Measurement of low turbulence levels with a thermoanemometer

The trend for decreasing the drag of aircraft is retention of laminar flow in the boundary layer over a large portion of the surface. The laminar boundary layer was studied in a low turbulence wind tunnel for low subsonic velocities. The method used and results of measurements of very low levels of turbulence are presented. Measurements were performed by a constant-resistance thermoanemometer

Surfaces containing a family of plane curves not forming a fibration

We complete the classification of smooth surfaces swept out by a 1-dimensional family of plane curves that do not form a fibration. As a consequence, we characterize manifolds swept out by a 1-dimensional family of hypersurfaces that do not form a fibration.Comment: Author's post-print, final version published online in Collect. Mat

Numerical Simulations of Dynamos Generated in Spherical Couette Flows

We numerically investigate the efficiency of a spherical Couette flow at generating a self-sustained magnetic field. No dynamo action occurs for axisymmetric flow while we always found a dynamo when non-axisymmetric hydrodynamical instabilities are excited. Without rotation of the outer sphere, typical critical magnetic Reynolds numbers $Rm_c$ are of the order of a few thousands. They increase as the mechanical forcing imposed by the inner core on the flow increases (Reynolds number $Re$). Namely, no dynamo is found if the magnetic Prandtl number $Pm=Rm/Re$ is less than a critical value $Pm_c\sim 1$. Oscillating quadrupolar dynamos are present in the vicinity of the dynamo onset. Saturated magnetic fields obtained in supercritical regimes (either $Re>2 Re_c$ or $Pm>2Pm_c$) correspond to the equipartition between magnetic and kinetic energies. A global rotation of the system (Ekman numbers $E=10^{-3}, 10^{-4}$) yields to a slight decrease (factor 2) of the critical magnetic Prandtl number, but we find a peculiar regime where dynamo action may be obtained for relatively low magnetic Reynolds numbers ($Rm_c\sim 300$). In this dynamical regime (Rossby number $Ro\sim -1$, spheres in opposite direction) at a moderate Ekman number ($E=10^{-3}$), a enhanced shear layer around the inner core might explain the decrease of the dynamo threshold. For lower $E$ ($E=10^{-4}$) this internal shear layer becomes unstable, leading to small scales fluctuations, and the favorable dynamo regime is lost. We also model the effect of ferromagnetic boundary conditions. Their presence have only a small impact on the dynamo onset but clearly enhance the saturated magnetic field in the ferromagnetic parts. Implications for experimental studies are discussed

BORAZANs: Tunable Fluorophores Based on 2-(Pyrazolyl)aniline Chelates of Diphenylboron

The reaction between 2-pyrazolyl-4-X-anilines, H(pzAnX), (X = para-OMe (L1), Me (L2), H (L3), Cl (L4), CO2Et (L5), CF3 (L6), CN (L7)) and triphenylboron in boiling toluene affords the respective, highly emissive N,N‘-boron chelate complexes, BPh2(pzAnX) (X = para-OMe (1), Me (2), H (3), Cl (4), CO2Et (5), CF3 (6), CN (7)) in high yield. The structural, electrochemical, and photophysical properties of the new boron complexes can be fine-tuned by varying the electron-withdrawing or -donating power of the para-aniline substituent (delineated by the substituent\u27s Hammett parameter). Those complexes with electron-withdrawing para-aniline substituents such as CO2Et (5), CF3 (6), and CN (7) have more planar chelate rings, more ‘quinoidal\u27 disortion in the aniline rings, greater chemical stability, higher oxidation potentials, and more intense (φF = 0.81 for 7 in toluene), higher-energy (blue) fluorescent emission compared to those with electron-donating substituents. Thus, for 1 the oxidation potential is 0.53 V versus Ag/AgCl (compared to 1.12 V for 7), and the emission is tuned to the yellow-green but at an expense in terms of lower quantum yields (φF = 0.07 for 1 in toluene) and increased chemical reactivity. Density functional calculations (B3LYP/6-31G*) on PM3 energy-minimized structures of the ligands and boron complexes reproduced experimentally observed data and trends and provided further insight into the nature of the electronic transitions

