Electrical switching in cadmium boracite single crystals

Cadmium boracite single crystals at high temperatures ( 300 C) were found to exhibit a reversible electric field-induced transition between a highly insulative and a conductive state. The switching threshold is smaller than a few volts for an electrode spacing of a few tenth of a millimeter corresponding to an electric field of 100 to 1000 V/cm. This is much smaller than the dielectric break-down field for an insulator such as boracite. The insulative state reappears after voltage removal. A pulse technique revealed two different types of switching. Unstable switching occurs when the pulse voltage slightly exceeds the switching threshold and is characterized by a pre-switching delay and also a residual current after voltage pulse removal. A stable type of switching occurs when the voltage becomes sufficiently high. Possible device applications of this switching phenomenon are discussed

New conformally flat initial data for spinning black holes

We obtain an explicit solution of the momentum constraint for conformally flat, maximal slicing, initial data which gives an alternative to the purely longitudinal extrinsic curvature of Bowen and York. The new solution is related, in a precise form, with the extrinsic curvature of a Kerr slice. We study these new initial data representing spinning black holes by numerically solving the Hamiltonian constraint. They have the following features: i) Contain less radiation, for all allowed values of the rotation parameter, than the corresponding single spinning Bowen-York black hole. ii) The maximum rotation parameter $J/m^2$ reached by this solution is higher than that of the purely longitudinal solution allowing thus to describe holes closer to a maximally rotating Kerr one. We discuss the physical interpretation of these properties and their relation with the weak cosmic censorship conjecture. Finally, we generalize the data for multiple black holes using the ``puncture'' and isometric formulations.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX

A Waypoint Following Control Design for a Paraglider Model With Aerodynamic Uncertainty

This paper presents a waypoint following control design for a powered paraglider (PPG) model. After constructing a dynamic model with six degrees of freedom of the PPG, a dynamical lateral model around a trim equilibrium in the steady-state flight is obtained. Unknown parameters, such as the moment of inertia, the drag coefficient, etc., in the lateral model are optimized by real flight experimental data. The model output with the optimized parameters agrees with the real flight experimental data. Since the aerodynamics-related parameter, i.e., the drag coefficient, might be slightly changed even near the considered trim equilibrium, this paper considers its uncertainty in the constructed lateral model. A nonlinear controller to stabilize the lateral model (with the aerodynamic uncertainty) on a considered operation domain is designed by solving robust controller design conditions expressed in terms of linear matrix inequality. The experimental results including automatic landing demonstrate the effectiveness of the control system design framework, i.e., the model construction and the robust stable control, considering the model uncertainty

The ground state of three quarks

We measure the static three-quark potential in SU(3) lattice gauge theory with improved accuracy, by using all available technical refinements, including Luscher-Weisz exponential variance reduction. Together with insight gained from 3-state Potts model simulations, our results allow us to sort out the merits of the Delta- and Y-ansaetze.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at Lattice2002(topology

Crack Initiation Assessment of Wearing Course Asphalt Mixtures Using Aggregate Gradation Characteristic

At normal service temperatures, wearing course asphalt mixtures may have ductile cracking. Aggregate gradation characteristic is important to avoid the premature cracking. The present study discusses a relationship between the characteristic of aggregate gradation and crack resistance of wearing course mixtures. Asphalt mixture specimens were prepared using different types of aggregate gradation. The Bailey method was employed in order to recognize the characteristic of aggregate gradations. Notched semi circular bending test was conducted to obtain the critical J integral (Jc). The coarse aggregate (CA) ratio and the fine graded fine aggregate coarse (FG FAc) ratio defined by the Bailey method were introduced to recognize the effect of aggregate gradation type on Jc. The result was decreasing the Jc value with increasing the CA ratio and FG FAc ratio. Satisfying the current Bailey criterion on the CA ratio for stone mastic asphalt mixtures and setting FG FAc of fine graded HMA mixtures near 0.4 seem useful in order to obtain HMA mixtures with a high Jc. The present study also discusses spherical aggregates assembly models as an aid to illustrate development of the aggregates interlocking, which influences to the cracking

Thermoelectric transport of perfectly conducting channels in two- and three-dimensional topological insulators

Topological insulators have gapless edge/surface states with novel transport properties. Among these, there are two classes of perfectly conducting channels which are free from backscattering: the edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators and the one-dimensional states localized on dislocations of certain three-dimensional topological insulators. We show how these novel states affect thermoelectric properties of the systems and discuss possibilities to improve the thermoelectric figure of merit using these materials with perfectly conducting channels.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, proceedings for The 19th International Conference on the Application of High Magnetic Fields in Semiconductor Physics and Nanotechnology (HMF-19

Crack Initiation Assessment of Wearing Course Asphalt Mixtures Using Aggregate Gradation Characteristic

At normal service temperatures, wearing course asphalt mixtures may have ductile cracking. Aggregate gradation characteristic is important to avoid the premature cracking. The present study discusses a relationship between the characteristic of aggregate gradation and crack resistance of wearing course mixtures. Asphalt mixture specimens were prepared using different types of aggregate gradation. The Bailey method was employed in order to recognize the characteristic of aggregate gradations. Notched semi circular bending test was conducted to obtain the critical J integral (Jc). The coarse aggregate (CA) ratio and the fine graded fine aggregate coarse (FG FAc) ratio defined by the Bailey method were introduced to recognize the effect of aggregate gradation type on Jc. The result was decreasing the Jc value with increasing the CA ratio and FG FAc ratio. Satisfying the current Bailey criterion on the CA ratio for stone mastic asphalt mixtures and setting FG FAc of fine graded HMA mixtures near 0.4 seem useful in order to obtain HMA mixtures with a high Jc. The present study also discusses spherical aggregates assembly models as an aid to illustrate development of the aggregates interlocking, which influences to the cracking

Pre-K-Edge Structure on Anomalous X-Ray Scattering in LaMnO3

We study the pre-K-edge structure of the resonant X-ray scattering for forbidden reflections (anomalous scattering) in LaMnO3, using the band calculation based on the local density approximation. We find a two-peak structure with an intensity approximately 1/100 of that of the main peak. This originates from a mixing of 4p states of Mn to 3d states of neighboring Mn sites. The effect is enhanced by an interference with the tail of the main peak. The effect of the quadrupole transition is found to be one order of magnitude smaller than that of the dipole transition, modifying slightly the azimuthal-angle dependence.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp