38,586 research outputs found
Structural response of SSME turbine blade airfoils
Reusable space propulsion hot gas-path components are required to operate under severe thermal and mechanical loading conditions. These operating conditions produce elevated temperature and thermal transients which results in significant thermally induced inelastic strains, particularly, in the turbopump turbine blades. An inelastic analysis for this component may therefore be necessary. Anisotropic alloys such as MAR M-247 or PWA-1480 are being considered to meet the safety and durability requirements of this component. An anisotropic inelastic structural analysis for an SSME fuel turbopump turbine blade was performed. The thermal loads used resulted from a transient heat transfer analysis of a turbine blade. A comparison of preliminary results from the elastic and inelastic analyses is presented
High magnetic field pulsars and magnetars: a unified picture
We propose a unified picture of high magnetic field radio pulsars and
magnetars by arguing that they are all rotating high-field neutron stars, but
have different orientations of their magnetic axes with respective to their
rotation axes. In strong magnetic fields where photon splitting suppresses pair
creation near the surface, the high-field pulsars can have active inner
accelerators while the anomalous X-ray pulsars cannot. This can account for the
very different observed emission characteristics of the anomalous X-ray pulsar
1E 2259+586 and the high field radio pulsar PSR J1814-1744. A predicted
consequence of this picture is that radio pulsars having surface magnetic field
greater than about G should not exist.Comment: 5 pages, emulateapj style, accepted for publication in the ApJ
Letter
Magnetic Photon Splitting: Computations of Proper-time Rates and Spectra
The splitting of photons in the presence of an intense magnetic field has
recently found astrophysical applications in polar cap models of gamma-ray
pulsars and in magnetar scenarios for soft gamma repeaters. Numerical
computation of the polarization-dependent rates of this third order QED process
for arbitrary field strengths and energies below pair creation threshold is
difficult: thus early analyses focused on analytic developments and simpler
asymptotic forms. The recent astrophysical interest spurred the use of the
S-matrix approach by Mentzel, Berg and Wunner to determine splitting rates. In
this paper, we present numerical computations of a full proper-time expression
for the rate of splitting that was obtained by Stoneham, and is exact up to the
pair creation threshold. While the numerical results derived here are in accord
with the earlier asymptotic forms due to Adler, our computed rates still differ
by as much as factors of 3 from the S-matrix re-evaluation of Wilke and Wunner,
reflecting the extreme difficulty of generating accurate S-matrix numerics for
fields below about \teq{4.4\times 10^{13}}Gauss. We find that our proper-time
rates appear very accurate, and exceed Adler's asymptotic specializations
significantly only for photon energies just below pair threshold and for
supercritical fields, but always by less than a factor of around 2.6. We also
provide a useful analytic series expansion for the scattering amplitude valid
at low energies.Comment: 13 pages, AASTeX format, including 3 eps figures, ApJ in pres
Hysteresis in mesoscopic superconducting disks: the Bean-Livingston barrier
The magnetization behavior of mesoscopic superconducting disks can show
hysteretic behavior which we explain by using the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory
and properly taking into account the de-magnetization effects due to
geometrical form factors. In large disks the Bean-Livingston surface barrier is
responsible for the hysteresis. While in small disks a volume barrier is
responsible for this hysteresis. It is shown that although the sample
magnetization is diamagnetic (negative), the measured magnetization can be
positive at certain fields as observed experimentally, which is a consequence
of the de-magnetization effects and the experimental set up.Comment: Latex file, 4 ps file
High Energy Neutrinos and Photons from Curvature Pions in Magnetars
We discuss the relevance of the curvature radiation of pions in strongly
magnetized pulsars or magnetars, and their implications for the production of
TeV energy neutrinos detectable by cubic kilometer scale detectors, as well as
high energy photons.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, to appear in JCA
Diffusion of particles in an expanding sphere with an absorbing boundary
We study the problem of particles undergoing Brownian motion in an expanding
sphere whose surface is an absorbing boundary for the particles. The problem is
akin to that of the diffusion of impurities in a grain of polycrystalline
material undergoing grain growth. We solve the time dependent diffusion
equation for particles in a d-dimensional expanding sphere to obtain the
particle density function (function of space and time). The survival rate or
the total number of particles per unit volume as a function of time is
