6,263 research outputs found
Effects of substrate deformation and sip thickness on tile/sip interface stresses for shuttle thermal protection
A nonlinear analysis was used to study the effects of substrate deformation characteristics and strain isolator pad (SIP) thickness on TILE/SIP interface stresses for the space shuttle thermal protection system. The configuration analyzed consisted of a 5.08 cm thick, 15.24 cm square tile with a 12.7 cm square SIP footprint bordered by a 1.27 cm wide filler bar and was subjected to forces and moments representative of a 20.7 kPa aerodynamic shock passing over the tile. The SIP stress deflection curves were obtained after a 69 kPa proof load and 100 cycles conditioning at 55 kPa. The TILE/SIP interface stresses increase over flat substrate values for zero to peak substrate deformation amplitudes up to 0.191 cm by up to a factor of nearly five depending on deformation amplitude, half wave length, and location. Stresses for a 0.23 cm thick SIP found to be up to 60 percent greater than for a 0.41 cm thick SIP for identical loads and substrate deformation characteristics. A simplified method was developed for approximating the substrate location which produces maximum TILE/SIP interface stresses
Graviton Propagation and Vacuum Polarization in Curved Space
The effects of vacuum polarization arising from loops of massive scalar
particles on graviton propagation in curved space are considered. Physically,
they are due to curvature induced tidal forces acting on the cloud of virtual
scalar particles surrounding the graviton. The effects are tractable in a WKB
and large mass limit and the results can be written as an effective refractive
index for the graviton modes with both a real and imaginary part. The imaginary
part of the refractive index is a curvature induced contribution to the
wavefunction renormalization of the graviton in real affine time and can have
the effect of dressing or un-dressing the graviton. The real part of the
refractive index increases logarithmically at high frequency as long as the
null energy condition is satisfied by the background.Comment: 21 pages, typos correcte
Approximation methods for combined thermal/structural design
Two approximation concepts for combined thermal/structural design are evaluated. The first concept is an approximate thermal analysis based on the first derivatives of structural temperatures with respect to design variables. Two commonly used first-order Taylor series expansions are examined. The direct and reciprocal expansions are special members of a general family of approximations, and for some conditions other members of that family of approximations are more accurate. Several examples are used to compare the accuracy of the different expansions. The second approximation concept is the use of critical time points for combined thermal and stress analyses of structures with transient loading conditions. Significant time savings are realized by identifying critical time points and performing the stress analysis for those points only. The design of an insulated panel which is exposed to transient heating conditions is discussed
Coherent population transfer beyond the adiabatic limit: generalized matched pulses and higher-order trapping states
We show that the physical mechanism of population transfer in a 3-level
system with a closed loop of coherent couplings (loop-STIRAP) is not equivalent
to an adiabatic rotation of the dark-state of the Hamiltonian but coresponds to
a rotation of a higher-order trapping state in a generalized adiabatic basis.
The concept of generalized adiabatic basis sets is used as a constructive tool
to design pulse sequences for stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) which
give maximum population transfer also under conditions when the usual condition
of adiabaticty is only poorly fulfilled. Under certain conditions for the
pulses (generalized matched pulses) there exists a higher-order trapping state,
which is an exact constant of motion and analytic solutions for the atomic
dynamics can be derived.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
Extension of the Morris-Shore transformation to multilevel ladders
We describe situations in which chains of N degenerate quantum energy levels,
coupled by time-dependent external fields, can be replaced by independent sets
of chains of length N, N-1,...,2 and sets of uncoupled single states. The
transformation is a generalization of the two-level Morris-Shore transformation
[J.R. Morris and B.W. Shore, Phys. Rev. A 27, 906 (1983)]. We illustrate the
procedure with examples of three-level chains
An optimality criterion for sizing members of heated structures with temperature constraints
A thermal optimality criterion is presented for sizing members of heated structures with multiple temperature constraints. The optimality criterion is similar to an existing optimality criterion for design of mechanically loaded structures with displacement constraints. Effectiveness of the thermal optimality criterion is assessed by applying it to one- and two-dimensional thermal problems where temperatures can be controlled by varying the material distribution in the structure. Results obtained from the optimality criterion agree within 2 percent with results from a closed-form solution and with results from a mathematical programming technique. The thermal optimality criterion augments existing optimality criteria for strength and stiffness related constraints and offers the possibility of extension of optimality techniques to sizing structures with combined thermal and mechanical loading
Non-universal coarsening and universal distributions in far-from equilibrium systems
Anomalous coarsening in far-from equilibrium one-dimensional systems is
investigated by simulation and analytic techniques. The minimal hard core
particle (exclusion) models contain mechanisms of aggregated particle
diffusion, with rates epsilon<<1, particle deposition into cluster gaps, but
suppressed for the smallest gaps, and breakup of clusters which are adjacent to
large gaps. Cluster breakup rates vary with the cluster length x as kx^alpha.
The domain growth law x ~ (epsilon t)^z, with z=1/(2+alpha) for alpha>0, is
explained by a scaling picture, as well as the scaling of the density of double
vacancies (at which deposition and cluster breakup are allowed) as 1/[t(epsilon
t)^z]. Numerical simulations for several values of alpha and epsilon confirm
these results. An approximate factorization of the cluster configuration
probability is performed within the master equation resulting from the mapping
to a column picture. The equation for a one-variable scaling function explains
the above results. The probability distributions of cluster lengths scale as
P(x)= 1/(epsilon t)^z g(y), with y=x/(epsilon t)^z. However, those
distributions show a universal tail with the form g(y) ~ exp(-y^{3/2}), which
disagrees with the prediction of the independent cluster approximation. This
result is explained by the connection of the vacancy dynamics with the problem
of particle trapping in an infinite sea of traps and is confirmed by
simulation.Comment: 30 pages (10 figures included), to appear in Phys. Rev.
Measuring a coherent superposition
We propose a simple method for measuring the populations and the relative
phase in a coherent superposition of two atomic states. The method is based on
coupling the two states to a third common (excited) state by means of two laser
pulses, and measuring the total fluorescence from the third state for several
choices of the excitation pulses.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, twocolumn REVTe
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