Foam Micromechanics

Foam evokes many different images: waves breaking at the seashore, the head on a pint of Guinness, an elegant dessert, shaving, the comfortable cushion on which you may be seated... From the mundane to the high tech, foams, emulsions, and cellular solids encompass a broad range of materials and applications. Soap suds, mayonnaise, and foamed polymers provide practical motivation and only hint at the variety of materials at issue. Typical of mukiphase materiaIs, the rheoIogy or mechanical behavior of foams is more complicated than that of the constituent phases alone, which may be gas, liquid, or solid. For example, a soap froth exhibits a static shear modulus-a hallmark of an elastic solid-even though it is composed primarily of two Newtonian fluids (water and air), which have no shear modulus. This apparent paradox is easily resolved. Soap froth contains a small amount of surfactant that stabilizes the delicate network of thin liq- uid films against rupture. The soap-film network deforms in response to a macroscopic strain; this increases interracial area and the corresponding sur- face energy, and provides the strain energy of classical elasticity theory [1]. This physical mechanism is easily imagined but very challenging to quantify for a realistic three-dimensional soap froth in view of its complex geome- try. Foam micromechanics addresses the connection between constituent properties, cell-level structure, and macroscopic mechanical behavior. This article is a survey of micromechanics applied to gas-liquid foams, liquid-liquid emulsions, and cellular solids. We will focus on static response where the foam deformation is very slow and rate-dependent phenomena such as viscous flow can be neglected. This includes nonlinear elasticity when deformations are large but reversible. We will also discuss elastic- plastic behavior, which involves yield phenomena. Foam structures based on polyhedra packed to fill space provide a unify- ing geometrical theme. Because a two-dimensional situation is always easier to visualize and usually easier to analyze, the roots of foam micromechanics lie in the plane packed with polygons. There are striking similarities as well as obvious differences between 2D and 3D

First cosmology results using type Ia supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: constraints on cosmological parameters

We present the first cosmological parameter constraints using measurements of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN). The analysis uses a subsample of 207 spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia from the first three years of DES-SN, combined with a low-redshift sample of 122 SNe from the literature. Our "DES-SN3YR" result from these 329 SNe Ia is based on a series of companion analyses and improvements covering SN Ia discovery, spectroscopic selection, photometry, calibration, distance bias corrections, and evaluation of systematic uncertainties. For a flat LCDM model we find a matter density Omega_m = 0.331 +_ 0.038. For a flat wCDM model, and combining our SN Ia constraints with those from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), we find a dark energy equation of state w = -0.978 +_ 0.059, and Omega_m = 0.321 +_ 0.018. For a flat w0waCDM model, and combining probes from SN Ia, CMB and baryon acoustic oscillations, we find w0 = -0.885 +_ 0.114 and wa = -0.387 +_ 0.430. These results are in agreement with a cosmological constant and with previous constraints using SNe Ia (Pantheon, JLA)

The electromagnetic counterpart of the binary neutron star merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. I. Discovery of the optical counterpart using the Dark Energy Camera

We present the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) discovery of the optical counterpart of the first binary neutron star merger detected through gravitational wave emission, GW170817. Our observations commenced 10.5 hours post-merger, as soon as the localization region became accessible from Chile. We imaged 70 deg2 in the i and z bands, covering 93% of the initial integrated localization probability, to a depth necessary to identify likely optical counterparts (e.g., a kilonova). At 11.4 hours post-merger we detected a bright optical transient located 10:600 from the nucleus of NGC4993 at redshift z = 0:0098, consistent (for H0 = 70 km s-1 Mpc-1) with the distance of 40±8 Mpc reported by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration (LVC). At detection the transient had magnitudes i=17.3 and z=17.4, and thus an absolute magnitude of Mi = -15.7, in the luminosity range expected for a kilonova. We identified 1,500 potential transient candidates. Applying simple selection criteria aimed at rejecting background events such as supernovae, we find the transient associated with NGC4993 as the only remaining plausible counterpart, and reject chance coincidence at the 99.5% confidence level. We therefore conclude that the optical counterpart we have identified near NGC4993 is associated with GW170817. This discovery ushers in the era of multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves, and demonstrates the power of DECam to identify the optical counterparts of gravitational-wave sources

Enhanced building management system with gas leak detection using X10 PLC

An enhanced building management system that utilizes as leak detection inside condominium units as well as a graphic user interface to better understand room status is proposed. The building management system creates a quasi-automated lights and outlets of condominium units to create an energy savings for the owners using light, motion, and gas sensors. Graphic user interface was created using SQL database and Wxpython to store status and readings of sensors. This study provided a way to use existing X10 codes with some modification to include gas detection and motion sensing. An X-10 PLC modem is utilized to interface each module to the power line. The modules comprise the motion detector module, the light detection module, light dimmer module, the outlet module, the gas detection module

Update on the Sgr A*/G2 Collison from Chandra and VLA

Item does not contain fulltextHigh Energy Astrophysics Division, 14th Meeting Chicago, Illinois, 17-21 August 201