1,485 research outputs found
A study of environmental characterization of conventional and advanced aluminum alloys for selection and design. Phase 2: The breaking load test method
A technique is demonstrated for accelerated stress corrosion testing of high strength aluminum alloys. The method offers better precision and shorter exposure times than traditional pass fail procedures. The approach uses data from tension tests performed on replicate groups of smooth specimens after various lengths of exposure to static stress. The breaking strength measures degradation in the test specimen load carrying ability due to the environmental attack. Analysis of breaking load data by extreme value statistics enables the calculation of survival probabilities and a statistically defined threshold stress applicable to the specific test conditions. A fracture mechanics model is given which quantifies depth of attack in the stress corroded specimen by an effective flaw size calculated from the breaking stress and the material strength and fracture toughness properties. Comparisons are made with experimental results from three tempers of 7075 alloy plate tested by the breaking load method and by traditional tests of statistically loaded smooth tension bars and conventional precracked specimens
MARS, the MAGIC Analysis and Reconstruction Software
With the commissioning of the second MAGIC gamma-ray Cherenkov telescope
situated close to MAGIC-I, the standard analysis package of the MAGIC
collaboration, MARS, has been upgraded in order to perform the stereoscopic
reconstruction of the detected atmospheric showers. MARS is a ROOT-based code
written in C++, which includes all the necessary algorithms to transform the
raw data recorded by the telescopes into information about the physics
parameters of the observed targets. An overview of the methods for extracting
the basic shower parameters is presented, together with a description of the
tools used in the background discrimination and in the estimation of the
gamma-ray source spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 0 figures, submitted to the 31st International Cosmic Ray
Conference, {\L}odz 200
Self-Structuring of Granular Media under Internal Avalanches
We study the phenomenon of internal avalanching within the context of
recently proposed ``Tetris'' lattice models for granular media. We define a
recycling dynamics under which the system reaches a steady state which is
self-structured, i.e. it shows a complex interplay between textured internal
structures and critical avalanche behavior. Furthermore we develop a general
mean-field theory for this class of systems and discuss possible scenarios for
the breakdown of universality.Comment: 4 pages RevTex, 3 eps figures, revised version to appear in Phys.
Rev. Let
Toward a Social Practice Theory of Relational Competing
This paper brings together the competitive dynamics and strategy-aspractice literatures to investigate relational competition. Drawing on a global ethnography of the reinsurance market, we develop the concept of micro-competitions, which are the focus of competitors’ everyday competitive practices. We find variation in relational or rivalrous competition by individual competitors across the phases of a micro-competition, between competitors within a micro-competition, and across multiple micro-competitions. These variations arise from the interplay between the unfolding competitive arena and the implementation of each firm’s strategic portfolio. We develop a conceptual framework that makes four contributions to: relational competition; reconceptualizing action and response; elaborating on the awareness-motivation-capability framework within competitive dynamics; and the recursive dynamic by which implementing strategy inside firms shapes, and is shaped by, the competitive arena
A Development Environment for Visual Physics Analysis
The Visual Physics Analysis (VISPA) project integrates different aspects of
physics analyses into a graphical development environment. It addresses the
typical development cycle of (re-)designing, executing and verifying an
analysis. The project provides an extendable plug-in mechanism and includes
plug-ins for designing the analysis flow, for running the analysis on batch
systems, and for browsing the data content. The corresponding plug-ins are
based on an object-oriented toolkit for modular data analysis. We introduce the
main concepts of the project, describe the technical realization and
demonstrate the functionality in example applications
A novel camera type for very high energy gamma-ray astronomy based on Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes
Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (G-APD) are promising new sensors for light
detection in atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. In this paper, the design and
commissioning of a 36-pixel G-APD prototype camera is presented. The data
acquisition is based on the Domino Ring Sampling (DRS2) chip. A sub-nanosecond
time resolution has been achieved. Cosmic-ray induced air showers have been
recorded using an imaging mirror setup, in a self-triggered mode. This is the
first time that such measurements have been carried out with a complete G-APD
camera.Comment: 9 pages with 11 figure
Internal avalanches in a pile of superconducting vortices
Using an array of miniature Hall probes, we monitored the spatiotemporal
variation of the internal magnetic induction in a superconducting niobium
sample during a slow sweep of external magnetic field. We found that a sizable
fraction of the increase in the local vortex population occurs in abrupt jumps.
The size distribution of these avalanches presents a power-law collapse on a
limited range. In contrast, at low temperatures and low fields, huge avalanches
with a typical size occur and the system does not display a well-defined
macroscopic critical current.Comment: 5 pages including 5 figure
Monolayer Solid Helium-4 Clusters on Graphite
In order to resolve the controversy about the low density region of the phase
diagram of the 4He monolayer on graphite, we have undertaken a path integral
Monte Carlo study of the system. We provide direct evidence that the low
density monolayer possesses solid clusters and a low density vapor as opposed
to the most recent proposal that the system is in a superfluid phase. We
further establish that the rounded heat capacity peaks observed at low
densities are caused by melting of such solid clusters and are not associated
with the suggested superfluid transition.Comment: Revtex, 4 double-column pages, 6 EPS figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Let
Macroscopic Car Condensation in a Parking Garage
An asymmetric exclusion process type process, where cars move forward along a
closed road that starts and terminates at a parking garage, displays dynamic
phase transitions into two types of condensate phases where the garage becomes
macroscopically occupied. The total car density and the exit
probability are the two control parameters. At the transition, the
number of parked cars diverges in both cases, with the length of the road
, as with . Towards the transition, the
number of parked cars vanishes as with ,
or being the
distance from the transition. The transition into the normal phase represents
also the onset of transmission of information through the garage. This gives
rise to unusual parked car autocorrelations and car density profiles near the
garage, which depend strongly on the group velocity of the fluctuations along
the road.Comment: 12 pages including 15 figures; published version in PR
TFTR 60 GHz alpha particle collective Thomson scattering diagnostic
A 60 GHz gyrotron collective Thomson Scattering alpha particle diagnostic has been implemented for the D-T period on TFM. Gyrotron power of 0.1-1 kW in pulses of up to 1 second can be launched in X-mode. Efficient corrugated waveguides are used with antennaes and vacuum windows of the TFTR Microwave Scattering system. A multichannel synchronous detector receiver system and spectrum analyzer acquire the scattered signals. A 200 Megasample/sec digitizer is used to resolve fine structure in the frequency spectrum. By scattering nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field, this experiment will take advantage of an enhancement of the scattered signal which results from the interaction of the alpha particles with plasma resonances in the lower hybrid frequency range. Significant enhancements are expected, which will make these measurements possible with gyrotron power less than 1 kW, while maintaining an acceptable signal to noise ratio. We hope to extract alpha particle density and velocity distribution functions from the data. The D and T fuel densities and temperatures may also be obtainable by measurement of the respective ion cyclotron harmonic frequencies
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