333 research outputs found
Design, commissioning and performance of a device to vary the turbulence in a recirculating flume
Ambient turbulent flow structures are one of the key drivers that will determine the rate of wake recovery downstream of tidal turbines. For second and third generation arrays or farms such a parameter is critical for the determination of inter-device spacing and the optimisation of energy extraction per unit surface area. At present offshore flow characterisation is dominated by seabed or surface-mounted diverging-beam acoustic Doppler profilers that whilst having a good spatial capture cannot characterise turbulent flow structures to the same accuracy as single point converging laboratory-scale velocimeters. So a paradox presently exists: We can measure the (mean) flow characteristics at real tidal energy sites but lack the ability to accuracy ascertain high-frequency flow characteristic at discrete spatial locations. This is possible at laboratory-scale with convergent-beam devices but as we do not know the real site conditions replication at small-scale can only be approximated. To date there has been few laboratory studies where the ambient flow turbulence has been varied. The standard method is to generate turbulence from a static structure such as a grid. Here we have developed an articulated rig that has the ability to oscillate cylindrical members along two axes in the flow upstream of tidal turbine models. Initial results presented in this paper show the effect upon the ambient flow that the turbulence-generating rig can impose and the effects upon wake dissipation for varying levels of turbulent length and time scales. Also the formation and insistence of turbulent structures shed from the device are reported. As expected increasing ambient turbulence intensity serves to dissipate the turbine wake more rapidly and whilst we cannot directly relate these laboratory flow characteristics to full-scale tidal energy sites at present it is hoped that offshore measurement technology and that of laboratory replication can converge so that device performance prediction can be performed at smaller-scale and at a corresponding lower cost to the technology
The downstream wake response of marine current energy converters operating in shallow tidal flows
This paper presents findings from an experimental study investigating the downstream wake response from marine current energy convertors operating in various degrees of vertical flow constraint. The paper investigates deep vertically unconstrained sites, mid-depth sites and there is a particular emphasis on shallow tidal stream sites. Shallow tidal resources could be utilised for the deployment of first generation farms. The nature of the downstream wake flow will be a critical factor when determining the farm layout and the wake length is heavily influenced by the flow depth or ratio of rotor diameter to flow depth. A porous actuator disk is used to model the marine current energy convertor and an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter is used to map the downstream wake. Linear scaling of length ratios suggests mid depth sites of 30-50m will produce the shortest wake lengths and for deeper and shallower sites the wake length increases. It is hoped that these relationships between vertical flow constraint and wake length will help with the layout design of tidal stream farm
New twist field couplings from the partition function for multiply wrapped D-branes
We consider toroidal compactifications of bosonic string theory with
particular regard to the phases (cocycles) necessary for a consistent
definition of the vertex operators, the boundary states and the T-duality
rules. We use these ingredients to compute the planar multi-loop partition
function describing the interaction among magnetized or intersecting D-branes,
also in presence of open string moduli. It turns out that unitarity in the open
string channel crucially depends on the presence of the cocycles. We then focus
on the 2-loop case and study the degeneration limit where this partition
function is directly related to the tree-level 3-point correlators between
twist fields. These correlators represent the main ingredient in the
computation of Yukawa couplings and other terms in the effective action for
D-brane phenomenological models. By factorizing the 2-loop partition function
we are able to compute the 3-point couplings for abelian twist fields on
generic non-factorized tori, thus generalizing previous expressions valid for
the 2-torus.Comment: 36 pages, 1 figure; v2: typos corrected, proof in the Appendix
improve
Counter-propagating entangled photons from a waveguide with periodic nonlinearity
The conditions required for spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a
waveguide with periodic nonlinearity in the presence of an unguided pump field
are established. Control of the periodic nonlinearity and the physical
properties of the waveguide permits the quasi-phase matching equations that
describe counter-propagating guided signal and idler beams to be satisfied. We
compare the tuning curves and spectral properties of such counter-propagating
beams to those for co-propagating beams under typical experimental conditions.
We find that the counter-propagating beams exhibit narrow bandwidth permitting
the generation of quantum states that possess discrete-frequency entanglement.
