21,432 research outputs found
SPACEBAR: Kinematic design by computer graphics
The interactive graphics computer program SPACEBAR, conceived to reduce the time and complexity associated with the development of kinematic mechanisms on the design board, was described. This program allows the direct design and analysis of mechanisms right at the terminal screen. All input variables, including linkage geometry, stiffness, and applied loading conditions, can be fed into or changed at the terminal and may be displayed in three dimensions. All mechanism configurations can be cycled through their range of travel and viewed in their various geometric positions. Output data includes geometric positioning in orthogonal coordinates of each node point in the mechanism, velocity and acceleration of the node points, and internal loads and displacements of the node points and linkages. All analysis calculations take at most a few seconds to complete. Output data can be viewed at the scope and also printed at the discretion of the user
A Drift-Kinetic Analytical Model for SOL Plasma Dynamics at Arbitrary Collisionality
A drift-kinetic model to describe the plasma dynamics in the scrape-off layer
region of tokamak devices at arbitrary collisionality is derived. Our
formulation is based on a gyroaveraged Lagrangian description of the charged
particle motion, and the corresponding drift-kinetic Boltzmann equation that
includes a full Coulomb collision operator. Using a Hermite-Laguerre velocity
space decomposition of the gyroaveraged distribution function, a set of
equations to evolve the coefficients of the expansion is presented. By
evaluating explicitly the moments of the Coulomb collision operator,
distribution functions arbitrarily far from equilibrium can be studied at
arbitrary collisionalities. A fluid closure in the high-collisionality limit is
presented, and the corresponding fluid equations are compared with
previously-derived fluid models
A gyrokinetic model for the plasma periphery of tokamak devices
A gyrokinetic model is presented that can properly describe strong flows,
large and small amplitude electromagnetic fluctuations occurring on scale
lengths ranging from the electron Larmor radius to the equilibrium
perpendicular pressure gradient scale length, and large deviations from thermal
equilibrium. The formulation of the gyrokinetic model is based on a second
order description of the single charged particle dynamics, derived from Lie
perturbation theory, where the fast particle gyromotion is decoupled from the
slow drifts, assuming that the ratio of the ion sound Larmor radius to the
perpendicular equilibrium pressure scale length is small. The collective
behavior of the plasma is obtained by a gyrokinetic Boltzmann equation that
describes the evolution of the gyroaveraged distribution function and includes
a non-linear gyrokinetic Dougherty collision operator. The gyrokinetic model is
then developed into a set of coupled fluid equations referred to as the
gyrokinetic moment hierarchy. To obtain this hierarchy, the gyroaveraged
distribution function is expanded onto a velocity-space Hermite-Laguerre
polynomial basis and the gyrokinetic equation is projected onto the same basis,
obtaining the spatial and temporal evolution of the Hermite-Laguerre expansion
coefficients. The Hermite-Laguerre projection is performed accurately at
arbitrary perpendicular wavenumber values. Finally, the self-consistent
evolution of the electromagnetic fields is described by a set of gyrokinetic
Maxwell's equations derived from a variational principle, with the velocity
integrals of the gyroaveraged distribution function explicitly evaluated
The ATESP 5 GHz radio survey IV. 19, 38, and 94 GHz observations and radio spectral energy distributions
It is now established that the faint radio population is a mixture of
star-forming galaxies and faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs), with the former
dominating below S(1.4GHz) \sim 100 muJy and the latter at larger flux
densities. The faint radio AGN component can itself be separated into two main
classes, mainly based on the host-galaxy properties: sources associated with
red/early-type galaxies (like radio galaxies) are the dominant class down to
\sim 100 muJy; quasar/Seyfert--like sources contribute an additional 10-20\%.