Dipole Alignment in Rotating MHD Turbulence

We present numerical results from long-term CPU and GPU simulations of rotating, homogeneous, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, and discuss their connection to the spherically bounded case. We compare our numerical results with a statistical theory of geodynamo action that has evolved from the absolute equilibrium ensemble theory of ideal MHD turbulence, which is based on the ideal MHD invariants are energy, cross helicity and magnetic helicity. However, for rotating MHD turbulence, the cross helicity is no longer an exact invariant, although rms cross helicity becomes quasistationary during an ideal MHD simulation. This and the anisotropy imposed by rotation suggests an ansatz in which an effective, nonzero value of cross helicity is assigned to axisymmetric modes and zero cross helicity to non-axisymmetric modes. This hybrid statistics predicts a large-scale quasistationary magnetic field due to broken ergodicity , as well as dipole vector alignment with the rotation axis, both of which are observed numerically. We find that only a relatively small value of effective cross helicity leads to the prediction of a dipole moment vector that is closely aligned (less than 10 degrees) with the rotation axis. We also discuss the effect of initial conditions, dissipation and grid size on the numerical simulations and statistical theory

High-efficiency WSi superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for quantum state engineering in the near infrared

We report on high-efficiency superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors based on amorphous WSi and optimized at 1064 nm. At an operating temperature of 1.8 K, we demonstrated a 93% system detection efficiency at this wavelength with a dark noise of a few counts per second. Combined with cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion, this fiber-coupled detector enabled us to generate narrowband single photons with a heralding efficiency greater than 90% and a high spectral brightness of $0.6\times10^4$ photons/(s$\cdot$mW$\cdot$MHz). Beyond single-photon generation at large rate, such high-efficiency detectors open the path to efficient multiple-photon heralding and complex quantum state engineering

Layout of Graphs with Bounded Tree-Width

A \emph{queue layout} of a graph consists of a total order of the vertices, and a partition of the edges into \emph{queues}, such that no two edges in the same queue are nested. The minimum number of queues in a queue layout of a graph is its \emph{queue-number}. A \emph{three-dimensional (straight-line grid) drawing} of a graph represents the vertices by points in $\mathbb{Z}^3$ and the edges by non-crossing line-segments. This paper contributes three main results: (1) It is proved that the minimum volume of a certain type of three-dimensional drawing of a graph $G$ is closely related to the queue-number of $G$. In particular, if $G$ is an $n$-vertex member of a proper minor-closed family of graphs (such as a planar graph), then $G$ has a $O(1)\times O(1)\times O(n)$ drawing if and only if $G$ has O(1) queue-number. (2) It is proved that queue-number is bounded by tree-width, thus resolving an open problem due to Ganley and Heath (2001), and disproving a conjecture of Pemmaraju (1992). This result provides renewed hope for the positive resolution of a number of open problems in the theory of queue layouts. (3) It is proved that graphs of bounded tree-width have three-dimensional drawings with O(n) volume. This is the most general family of graphs known to admit three-dimensional drawings with O(n) volume. The proofs depend upon our results regarding \emph{track layouts} and \emph{tree-partitions} of graphs, which may be of independent interest.Comment: This is a revised version of a journal paper submitted in October 2002. This paper incorporates the following conference papers: (1) Dujmovic', Morin & Wood. Path-width and three-dimensional straight-line grid drawings of graphs (GD'02), LNCS 2528:42-53, Springer, 2002. (2) Wood. Queue layouts, tree-width, and three-dimensional graph drawing (FSTTCS'02), LNCS 2556:348--359, Springer, 2002. (3) Dujmovic' & Wood. Tree-partitions of $k$-trees with applications in graph layout (WG '03), LNCS 2880:205-217, 200