26,124 research outputs found
Contrasts between Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Steady States: Computer Aided Discoveries in Simple Lattice Gases
A century ago, the foundations of equilibrium statistical mechanics were
laid. For a system in equilibrium with a thermal bath, much is understood
through the Boltzmann factor, exp{-H[C]/kT}, for the probability of finding the
system in any microscopic configuration C. In contrast, apart from some special
cases, little is known about the corresponding probabilities, if the same
system is in contact with more than one reservoir of energy, so that, even in
stationary states, there is a constant energy flux through our system. These
non-equilibrium steady states display many surprising properties. In
particular, even the simplest generalization of the Ising model offers a wealth
of unexpected phenomena. Mostly discovered through Monte Carlo simulations,
some of the novel properties are understood while many remain unexplained. A
brief review and some recent results will be presented, highlighting the sharp
contrasts between the equilibrium Ising system and this non-equilibrium
counterpart.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory beam tube component and module leak testing
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a joint project of the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology funded by the National Science Foundation. The project is designed to detect gravitational waves from astrophysical sources such as supernova and black holes. The LIGO project constructed observatories at two sites in the U.S. Each site includes two beam tubes (each 4 km long) joined to form an "L" shape. The beam tube is a 1.25 m diam 304 L stainless steel, ultrahigh vacuum tube that will operate at 1×10^–9 Torr or better. The beam tube was manufactured using a custom spiral weld tube mill from material processed to reduce the outgassing rate in order to minimize pumping costs. The integrity of the beam tube was assured by helium mass spectrometer leak testing each component of the beam tube system prior to installation. Each 2 km long, isolatable beam tube module was then leak tested after completion
Cumulative luminosity functions of the X-ray point source population in M31
We present preliminary results from a detailed analysis of the X-ray point
sources in the XMM-Newton survey of M31. These sources are expected to be
mostly X-ray binaries. We have so far studied 225 of the 535 sources found by
automated source detection. Only sources which were present in all three EPIC
images were considered. X-ray binaries are identified by their energy spectrum
and power density spectrum. Unlike in other surveys we have obtained source
luminosities from freely fit emission models. We present uncorrected luminosity
functions of the sources analysed so far.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. To appear in proceedings of IAUS23
Photoassisted sequential resonant tunneling through superlattices
We have analyzed theoretically the photoassisted tunneling current through a
superlattice in the presence of an AC potential. For that purpose we have
developed a new model to calculate the sequential resonant currrent trhough a
superlattice based in the TRansfer Hamiltonian Method. The tunneling current
presents new features due to new effective tunneling chanels coming from the
photoside bands induced by the AC field. Our theoretical results are in good
agreement with the available experimental evidence.Comment: Revtex 3.0 4 pages, 4 figures uuencoded compressed tar-fil
Effectiveness of an inlet flow turbulence control device to simulate flight noise fan in an anechoic chamber
A hemispherical inlet flow control device was tested on a 50.8 cm. (20-inch) diameter fan stage in the NASA-Lewis anechoic chamber. The control device used honeycomb and wire mesh to reduce turbulence intensities entering the fan. Far field acoustic power level results show about a 5 db reduction in blade passing tone and about 10 dB reduction in multiple pure tone sound power at 90% design fan speed with the inlet device in place. Hot film cross probes were inserted in the inlet to obtain data for two components of the turbulence at 65 and 90% design fan speed. Without the flow control device, the axial intensities were below 1.0%, while the circumferential intensities were almost twice this value. The inflow control device significantly reduced the circumferential turbulence intensities and also reduced the axial length scale
XMM-Newton reveals ~100 new LMXBs in M31 from variability studies
We have conducted a survey of X-ray sources in XMM-Newton observations of
M31, examining their power density spectra (PDS) and spectral energy
distributions (SEDs). Our automated source detection yielded 535 good X-ray
sources; to date, we have studied 225 of them. In particular, we examined the
PDS because low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) exhibit two distinctive types of
PDS. At low accretion rates, the PDS is characterised by a broken power law,
with the spectral index changing from ~0 to ~1 at some frequency in the range
\~0.01--1 Hz; we refer to such PDS as Type A. At higher accretion rates, the
PDS is described by a simple power law; we call these PDS Type B. Of the 225
sources studied to date, 75 exhibit Type A variability, and are almost
certainly LMXBs, while 6 show Type B but not Type A, and are likely LMXBs. Of
these 81 candidate LMXBs, 71 are newly identified in this survey; furthermore,
they are mostly found near the centre of M31. Furthermore, most of the X-ray
population in the disc are associated with the spiral arms, making them likely
high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). In general these HMXBs do not exhibit Type A
variability, while many central X-ray sources (LMXBs) in the same luminosity
range do. Hence the PDS may distinguish between LMXBs and HMXBs in this
luminosity range.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in proceedings of IAUS230: "Populations
of High Energy Sources in Galaxies", 14-19 August 2005, Dublin, Eds E.J.A.
