Testing the validity of the effective rate constant approximation for surface reaction with transport

AbstractWhen one incorporates transport effects into a surface-volume reaction, an integrodifferential equation for the bound state concentration occurs. Such a form is inconvenient for data analysis. An effective rate constant approximation for the solution is correct to O(Da2) as the Damköhler number Da → 0. A numerical simulation of the integrodifferential equation is performed which shows that the effective rate constant approximation is useful even outside this regime

KINEMATIC COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COORDINATION PATTERN OF THE BASKETBALL FREE THROW

Coordination patterns are an important part of everyday movement. The pattern of intersegmental movement is specific to each task we perform. Hudson (1986) broke down tasks into two basic categories: simultaneous which is used when accuracy is important to the task, and sequential which is used when velocity is the key to the task. The sequential pattern of movement is best defined by the summation of speed principle put forth by Bunn (1972) when he stated that in activities where the highest speed at the moment of release was necessary, the speed was developed when the movement of each segment started at the moment of greatest velocity of the preceding segment. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative biomechanical analysis of the system of coordination used in the basketball free throw. Four individuals of different abilities ranging from elite (a professional basketball player) to novice (an eleven year old boy with little basketball experience) participated in this study. The subjects were video taped (60 fps) shooting a free throw on a regulation basketball court in the sagittal plane on the right side (all subjects were right handed). Each performance was digitized and analyzed using the PEAK Performance 2-dimensional movement analysis system interfaced with a Panasonic AG-7350 recorder, Sony PVM-1341 monitor, and Zenith 486 microcomputer. The angular velocity of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist of the shooting arm and the hip, knee, and ankle of the same side were examined. It was found that all subjects exhibited simultaneous movement of all three joints of the leg. The elite performer exhibited sequential movement of the segments of the shooting arm where the novice exhibited complete simultaneous movement. From the results of the study, the free throw was defined as an intermediate task requiring both velocity and accuracy. This research may be used as a coaching tool in improving the performance of the free throw for any basketball player by studying the detailed analysis of the pattern of coordination of a professional player then comparing the player to any subject on the continuum outlined in this study

Electromagnetic field energy density in artificial microwave materials with negative parameters

General relations for the stored reactive field energy density in passive linear artificial microwave materials are established. These relations account for dispersion and absorption effects in these materials, and they are valid also in the regions where the real parts of the material parameters are negative. These relations always give physically sound positive values for the energy density in passive metamaterials. The energy density and field solutions in active metamaterials with non-dispersive negative parameters are also considered. Basic physical limitations on the frequency dispersion of material parameters of artificial passive materials with negative real parts of the effective parameters are discussed. It is shown that field solutions in hypothetical materials with negative and non-dispersive parameters are unstable

Neutron matter with a model interaction

An infinite system of neutrons interacting by a model pair potential is considered. We investigate a case when this potential is sufficiently strong attractive, so that its scattering length tends to infinity. It appeared, that if the structure of the potential is simple enough, including no finite parameters, reliable evidences can be presented that such a system is completely unstable at any finite density. The incompressibility as a function of the density is negative, reaching zero value when the density tends to zero. If the potential contains a sufficiently strong repulsive core then the system possesses an equilibrium density. The main features of a theory describing such systems are considered.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX. In press, Eur. Phys. J.

Many-body approach to proton emission and the role of spectroscopic factors

The process of proton emission from nuclei is studied by utilizing the two-potential approach of Gurvitz and Kalbermann in the context of the full many-body problem. A time-dependent approach is used for calculating the decay width. Starting from an initial many-body quasi-stationary state, we employ the Feshbach projection operator approach and reduce the formalism to an effective one-body problem. We show that the decay width can be expressed in terms of a one-body matrix element multiplied by a normalization factor. We demonstrate that the traditional interpretation of this normalization as the square root of a spectroscopic factor is only valid for one particular choice of projection operator. This causes no problem for the calculation of the decay width in a consistent microscopic approach, but it leads to ambiguities in the interpretation of experimental results. In particular, spectroscopic factors extracted from a comparison of the measured decay width with a calculated single-particle width may be affected.Comment: 17 pages, Revte

Floc formation reduces the pH stress experienced by microorganisms living in alkaline environments

