742 research outputs found
TRANSIENT MODELLING OF A NATURAL CIRCULATION LOOP UNDER VARIABLE PRESSURE
The objective of the present work is to model the transient operation of a natural circulation loop, which is one-tenth scale in height to a typical Passive Residual Heat Removal system (PRHR) of an Advanced Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor and was designed to meet the single and two-phase ow similarity criteria to it. The loop consists of a core barrel with electrically heated rods, upper and lower plena inter- connected by hot and cold pipe legs to a seven-tube shell heat exchanger of countercurrent design, and an expansion tank with a descending tube. A long transient characterized the loop operation, during which a phenomenon of self-pressurization, without self-regulation of the pressure, was experimentally observed. This represented a unique situation, named natural circulation under variable pressure (NCVP). The self-pressurization was originated in the air trapped in the expansion tank and compressed by the loop
water dilatation, as it heated up during each experiment. The mathematical model, initially oriented to the single-phase ow, included the heat capacity of the structure and employed a cubic polynomial approximation for the density, in the buoyancy term calculation. The heater was modelled taking into account the di erent heat capacities of the heating elements and the heater walls. The heat exchanger was
modelled considering the coolant heating, during the heat exchanging process. The self-pressurization was modelled as an isentropic compression of a perfect gas. The whole model was computationally im-plemented via a set of nite di erence equations. The corresponding computational algorithm of solution was of the explicit, marching type, as for the time discretization, in an upwind scheme, regarding the space discretization. The computational program was implemented in MATLAB. Several experiments
were carried out in the natural circulation loop, having the coolant ow rate and the heating power as control parameters. The variables used in the comparison between experimental and calculated data were some relevant loop temperatures and pressures. The results obtained from the computational model agree qualitatively well with the experimental NCVP data
Quasars: What turns them off?
(Abridged) We explore the idea that the anti-hierarchical turn-off observed
in the quasar population arises from self-regulating feedback, via an outflow
mechanism. Using a detailed hydrodynamic simulation we calculate the luminosity
function of quasars down to a redshift of z=1 in a large, cosmologically
representative volume. Outflows are included explicitly by tracking halo
mergers and driving shocks into the surrounding intergalactic medium. Our
results are in excellent agreement with measurements of the spatial
distribution of quasars, and we detect an intriguing excess of galaxy-quasar
pairs at very short separations. We also reproduce the anti-hierarchical
turnoff in the quasar luminosity function, however, the magnitude of the
turn-off falls short of that observed as well as that predicted by analogous
semi-analytic models. The difference can be traced to the treatment of gas
heating within galaxies. The simulated galaxy cluster L_X-T relationship is
close to that observed for z~1 clusters, but the simulated galaxy groups at z=1
are significantly perturbed by quasar outflows, suggesting that measurements of
X-ray emission in high-redshift groups could well be a "smoking gun" for the
AGN heating hypothesis.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, submitted to ApJ, comments welcome
The Role of Heating and Enrichment in Galaxy Formation
We show that the winds identified with high-redshift low-mass galaxies may
strongly affect the formation of stars in more massive galaxies that form
later. With 3D realizations of a simple linear growth model we track gas
shocking, metal enrichment, and cooling, together with dark halo formation. We
show that outflows typically strip baryonic material out of collapsing
intermediate mass halos, suppressing star formation. More massive halos can
trap the heated gas but collapse late, leading to a broad bimodal redshift
distribution, with a larger characteristic mass associated with the lower
redshift peak. This scenario accounts for the observed bell-shaped luminosity
function of early type galaxies, explains the small number of Milky Way
satellite galaxies relative to Cold Dark Matter models predictions, and
provides a possible explanation for the lack of metal poor G-dwarfs in the
solar neighborhood and the more general lack of low-metallicity stars in
massive galaxies relative to ``closed-box'' models of chemical enrichment.
Intergalactic medium heating from outflows should produce spectral distortions
in the cosmic microwave background that will be measurable with the next
generation of experiments.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, accepted to ApJ, models refined and minor
revisions mad
Optimal measurement bases for Bell-tests based on the CH-inequality
The Hardy test of nonlocality can be seen as a particular case of the Bell
tests based on the Clauser-Horne (CH) inequality. Here we stress this
connection when we analyze the relation between the CH-inequality violation,
its threshold detection efficiency, and the measurement settings adopted in the
test. It is well known that the threshold efficiencies decrease when one
considers partially entangled states and that the use of these states,
unfortunately, generates a reduction in the CH violation. Nevertheless, these
quantities are both dependent on the measurement settings considered, and in
this paper we show that there are measurement bases which allow for an optimal
situation in this trade-off relation. These bases are given as a generalization
of the Hardy measurement bases, and they will be relevant for future Bell tests
relying on pairs of entangled qubits.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Quantifying Quantum Correlations in Fermionic Systems using Witness Operators
We present a method to quantify quantum correlations in arbitrary systems of
indistinguishable fermions using witness operators. The method associates the
problem of finding the optimal entan- glement witness of a state with a class
of problems known as semidefinite programs (SDPs), which can be solved
efficiently with arbitrary accuracy. Based on these optimal witnesses, we
introduce a measure of quantum correlations which has an interpretation
analogous to the Generalized Robust- ness of entanglement. We also extend the
notion of quantum discord to the case of indistinguishable fermions, and
propose a geometric quantifier, which is compared to our entanglement measure.
