1,142 research outputs found
Seeding of the nematic-isotropic phase transition by an electric field
In this paper, we use a relatively simple continuum model to investigate the effects of dielectric inhomogeneity within confined liquid crystal cells. Specifically, we consider, in planar, cylindrical and spherical geometries, the stability of a nematic-isotropic interface subject to an applied voltage. Depending on the magnitude of this voltage, the temperature and the geometry of the cell, the nematic region may shrink until the material is completely isotropic within the cell, grow until the nematic phase cells the cell or, in certain geometries, coexist with the isotropic phase. For planar geometry, no coexistence is found, but we are able to give analytical expressions for the critical voltage for an electric-field-induced phase transition as well as the critical wetting layer thickness for arbitrary applied voltage. In cells with cylindrical and spherical geometries, however, stable nematic-isotropic coexistence is predicted, the thickness of the nematic region being controllable by alteration of the applied voltage.</p
ALMA CO J=6-5 observations of IRAS16293-2422: Shocks and entrainment
Observations of higher-excited transitions of abundant molecules such as CO
are important for determining where energy in the form of shocks is fed back
into the parental envelope of forming stars. The nearby prototypical and
protobinary low-mass hot core, IRAS16293-2422 (I16293) is ideal for such a
study. The source was targeted with ALMA for science verification purposes in
band 9, which includes CO J=6-5 (E_up/k_B ~ 116 K), at an unprecedented spatial
resolution (~0.2", 25 AU). I16293 itself is composed of two sources, A and B,
with a projected distance of 5". CO J=6-5 emission is detected throughout the
region, particularly in small, arcsecond-sized hotspots, where the outflow
interacts with the envelope. The observations only recover a fraction of the
emission in the line wings when compared to data from single-dish telescopes,
with a higher fraction of emission recovered at higher velocities. The very
high angular resolution of these new data reveal that a bow shock from source A
coincides, in the plane of the sky, with the position of source B. Source B, on
the other hand, does not show current outflow activity. In this region, outflow
entrainment takes place over large spatial scales, >~ 100 AU, and in small
discrete knots. This unique dataset shows that the combination of a
high-temperature tracer (e.g., CO J=6-5) and very high angular resolution
observations is crucial for interpreting the structure of the warm inner
environment of low-mass protostars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Can grey ravens fly? Beyond Frayling's categories
This paper analyses the effect of Christopher Frayling's (1993) categorisation of artistic research ‘research into art and design, research through art and design and research for art and design’ on the debate surrounding the efficacy of studio-based artistic research as being valid within the university. James Elkins (2009:128) describes this as ‘the incommensurability of studio art production and university life’. Through an exploration of the positive and negative responses to Frayling this paper seeks to explore the influence that these initial definitions have come to have on framing the scope of the debate. The paper presents a range of responses and analyses them and focuses especially on the alternative frameworks that have been suggested and examines why they have so far not created a coherent and uncontested frame-work for practice-led research in the art and design field especially in relation to fine art
The RMS Survey: Resolving kinematic distance ambiguities towards a sample of compact HII regions using HI absorption
We present high-resolution HI data obtained using the Australia Telescope
Compact Array to resolve the near/far distance ambiguities towards a sample of
compact HII regions from the Red MSX Source (RMS) survey. The high resolution
data are complemented with lower resolution archival HI data extracted from the
Southern and VLA Galactic Plane surveys. We resolve the distance ambiguity for
nearly all of the 105 sources where the continuum was strong enough to allow
analysis of the HI absorption line structure. This represents another step in
the determination of distances to the total RMS sample, which with over 1,000
massive young stellar objects and compact HII regions, is the largest and most
complete sample of its kind. The full sample will allow the distribution of
massive star formation in the Galaxy to be examined.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. This paper consists of 15 pages and contains 10
figures and 5 table
Classifying the embedded young stellar population in Perseus and Taurus & the LOMASS database
Context. The classification of young stellar objects (YSOs) is typically done
using the infrared spectral slope or bolometric temperature, but either can
result in contamination of samples. More accurate methods to determine the
evolutionary stage of YSOs will improve the reliability of statistics for the
embedded YSO population and provide more robust stage lifetimes. Aims. We aim
to separate the truly embedded YSOs from more evolved sources. Methods. Maps of
HCO+ J=4-3 and C18O J=3-2 were observed with HARP on the James Clerk Maxwell
Telescope (JCMT) for a sample of 56 candidate YSOs in Perseus and Taurus in
order to characterize emission from high (column) density gas. These are
supplemented with archival dust continuum maps observed with SCUBA on the JCMT
and Herschel PACS to compare the morphology of the gas and dust in the
protostellar envelopes. The spatial concentration of HCO+ J=4-3 and 850 micron
dust emission are used to classify the embedded nature of YSOs. Results.
