Tumbleweeds and airborne gravitational noise sources for LIGO

Gravitational-wave detectors are sensitive not only to astrophysical gravitational waves, but also to the fluctuating Newtonian gravitational forces of moving masses in the ground and air around the detector. This paper studies the gravitational effects of density perturbations in the atmosphere, and from massive airborne objects near the detector. These effects were previously considered by Saulson; in this paper I revisit these phenomena, considering transient atmospheric shocks, and the effects of sound waves or objects colliding with the ground or buildings around the test masses. I also consider temperature perturbations advected past the detector as a source of gravitational noise. I find that the gravitational noise background is below the expected noise floor even of advanced interferometric detectors, although only by an order of magnitude for temperature perturbations carried along turbulent streamlines. I also find that transient shockwaves in the atmosphere could potentially produce large spurious signals, with signal-to-noise ratios in the hundreds in an advanced interferometric detector. These signals could be vetoed by means of acoustic sensors outside of the buildings. Massive wind-borne objects such as tumbleweeds could also produce gravitational signals with signal-to-noise ratios in the hundreds if they collide with the interferometer buildings, so it may be necessary to build fences preventing such objects from approaching within about 30m of the test masses.Comment: 15 pages, 10 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX4.cls and epsfig.st

Hydrogen adsorption and cohesive energy of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Hydrogen adsorption on crystalline ropes of carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNT) was found to exceed 8 wt.%, which is the highest capacity of any carbon material. Hydrogen is first adsorbed on the outer surfaces of the crystalline ropes. At pressures higher than about 40 bar at 80 K, however, a phase transition occurs where there is a separation of the individual SWNTs, and hydrogen is physisorbed on their exposed surfaces. The pressure of this phase transition provides a tube-tube cohesive energy for much of the material of 5 meV/C atom. This small cohesive energy is affected strongly by the quality of crystalline order in the ropes

Covariant Formulation of Field Theories associated with p-Branes

We discuss the covariant formulation of local field theories described by the Companion Lagrangian associated with p-branes. The covariantisation is shown to be useful for clarifying the geometrical meaning of the field equations and also their relation to the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of the standard Dirac-Born-Infeld theory.Comment: 12 pages, Late

On the Theory of Relativistic Strong Plasma Waves

The influence of motion of ions and electron temperature on nonlinear one-dimensional plasma waves with velocity close to the speed of light in vacuum is investigated. It is shown that although the wavebreaking field weakly depends on mass of ions, the nonlinear relativistic wavelength essentially changes. The nonlinearity leads to the increase of the strong plasma wavelength, while the motion of ions leads to the decrease of the wavelength. Both hydrodynamic approach and kinetic one, based on Vlasov-Poisson equations, are used to investigate the relativistic strong plasma waves in a warm plasma. The existence of relativistic solitons in a thermal plasma is predicted.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Evolution of rarefaction pulses into vortex rings

The two-dimensional solitary waves of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili limit are unstable with respect to three-dimensional perturbations. We elucidate the stages in the evolution of such solutions subject to perturbations perpendicular to the direction of motion. Depending on the energy (momentum) and the wavelength of the perturbation different types of three-dimensional solutions emerge. In particular, we present new periodic solutions having very small energy and momentum per period. These solutions also become unstable and this secondary instability leads to vortex ring nucleation.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

On the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation in n+1 dimensions: exact solutions, the Cauchy problem for small initial data and wave breaking

We study the (n+1)-dimensional generalization of the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (dKP) equation, a universal equation describing the propagation of weakly nonlinear, quasi one dimensional waves in n+1 dimensions, and arising in several physical contexts, like acoustics, plasma physics and hydrodynamics. For n=2, this equation is integrable, and it has been recently shown to be a prototype model equation in the description of the two dimensional wave breaking of localized initial data. We construct an exact solution of the n+1 dimensional model containing an arbitrary function of one variable, corresponding to its parabolic invariance, describing waves, constant on their paraboloidal wave front, breaking simultaneously in all points of it. Then we use such solution to build a uniform approximation of the solution of the Cauchy problem, for small and localized initial data, showing that such a small and localized initial data evolving according to the (n+1)-dimensional dKP equation break, in the long time regime, if and only if n=1,2,3; i.e., in physical space. Such a wave breaking takes place, generically, in a point of the paraboloidal wave front, and the analytic aspects of it are given explicitly in terms of the small initial data.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, few formulas adde

Evolution of the Primary Pulse in 1D Granular Crystals Subject to On-Site Perturbations: Analytical Study

Propagation of primary pulse through an un-compressed granular chain subject to external on-site perturbation is studied. Analytical procedure predicting the evolution of the primary pulse is devised for the general form of the on-site perturbation applied on the chain. The validity of the analytical model is confirmed with several specific granular setups such as, chains mounted on the nonlinear elastic foundation, chains perturbed by the dissipative forces as well as randomly perturbed chains. Additional interesting finding made in the present study corresponds to the chains subject to a special type of perturbations including the terms leading to dissipation and those acting as an energy source. It is shown in the study that application of such perturbation may lead to formation of stable stationary shocks acting as attractors for the initially unperturbed, propagating Nesterenko solitary waves. Interestingly enough the developed analytical procedure provides an extremely close estimations for the amplitudes of these stationary shocks as well as predicts zones of their stability. In conclusion we would like to stress that the developed analytical model have demonstrated spectacular correspondence to the results of direct numerical simulations for all the setups considered in the study

Out-of-equilibrium states as statistical equilibria of an effective dynamics

We study the formation of coherent structures in a system with long-range interactions where particles moving on a circle interact through a repulsive cosine potential. Non equilibrium structures are shown to correspond to statistical equilibria of an effective dynamics, which is derived using averaging techniques. This simple behavior might be a prototype of others observed in more complicated systems with long-range interactions, like two-dimensional incompressible fluids or self-gravitating systems.Comment: 4 figure

Russia-UK collaboration in paleontology: past, present, and future

There is a long history of collaboration between Russia and the United Kingdom in paleontology. This began, arguably, in 1821, with the seminal work by William Fox-Strangways, who produced a geological map of the area around St Petersburg. Most famously, Roderick Murchison carried out extensive surveying and observations throughout European Russia in 1840 and 1841, and published a major monograph on geology and paleontology of European Russia in 1845. Since then, and continuing today, there have been many fruitful collaborations on Precambrian life, Paleozoic marine organisms, terrestrialization of plants and vertebrates, the Permian–Triassic mass extinction, fossil mammals, human evolution, and conservation paleobiology

Understanding the training and education needs of homecare workers supporting people with dementia and cancer: a systematic review of reviews

Many people with dementia, supported by family carers, prefer to live at home and may rely on homecare support services. People with dementia are also often living with multimorbidities, including cancer. The main risk factor for both cancer and dementia is age and the number of people living with dementia and cancer likely to rise. Upskilling the social care workforce to facilitate more complex care is central to national workforce strategies and challenges. Training and education development must also respond to the key requirements of a homecare workforce experiencing financial, recruitment and retention difficulties. This systematic review of reviews provides an overview of dementia and cancer training and education accessible to the homecare workforce. Findings reveal there is a diverse range of training and education available, with mixed evidence of effectiveness. Key barriers and facilitators to effective training and education are identified in order to inform future training, education and learning development for the homecare workforce supporting people with dementia and cancer