Locating the special point of hybrid neutron stars

The special point is a feature unique to models of hybrid neutron stars. It represents a location on their mass–radius sequences that is insensitive to the phase transition density. We consider hybrid neutron stars with a core of deconfined quark matter that obeys a constant–sound–speed (CSS) equation of state model and provide a fit formula for the coordinates of the special point as functions of the squared sound speed (cs2) and pressure scale (A) parameters. Using the special point mass as a proxy for the maximum mass of the hybrid stars we derive limits for the CSS model parameters based on the recent NICER constraint on mass and radius of pulsar PSR J0740+6620, 0.36 < Cs min2 < 0.43 and 80 < A[MeV/fm3] < 160. The upper limit for the maximum mass of hybrid stars depends on the upper limit for cs2 so that choosing cs,max2 = 0.6 results in Mmax < 2.7 M⊙, within the mass range of GW190814.

Coating flow on a rotating cylinder in the presence of an irrotational airflow with circulation

A detailed analysis of steady coating flow of a thin film of a viscous fluid on the outside of a uniformly rotating horizontal circular cylinder in the absence of surface-tension effects but in the presence of a non-uniform pressure distribution due to an irrotational airflow with circulation shows that the presence of the airflow can result in qualitatively different behaviour of the fluid film from that in classical coating flow. Full-film solutions corresponding to a continuous film of fluid covering the entire cylinder are possible only when the flux and mass of fluid do not exceed critical values, which are determined in terms of the non-dimensional parameters $F$ and $K$ representing the speed of the far-field airflow and the circulation of the airflow, respectively. The qualitative changes in the behaviour of the film thickness as $F$ and $K$ are varied are described. In particular, the film thickness can have as many as four stationary points and, in general, has neither top-to-bottom nor right-to-left symmetry. In addition, when the circulation of the airflow is in the same direction as the rotation of the cylinder the maximum mass of fluid that can be supported on the cylinder is always less than that in classical coating flow, whereas when the circulation is in the opposite direction the maximum mass of fluid can be greater than that in classical coating flow.

Capillary trees for passive pumping water

Capillary flows are an attractive feature for passive water harvesting as they require no external driving force to pull the fluid out within the capillary network. Here we analyze the architecture of capillary flow networks in steady state, and the impact of the network morphology on the maximum mass flow rate that can be extracted for a fixed network volume and fixed network footprint. We develop a search algorithm to test the possible location of all the junction and bifurcation nodes and the changes in diameter ratios with the objective of obtaining the maximum mass flow rate from the network. We define the Capillary Strength CS as a local indicator to determine the geometrical parameters of each conduct that allow to sustain the overall mass flow rate. It is shown that the diameter ratio of connected tubes for maximum mass flow rate depends on the distance from the network outlet, and therefore does not follow the Hess-Murray’s law. The superiority of dendritic architectures in the roots and canopy branches of the capillary trees is demonstrated.

Simulation of a Group Impact on a Heterogeneous Target of Finite Thickness

Numerical simulation of the processes of high-speed loading of homogeneous and heteroge- neous targets by single projectiles, as well as by a group of projectiles with the same parameters in mass and momentum, has been carried out. Based on a comparison of the numerical simulation results for loading targets with different sets of projectiles, it is found that a projectile in the form of a ring knocks out the maximum hole in the target in terms of geometric dimensions, while a set of seven small disks removes the maximum mass from the target. The ring impact forms a continuous spall plate, which outruns the cloud of fragments of the destroyed material. Adding more than 5% of ceramics to the aluminum target volume does not allow the projectiles to penetrate through

Dark matter with chiral symmetry admixed hadronic matter in compact stars

With the two-fluid TOV equation, the properties of dark matter (DM) admixed NSs (DANSs) have been studied. Different from previous studies, we found that increase of the maximum mass and decrease of the radius of 1.4 $M_\odot$ can occur simultaneously in DANS. This stems from the fact that the equation of state (EOS) of DM can be very soft at low density but very stiff at high density. It is well known that the IU-FSU and XS models can not reproduce the neutron star (NS) with a maximum mass greater than 2.0 $M_\odot$. However, considering IU-FSU and XS models in DANS, there are always mass and interactions of DM that can reproduce a maximum mass greater than 2.0 $M_\odot$ and the radius of 1.4 $M_\odot$ below 13.7km. The difference of DANS between the DM with chiral symmetry (DMC) and the DM with meson exchange (DMM) becomes obvious when the central energy density ratio of the DM is greater than one of the NM. When the central energy density ratio of the DM is greater than one of the NM, the DMC model with the DM mass of 1000 MeV still can reproduce a maximum mass greater than 2.0 $M_\odot$ and the radius of 1.4 $M_\odot$ below 13.7km. In the same case, although the maximum mass of DANS with the DMM model is greater than 2.0 $M_\odot$ , the radius of 1.4 $M_\odot$ with the DMM model will surpass 13.7km obviously. \com{In two-fluid system, it is worth noting that the maximum mass of DANS can be larger than 3.0 $M_\odot$. As a consequence, the dimensionless tidal deformability $\Lambda_{CP}$ of DANS with 1.4 $M_\odot$, which increase with increasing the maximum mass of DANS, could be larger than 800 when the radius of DANS with 1.4 $M_\odot$ is about 13.0km.}

