Dynamical evolution of the Gliese 436 planetary system - Kozai migration as a potential source for Gliese 436b's eccentricity

The close-in planet orbiting GJ 436 presents a puzzling orbital eccentricity considering its very short orbital period. Given the age of the system, this planet should have been tidally circularized a long time ago. Many attempts to explain this were proposed in recent years, either involving abnormally weak tides, or the perturbing action of a distant companion. We address here the latter issue based on Kozai migration. We propose that GJ 436b was formerly located further away from the star and that it underwent a migration induced by a massive, inclined perturber via Kozai mechanism. In this context, the perturbations by the companion trigger high amplitude variations to GJ 436b that cause tides to act at periastron. Then the orbit tidally shrinks to reach its present day location. We numerically integrate the 3-body system including tides and General Relativity correction. We first show that starting from the present-day location of GJ 436b inevitably leads to damping the Kozai oscillations and to rapidly circularizing the planet. Conversely, starting from 5-10 times further away allows the onset of Kozai cycles. The tides act in peak eccentricity phases and reduce the semi-major axis of the planet. The net result is an evolution characterized by two phases: a first one with Kozai cycles and a slowly shrinking semi-major axis, and a second one once the planet gets out of the Kozai resonance characterized by a more rapid decrease. The timescale of this process appears in most cases much longer than the standard circularization time of the planet by a factor larger than 50. This model can provide a solution to the eccentricity paradox of GJ 436b. Depending on the various orbital configurations, it can take several Gyrs to GJ 436b to achieve a full orbital decrease and circularization. According to this scenario, we could be witnessing today the second phase of the scenario where the semi-major axis is already reduced while the eccentricity is still significant. We then explore the parameter space and derive in which conditions this model can be realistic given the age of the system. This yields constraints on the characteristics of the putative companion.Comment: 13 pages To appear in Astronomy \& Astrophysic

Optimisation of hybrid high-modulus/high-strength carbon fibre reinforced plastic composite drive shafts

International audienceThis study deals with the optimisation of hybrid composite drive shafts operating at subcritical or supercritical speeds, using a genetic algorithm. A formulation for the flexural vibrations of a composite drive shaft mounted on viscoelastic supports including shear effects is developed. In particular, an analytic stability criterion is developed to ensure the integrity of the system in the supercritical regime. Then it is shown that the torsional strength can be computed with the maximum stress criterion. A shell method is developed for computing drive shaft torsional buckling. The optimisation of a helicopter tail rotor driveline is then performed. In particular, original hybrid shafts consisting of high-modulus and high-strength carbon fibre reinforced epoxy plies were studied. The solutions obtained using the method presented here made it possible to greatly decrease the number of shafts and the weight of the driveline under subcritical conditions, and even more under supercritical conditions. This study yielded some general rules for designing an optimum composite shaft without any need for optimisation algorithms

Dynamics of a supercritical composite shaft mounted on viscoelastic supports

International audienceThe damping in a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminate is greater than that which occurs in most metallic materials. In the supercritical regime, the damping can trigger unstable whirl oscillations, which can have catastrophic effects. The vibrations occurring in a supercritical composite drive shaft are investigated here in order to predict instabilities of this kind. A simply supported carbon/epoxy composite tube mounted on viscoelastic supports is studied, using an approximation of the Rayleigh-Timoshenko equation. The damping process is assumed to be hysteretic. The composite behavior is described in terms of modulus and loss factor, taking homogenized values. The critical speeds are obtained in several analytical forms in order to determine the effects of factors such as the rotatory inertia, the gyroscopic forces, the transverse shear and the supports stiffness. Assuming that the hysteretic damping can be expressed in terms of the equivalent viscous model, the threshold speed is obtained in the form of an analytical criterion. The influence of the various factors involved is quantified at the first critical speed of a subcritical composite shaft previously described in the literature. The influence of the coupling mechanisms on the unsymmetrical composite laminate and the end fittings is also investigated using a finite element model. None of these parameters were found to have a decisive influence in this case. Those having the greatest effects were the transverse shear and the supports stiffness. The effects of the composite stacking sequence, the shaft length and the supports stiffness on the threshold speed were then investigated. In particular, drive shafts consisting only of ±45° or ±30° plies can be said to be generally unstable in the supercritical regime due to their very high loss factors

Dynamic instability of supercritical driveshafts mounted on dissipative supports ― effect of viscous and hysteretic internal damping

