547 research outputs found
Anisotropic Condensation of Helium in Nanotube Bundles
Helium atoms are strongly attracted to the interstitial channels within a
bundle of carbon nanotubes. The strong corrugation of the axial potential
within a channel can produce a lattice gas system where the weak mutual
attraction between atoms in neighboring channels of a bundle induces
condensation into a remarkably anisotropic phase with very low binding energy.
We estimate the binding energy and critical temperature for 4He in this novel
quasi-one-dimensional condensed state. At low temperatures, the specific heat
of the adsorbate phase (fewer than 2% of the total number of atoms) greatly
exceeds that of the host material.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRL (corrected typo in abstract
INVERSE SCATTERING TRANSFORM ANALYSIS OF STOKES-ANTI-STOKES STIMULATED RAMAN SCATTERING
Zakharov-Shabat--Ablowitz-Kaup-Newel-Segur representation for
Stokes-anti-Stokes stimulated Raman scattering is proposed. Periodical waves,
solitons and self-similarity solutions are derived. Transient and bright
threshold solitons are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, no figure
The turn of the valve: representing with material models
Many scientific models are representations. Building on Goodman and Elgin’s notion of representation-as we analyse what this claim involves by providing a general definition of what makes something a scientific model, and formulating a novel account of how they represent. We call the result the DEKI account of representation, which offers a complex kind of representation involving an interplay of, denotation, exemplification, keying up of properties, and imputation. Throughout we focus on material models, and we illustrate our claims with the Phillips-Newlyn machine. In the conclusion we suggest that, mutatis mutandis, the DEKI account can be carried over to other kinds of models, notably fictional and mathematical models
Quantum virial expansion approach to thermodynamics of He adsorbates in carbon nanotube materials: Interacting Bose gas in one dimension
I demonstrate that He adsorbates in carbon nanotube materials can be
treated as one-dimensional interacting gas of spinless bosons for temperatures
below 8 K and for coverages such that all the adsorbates are in the groove
positions of the carbon nanotube bundles. The effects of adsorbate-adsorbate
interactions are studied within the scheme of virial expansion approach. The
theoretical predictions for the specific heat of the interacting adsorbed gas
are given.Comment: 5 PS figure
Stability of stationary states in the cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation: applications to the Bose-Einstein condensate
The stability properties and perturbation-induced dynamics of the full set of
stationary states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation are investigated
numerically in two physical contexts: periodic solutions on a ring and
confinement by a harmonic potential. Our comprehensive studies emphasize
physical interpretations useful to experimentalists. Perturbation by stochastic
white noise, phase engineering, and higher order nonlinearity are considered.
We treat both attractive and repulsive nonlinearity and illustrate the
soliton-train nature of the stationary states.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
What is theoretical progress of science?
The epistemic conception of scientific progress equates progress with accumulation of scientific knowledge. I argue that the epistemic conception fails to fully capture scientific progress: theoretical progress, in particular, can transcend scientific knowledge in important ways. Sometimes theoretical progress can be a matter of new theories ‘latching better onto unobservable reality’ in a way that need not be a matter of new knowledge. Recognising this further dimension of theoretical progress is particularly significant for understanding scientific realism, since realism is naturally construed as the claim that science makes theoretical progress. Some prominent realist positions (regarding fundamental physics, in particular) are best understood in terms of commitment to theoretical progress that cannot be equated with accumulation of scientific knowledge
A new small-bodied azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of England and its implications for pterosaur anatomy, diversity and phylogeny
BACKGROUND: Pterosaurs have been known from the Cretaceous sediments of the Isle of Wight (southern England, United Kingdom) since 1870. We describe the three-dimensional pelvic girdle and associated vertebrae of a small near-adult pterodactyloid from the Atherfield Clay Formation (lower Aptian, Lower Cretaceous). Despite acknowledged variation in the pterosaur pelvis, previous studies have not adequately sampled or incorporated pelvic characters into phylogenetic analyses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The new specimen represents the new taxon Vectidraco daisymorrisae gen. et sp. nov., diagnosed by the presence of a concavity posterodorsal to the acetabulum and the form of its postacetabular process on the ilium. Several characters suggest that Vectidraco belongs to Azhdarchoidea. We constructed a pelvis-only phylogenetic analysis to test whether the pterosaur pelvis carries a useful phylogenetic signal. Resolution in recovered trees was poor, but they approximately matched trees recovered from analyses of total evidence. We also added Vectidraco and our pelvic characters to an existing total-evidence matrix for pterosaurs. Both analyses recovered Vectidraco within Azhdarchoidea. CONCLUSIONS/ SIGNIFICANCE: The Lower Cretaceous strata of western Europe have yielded members of several pterosaur lineages, but Aptian pterosaurs from western Europe are rare. With a pelvis length of 40 mm, the new animal would have had a total length of c. 350 mm, and a wingspan of c. 750 mm. Barremian and Aptian pterodactyloids from western Europe show that small-bodied azhdarchoids lived alongside ornithocheirids and istiodactylids. This assemblage is similar in terms of which lineages are represented to the coeval beds of Liaoning, China; however, the number of species and specimens present at Liaoning is much higher. While the general phylogenetic composition of western European and Chinese communities appear to have been approximately similar, the differences may be due to different palaeoenvironmental and depositional settings. The western Europe pterodactyloid record may therefore be artificially low in diversity due to preservational factors
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