43,745 research outputs found
Unified molecular field theory of nematic, smectic-A, and smectic-C phases
A unified mean-field molecular theory of nematic (NU), smectic A (SmA), and smectic C (SmC) liquid crystal phases, composed of uniaxial nonpolar molecules, is developed taking into account the variation of all orientational and translational order parameters in these phases. Numerical results, obtained by direct global minimization of the free energy, are presented in the form of three typical phase diagrams of different topology. Temperature variation of the relevant order parameters in different sequences of phases is analyzed for various cross sections of the phase diagrams. The present model enables one to reproduce all possible sequences of phase transitions between the given phases including isotropic (Iso)-NU-SmA-SmC, Iso-NU-SmC, Iso-SmA-SmC, and Iso-SmC. The properties of the NAC point, where the NU, SmA, and SmC structures coexist, are considered in detail and the shape of the phase diagram in the vicinity of the NAC point is compared with existing experimental data
The Limits of Discipline: Ownership and Hard Budget Constraints in the Transition Economies
This paper argues that the imposition of financial discipline is not sufficient to remedy ownership and governance-related deficiencies of corporate performance. Using evidence from the postcommunist transition economies, the paper shows that a policy of hard budget constraints falters when state firms, because of inferior revenue performance and lesser willingness to meet payment obligations, continue to pose higher credit risk than privatized firms. The brunt of state firms' lower creditworthiness falls on state creditors. But the "softness" of these creditors is unavoidable if it prevents a demise of firms that are in principle capable of successful restructuring through ownership changes.OWNERSHIP; FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE; PERFORMANCE; TRANSITION.
AdS Strings with Torsion: Non-complex Heterotic Compactifications
Combining the effects of fluxes and gaugino condensation in heterotic
supergravity, we use a ten-dimensional approach to find a new class of
four-dimensional supersymmetric AdS compactifications on almost-Hermitian
manifolds of SU(3) structure. Computation of the torsion allows a
classification of the internal geometry, which for a particular combination of
fluxes and condensate, is nearly Kahler. We argue that all moduli are fixed,
and we show that the Kahler potential and superpotential proposed in the
literature yield the correct AdS radius. In the nearly Kahler case, we are able
to solve the H Bianchi using a nonstandard embedding. Finally, we point out
subtleties in deriving the effective superpotential and understanding the
heterotic supergravity in the presence of a gaugino condensate.Comment: 42 pages; v2. added refs, revised discussion of Bianchi for N
Preliminary design study - Oxidizer tank relief valve, Flox-Atlas airborne Final report
Protecting fluorine-liquid oxygen Atlas launch vehicle oxidizer tank against overpressurizatio
Conformally Einstein Products and Nearly K\"ahler Manifolds
In the first part of this note we study compact Riemannian manifolds (M,g)
whose Riemannian product with R is conformally Einstein. We then consider
compact 6--dimensional almost Hermitian manifolds of type W_1+W_4 in the
Gray--Hervella classification admitting a parallel vector field and show that
(under some regularity assumption) they are obtained as mapping tori of
isometries of compact Sasaki-Einstein 5-dimensional manifolds. In particular,
we obtain examples of inhomogeneous locally (non-globally) conformal nearly
K\"ahler compact manifolds
Adequacy of the Dicke model in cavity QED: a counter-"no-go" statement
The long-standing debate whether the phase transition in the Dicke model can
be realized with dipoles in electromagnetic fields is yet an unsettled one. The
well-known statement often referred to as the "no-go theorem", asserts that the
so-called A-square term, just in the vicinity of the critical point, becomes
relevant enough to prevent the system from undergoing a phase transition. At
variance with this common belief, in this paper we prove that the Dicke model
does give a consistent description of the interaction of light field with the
internal excitation of atoms, but in the dipole gauge of quantum
electrodynamics. The phase transition cannot be excluded by principle and a
spontaneous transverse-electric mean field may appear. We point out that the
single-mode approximation is crucial: the proper treatment has to be based on
cavity QED, wherefore we present a systematic derivation of the dipole gauge
inside a perfect Fabry-P\'erot cavity from first principles. Besides the impact
on the debate around the Dicke phase transition, such a cleanup of the
theoretical ground of cavity QED is important because currently there are many
emerging experimental approaches to reach strong or even ultrastrong coupling
between dipoles and photons, which demand a correct treatment of the Dicke
model parameters
Silicon isotopic abundance toward evolved stars and its application for presolar grains
Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) is important for understanding the
composition of the present-day interstellar medium (ISM) and of our solar
system. In this paper, we aim to track the GCE by using the 29Si/30Si ratios in
evolved stars and tentatively relate this to presolar grain composition. We
used the APEX telescope to detect thermal SiO isotopologue emission toward four
oxygen-rich M-type stars. Together with the data retrieved from the Herschel
science archive and from the literature, we were able to obtain the 29Si/30Si
ratios for a total of 15 evolved stars inferred from their optically thin 29SiO
and 30SiO emission. These stars cover a range of masses and ages, and because
they do not significantly alter 29Si/30Si during their lifetimes, they provide
excellent probes of the ISM metallicity (or 29Si/30Si ratio) as a function of
time. The 29Si/30Si ratios inferred from the thermal SiO emission tend to be
lower toward low-mass oxygen-rich stars (e.g., down to about unity for W Hya),
and close to an interstellar or solar value of 1.5 for the higher-mass carbon
star IRC+10216 and two red supergiants. There is a tentative correlation
between the 29Si/30Si ratios and the mass-loss rates of evolved stars, where we
take the mass-loss rate as a proxy for the initial stellar mass or current
stellar age. This is consistent with the different abundance ratios found in
presolar grains. We found that older objects (up to possibly 10 Gyr old) in our
sample trace a previous, lower 29Si/30Si value of about 1. Material with this
isotopic ratio is present in two subclasses of presolar grains, providing
independent evidence of the lower ratio. Therefore, the 29Si/30Si ratio derived
from the SiO emission of evolved stars is a useful diagnostic tool for the
study of the GCE and presolar grains.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
SPIRAL Phase A: A Prototype Integral Field Spectrograph for the AAT
We present details of a prototype fiber feed for use on the Anglo-Australian
Telescope (AAT) that uses a dedicated fiber-fed medium/high resolution (R >
10000) visible-band spectrograph to give integral field spectroscopy (IFS) of
an extended object. A focal reducer couples light from the telescope to the
close-packed lenslet array and fiber feed, allowing the spectrograph be used on
other telescopes with the change of a single lens. By considering the
properties of the fibers in the design of the spectrograph, an efficient design
can be realised, and we present the first scientific results of a prototype
spectrograph using a fiber feed with 37 spatial elements, namely the detection
of Lithium confirming a brown dwarf candidate and IFS of the supernova remnant
SN1987A.Comment: 41 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables; accepted by PAS
Morphology-dependent trends of galaxy age with environment in Abell 901/902 seen with COMBO-17
We investigate correlations between galaxy age and environment in the Abell
901/2 supercluster for separate morphologies. Using COMBO-17 data, we define a
sample of 530 galaxies, complete at on an area of (Mpc/). We explore several age indicators including an
extinction-corrected residual from the colour-magnitude relation (CMR). As a
result, we find a clear trend of age with density for galaxies of all
morphologies that include a spheroidal component, in the sense that galaxies in
denser environments are older. This trend is not seen among Scd/Irr galaxies
since they all have young ages. However, the trend among the other types is
stronger for fainter galaxies. While we also see an expected age-morphology
relation, we find no evidence for a morphology-density relation at fixed age.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (Letters
- …