International audienceThe case of a rotating shaft with internal damping mounted either on elastic dissipative bearings or on infinitely rigid bearings with viscoelastic suspensions is investigated in order to obtain the stability region. A Euler–Bernoulli shaft model is adopted, in which the transverse shear effects are neglected and the effects of translational and rotatory inertia, gyroscopic moments, and internal viscous or hysteretic damping are taken into account. The hysteretic damping is incorporated with an equivalent viscous damping coefficient. Free motion analysis yields critical speeds and threshold speeds for each damping model in analytical form. In the case of elastic dissipative bearings, the present results are compared with the results of previous studies on finite element models. In the case of infinitely rigid bearings with viscoelastic suspensions, it is established that viscoelastic supports increase the stability of long shafts, thus compensating for the loss of efficiency which occurs with classical bearings. The instability criteria also show that the effect of the coupling which occured between rigid modes introducing external damping and shaft modes are almost more important than damping factor. Lastly, comparisons between viscous and hysteretic damping conditions lead to the conclusion that an appropriate material damping model is essential to be able to assess these instabilities

Design of high rotation frequency composite tubes

International audienceThis work relates to the sizing of subcritical and supercritical laminated composite drive shafts. The hollows drive shafts are designed to transmit the torsional load and to minimize the dynamic effects due to rotation. To meet this need, these structures must combined strength, rigidity and lightness. New high modulus carbon fibres can be adapted to a progress in this field. This work presents sizing tools for optimisation of supercritical drive shafts mounted on viscoelastic suspensions. Two items are discussed: dynamic analysis (response to forces excitation; free motion; instability), strength (buckling of thin tubes; torsional strength). Supercritical drive shafts examples made of high modulus fibres or high-strength fibres are presented

DNA waves and water

Some bacterial and viral DNA sequences have been found to induce low frequency electromagnetic waves in high aqueous dilutions. This phenomenon appears to be triggered by the ambient electromagnetic background of very low frequency. We discuss this phenomenon in the framework of quantum field theory. A scheme able to account for the observations is proposed. The reported phenomenon could allow to develop highly sensitive detection systems for chronic bacterial and viral infections.Comment: Invited talk at the DICE2010 Conference, Castiglioncello, Italy September 201

Pupil stabilization for SPHERE's extreme AO and high performance coronagraph system

We propose a new concept of pupil motion sensor for astronomical adaptive optics systems and present experimental results obtained during the first laboratory validation of this concept. Pupil motion is an important issue in the case of extreme adaptive optics, high contrast systems, such as the proposed Planet Finder instruments for the ESO and Gemini 8-meter telescopes. Such high contrast imaging instruments will definitively require pupil stabilization to minimize the effect of quasi-static aberrations. The concept for pupil stabilization we propose uses the flux information from the AO system wave-front sensor to drive in closed loop a pupil tip-tilt mirror located in a focal plane. A laboratory experiment validates this concept and demonstrates its interest for high contrast imaging instrument.Comment: This paper was published in Optics Express and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?id=144687 on the OSA websit

Vortex dynamics resulting from the interaction between two NACA 23 012 airfoils

International audienceAn experimental study of the interaction between two airfoils, corresponding to a T-tail aircraft configuration, is implemented in a wind tunnel for a range of medium Reynolds numbers. Measurement of aerodynamic forces is carried out by strain gauges and the velocity field is obtained by particle image velocimetry. The study focuses on large angles-of-attack configurations, corresponding to detached flows on the airfoils and the presence of a downstream vortex shedding. Phase averages of the velocity fields are made building the flow time development. A lift modulation depending on geometric parameters and resulting from different pathlines of the shedding vortices, is discussed

High-contrast spectroscopy of SCR J1845-6357 B

Spectral characterization of sub-stellar companions is essential to understand their composition and formation processes. However, the large contrast ratio of the brightness of each object to that of its parent star limits our ability to extract a clean spectrum, free from any significant contribution from the star. During the development of the long slit spectroscopy (LSS) mode of IRDIS, the dual-band imager and spectrograph of SPHERE, we proposed a data analysis method to estimate and remove the contributions of the stellar spectrum. This method has never been tested on real data because of the lack of instrumentation capable of combining adaptive optics (AO), coronagraphy, and LSS. Nonetheless, a similar attenuation of the star can be obtained using a particular observing configuration. Test data were acquired using the AO-assisted spectrograph VLT/NACO. We obtained new J- and H-band spectra of SCR J1845-6357 B, a T6 companion to a nearby (3.85\pm0.02 pc) M8 star. This system is a well-suited benchmark as it is relatively wide (~1.0") with a modest contrast ratio (~4 mag), and a previously published JHK spectrum is available for reference. We demonstrate that (1) our method is efficient at estimating and removing the stellar contribution, (2) it allows to properly recover the spectral shape of the companion, and (3) it is essential to obtain an unbiased estimation of physical parameters. We also show that the slit configuration associated with this method allows us to use long exposure times with high throughput producing high signal-to-noise ratio data. However, the signal of the companion gets over-subtracted, particularly in our J-band data, compelling us to use a fake companion spectrum to estimate and compensate for the loss of flux. Finally, we report a new astrometric measurement of the position of the companion (sep = 0.817", PA = 227.92 deg).Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in A&