The survival of microorganisms within a cementitious geological disposal facility for radioactive wastes is heavily dependent on their ability to survive the calcium dominated, hyper-alkaline conditions resulting from the dissolution of the cementitious materials. The present study shows that the formation of flocs, composed of a complex mixture of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), provides protection against alkaline pH values up to pH 13.0. The flocs were dominated by Alishewanella and Dietzia sp, producing a mannose rich carbohydrate fraction incorporating extracellular DNA, resulting in Ca2+ sequestration. EPS provided a ~10 µm thick layer around the cells within the centre of the flocs, which were capable of growth at pH 11.0 and 11.5, maintaining internal pH values of pH 10.4 and 10.7 respectively. Survival was observed at pH 12.0, where an internal floc pH of 11.6 was observed alongside a reduced associated biomass. Limited floc survival (<2 weeks) was observed at pH 13.0.This study demonstrates that flocs are able to maintain a lower internal pH in response to the hyperalkaline conditions expected to occur within a cementitious, geological disposal facility for radioactive wastes and indicates that floc communities within such a facility would be capable of survival up to a pH of 12.0

Bremsstrahlung radiation by a tunneling particle

We study the bremsstrahlung radiation of a tunneling charged particle in a time-dependent picture. In particular, we treat the case of bremsstrahlung during alpha-decay, which has been suggested as a promissing tool to investigate the problem of tunneling times. We show deviations of the numerical results from the semiclassical estimates. A standard assumption of a preformed particle inside the well leads to sharp high-frequency lines in the bremsstrahlung emission. These lines correspond to "quantum beats" of the internal part of the wavefunction during tunneling arising from the interference of the neighboring resonances in the well.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Coherent photon bremsstrahlung and dynamics of heavy-ion collisions: comparison of different models

Differential spectra of coherent photon bremsstrahlung in relativistic heavy ion collisions are calculated within various schematic models of the projectile-target stopping. Two versions of the degradation length model, based on a phenomenological deceleration law, are considered. The simple shock wave model is studied analytically. The predictions of these models agree in the soft photon limit, where the spectrum is determined only by the final velocity distribution of charged particles. The results of these models in the case of central Au+Au collisions at various bombarding energies are compared with the predictions of the microscopic transport model UrQMD. It is shown that at the AGS energy the coherent photon bremsstrahlung exceeds the photon yield from $\pi^0$-decays at photon energies \omega\loo 50 MeV.Comment: 23 pages RevTeX, 9 eps Figure

Background Thermal Contributions in Testing the Unruh Effect

We consider inertial and accelerated Unruh-DeWitt detectors moving in a background thermal bath and calculate their excitation rates. It is shown that for fast moving detectors such a thermal bath does not affect substantially the excitation probability. Our results are discussed in connection with a possible proposal of testing the Unruh effect in high energy particle accelerators.Comment: 13 pages, (REVTEX 3.0), 3 figures available upon reques

Precise measurements of radio-frequency magnetic susceptibility in (anti)ferromagnetic materials

Dynamic magnetic susceptibility, $\chi$, was studied in several intermetallic materials exhibiting ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and metamagnetic transitions. Precise measurements by using a 14 MHz tunnel diode oscillator (TDO) allow detailed insight into the field and temperature dependence of $\chi$. In particular, local moment ferromagnets show a sharp peak in $\chi(T)$ near the Curie temperature, $T_c$. The peak amplitude decreases and shifts to higher temperatures with very small applied dc fields. Anisotropic measurements of CeVSb$_3$ show that this peak is present provided the magnetic easy axis is aligned with the excitation field. In a striking contrast, small moment, itinerant ferromagnets (i.e., ZrZn$_2$) show a broad maximum in $\chi(T)$ that responds differently to applied field. We believe that TDO measurements provide a very sensitive way to distinguish between local and itinerant moment magnetic orders. Local moment antiferromagnets do not show a peak at the N\'eel temperature, $T_N$, but only a sharp decrease of $\chi$ below $T_N$ due to the loss of spin-disorder scattering changing the penetration depth of the ac excitation field. Furthermore, we show that the TDO is capable of detecting changes in spin order as well as metamagnetic transitions. Finally, critical scaling of $\chi(T,H)$ in the vicinity of $T_C$ is discussed in CeVSb$_3$ and CeAgSb$_2$