, due to
proton spin disorder, is reduced. It follows that the method offers unique
possibilities to tune continuously the contrast of the Bragg reflections and
thereby represents a new tool for increasing substantially the signal-to-noise
ratio in neutron diffraction patterns of hydrogenous matter.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Long-range ferromagnetism of Mn12 acetate single-molecule magnets under a transverse magnetic field
We use neutron diffraction to probe the magnetization components of a crystal
of Mn12 single-molecule magnets. Each of these molecules behaves, at low
temperatures, as a nanomagnet with spin S = 10 and strong anisotropy along the
crystallographic c axis. Application of a magnetic field perpendicular to c
induces quantum tunneling between opposite spin orientations, enabling the
spins to attain thermal equilibrium. Below approximately 0.9 K, intermolecular
interactions turn this equilibrium state into a ferromagnetically ordered
phase. However, long range ferromagnetic correlations nearly disappear for
fields larger 5.5 T, possibly suggesting the existence of a quantum critical
point.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Acceptability of the female condom in different groups of women in South Africa - A multicentred study to inform the national female condom introductory strategy
Objectives. To assess the acceptability of the female condom to different groups of women and their partners in South Africa. Design. Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Setting. Multicentre study conducted in five sites. Subjects. The study recruited 678 women from five centres-to an acceptability trial of the female condom. Acceptability and successful use varied between the centres. Outcome measures. Factors affecting successful use and willingness and intention to use the method again. Results. In total, 209 women used the condom at least once. Discontinuation rates were high, with partner reluctance to try the method as the main reason given for discontinuation at all sites. Women who had previous experience with the male condom or who received a more intensive training session generally found the device easier to use. The main issues concerning women were over-lubrication (27%) and concern that the device was too large (28%). The majority of women said that they would be interested in using the method again (86%) and would recommend it to friends (95%). Conclusions. Overcoming partner opposition is an important issue to address when introducing the method. The study was used to address the national introductory strategy of the female condom, which began in 1998
VII Zw 403: H I structure in a blue compact dwarf galaxy
‘In these times, during the rise in the popularity of institutional repositories, the Society does not forbid authors from depositing their work in such repositories. However, the AAS regards the deposit of scholarly work in such repositories to be a decision of the individual scholar, as long as the individual's actions respect the diligence of the journals and their reviewers.’ Original article can be found at : http://iopscience.iop.org/ Copyright American Astronomical SocietyWe present optical (UBVJ), ultraviolet (FUV, NUV), and high-resolution atomic hydrogen (H I) observations of the nearby blue compact dwarf (BCD), VII Zw 403. We find that VII Zw 403 has a relatively high H I mass-to-light ratio for a BCD. The rotation velocity is nominally 10-15 km s(-1), but rises to similar to 20 km s(-1) after correction for the similar to 8-10 km s(-1) random motions present in the gas. The velocity field is complex, including a variation in the position angle of the major axis going from the northeast to the southwest parts of the galaxy. Our high-resolution Hi maps reveal structure in the central gas, including a large, low-density Hi depression or hole between the southern and northern halves of the galaxy, coincident with an unresolved X-ray source. Although interactions have been proposed as the triggering mechanism for the vigorous star formation occurring in BCDs, VII Zw 403 does not seem to have been tidally triggered by an external interaction, as we have found no nearby possible perturbers. It also does not appear to fall in the set of galaxies that exhibit a strong central mass density concentration, as its optical scale length is large in comparison to similar systems. However, there are some features that are compatible with an accretion event: optical/Hi axis misalignment, a change in position angle of the kinematic axis, and a complex velocity field.Peer reviewe
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