Approximately 30% of Class 0+I sources in Perseus and Taurus are not Stage I,
but are likely to be more evolved Stage II pre-main sequence (PMS) stars with
disks. An additional 16% are confused sources with an uncertain evolutionary
stage. Conclusions. Separating classifications by cloud reveals that a high
percentage of the Class 0+I sources in the Perseus star forming region are
truly embedded Stage I sources (71%), while the Taurus cloud hosts a majority
of evolved PMS stars with disks (68%). The concentration factor method is
useful to correct misidentified embedded YSOs, yielding higher accuracy for YSO
population statistics and Stage timescales. Current estimates (0.54 Myr) may
overpredict the Stage I lifetime on the order of 30%, resulting in timescales
of 0.38 Myr for the embedded phase.Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures, 6 tables, Accepted to be published in A&
Numerical evaluation of pin-bearing strength for the design of bolted connections of pultruded FRP material
This paper presents finite-element predictions for the strength of a pultruded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) material subjected to pin-bearing loading with hole clearance. One of the distinct modes of failure in steel bolted connections is bearing. It is caused by the compression action from the shaft pressing into the laminate, and when there is no lateral restraint the mechanism observed at maximum load shows brooming for delamination failure. Each lamina in the glass fiber polyester matrix material is modeled as a homogeneous, anisotropic continuum and a relatively very thin resin layer is assumed to contain any delamination cracking between stacked layers. A cohesive zone model is implemented to predict the size and location of the initial delamination, as well as the load-carrying capacity in a pin-bearing specimen. Finite-element simulations (as virtual tests) are performed at the mesoscale level to validate the modeling methodology against experimental strength test results with delamination failure, and to show how pin-bearing strength varies with parameter changes. For an example of the knowledge to be gained for the design of bolted connections, the parameteric study in which the mat reinforcement is either continuous strand or triaxial (+45°/90°/−45°/chopped+45°/90°/−45°/chopped strand) shows the latter does not provide an increase in pin-bearing strength
The RMS Survey: Far-Infrared Photometry of Young Massive Stars
Context: The Red MSX Source (RMS) survey is a multi-wavelength campaign of
follow-up observations of a colour-selected sample of candidate massive young
stellar objects (MYSOs) in the galactic plane. This survey is returning the
largest well-selected sample of MYSOs to date, while identifying other dust
contaminant sources with similar mid-infrared colours including a large number
of new ultra-compact (UC)HII regions. Aims:To measure the far-infrared (IR)
flux, which lies near the peak of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of
MYSOs and UCHII regions, so that, together with distance information, the
luminosity of these sources can be obtained. Methods:Less than 50% of RMS
sources are associated with IRAS point sources with detections at 60 micron and
100 micron, though the vast majority are visible in Spitzer MIPSGAL or IRAS
Galaxy Atlas (IGA) images. However, standard aperture photometry is not
appropriate for these data due to crowding of sources and strong spatially
variable far-IR background emission in the galactic plane. A new technique
using a 2-dimensional fit to the background in an annulus around each source is
therefore used to obtain far-IR photometry for young RMS sources.
Results:Far-IR fluxes are obtained for a total of 1113 RMS candidates
identified as young sources. Of these 734 have flux measurements using IGA 60
micron and 100 micron images and 724 using MIPSGAL 70 micron images, with 345
having measurements in both data sets.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 2 Tables, accepted to A&A. A full version of
table 1 is available from the lead author or at the CDS upon publicatio
A cluster of outflows in the Vulpecula Rift
We present CO, CO and CO (J=32) observations of a new
cluster of outflows in the Vulpecula Rift with HARP-B on the JCMT. The mass
associated with the outflows, measured using the CO HARP-B observations
and assuming a distance to the region of 2.3 kpc, is 129 \msol{}, while the
mass associated with the dense gas from CO observations is 458 \msol{}
and the associated sub-millimeter core has a mass of 327 112 \msol{}
independently determined from Bolocam 1.1mm data. The outflow-to-core mass
ratio is therefore 0.4, making this region one of the most efficient
observed thus far with more than an order of magnitude more mass in the outflow
than would be expected based on previous results. The kinetic energy associated
with the flows, 94 ergs, is enough to drive the turbulence in
the local clump, and potentially unbind the local region altogether. The
detection of SiO (J=87) emission toward the outflows indicates that the flow
is still active, and not simply a fossil flow. We also model the SEDs of the
four YSOs associated with the molecular material, finding them all to be of mid
to early B spectral type. The energetic nature of the outflows and significant
reservoir of cold dust detected in the sub-mm suggest that these intermediate
mass YSOs will continue to accrete and become massive, rather than reach the
main sequence at their current mass.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures and 3 tables. Accepted to MNRAS. A
higher-resolution version of figure 1 will be included in the published
version and is available from the authors upon request. Updated with red and
blue wings swapped to match doppler shif
Finite element guidelines for simulation of fibre-tension dominated failures in composite materials validated by case studies
This paper presents a finite element modelling methodology to predict the initiation and damage progression in notched composite laminated plates subjected to increasing in-plane tension load. An important feature of the methodology is it does not rely on customized user-subroutines but solely on the analysis capabilities of the general purpose software Abaqus; thus ensuring that the numerical results can be universally reproduced. The methodology presented copes with intralaminar failure modes and uses the Hashin failure criterion to predict the onset of failure (cracking). To account for damage progression after crack initiation there is a fracture energy calculated for each of four failure modes. Four open-hole laminated plates taken from the literature are used for benchmark examples. The predicted ultimate strength based on the analytically-obtained stress-displacement curve was found to be within 10% of the experimental observations. To study the influence of the interaction of having two or three holes across the mid-plane of a pultruded open-hole tension specimen, a parametric study was carried out. The paper ends giving guidelines for the generalized modelling methodology using Abaqus without user-subroutines
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