Rolling friction of a hard cylinder on a viscous plane

The resistance against rolling of a rigid cylinder on a flat viscous surface is investigated. We found that the rolling-friction coefficient reveals strongly non-linear dependence on the cylinder's velocity. For low velocity the rolling-friction coefficient rises with velocity due to increasing deformation rate of the surface. For larger velocity, however, it decreases with velocity according to decreasing contact area and deformation of the surface.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Coefficient of Restitution for Viscoelastic Spheres: The Effect of Delayed Recovery

The coefficient of normal restitution of colliding viscoelastic spheres is computed as a function of the material properties and the impact velocity. From simple arguments it becomes clear that in a collision of purely repulsively interacting particles, the particles loose contact slightly before the distance of the centers of the spheres reaches the sum of the radii, that is, the particles recover their shape only after they lose contact with their collision partner. This effect was neglected in earlier calculations which leads erroneously to attractive forces and, thus, to an underestimation of the coefficient of restitution. As a result we find a novel dependence of the coefficient of restitution on the impact rate.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Coefficient of tangential restitution for the linear dashpot model

The linear dashpot model for the inelastic normal force between colliding spheres leads to a constant coefficient of normal restitution, $\epsilon_n=$const., which makes this model very popular for the investigation of dilute and moderately dense granular systems. For two frequently used models for the tangential interaction force we determine the coefficient of tangential restitution $\epsilon_t$, both analytically and by numerical integration of Newton's equation. Although $\epsilon_n=$const. for the linear-dashpot model, we obtain pronounced and characteristic dependencies of the tangential coefficient on the impact velocity $\epsilon_t=\epsilon_t(\vec{g})$. The results may be used for event-driven simulations of granular systems of frictional particles.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Fractal Substructure of a Nanopowder

The structural evolution of a nano-powder by repeated dispersion and settling can lead to characteristic fractal substructures. This is shown by numerical simulations of a two-dimensional model agglomerate of adhesive rigid particles. The agglomerate is cut into fragments of a characteristic size l, which then are settling under gravity. Repeating this procedure converges to a loosely packed structure, the properties of which are investigated: a) The final packing density is independent of the initialization, b) the short-range correlation function is independent of the fragment size, c) the structure is fractal up to the fragmentation scale l with a fractal dimension close to 1.7, and d) the relaxation time increases linearly with l.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Long-Term Soil Productivity Study: 25-Year Vegetation Response to Varying Degrees of Disturbance in Aspen-Dominated Forest Spanning the Upper Lake States

Installations of the Long-Term Soil Productivity Study were established in northern Minnesota and Michigan at the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Huron-Manistee National Forests (NFs) in the early 1990s and have since provided a wealth of data for assessing the response of aspen-dominated forest ecosystems to varying levels of organic matter removal and soil compaction. An assessment of 25-year standing woody biomass indicates that neither whole-tree harvest nor whole-tree harvest combined with forest floor removal reduced forest productivity on silt-loam soils compared with conventional, stem-only harvest; however, moderate and heavy compaction did negatively impact aspen biomass and stem densities. In contrast, whole-tree harvest reduced standing biomass of aspen and all species combined on sandy soils at the Huron NF while compaction had no discernable impact. Neither treatment factor affected vegetation response at the Ottawa NF (clay soils), but reduced sample size at this site may have increased variability. Over all, the response of standing biomass and forest structure to organic matter removal and compaction treatments demonstrate that the sustainability of practices such as whole-tree harvesting and associated potential for soil impacts varies with site conditions, even when stands are dominated by the same species (e.g., Populus tremuloides)

Chains of Viscoelastic Spheres

Given a chain of viscoelastic spheres with fixed masses of the first and last particles. We raise the question: How to chose the masses of the other particles of the chain to assure maximal energy transfer? The results are compared with a chain of particles for which a constant coefficient of restitution is assumed. Our simple example shows that the assumption of viscoelastic particle properties has not only important consequences for very large systems (see [1]) but leads also to qualitative changes in small systems as compared with particles interacting via a constant restitution coefficient.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Collision of One-Dimensional Nonlinear Chains

We investigate one-dimensional collisions of unharmonic chains and a rigid wall. We find that the coefficient of restitution (COR) is strongly dependent on the velocity of colliding chains and has a minimum value at a certain velocity. The relationship between COR and collision velocity is derived for low-velocity collisions using perturbation methods. We found that the velocity dependence is characterized by the exponent of the lowest unharmonic term of interparticle potential energy

Dynamic masses for the close PG1159 binary SDSSJ212531.92-010745.9

SDSSJ212531.92-010745.9 is the first known PG1159 star in a close binary with a late main sequence companion allowing a dynamical mass determination. The system shows flux variations with a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 0.7 mag and a period of about 6.96h. In August 2007, 13 spectra of SDSSJ212531.92-010745.9 covering the full orbital phase range were taken at the TWIN 3.5m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory (Alm\'{e}ria, Spain). These confirm the typical PG1159 features seen in the SDSS discovery spectrum, together with the Balmer series of hydrogen in emission (plus other emission lines), interpreted as signature of the companion's irradiated side. A radial velocity curve was obtained for both components. Using co-added radial-velocity-corrected spectra, the spectral analysis of the PG1159 star is being refined. The system's lightcurve, obtained during three seasons of photometry with the G\"ottingen 50cm and T\"ubingen 80cm telescopes, was fitted with both the NIGHTFALL and PHOEBE binary simulation programs. An accurate mass determination of the PG1159 component from the radial velocity measurements requires to first derive the inclination, which requires light curve modelling and yields further constraints on radii, effective temperature and separation of the system's components. From the analysis of all data available so far, we present the possible mass range for the PG1159 component of SDSSJ212531.92-010745.9.Comment: 8 pages, in "White dwarfs", proceedings of the 16th European White Dwarf Workshop, eds. E. Garcia-Berro, M. Hernanz, J. Isern, S. Torres, to be published in J. Phys.: Conf. Se

Dissipative spin chains: Implementation with cold atoms and steady-state properties

We propose a quantum optical implementation of a class of dissipative spin systems, including the XXZ and Ising model, with ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices. Employing the motional degree of freedom of the atoms and detuned Raman transitions we show how to obtain engineerable dissipation and a tunable transversal magnetic field, enabling the study of the dynamics and steady-states of dissipative spin models. As an example of effects made accessible this way, we consider small spin chains and weak dissipation and show by numerical simulation that steady-state expectation values display pronounced peaks at certain critical system parameters. We show that this effect is related to degeneracies in the Hamiltonian and derive a sufficient condition for its occurrence.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, published version, includes new figure and several small change

Self-diffusion in granular gases

The coefficient of self-diffusion for a homogeneously cooling granular gas changes significantly if the impact-velocity dependence of the restitution coefficient $\epsilon$ is taken into account. For the case of a constant $\epsilon$ the particles spread logarithmically slow with time, whereas the velocity dependent coefficient yields a power law time-dependence. The impact of the difference in these time dependences on the properties of a freely cooling granular gas is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, no figure