evaluated. We have obtained particular solutions exactly for the case where d=3
and a parabolic growth of the sphere. Asymptotic solutions for the particle
density when the sphere growth rate is small relative to particle diffusivity
and vice versa are derived.Comment: 12 pages. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41 (2008
Measurement of Synchrotron x-ray energies and line shapes using diffraction markers
Standard reference markers for accurate, reproducible synchrotron x-ray energies are obtained using a three Si crystal spectrometer. The first two crystals are in the monochromator and the third is used to obtain diffraction markers which monitor the energy. Then for any value of the glancing angle on the reference Si crystal the energy for the (333) diffraction must occur at 3/4 that of the (444) and 3/5 of that for the (555). This establishes for the first time an absolute synchrotron energy scale. Higher-order diffractions are used to determine excitation line profiles. We conclude that the use of reference diffractions is necessary to measure reproducible x-ray energies and to analyze the incident photons\u27 line profile. The detection of diffractions near the edge of measurement and near the Cu edge will provide a fast secondary standard which will allow comparison of edge data between different laboratories. The diffraction profiles will allow the proper analysis of spectral line widths
Future of superheavy element research: Which nuclei could be synthesized within the next few years?
Low values of the fusion cross sections and very short half-lives of nuclei
with Z120 put obstacles in synthesis of new elements. Different nuclear
reactions (fusion of stable and radioactive nuclei, multi-nucleon transfers and
neutron capture), which could be used for the production of new isotopes of
superheavy (SH) elements, are discussed in the paper. The gap of unknown SH
nuclei, located between the isotopes which were produced earlier in the cold
and hot fusion reactions, can be filled in fusion reactions of Ca with
available lighter isotopes of Pu, Am, and Cm. Cross sections for the production
of these nuclei are predicted to be rather large, and the corresponding
experiments can be easily performed at existing facilities. For the first time,
a narrow pathway is found to the middle of the island of stability owing to
possible -decay of SH isotopes which can be formed in ordinary fusion
reactions of stable nuclei. Multi-nucleon transfer processes at near barrier
collisions of heavy (and very heavy, U-like) ions are shown to be quite
realistic reaction mechanism allowing us to produce new neutron enriched heavy
nuclei located in the unexplored upper part of the nuclear map. Neutron capture
reactions can be also used for the production of the long-living neutron rich
SH nuclei. Strong neutron fluxes might be provided by pulsed nuclear reactors
and by nuclear explosions in laboratory conditions and by supernova explosions
in nature. All these possibilities are discussed in the paper.Comment: An Invited Plenary Talk given by Valeriy I. Zagrebaev at the 11th
International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio,
Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in
Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS
Feeling good about being hungry: food-related thoughts in eating disorder
Objectives: This study explores the relationships to food and hunger in women living with anorexic type eating difficulties and asks how imagery-based elaborations of food and eating thoughts are involved in their eating restraint, and recovery. Design: The qualitative idiographic approach of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used. Four in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with women self-selected as having experienced anorexia or anorexic like behaviour. Methods: The data was analysed using IPA and an audit of the analysis was conducted to ensure that the process followed had been systematic and rigorous and appropriately considered reflexivity. Results: Hunger was perceived positively by participants as confirmation that they were achieving their goal of losing weight, or avoiding weight gain. Hunger conferred a sense of being in control for the participants. Intrusive thoughts about food were reported as being quickly followed by elaborative mental imagery of the positive aspects of weight loss, and the negative consequences of eating. Imagery appeared to serve to maintain anorexic behaviours rather than to motivate food seeking. However, negative imagery of the consequences of anorexia were also described as supporting recovery. Conclusions: The finding that physiological sensations of hunger were experienced as positive confirmation of maintaining control has potentially important clinical and theoretical implications. It suggests further attention needs to be focused upon how changes in cognitive elaboration, involving mental imagery, are components of the psychological changes in the development of, maintenance of, and recovery from, anorexia
- …