15,180 research outputs found
Singular inextensible limit in the vibrations of post-buckled rods: analytical derivation and role of boundary conditions
In-plane vibrations of an elastic rod clamped at both extremities are studied. The rod is modeled as an extensible planar Kirchhoff elastic rod under large displacements and rotations. Equilibrium configurations and vibrations around these configurations are computed analytically in the incipient post-buckling regime. Of particular interest is the variation of the first mode frequency as the load is increased through the buckling threshold. The loading type is found to have a crucial importance as the first mode frequency is shown to behave singularly in the zero thickness limit in case of prescribed axial displacement, whereas a regular behavior is found in the case of prescribed axial load
Mode mixing in asymmetric double trench photonic crystal waveguides
e investigate both experimentally and theoretically the waveguiding
properties of a novel double trench waveguide where a conventional single-mode
strip waveguide is embedded in a two dimensional photonic crystal (PhC) slab
formed in silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers. We demonstrate that the bandwidth
for relatively low-loss (50dB/cm) waveguiding is significantly expanded to
250nm covering almost all the photonic band gap owing to nearly linear
dispersion of the TE-like waveguiding mode. The flat transmission spectrum
however is interrupted by numerous narrow stop bands. We found that these stop
bands can be attributed to anti-crossing between TE-like (positive parity) and
TM-like (negative parity) modes. This effect is a direct result of the strong
asymmetry of the waveguides that have an upper cladding of air and lower
cladding of oxide. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of the
effects of cladding asymmetry on the transmission characteristics of the PhC
slab waveguides.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Axion Cosmology Revisited
The misalignment mechanism for axion production depends on the
temperature-dependent axion mass. The latter has recently been determined
within the interacting instanton liquid model (IILM), and provides for the
first time a well-motivated axion mass for all temperatures. We reexamine the
constraints placed on the axion parameter space in the light of this new mass
function. We find an accurate and updated constraint f_a \le 2.8(\pm2)\times
10^{11}\units{GeV} or m_a \ge 21(\pm2) \units{\mu eV} from the misalignment
mechanism in the classic axion window (thermal scenario). However, this is
superseded by axion string radiation which leads to f_a \lesssim
3.2^{+4}_{-2} \times 10^{10} \units{GeV} or m_a \gtrsim 0.20 ^{+0.2}_{-0.1}
\units{meV}. In this analysis, we take care to precisely compute the effective
degrees of freedom and, to fill a gap in the literature, we present accurate
fitting formulas. We solve the evolution equations exactly, and find that
analytic results used to date generally underestimate the full numerical
solution by a factor 2-3. In the inflationary scenario, axions induce
isocurvature fluctuations and constrain the allowed inflationary scale .
Taking anharmonic effects into account, we show that these bounds are actually
weaker than previously computed. Considering the fine-tuning issue of the
misalignment angle in the whole of the anthropic window, we derive new bounds
which open up the inflationary window near . In particular,
we find that inflationary dark matter axions can have masses as high as
0.01--1\units{meV}, covering the whole thermal axion range, with values of
up to GeV. Quantum fluctuations during inflation exclude dominant
dark matter axions with masses above meV.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figures, version as accepted by Phys.Rev.
Low Voltage Totally Free Flexible RF MEMS Switch With Anti-Stiction System
This paper concerns a new design of RF MEMS switch combined with an
innovative process which enable low actuation voltage (<5V) and avoid stiction.
First, the structure described with principal design issues, the corresponding
anti-stiction system is presented and FEM simulations are done. Then, a short
description of the process flow based on two non polymer sacrificial layers.