Our numerical results show a remarkable equivalence between the proposed
Generalized Robustness and the Schliemann concurrence, which are equal for pure
states. For mixed states, the Schliemann con- currence presents itself as an
upper bound for the Generalized Robustness. The quantum discord is also found
to be an upper bound for the entanglement.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Quantum Information
Processin
Wannier-function description of the electronic polarization and infrared absorption of high-pressure hydrogen
We have constructed maximally-localized Wannier functions for prototype
structures of solid molecular hydrogen under pressure, starting from LDA and
tight-binding Bloch wave functions. Each occupied Wannier function can be
associated with two paired protons, defining a ``Wannier molecule''. The sum of
the dipole moments of these ``molecules'' always gives the correct macroscopic
polarization, even under strong compression, when the overlap between nearby
Wannier functions becomes significant. We find that at megabar pressures the
contributions to the dipoles arising from the overlapping tails of the Wannier
functions is very large. The strong vibron infrared absorption experimentally
observed in phase III, above ~ 150 GPa, is analyzed in terms of the
vibron-induced fluctuations of the Wannier dipoles. We decompose these
fluctuations into ``static'' and ``dynamical'' contributions, and find that at
such high densities the latter term, which increases much more steeply with
pressure, is dominant.Comment: 17 pages, two-column style with 14 postscript figures embedded. Uses
REVTEX and epsf macro
March1-dependent modulation of donor MHC II on CD103+ dendritic cells mitigates alloimmunity.
In transplantation, donor dendritic cells (do-DCs) initiate the alloimmune response either by direct interaction with host T cells or by transferring intact donor MHC to host DCs. However, how do-DCs can be targeted for improving allograft survival is still unclear. Here we show CD103+ DCs are the major do-DC subset involved in the acute rejection of murine skin transplants. In the absence of CD103+ do-DCs, less donor MHC-II is carried to host lymph nodes, fewer allogenic T cells are primed and allograft survival is prolonged. Incubation of skin grafts with the anti-inflammatory mycobacterial protein DnaK reduces donor MHC-II on CD103+DCs and prolongs graft survival. This effect is mediated through IL-10-induced March1, which ubiquitinates and decreases MHC-II levels. Importantly, in vitro pre-treatment of human DCs with DnaK reduces their ability to prime alloreactive T cells. Our findings demonstrate a novel therapeutic approach to dampen alloimmunity by targeting donor MHC-II on CD103+DCs
Mutations in the intellectual disability gene Ube2a cause neuronal dysfunction and impair parkin-dependent mitophagy
The prevalence of intellectual disability is around 3%; however, the etiology of the disease remains unclear in most cases. We identified a series of patients with X-linked intellectual disability presenting mutations in the Rad6a (Ube2a) gene, which encodes for an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme. Drosophila deficient for dRad6 display defective synaptic function as a consequence of mitochondrial failure. Similarly, mouse mRad6a (Ube2a) knockout and patient-derived hRad6a (Ube2a) mutant cells show defective mitochondria. Using in vitro and in vivo ubiquitination assays, we show that RAD6A acts as an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme that, in combination with an E3 ubiquitin ligase such as Parkin, ubiquitinates mitochondrial proteins to facilitate the clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria in cells. Hence, we identify RAD6A as a regulator of Parkin-dependent mitophagy and establish a critical role for RAD6A in maintaining neuronal function
Gas Gain Uniformity Tests performed on Multi Wire Proportional Chambers for the LHCb Muon System
We present the experimental setup and the results of the gas gain uniformity tests performed as part of the quality control of the multiwire proportional chambers produced at CERN for the LHCb Muon system. The test provides a relative gas gain measurement over the whole chamber sensitive area. It is based on the analysis of the pulse height spectrum obtained when the chamber is exposed to {a^241}Am radioactive source. Since the measurement is normalized to the peak of a precise pulse generator, the gain uniformity can also be evaluated among different gas gaps and different chambers
Does estrus synchronization based on estrogen-induced pseudopregnancy affect embryonic production and development in gilts?
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