Bayesian analysis of multimessenger M-R data with interpolated hybrid EoS

We introduce a family of equations of state (EoS) for hybrid neutron star (NS) matter that is obtained by a two-zone parabolic interpolation between a soft hadronic EoS at low densities and a set of stiff quark matter EoS at high densities within a finite region of chemical potentials $$\mu _H< \mu < \mu _Q$$ μ H < μ < μ Q . Fixing the hadronic EoS as the APR one and choosing the color-superconducting, nonlocal NJL model with two free parameters for the quark phase, we perform Bayesian analyses with this two-parameter family of hybrid EoS. Using three different sets of observational constraints that include the mass of PSR J0740+6620, the tidal deformability for GW170817, and the mass-radius relation for PSR J0030+0451 from NICER as obligatory (set 1), while set 2 uses the possible upper limit on the maximum mass from GW170817 as an additional constraint and set 3 instead of the possibility that the lighter object in the asymmetric binary merger GW190814 is a neutron star. We confirm that in any case, the quark matter phase has to be color superconducting with the dimensionless diquark coupling approximately fulfilling the Fierz relation $$\eta _D=0.75$$ η D = 0.75 and the most probable solutions exhibiting a proportionality between $$\eta _D$$ η D and $$\eta _V$$ η V , the coupling of the repulsive vector interaction that is required for a sufficiently large maximum mass. We used the Bayesian analysis to investigate with the method of fictitious measurements the consequences of anticipating different radii for the massive $$2~M_\odot $$ 2 M ⊙ PSR J0740+6220 for the most likely equation of state. With the actual outcome of the NICER radius measurement on PSR J0740+6220 we could conclude that for the most likely hybrid star EoS would not support a maximum mass as large as $$2.5~M_\odot $$ 2.5 M ⊙ so that the event GW190814 was a binary black hole merger.

Neutron-mirror neutron mixing and neutron stars

The oscillation of neutron n into mirror neutron $$n'$$ n ′ , its mass degenerate partner from dark mirror sector, can gradually transform the neutron stars into the mixed stars consisting in part of mirror dark matter. In quark stars $$n-n'$$ n - n ′ transitions are suppressed. We study the structure of mixed stars and derive the mass-radius scaling relations between the configurations of purely neutron star and maximally mixed star (MMS) containing equal amounts of ordinary and mirror components. In particular, we show that the MMS masses can be at most $$M^{\mathrm{max}}_{NS}/\sqrt{2}$$ M NS max / 2 , where $$M^\mathrm{max}_{NS}$$ M NS max is a maximum mass of a pure neutron star allowed by a given equation of state. We evaluate $$n-n'$$ n - n ′ transition rate in neutron stars, and show that various astrophysical limits on pulsar properties exclude the transition times in a wide range $$10^{5}\,\text {year}< \tau _\varepsilon < 10^{15}\,\text {year}$$ 10 5 year < τ ε < 10 15 year . For short transition times, $$\tau _\varepsilon < 10^5$$ τ ε < 10 5 year, the different mixed stars of the same mass can have different radii, depending on their age, which possibility can be tested by the NICER measurements. We also discuss subtleties related with the possible existence of mixed quark stars, and possible implications for the gravitational waves from the neutron star mergers and associated electromagnetic signals.

Stable Up-Down Quark Matter Nuggets, Quark Star Crusts, and a New Family of White Dwarfs

The possible existence of stable up-down quark matter (udQM) was recently proposed, and it was shown that the properties of udQM stars are consistent with various pulsar observations. In this work we investigate the stability of udQM nuggets and found at certain size those objects are more stable than others if a large symmetry energy and a small surface tension were adopted. In such cases, a crust made of udQM nuggets exists in quark stars. A new family of white dwarfs comprised entirely of udQM nuggets and electrons were also obtained, where the maximum mass approaches to the Chandrasekhar limit.

Kinematics modeling and grasping experiment of pneumatic four-finger flexible robotic hand

To solve the complex structure, poor flexibility, and heavyweight of the rigid robotic hand, a pneumatic four-finger flexible robotic hand is developed in this paper. The robotic hand is about 1.3 times as large as that of a human hand and each finger is composed of a single multi-drive bending joint. The kinematic model of the robotic hand is established by using homogeneous coordinate transformation matrix. Through the simulation experiment of the robotic hand structure, the trajectory, and workspace of the robotic hand are established. According to the experimental results of grasping performance of the robotic hand, the grasping forces of different geometric positions along the finger axis are obtained. The results show that the robotic hand can realize a variety of grasping modes, has flexible action and strong adaptive ability; it can grasp, hold, and pinch, as well as stably grasp objects such as cylinder, box, and sphere. In pinch grasp mode, the robotic hand can grip objects as thin as 1 mm and the diameter of the grasped object varies from 28 mm to 160 mm; the maximum mass that the robotic hand can grasp an object with a diameter of 90 mm under 0.35 MPa is 1386 g.

Corrosion of 316H Stainless Steel in Flowing FLiNaK Salt

Type 316H stainless steel samples were exposed to flowing FLiNaK salt for 1000h in a thermal convection loop with a maximum temperature of 650°C and a minimum of 540°C. Samples in the hottest part of the loop lost mass, with a maximum mass loss of 1.8 mg/cm2, while samples in the coldest parts of the loop gained mass. Analysis of the samples that gained mass showed an iron-rich layer on the sample surfaces, suggesting that iron, not chromium, accounted for the majority of the mass transfer in the loop. Analysis of the salt showed major increases in the Cr, Fe, and Mn content of the salt during exposure. The loop was modeled using the TRANSFORM code. Modeled values matched the experimental temperature measurements showing that TRANSFORM is capable of accurately simulating the conditions in the loop.