1,226 research outputs found
Correlation length of hydrophobic polyelectrolyte solutions
The combination of two techniques (Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Atomic
Force Microscopy) has allowed us to measure in reciprocal and real space the
correlation length of salt-free aqueous solutions of highly charged
hydrophobic polyelectrolyte as a function of the polymer concentration ,
charge fraction and chain length . Contrary to the classical behaviour
of hydrophilic polyelectrolytes in the strong coupling limit, is strongly
dependent on . In particular a continuous transition has been observed from
to when decreased from 100% to
35%. We interpret this unusual behaviour as the consequence of the two features
characterising the hydrophobic polyelectrolytes: the pearl necklace
conformation of the chains and the anomalously strong reduction of the
effective charge fraction.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter
Nucleosynthesis of Zinc and Iron-Peak Elements in Pop III Type II Supernovae : Comparison with abundances of Very Metal-Poor Halo Stars
We calculate nucleosynthesis in core-collapse explosions of massive Pop III
stars, and compare the results with abundances of metal-poor halo stars to
constrain the parameters of Pop III supernovae. We focus on iron-peak elements
and, in particular, we try to reproduce the large [Zn/Fe] observed in extremely
metal-poor stars. The interesting trends of the observed ratios [Zn, Co, Mn,
Cr, V/Fe] can be related to the variation of the relative mass of the complete
and incomplete Si-burning regions in supernova ejecta. We find that [Zn/Fe] is
larger for deeper mass-cuts, smaller neutron excess, and larger explosion
energies. The large [Zn/Fe] and [O/Fe] observed in the very metal-poor halo
stars suggest deep mixing of complete Si-burning material and a significant
amount of fall-back in Type II supernovae. Furthermore, large explosion
energies (E_51 >~ 2 for M ~ 13 Msun and E_51 >~ 20 for M >~ 20 Msun) are
required to reproduce [Zn/Fe] ~ 0.5. The observed trends of the abundance
ratios among the iron-peak elements are better explained with this high energy
(``Hypernova'') models rather than the simple ``deep'' mass-cut effect, because
the overabundance of Ni can be avoided in the hypernova models. We also present
the yields of pair-instability supernova explosions of M = 130 - 300 Msun
stars, and discuss that the abundance features of very metal-poor stars cannot
be explained by pair-instability supernovae.Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures, 18 tables. To appear in the Astrophysical
Journal 2002, 565. Table 18 of yields of Pop III Pair-Instability Supernovae
is replaced with a new on
The Detectability of Pair-Production Supernovae at z < 6
Nonrotating, zero metallicity stars with initial masses 140 < M < 260 solar
masses are expected to end their lives as pair-production supernovae (PPSNe),
in which an electron-positron pair-production instability triggers explosive
nuclear burning. Interest in such stars has been rekindled by recent
theoretical studies that suggest primordial molecular clouds preferentially
form stars with these masses. Since metal enrichment is a local process, the
resulting PPSNe could occur over a broad range of redshifts, in pockets of
metal-free gas. Using the implicit hydrodynamics code KEPLER, we have
calculated a set of PPSN light curves that addresses the theoretical
uncertainties and allows us to assess observational strategies for finding
these objects at intermediate redshifts. The peak luminosities of typical PPSNe
are only slightly greater than those of Type Ia, but they remain bright much
longer (~ 1 year) and have hydrogen lines. Ongoing supernova searches may soon
be able to limit the contribution of these very massive stars to < 1% of the
total star formation rate density out to z=2 which already provides useful
constraints for theoretical models. The planned Joint Dark Energy Mission
satellite will be able to extend these limits out to z=6.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, ApJ in press; slightly revised version, a few
typos correcte
Last Layer Marginal Likelihood for Invariance Learning
Data augmentation is often used to incorporate inductive biases into models.
Traditionally, these are hand-crafted and tuned with cross validation. The
Bayesian paradigm for model selection provides a path towards end-to-end
learning of invariances using only the training data, by optimising the
marginal likelihood. We work towards bringing this approach to neural networks
by using an architecture with a Gaussian process in the last layer, a model for
which the marginal likelihood can be computed. Experimentally, we improve
performance by learning appropriate invariances in standard benchmarks, the low
data regime and in a medical imaging task. Optimisation challenges for
invariant Deep Kernel Gaussian processes are identified, and a systematic
analysis is presented to arrive at a robust training scheme. We introduce a new
lower bound to the marginal likelihood, which allows us to perform inference
for a larger class of likelihood functions than before, thereby overcoming some
of the training challenges that existed with previous approaches
Mechanism of Vanadium Leaching during Surface Weathering of Basic Oxygen Furnace Steel Slag Blocks: A Microfocus X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Electron Microscopy Study
© 2017 American Chemical Society. Basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking slag is enriched in potentially toxic V which may become mobilized in high pH leachate during weathering. BOF slag was weathered under aerated and air-excluded conditions for 6 months prior to SEM/EDS and μXANES analysis to determine V host phases and speciation in both primary and secondary phases. Leached blocks show development of an altered region in which free lime and dicalcium silicate phases were absent and Ca-Si-H was precipitated (CaCO 3 was also present under aerated conditions). μXANES analyses show that V was released to solution as V(V) during dicalcium silicate dissolution and some V was incorporated into neo-formed Ca-Si-H. Higher V concentrations were observed in leachate under aerated conditions than in the air-excluded leaching experiment. Aqueous V concentrations were controlled by Ca 3 (VO 4 ) 2 solubility, which demonstrate an inverse relationship between Ca and V concentrations. Under air-excluded conditions Ca concentrations were controlled by dicalcium silicate dissolution and Ca-Si-H precipitation, leading to relatively high Ca and correspondingly low V concentrations. Formation of CaCO 3 under aerated conditions provided a sink for aqueous Ca, allowing higher V concentrations limited by kinetic dissolution rates of dicalcium silicate. Thus, V release may be slowed by the precipitation of secondary phases in the altered region, improving the prospects for slag reuse
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