12,822 research outputs found
Efficiency of Nonlinear Particle Acceleration at Cosmic Structure Shocks
We have calculated the evolution of cosmic ray (CR) modified astrophysical
shocks for a wide range of shock Mach numbers and shock speeds through
numerical simulations of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) in 1D quasi-
parallel plane shocks. The simulations include thermal leakage injection of
seed CRs, as well as pre-existing, upstream CR populations. Bohm-like diffusion
is assumed. We model shocks similar to those expected around cosmic structure
pancakes as well as other accretion shocks driven by flows with upstream gas
temperatures in the range K and shock Mach numbers spanning
. We show that CR modified shocks evolve to time-asymptotic states
by the time injected particles are accelerated to moderately relativistic
energies (p/mc \gsim 1), and that two shocks with the same Mach number, but
with different shock speeds, evolve qualitatively similarly when the results
are presented in terms of a characteristic diffusion length and diffusion time.
For these models the time asymptotic value for the CR acceleration efficiency
is controlled mainly by shock Mach number. The modeled high Mach number shocks
all evolve towards efficiencies %, regardless of the upstream CR
pressure. On the other hand, the upstream CR pressure increases the overall CR
energy in moderate strength shocks (). (abridged)Comment: 23 pages, 12 ps figures, accepted for Astrophysical Journal (Feb. 10,
2005
Influence of Surfactant-Mediated Interparticle Contacts on the Mechanical Stability of Supraparticles
[Image: see text] Colloidal supraparticles are micron-scale spherical assemblies of uniform primary particles, which exhibit emergent properties of a colloidal crystal, yet exist as a dispersible powder. A prerequisite to utilize these emergent functionalities is that the supraparticles maintain their mechanical integrity upon the mechanical impacts that are likely to occur during processing. Understanding how the internal structure relates to the resultant mechanical properties of a supraparticle is therefore of general interest. Here, we take the example of supraparticles templated from water/fluorinated oil emulsions in droplet-based microfluidics and explore the effect of surfactants on their mechanical properties. Stable emulsions can be generated by nonionic block copolymers consisting of a hydrophilic and fluorophilic block and anionic fluorosurfactants widely available under the brand name Krytox. The supraparticles formed in the presence of both types of surfactants appear structurally similar, but differ greatly in their mechanical properties. While the nonionic surfactant induces superior mechanical stability and ductile fracture behavior, the anionic Krytox surfactant leads to weak supraparticles with brittle fracture. We complement this macroscopic picture with Brillouin light spectroscopy that is very sensitive to the interparticle contacts for subnanometer-thick adsorbed layers atop of the nanoparticle. While the anionic Krytox does not significantly affect the interparticle bonds, the amphiphilic nonionic surfactant drastically strengthens these bonds to the point that individual particle vibrations are not resolved in the experimental spectrum. Our results demonstrate that seemingly subtle changes in the physicochemical properties of supraparticles can drastically impact the resultant mechanical properties
Variable stars in the Open Cluster M11 (NGC 6705)
V-band time-series CCD photometric observations of the intermediate-age open
cluster M11 were performed to search for variable stars. Using these
time-series data, we carefully examined light variations of all stars in the
observing field. A total of 82 variable stars were discovered, of which 39
stars had been detected recently by Hargis et al. (2005). On the basis of
observational properties such as variable period, light curve shape, and
position on a color-magnitude diagram, we classified their variable types as 11
delta Scuti-type pulsating stars, 2 gamma Doradus-type pulsating stars, 40 W
UMa-type contact eclipsing binaries, 13 Algol-type detached eclipsing binaries,
and 16 eclipsing binaries with long period. Cluster membership for each
variable star was deduced from the previous proper motion results (McNamara et
al. 1977) and position on the color-magnitude diagram. Many pulsating stars and
eclipsing binaries in the region of M11 are probable members of the cluster.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, and accepted for publication in PAS
Apparent finite-size effects in the dynamics of supercooled liquids
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed for a supercooled simple liquid
with changing the system size from N=108 to to examine possible
finite-size effects. Although almost no systematic deviation is detected in the
static pair correlation functions, it is demonstrated that the structural
relaxation in a small system becomes considerably slower than that in
larger systems for temperatures below at which the size of the
cooperative particle motions becomes comparable to the unit cell length of the
small system. The discrepancy increases with decreasing temperature.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
Measuring the cosmological lepton asymmetry through the CMB anisotropy
A large lepton asymmetry in the Universe is still a viable possibility and
leads to many interesting phenomena such as gauge symmetry nonrestoration at
high temperature. We show that a large lepton asymmetry changes the predicted
cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and that any degeneracy in the
relic neutrino sea will be measured to a precision of 1% or better when the CMB
anisotropy is measured at the accuracy expected to result from the planned
satellite missions MAP and Planck. In fact, the current measurements already
put an upper limit on the lepton asymmetry of the Universe which is stronger
than the one coming from considerations of primordial nucleosynthesis and
structure formation.Comment: 4 pagex LaTex, 1 color postscript figure, uses epsf. Version
submitted to PRL. (Bug in code fixed, new figure, conclusions unchanged
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