Meurs and G. Fabbian
Physical Conditions in Orion's Veil
Orion's veil consists of several layers of largely neutral gas lying between
us and the main ionizing stars of the Orion nebula. It is visible in 21cm H I
absorption and in optical and UV absorption lines of H I and other species.
Toward the Trapezium, the veil has two remarkable properties, high magnetic
field (~100 microGauss) and a surprising lack of molecular hydrogen given its
total hydrogen column density. Here we compute photoionization models of the
veil to establish its gas density and its distance from the Trapezium. We use a
greatly improved model of the hydrogen molecule that determines level
populations in ~1e5 rotational/vibrational levels and provides improved
estimates of molecular hydrogen destruction via the Lyman-Werner bands. Our
best fit photoionization models place the veil 1-3 pc in front of the star at a
density of 1e3-1e4 cubic centimeters. Magnetic energy dominates the energy of
non-thermal motions in at least one of the 21cm H I velocity components.
Therefore, the veil is the first interstellar environment where magnetic
dominance appears to exist. We find that the low ratio of molecular to atomic
hydrogen (< 1e-4) is a consequence of high UV flux incident upon the veil due
to its proximity to the Trapezium stars and the absence of small grains in the
region.Comment: 45 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
(Super)twistors and (super)strings
The Lagrangian formulation of the D=4 bosonic string and superstring in terms
of the (super)twistors is considered. The (super)twistor form of the equations
of motion is derived and the kappa-symmetry transformation for the
supertwistors is given. It is shown that the covariant kappa-symmetry gauge
fixation results in the action quadratic in the (super)twistor variables.Comment: LaTeX, 17 page
Mathematical modelling of ethanol metabolism in normal subjects and chronic alcohol misusers
The time course of ethanol disappearance from the blood has been examined in normal males and females and in alcohol misusers. Blood alcohol estimations were made over a period of 3 hr, following an oral dose of ethanol (0.8 g/kg body weight) administered in the form of whisky. Attempts were made to fit the data to zero order, first order and mixed zero + first order kinetics. In the majority (75%) of normal females the blood ethanol concentration was still increasing at 30 min. This was only seen in 50% of normal males and in 50% of non-dependent alcohol misusers, but not in dependent alcohol misusers. In all of the normal females the disappearance of ethanol could be adequately described by zero order kinetics. However, in the normal male group only 20% could be described by zero order kinetics, 10% fitted first order kinetics and the remainder required a mixed model of zero + first order. The rate constant for the zero order component of the control male group was identical to zero order rate constant obtained for the female control group. In the female alcohol misuser group, 40% of the curves could not be described by zero order kinetics and fitted best to a mixed model. The zero order component of the entire group was significantly increased (by 35%) compared to that obtained for the female control group. In the male dependent and non-dependent alcohol misuser groups, all blood alcohol concentration curves fitted best to mixed zero and first order kinetics. However, no significant differences were noted in the values of the kinetic parameters when compared with the male control group. It is suggested that the zero order component of the blood alcohol concentration curves is due to the action of liver alcohol dehydrogenase and the first order component represents redistribution to the tissues. The presence or absence of a first order component is attributed to differences in absorption rates from the gut
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