Coherent structures in localised and global pipe turbulence

The recent discovery of unstable travelling waves (TWs) in pipe flow has been hailed as a significant breakthrough with the hope that they populate the turbulent attractor. We confirm the existence of coherent states with internal fast and slow streaks commensurate in both structure and energy with known TWs using numerical simulations in a long pipe. These only occur, however, within less energetic regions of (localized) `puff' turbulence at low Reynolds numbers (Re=2000-2400), and not at all in (homogeneous) `slug' turbulence at Re=2800. This strongly suggests that all currently known TWs sit in an intermediate region of phase space between the laminar and turbulent states rather than being embedded within the turbulent attractor itself. New coherent fast streak states with strongly decelerated cores appear to populate the turbulent attractor instead.Comment: As accepted for PRL. 4 pages, 6 figures. Alterations to figs. 4,5. Significant changes to tex

Reply to Comment on 'Critical behaviour in the relaminarization of localized turbulence in pipe flow'

This is a Reply to Comment arXiv:0707.2642 by Hof et al. on Letter arXiv:physics/0608292 which was subsequently published in Phys Rev Lett, 98, 014501 (2007). In our letter it was reported that in pipe flow the median time $\tau$ for relaminarisation of localised turbulent disturbances closely follows the scaling $\tau\sim 1/(Re_c-Re)$. This conclusion was based on data from collections of 40 to 60 independent simulations at each of six different Reynolds numbers, Re. In the Comment, Hof et al. estimate $\tau$ differently for the point at lowest Re. Although this point is the most uncertain, it forms the basis for their assertion that the data might then fit an exponential scaling $\tau\sim \exp(A Re)$, for some constant A, supporting Hof et al. (2006) Nature, 443, 59. The most certain point (at largest Re) does not fit their conclusion and is rejected. We clarify why their argument for rejecting this point is flawed. The median $\tau$ is estimated from the distribution of observations, and it is shown that the correct part of the distribution is used. The data is sufficiently well determined to show that the exponential scaling cannot be fit to the data over this range of Re, whereas the $\tau\sim 1/(Re_c-Re)$ fit is excellent, indicating critical behaviour and supporting experiments by Peixinho & Mullin 2006.Comment: 1 page, 1 figur

Encapsulation task of the low-cost silicon solar array project. Investigation of test methods, material properties, and processes for solar cell encapsulants

The results of an investigation of solar module encapsulation systems applicable to the Low-Cost Solar Array Project 1986 cost and performance goals are presented. Six basic construction elements were identified and their specific uses in module construction defined. A uniform coating basis was established for each element. The survey results were also useful in revealing price ranges for classes of materials and estimating the cost allocation for each element within the encapsulating cost goal. The six construction elements were considered to be substrates, superstrates, pottants, adhesives, outer covers and back covers

Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violation using INTEGRAL/IBIS observations of GRB041219A

One of the experimental tests of Lorentz invariance violation is to measure the helicity dependence of the propagation velocity of photons originating in distant cosmological obejcts. Using a recent determination of the distance of the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 041219A, for which a high degree of polarization is observed in the prompt emission, we are able to improve by 4 orders of magnitude the existing constraint on Lorentz invariance violation, arising from the phenomenon of vacuum birefringence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review

Statistics of the largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle (1844-1993)

International audienceA previous application of extreme-value statistics to the first, second and third largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle for nine solar cycles is extended to fourteen solar cycles (1844?1993). The intensity of a geomagnetic storm is measured by the magnitude of the daily aa index, rather than the half-daily aa index used previously. Values of the conventional aa index (1868?1993), supplemented by the Helsinki Ak index (1844?1880), provide an almost continuous, and largely homogeneous, daily measure of geomagnetic activity over an interval of 150 years. As in the earlier investigation, analytic expressions giving the probabilities of the three greatest storms (extreme values) per solar cycle, as continuous functions of storm magnitude (aa), are obtained by least-squares fitting of the observations to the appropriate theoretical extreme-value probability functions. These expressions are used to obtain the statistical characteristics of the extreme values; namely, the mode, median, mean, standard deviation and relative dispersion. Since the Ak index may not provide an entirely homogeneous extension of the aa index, the statistical analysis is performed separately for twelve solar cycles (1868?1993), as well as nine solar cycles (1868?1967). The results are utilized to determine the expected ranges of the extreme values as a function of the number of solar cycles. For fourteen solar cycles, the expected ranges of the daily aa index for the first, second and third largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle decrease monotonically in magnitude, contrary to the situation for the half-daily aa index over nine solar cycles. The observed range of the first extreme daily aa index for fourteen solar cycles is 159?352 nT and for twelve solar cycles is 215?352 nT. In a group of 100 solar cycles the expected ranges are expanded to 137?539 and 177?511 nT, which represent increases of 108% and 144% in the respective ranges. Thus there is at least a 99% probability that the daily aa index will satisfy the condition aa < 550 for the largest geomagnetic storm in the next 100 solar cycles. The statistical analysis is used to infer that remarkable conjugate auroral observations on the night of 16 September 1770, which were recorded during the first voyage of Captain Cook to Australia, occurred during an intense geomagnetic storm

Benchmarking calculations of excitonic couplings between bacteriochlorophylls

Excitonic couplings between (bacterio)chlorophyll molecules are necessary for simulating energy transport in photosynthetic complexes. Many techniques for calculating the couplings are in use, from the simple (but inaccurate) point-dipole approximation to fully quantum-chemical methods. We compared several approximations to determine their range of applicability, noting that the propagation of experimental uncertainties poses a fundamental limit on the achievable accuracy. In particular, the uncertainty in crystallographic coordinates yields an uncertainty of about 20% in the calculated couplings. Because quantum-chemical corrections are smaller than 20% in most biologically relevant cases, their considerable computational cost is rarely justified. We therefore recommend the electrostatic TrEsp method across the entire range of molecular separations and orientations because its cost is minimal and it generally agrees with quantum-chemical calculations to better than the geometric uncertainty. We also caution against computationally optimizing a crystal structure before calculating couplings, as it can lead to large, uncontrollable errors. Understanding the unavoidable uncertainties can guard against striving for unrealistic precision; at the same time, detailed benchmarks can allow important qualitative questions--which do not depend on the precise values of the simulation parameters--to be addressed with greater confidence about the conclusions