Finally, RF measurements are presented and preliminary experimental protocol
and results of anti-stiction validation is detailed. Resulting RF performances
are -30dB of isolation and -0.45dB of insertion loss at 10 GHz.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association
(http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838
Delocalization transition for the Google matrix
We study the localization properties of eigenvectors of the Google matrix,
generated both from the World Wide Web and from the Albert-Barabasi model of
networks. We establish the emergence of a delocalization phase for the PageRank
vector when network parameters are changed. In the phase of localized PageRank,
a delocalization takes place in the complex plane of eigenvalues of the matrix,
leading to delocalized relaxation modes. We argue that the efficiency of
information retrieval by Google-type search is strongly affected in the phase
of delocalized PageRank.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Research done at
http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.fr
The Origin of Nitrogen on Jupiter and Saturn from the N/N Ratio
The Texas Echelon cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES), mounted on NASA's
Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), was used to map mid-infrared ammonia
absorption features on both Jupiter and Saturn in February 2013. Ammonia is the
principle reservoir of nitrogen on the giant planets, and the ratio of
isotopologues (N/N) can reveal insights into the molecular
carrier (e.g., as N or NH) of nitrogen to the forming protoplanets, and
hence the source reservoirs from which these worlds accreted. We targeted two
spectral intervals (900 and 960 cm) that were relatively clear of
terrestrial atmospheric contamination and contained close features of
NH and NH, allowing us to derive the ratio from a single
spectrum without ambiguity due to radiometric calibration (the primary source
of uncertainty in this study). We present the first ground-based determination
of Jupiter's N/N ratio (in the range from to
), which is consistent with both previous space-based studies
and with the primordial value of the protosolar nebula. On Saturn, we present
the first upper limit on the N/N ratio of no larger than
for the 900-cm channel and a less stringent
requirement that the ratio be no larger than for the
960-cm channel ( confidence). Specifically, the data rule out
strong N-enrichments such as those observed in Titan's atmosphere and in
cometary nitrogen compounds. To the extent possible with ground-based
radiometric uncertainties, the saturnian and jovian N/N ratios
appear indistinguishable, implying that N-enriched ammonia ices could
not have been a substantial contributor to the bulk nitrogen inventory of
either planet, favouring the accretion of primordial N from the gas phase
or as low-temperature ices.Comment: 33 pages, 19 figures, manuscript accepted for publication in Icaru
Detection of Gravitational Lensing in the Cosmic Microwave Background
Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a
long-standing prediction of the standard cosmolgical model, is ultimately
expected to be an important source of cosmological information, but first
detection has not been achieved to date. We report a 3.4 sigma detection, by
applying quadratic estimator techniques to all sky maps from the Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite, and correlating the result with
radio galaxy counts from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). We present our
methodology including a detailed discussion of potential contaminants. Our
error estimates include systematic uncertainties from density gradients in
NVSS, beam effects in WMAP, Galactic microwave foregrounds, resolved and
unresolved CMB point sources, and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figure
Limits on Lorentz Violation from the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays
We place several new limits on Lorentz violating effects, which can modify
particles' dispersion relations, by considering the highest energy cosmic rays
observed. Since these are hadrons, this involves considering the partonic
content of such cosmic rays. We get a number of bounds on differences in
maximum propagation speeds, which are typically bounded at the 10^{-21} level,
and on momentum dependent dispersion corrections of the form v = 1 +-
p^2/Lambda^2, which typically bound Lambda > 10^{21} GeV, well above the Planck
scale. For (CPT violating) dispersion correction of the form v = 1 + p/Lambda,
the bounds are up to 15 orders of magnitude beyond the Planck scale.Comment: 24 pages, no figures. Added references, very slight changes. Version
published in Physical Review
Laser Guide Star for Large Segmented-Aperture Space Telescopes, Part I: Implications for Terrestrial Exoplanet Detection and Observatory Stability
Precision wavefront control on future segmented-aperture space telescopes
presents significant challenges, particularly in the context of high-contrast
exoplanet direct imaging. We present a new wavefront control architecture that
translates the ground-based artificial guide star concept to space with a laser
source aboard a second spacecraft, formation flying within the telescope
field-of-view. We describe the motivating problem of mirror segment motion and
develop wavefront sensing requirements as a function of guide star magnitude
and segment motion power spectrum. Several sample cases with different values
for transmitter power, pointing jitter, and wavelength are presented to
illustrate the advantages and challenges of having a non-stellar-magnitude
noise limited wavefront sensor for space telescopes. These notional designs
allow increased control authority, potentially relaxing spacecraft stability
requirements by two orders of magnitude, and increasing terrestrial exoplanet
discovery space by allowing high-contrast observations of stars of arbitrary
brightness.Comment: Submitted to A
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