2,046 research outputs found
An investigation of the motion of small particles as related to the formulation of zero gravity experiments
The nature of Brownian motion and historical theoretical investigations of the phenomemon are reviewed. The feasibility of using a laser anemometer to perform small particle experiments in an orbiting space laboratory was investigated using latex particles suspended in water in a plastic container. The optical equipment and the particle Doppler analysis processor are described. The values of the standard deviation obtained for the latex particle motion experiment were significantly large compared to corresponding velocity, therefore, their accuracy was suspect and no attempt was made to draw meaningful conclusions from the results
Adiabatic Heavy Ion Fusion Potentials for Fusion at Deep Sub-barrier Energies
The fusion cross sections from well above barrier to extreme sub-barrier
energies have been analysed using the energy (E) and angular momentum (L)
dependent barrier penetration model ({\small{ELDBPM}}). From this analysis, the
adiabatic limits of fusion barriers have been determined for a wide range of
heavy ion systems. The empirical prescription of Wilzynska and Wilzynski has
been used with modified radius parameter and surface tension coefficient values
consistent with the parameterization of the nuclear masses. The adiabatic
fusion barriers calculated from this prescription are in good agreement with
the adiabatic barriers deduced from {\small{ELDBPM}} fits to fusion data. The
nuclear potential diffuseness is larger at adiabatic limit, resulting in a
lower leading to increase of "logarithmic slope" observed at
energies well below the barrier. The effective fusion barrier radius and
curvature values are anomalously smaller than the predictions of known
empirical prescriptions. A detailed comparison of the systematics of fusion
barrier with and without L-dependence has been presented.Comment: Revtex file of 6 pages and 3 eps figure
Complex free energy landscapes in biaxial nematics and role of repulsive interactions : A Wang - Landau study
General quadratic Hamiltonian models, describing interaction between crystal
molecules (typically with symmetry) take into account couplings
between their uniaxial and biaxial tensors. While the attractive contributions
arising from interactions between similar tensors of the participating
molecules provide for eventual condensation of the respective orders at
suitably low temperatures, the role of cross-coupling between unlike tensors is
not fully appreciated. Our recent study with an advanced Monte Carlo technique
(entropic sampling) showed clearly the increasing relevance of this cross term
in determining the phase diagram, contravening in some regions of model
parameter space, the predictions of mean field theory and standard Monte Carlo
simulation results. In this context, we investigated the phase diagrams and the
nature of the phases therein, on two trajectories in the parameter space: one
is a line in the interior region of biaxial stability believed to be
representative of the real systems, and the second is the extensively
investigated parabolic path resulting from the London dispersion approximation.
In both the cases, we find the destabilizing effect of increased cross-coupling
interactions, which invariably result in the formation of local biaxial
organizations inhomogeneously distributed. This manifests as a small, but
unmistakable, contribution of biaxial order in the uniaxial phase.The free
energy profiles computed in the present study as a function of the two dominant
order parameters indicate complex landscapes, reflecting the difficulties in
the ready realization of the biaxial phase in the laboratory.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Stability of Lending Rate Stickiness: A Case Study of India
The paper postulates that in an environment of continuous financial reforms, the lending rate stickiness in an economy could be changing over the period. The financial reforms (of which deregulation of interest rates formed a major part) during the 1990s and the early 2000s and the changing role attributed to different policy rates during the reforms make India an interesting case study. The paper finds evidence of diminishing lending rate stickiness in case of India. During the major part of the study, Indian policymakers used the discount rate for policy signaling. The paper observes that as a result, the long-term rates like the lending rates did not react sufficiently to the changes in the short-term rates (e.g., repo rate) in this period unless the discount rate was also changed. Such behavior changed when policymakers started to use short-term rates like repo rates for policy signaling. Results in this paper suggest that when the impacts are added together, a change of 100 basis points in all policy rates towards the end of the reference period could change the lending rate in India almost by similar magnitude. These findings help to reconcile some of the contrasting findings on lending rate stickiness in case of India. Among possible factors still responsible for lending rate stickiness, the study identifies inelastic credit demand in India as an important factor. From policymaking perspective, however, it is postulated that as demand for personal and housing loans in India are likely to increase in future due to demographic factor, it is likely that such increase could tend to increase inflexibility in loan rates.Lending Rate Stickiness, Discount Rate Addiction, Monetary Policy Transmission
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