Gravitational Collapse of Circularly Symmetric Stiff Fluid with Self-Similarity in 2+1 Gravity

Linear perturbations of homothetic self-similar stiff fluid solutions, $S[n]$, with circular symmetry in 2+1 gravity are studied. It is found that, except for those with $n = 1$ and $n = 3$, none of them is stable and all have more than one unstable mode. Hence, {\em none of these solutions can be critical}.Comment: latex file, 1 figure; last version to appear in Prog. Theor. Phy

On the Thermodynamics of Simple Non-Isentropic Perfect Fluids in General Relativity

We examine the consistency of the thermodynamics of irrotational and non-isentropic perfect fluids complying with matter conservation by looking at the integrability conditions of the Gibbs-Duhem relation. We show that the latter is always integrable for fluids of the following types: (a) static, (b) isentropic (admits a barotropic equation of state), (c) the source of a spacetime for which $r\ge 2$, where $r$ is the dimension of the orbit of the isometry group. This consistency scheme is tested also in two large classes of known exact solutions for which $r< 2$, in general: perfect fluid Szekeres solutions (classes I and II). In none of these cases, the Gibbs-Duhem relation is integrable, in general, though specific particular cases of Szekeres class II (all complying with $r<2$) are identified for which the integrability of this relation can be achieved. We show that Szekeres class I solutions satisfy the integrability conditions only in two trivial cases, namely the spherically symmetric limiting case and the Friedman-Roberson-Walker (FRW) cosmology. Explicit forms of the state variables and equations of state linking them are given explicitly and discussed in relation to the FRW limits of the solutions. We show that fixing free parameters in these solutions by a formal identification with FRW parameters leads, in all cases examined, to unphysical temperature evolution laws, quite unrelated to those of their FRW limiting cosmologies.Comment: 29 pages, Plain.Te

Turnip mosaic potyvirus probably first spread to Eurasian brassica crops from wild orchids about 1000 years ago

Turnip mosaic potyvirus (TuMV) is probably the most widespread and damaging virus that infects cultivated brassicas worldwide. Previous work has indicated that the virus originated in western Eurasia, with all of its closest relatives being viruses of monocotyledonous plants. Here we report that we have identified a sister lineage of TuMV-like potyviruses (TuMV-OM) from European orchids. The isolates of TuMV-OM form a monophyletic sister lineage to the brassica-infecting TuMVs (TuMV-BIs), and are nested within a clade of monocotyledon-infecting viruses. Extensive host-range tests showed that all of the TuMV-OMs are biologically similar to, but distinct from, TuMV-BIs and do not readily infect brassicas. We conclude that it is more likely that TuMV evolved from a TuMV-OM-like ancestor than the reverse. We did Bayesian coalescent analyses using a combination of novel and published sequence data from four TuMV genes [helper component-proteinase protein (HC-Pro), protein 3(P3), nuclear inclusion b protein (NIb), and coat protein (CP)]. Three genes (HC-Pro, P3, and NIb), but not the CP gene, gave results indicating that the TuMV-BI viruses diverged from TuMV-OMs around 1000 years ago. Only 150 years later, the four lineages of the present global population of TuMV-BIs diverged from one another. These dates are congruent with historical records of the spread of agriculture in Western Europe. From about 1200 years ago, there was a warming of the climate, and agriculture and the human population of the region greatly increased. Farming replaced woodlands, fostering viruses and aphid vectors that could invade the crops, which included several brassica cultivars and weeds. Later, starting 500 years ago, inter-continental maritime trade probably spread the TuMV-BIs to the remainder of the world

Martensite-to-austenite reversion and recrystallization in cryogenically-rolled type 321 metastable austenitic steel

The annealing behavior of cryogenically-rolled type 321 metastable austenitic steel was established. Cryogenic deformation gave rise to martensitic transformation which developed preferentially within deformation bands. Subsequent annealing in the range of 600 C to 700 C resulted in reversion of the strain-induced martensite to austenite. At 800 C, the reversion was followed by static recrystallization. At relatively-low temperatures, the reversion was characterized by a very strong variant selection, which led to the restoration of the crystallographic orientation of the coarse parent austenite grains. An increase in the annealing temperature relaxed the variant-selection tendency and provided subsequent recrystallization thus leading to significant grain refinement. Nevertheless, a significant portion of the original coarse grains was found to be untransformed and therefore the fine-grain structure was fairly heterogeneous

EBSD characterization of cryogenically rolled type 321 austenitic stainless steel

Electron backscatter diffraction was applied to investigate microstructure evolution during cryogenic rolling of type 321 metastable austenitic stainless steel. As expected, rolling promoted deformation-induced martensitic transformation which developed preferentially in deformation bands. Because a large fraction of the imposed strain was accommodated by deformation banding, grain refinement in the parent austenite phase was minimal. The martensitic transformation was found to follow a general orientation relationship, {111}γ||{0001}ε||{110}α′ and 〈110〉γ||〈11-20〉ε||〈111〉α′, and was characterized by noticeable variant selection