The pear-shaped fate of an ice melting front

A fluid-structure interaction problem with the melting of water around a heated horizontal circular cylinder is analysed with numerical simulations. Dynamic meshing was used for evolving the flow domain in time as the melting front extended radially outward from the cylinder; a node shuffle algorithm was used to retain mesh quality across the significant mesh deformation. We simulated one case above the density inversion point of water and one case below, yielding pear-shaped melting fronts due to thermal plumes either rising or falling from the cylinder, respectively. Results were compared with previous experimental studies and the melting front profiles matched reasonably well and melting rates were in agreement. We confirm that natural convection plays a significant role in the transport of energy as the melt zone increases, and needs to be considered for accurately modelling phase change under these conditions.Comment: Accepted for the 12th International Conference on CFD in Oil & Gas, Metallurgical and Process Industries. SINTEF, Trondheim, Norway. May 30th - June 1st, 201

The Boltzmann Equation in Classical Yang-Mills Theory

We give a detailed derivation of the Boltzmann equation, and in particular its collision integral, in classical field theory. We first carry this out in a scalar theory with both cubic and quartic interactions and subsequently in a Yang-Mills theory. Our method is not relied on a doubling of the fields, rather it is based on a diagrammatic approach representing the classical solution to the problem.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures; v2: typos corrected, reference added, published in Eur. Phys. J.

Relative entropy minimizing noisy non-linear neural network to approximate stochastic processes

A method is provided for designing and training noise-driven recurrent neural networks as models of stochastic processes. The method unifies and generalizes two known separate modeling approaches, Echo State Networks (ESN) and Linear Inverse Modeling (LIM), under the common principle of relative entropy minimization. The power of the new method is demonstrated on a stochastic approximation of the El Nino phenomenon studied in climate research

A Connection between Submillimeter Continuum Flux and Separation in Young Binaries

We have made sensitive 800-micron continuum observations of low-mass, pre-main sequence (PMS) binary stars with projected separations less than 25 AU in Taurus-Auriga to study disks in the young binary environment. We did not detect any of the observed binaries, with typical 3-sigma upper limits of about 30 mJy. Combining our observations with previous 1300-micron observations of PMS Taurus binaries by Beckwith et al. (1990) and others, we find that the submillimeter fluxes from binaries with projected separations between 1 AU and 50 AU are significantly lower than fluxes from binaries with projected separations > 50 AU. The submillimeter fluxes from the wider binaries are consistent with those of PMS single stars. This may indicate lower disk surface densities and masses in the close binaries. Alternatively, dynamical clearing of gaps by close binaries is marginally sufficient to lower their submillimeter fluxes to the observed levels, even without reduction of surface densities elsewhere in the disks.Comment: 12 pages, uuencoded compressed postscript with figures; Wisconsin Astrophysics 526; to appear in ApJ Letter

Reconciling the ionic and covalent pictures in rare-earth nickelates

The properties of AMO3 perovskite oxides, where M is a 3d transition metal, depend strongly on the level of covalency between the metal d and oxygen p orbitals. With their complex spin orders and metal-insulator transition, rare-earth nickelates verge between dominantly ionic and covalent characters. Accordingly, the nature of their ground state is highly debated. Here, we reconcile the ionic and covalent visions of the insulating state of nickelates. Through first-principles calculations, we show that it is reminiscent of the ionic charge disproportionation picture (with strictly low-spin 4+ and high-spin 2+ Ni sites) while exhibiting strong covalence effects with oxygen electrons shifted toward the depleted Ni cations, mimicking a configuration with identical Ni sites. Our results further hint at strategies to control electronic and magnetic phases of transition metal oxide perovskites

Nature of Radiation-Induced Defects in Quartz

Although quartz ($\rm \alpha$-form) is a mineral used in numerous applications wherein radiation exposure is an issue, the nature of the atomistic defects formed during radiation-induced damage have not been fully clarified. Especially, the extent of oxygen vacancy formation is still debated, which is an issue of primary importance as optical techniques based on charged oxygen vacancies have been utilized to assess the level of radiation damage in quartz. In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are applied to study the effects of ballistic impacts on the atomic network of quartz. We show that the defects that are formed mainly consist of over-coordinated Si and O, as well as Si--O connectivity defects, e.g., small Si--O rings and edge-sharing Si tetrahedra. Oxygen vacancies, on the contrary, are found in relatively low abundance, suggesting that characterizations based on $E^{\prime}$ centers do not adequately capture radiation-induced structural damage in quartz. Finally, we evaluate the dependence on the incident energy, of the amount of each type of the point defects formed, and quantify unambiguously the threshold displacement energies for both O and Si atoms. These results provide a comprehensive basis to assess the nature and extent of radiation damage in quartz