765 research outputs found
Numerical modelling of liquid droplet dynamics in microgravity
Microgravity provides ideal experimental conditions for studying highly reactive and under-cooled materials where there is no contact between the sample and the other experimental apparatus. The non-contact conditions allow material properties to be measured from the oscillating liquid droplet response to perturbations. This work investigates the impact of a strong magnetic field on these measurement processes for weakly viscous, electrically conducting droplets. We present numerical results using an axisymmetric model that employs the pseudo-spectral collocation method and a recently developed 3D model. Both numerical models have been developed to solve the equations describing the coupled electromagnetic and fluid flow processes. The models represent the changing surface shape that results from the interaction between forces inside the droplet and the surface tension imposed boundary conditions. The models are used to examine the liquid droplet dynamics in a strong DC magnetic field. In each case the surface shape is decomposed into a superposition of spherical harmonic modes. The oscillation of the individual mode coefficients is then analysed to determine the oscillation frequencies and damping rates that are then compared to the low amplitude solutions predicted by the published analytical asymptotic theory
Educating for a Hope-Filled Future
This paper illustrates one student’s experience finding ways to pursue sustainability in a course on political narrative. The student created his own narrative for political and social change based on issues he was already deeply invested in. Tai Chi, practiced at the start of each class, facilitated this narrative creation
Interaction of vortices in thin superconducting films and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition
The precondition for the BKT transition in thin superconducting films, the
logarithmic intervortex interaction, is satisfied at distances short relative
to , is the London penetration depth of the
bulk material and is the film thickness. For this reason, the search for
the transition has been conducted in samples of the size . It is
argued below that film edges turn the interaction into near exponential
(short-range) thus making the BKT transition impossible. If however the
substrate is superconducting and separated from the film by an insulated layer,
the logarithmic intervortex interaction is recovered and the BKT transition
should be observable.Comment: 4 pages, no figure
Nanomechanical displacement detection using coherent transport in ordered and disordered graphene nanoribbon resonators
Graphene nanoribbons provide an opportunity to integrate phase-coherent
transport phenomena with nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). Due to the
strain induced by a deflection in a graphene nanoribbon resonator, coherent
electron transport and mechanical deformations couple. As the electrons in
graphene have a Fermi wavelength \lambda ~ a_0 = 1.4 {\AA}, this coupling can
be used for sensitive displacement detection in both armchair and zigzag
graphene nanoribbon NEMS. Here it is shown that for ordered as well as
disordered ribbon systems of length L, a strain \epsilon ~ (w/L)^2 due to a
deflection w leads to a relative change in conductance \delta G/G ~ (w^2/a_0L).Comment: 4 Pages, 4 figure
Long range polarization attraction between two different likely charged macroions
It is known that in a water solution with multivalent counterions (Z-ions),
two likely charged macroions can attract each other due to correlations of
Z-ions adsorbed on their surfaces. This "correlation" attraction is
short-ranged and decays exponentially with increasing distance between
macroions at characteristic distance A/2\pi, where A is the average distance
between Z-ions on the surfaces of macroions. In this work, we show that an
additional long range "polarization" attraction exists when the bare surface
charge densities of the two macroions have the same sign, but are different in
absolute values. The key idea is that with adsorbed Z-ions, two insulating
macroions can be considered as conductors with fixed but different electric
potentials. Each potential is determined by the difference between the entropic
bulk chemical potential of a Z-ion and its correlation chemical potential at
the surface of the macroion determined by its bare surface charge density. When
the two macroions are close enough, they get polarized in such a way that their
adjacent spots form a charged capacitor, which leads to attraction. In a salt
free solution this polarization attractive force is long ranged: it decays as a
power of the distance between the surfaces of two macroions, d. The
polarization force decays slower than the van der Waals attraction and
therefore is much larger than it in a large range of distances. In the presence
of large amount of monovalent salt, when A/2\pi<< d<< r_s (r_s is the
Debye-H\"{u}ckel screening radius), this force is still much stronger than the
van der Waals attraction and the correlation attraction mentioned above.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Small change in the text, no change in result
Effects of magnetic fields on magnetohydrodynamic cylindrical and spherical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability
The effects of seed magnetic fields on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability driven by converging cylindrical and spherical implosions in ideal magnetohydrodynamics are investigated. Two different seed field configurations at various strengths are applied over a cylindrical or spherical density interface which has a single-dominant-mode perturbation. The shocks that excite the instability are generated with appropriate Riemann problems in a numerical formulation and the effect of the seed field on the growth rate and symmetry of the perturbations on the density interface is examined. We find reduced perturbation growth for both field configurations and all tested strengths. The extent of growth suppression increases with seed field strength but varies with the angle of the field to interface. The seed field configuration does not significantly affect extent of suppression of the instability, allowing it to be chosen to minimize its effect on implosion distortion. However, stronger seed fields are required in three dimensions to suppress the instability effectively
Bidirectional reflectance properties of planetary surface materials
Laboratory measurements using a spectrogoniometer to separate the effects of surficial texture and albedo in the characterization of planetary surface materials are discussed. An investigation of the surface of Io is discussed. A number of technical improvements to the goniometer are summarized
Steplike electric conduction in a classical two-dimensional electron system through a narrow constriction in a microchannel
Using molecular dynamics simulation, we investigate transport properties of a
classical two-dimensional electron system confined in a microchannel with a
narrow constriction. As a function of the confinement strength of the
constriction, the calculated conductance in the simulations exhibits steplike
increases as reported in a recent experiment [D. G. Rees et al., Phys. Rev.
Lett. 106, 026803 (2011)]. It is confirmed that the number of the steps
corresponds to the number of stream lines of electrons through the
constriction. We verify that density fluctuation plays a major role in
smoothing the steps in the conductance.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Modifying the Casimir force between indium tin oxide film and Au sphere
We present complete results of the experiment on measuring the Casimir force
between an Au-coated sphere and an untreated or, alternatively, UV-treated
indium tin oxide film deposited on a quartz substrate. Measurements were
performed using an atomic force microscope in a high vacuum chamber. The
measurement system was calibrated electrostatically. Special analysis of the
systematic deviations is performed, and respective corrections in the
calibration parameters are introduced. The corrected parameters are free from
anomalies discussed in the literature. The experimental data for the Casimir
force from two measurement sets for both untreated and UV-treated samples are
presented. The experimental errors are determined at a 95% confidence level. It
is demonstrated that the UV treatment of an I TO plate results in a significant
decrease in the magnitude of the Casimir force (from 21% to 35% depending on
separation). However, ellipsometry measurements of the imaginary parts of
dielectric permittivities of the untreated and UV-treated samples did not
reveal any significant differences. The experimental data are compared with
computations in the framework of the Lifshitz theory. It is found that the data
for the untreated sample are in a very good agreement with theoretical results
taking into account the free charge carriers in an ITO film. For the UV-treated
sample the data exclude the theoretical results obtained with account of free
charge carriers. These data are in a very good agreement with computations
disregarding the contribution of free carriers. According to the explanation
provided, this is caused by the phase transition of the ITO film from metallic
to dielectric state caused by the UV treatment. Possible applications of the
discovered phenomenon in nanotechnology are discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 19 figures, 1 tabl
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