One of the major open questions regarding faint radio AGNs is the physical
process responsible for their radio emission. This work aims at investigating
this issue, with particular respect to the AGN component associated with
red/early-type galaxies. Such AGNs show, on average, flatter radio spectra than
radio galaxies and are mostly compact (<= 30 kpc in size). Various scenarios
have been proposed to explain their radio emission. For instance they could be
core/core-jet dominated radio galaxies, low-power BL LACs, or
advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) systems. We used the Australia
Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to extend a previous follow-up multi-frequency
campaign to 38 and 94 GHz. (abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in A&
Message passing and Monte Carlo algorithms: connecting fixed points with metastable states
Mean field-like approximations (including naive mean field, Bethe and Kikuchi
and more general Cluster Variational Methods) are known to stabilize ordered
phases at temperatures higher than the thermodynamical transition. For example,
in the Edwards-Anderson model in 2-dimensions these approximations predict a
spin glass transition at finite . Here we show that the spin glass solutions
of the Cluster Variational Method (CVM) at plaquette level do describe well
actual metastable states of the system. Moreover, we prove that these states
can be used to predict non trivial statistical quantities, like the
distribution of the overlap between two replicas. Our results support the idea
that message passing algorithms can be helpful to accelerate Monte Carlo
simulations in finite dimensional systems.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Wear rates in urban rail systems
A significant part of maintenance costs in urban rail systems (metro, tram, light rapid transit/light metro) is due to wheel-rail wear. Wear rates - measured for example as depth of wear per kilometre run (rolling stock) or per train passage (rails) - depend in a complex manner on several influence factors. Among
the most important are key design factors of the rolling stock (wheel profiles, suspension characteristics), of the track (distribution of curve radii, characteristics of switches and crossings, rail profiles), of the wheel-rail interface (lubrication, materials in contact, ambient characteristics), and of
operations (frequency of traction and braking, trainset inversion policy, maintenance policy etc.). When designing an urban rail system, all of these factors have to be under control in order to limit the costs due to wheel/rail reprofiling/grinding and replacement. The state of the art allows the calculation of
wear rates given quantitative input regarding the above factors. However, it is difficult to find in the literature experimental values for calibration of wear models and indications on what is a reasonable state-of-the-art wear rate for any given type of urban rail system. In this paper we present a structured
analysis of flange wear rates found in the literature and derived from the experience of the authors, for a variety of cases, including metros and mainline rail systems. We compare the wear rates and explain their relationship with the influence factors. We then relate the wear rates with the needs in terms of
wheel reprofiling/replacement. We estimate ranges for the calibration coefficients of wear models. We present the results in a way as to allow the designer of urban rail systems to derive values for target wear rates according to their specific conditions without the need for complex simulations
NGC 7097: the AGN and its mirror, revealed by PCA Tomography
Three-dimensional (3D) spectroscopy techniques are becoming more and more
popular, producing an increasing number of large data cubes. The challenge of
extracting information from these cubes requires the development of new
techniques for data processing and analysis. We apply the recently developed
technique of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Tomography to a data cube from
the center of the elliptical galaxy NGC 7097 and show that this technique is
effective in decomposing the data into physically interpretable information. We
find that the first five principal components of our data are associated with
distinct physical characteristics. In particular, we detect a LINER with a weak
broad component in the Balmer lines. Two images of the LINER are present in our
data, one seen through a disk of gas and dust, and the other after scattering
by free electrons and/or dust particles in the ionization cone. Furthermore, we
extract the spectrum of the LINER, decontaminated from stellar and extended
nebular emission, using only the technique of PCA Tomography. We anticipate
that the scattered image has polarized light, due to its scattered nature.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
IFU spectroscopy of 10 early type galactic nuclei: II - Nuclear emission line properties
Although it is well known that massive galaxies have central black holes,
most of them accreting at low Eddington ratios, many important questions still
remain open. Among them, are the nature of the ionizing source, the
characteristics and frequencies of the broad line region and of the dusty
torus. We report observations of 10 early-type galactic nuclei, observed with
the IFU/GMOS spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope, analysed with standard
techniques for spectral treatment and compared with results obtained with
principal component analysis Tomography (Paper I). We performed spectral
synthesis of each spaxel of the data cubes and subtracted the stellar component
from the original cube, leaving a data cube with emission lines only. The
emission lines were decomposed in multi-Gaussian components. We show here that,
for eight galaxies previously known to have emission lines, the narrow line
region can be decomposed in two components with distinct line widths. In
addition to this, broad H emission was detected in six galaxies. The
two galaxies not previously known to have emission lines show weak H+[N
II] lines. All 10 galaxies may be classified as low-ionization nuclear emission
regions in diagnostic diagrams and seven of them have bona fide active galactic
nuclei with luminosities between 10 and 10 erg s.
Eddington ratios are always < 10.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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