Such states may be useful for experiments in quantum optics and technologies
that benefit from frequency entanglement.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
Maladaptive avoidance patterns in Parkinson's disease are exacerbated by symptoms of depression
Available online 11 January 2020Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Given that dopamine is critically involved in learning and other cognitive processes, such as working memory, dopamine loss in PD has been linked both to learning abnormalities and to cognitive dysfunction more generally in the disease. It is unclear, however, whether avoidance behavior is impacted in PD. This is significant, as this type of instrumental behavior plays an important role in both decision-making and emotional (dys) function. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to examine avoidance learning and operant extinction in PD using a computer-based task. On this task, participants control a spaceship and attempt to shoot an enemy spaceship to gain points. They also learn to hide in safe areas to protect from (i.e., avoid) aversive events (on-screen explosions and point loss). The results showed that patients with PD (N = 25) acquired an avoidance response during aversive periods to the same extent as healthy age-matched controls (N = 19); however, patients demonstrated greater hiding during safe periods not associated with aversive events, which could represent maladaptive generalization of the avoidance response. Furthermore, this impairment was more pronounced during the extinction phase, and in patients who reported higher levels of depression. These results demonstrate for the first time that PD is associated with maladaptive avoidance patterns, which could possibly contribute to the emergence of depression in the disease.Jony Sheynin, Irina Baetu, Lyndsey E. Collins-Praino, Catherine E. Myers, Robyn Winwood-Smith, Ahmed A. Moustaf
A Diffractive Study of Parametric Process in Nonlinear Photonic Crystals
We report a general description of quasi-phase-matched parametric process in
nonlinear photonic crystals (NLPC) by extending the conventional X-ray
diffraction theory in solids. Under the virtual wave approximation,
phase-matching resonance is equivalent to the diffraction of the scattered
virtual wave. Hence a modified NLPC Ewald construction can be built up, which
illustrates the nature of the accident for the diffraction of the virtual wave
in NLPC and further reveals the complete set of diffractions of the virtual
wave for both of the air-dielectric and dielectric-dielectric contacts. We show
the two basic linear sequences, the anti-stacking and para-stacking linear
sequences, in one-dimension (1D) NLPC and present a general rule for multiple
phase-matching resonances in 1D NLPC. The parameters affecting the NLPC
structure factor are investigated, which indicate that not only the Ewald
construction but also the relative NLPC atom size together determine whether a
diffraction of the virtual wave can occur in 2D NLPC. The results also show
that 1D NLPC is a better choice than 2D NLPC for a single parametric process
Generalized harmonic formulation in spherical symmetry
In this pedagogically structured article, we describe a generalized harmonic
formulation of the Einstein equations in spherical symmetry which is regular at
the origin. The generalized harmonic approach has attracted significant
attention in numerical relativity over the past few years, especially as
applied to the problem of binary inspiral and merger. A key issue when using
the technique is the choice of the gauge source functions, and recent work has
provided several prescriptions for gauge drivers designed to evolve these
functions in a controlled way. We numerically investigate the parameter spaces
of some of these drivers in the context of fully non-linear collapse of a real,
massless scalar field, and determine nearly optimal parameter settings for
specific situations. Surprisingly, we find that many of the drivers that
perform well in 3+1 calculations that use Cartesian coordinates, are
considerably less effective in spherical symmetry, where some of them are, in
fact, unstable.Comment: 47 pages, 15 figures. v2: Minor corrections, including 2 added
references; journal version
Higher Dimensional Recombination of Intersecting D-branes
We study recombinations of D-brane systems intersecting at more than one
angle using super Yang-Mills theory. We find the condensation of an
off-diagonal tachyon mode relates to the recombination, as was clarified for
branes at one angle in hep-th/0303204. For branes at two angles, after the
tachyon mode between two D2-branes condensed, D2-brane charge is distributed in
the bulk near the intersection point. We also find that, when two intersection
angles are equal, the off-diagonal lowest mode is massless, and a new stable
non-abelian configuration, which is supersymmetric up to a quadratic order in
the fluctuations, is obtained by the deformation by this mode.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style. v3:references added, minor
corrections, English improve
Solid-state laser system for laser cooling of Sodium
We demonstrate a frequency-stabilized, all-solid laser source at 589 nm with
up to 800 mW output power. The laser relies on sum-frequency generation from
two laser sources at 1064 nm and 1319 nm through a PPKTP crystal in a
doubly-resonant cavity. We obtain conversion efficiency as high as 2 W/W^2
after optimization of the cavity parameters. The output wavelength is tunable
over 60 GHz, which is sufficient to lock on the Sodium D2 line. The robustness,
beam quality, spectral narrowness and tunability of our source make it an
alternative to dye lasers for atomic physics experiments with Sodium atoms
A 750 mW, continuous-wave, solid-state laser source at 313 nm for cooling and manipulating trapped 9Be+ ions
We present a solid-state laser system that generates 750 mW of
continuous-wave single-frequency output at 313 nm. Sum-frequency generation
with fiber lasers at 1550 nm and 1051 nm produces up to 2 W at 626 nm. This
visible light is then converted to UV by cavity-enhanced second-harmonic
generation. The laser output can be tuned over a 495 GHz range, which includes
the 9Be+ laser cooling and repumping transitions. This is the first report of a
narrow-linewidth laser system with sufficient power to perform fault-tolerant
quantum-gate operations with trapped 9Be+ ions by use of stimulated Raman
transitions.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
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