3,798 research outputs found
Similarity laws of lunar and terrestrial volcanic flows
A mathematical model of a one dimensional, steady duct flow of a mixture of a gas and small solid particles (rock) was analyzed and applied to the lunar and the terrestrial volcanic flows under geometrically and dynamically similar conditions. Numerical results for the equilibrium two phase flows of lunar and terrestrial volcanoes under similar conditions are presented. The study indicates that: (1) the lunar crater is much larger than the corresponding terrestrial crater; (2) the exit velocity from the lunar volcanic flow may be higher than the lunar escape velocity but the exit velocity of terrestrial volcanic flow is much less than that of the lunar case; and (3) the thermal effects on the lunar volcanic flow are much larger than those of the terrestrial case
Radiation Pressure Induced Instabilities in Laser Interferometric Detectors of Gravitational Waves
The large scale interferometric gravitational wave detectors consist of
Fabry-Perot cavities operating at very high powers ranging from tens of kW to
MW for next generations. The high powers may result in several nonlinear
effects which would affect the performance of the detector. In this paper, we
investigate the effects of radiation pressure, which tend to displace the
mirrors from their resonant position resulting in the detuning of the cavity.
We observe a remarkable effect, namely, that the freely hanging mirrors gain
energy continuously and swing with increasing amplitude. It is found that the
`time delay', that is, the time taken for the field to adjust to its
instantaneous equilibrium value, when the mirrors are in motion, is responsible
for this effect. This effect is likely to be important in the optimal operation
of the full-scale interferometers such as VIRGO and LIGO.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures, RevTex styl
Optimising the directional sensitivity of LISA
It was shown in a previous work that the data combinations canceling laser
frequency noise constitute a module - the module of syzygies. The cancellation
of laser frequency noise is crucial for obtaining the requisite sensitivity for
LISA. In this work we show how the sensitivity of LISA can be optimised for a
monochromatic source - a compact binary - whose direction is known, by using
appropriate data combinations in the module. A stationary source in the
barycentric frame appears to move in the LISA frame and our strategy consists
of "coherently tracking" the source by appropriately "switching" the data
combinations so that they remain optimal at all times. Assuming that the
polarisation of the source is not known, we average the signal over the
polarisations. We find that the best statistic is the `network' statistic, in
which case LISA can be construed of as two independent detectors. We compare
our results with the Michelson combination, which has been used for obtaining
the standard sensitivity curve for LISA, and with the observable obtained by
optimally switching the three Michelson combinations. We find that for sources
lying in the ecliptic plane the improvement in SNR increases from 34% at low
frequencies to nearly 90% at around 20 mHz. Finally we present the
signal-to-noise ratios for some known binaries in our galaxy. We also show
that, if at low frequencies SNRs of both polarisations can be measured, the
inclination angle of the plane of the orbit of the binary can be estimated.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys Rev
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