Description of laminar-turbulent transition of an airfoil boundary layer measured by differential image thermography using directed percolation theory

Transition from laminar to turbulent flow is still a challenging problem. Recent studies indicate a good agreement when describing this phase transition with the directed percolation theory. This study presents a new experimental approach by means of differential image thermography (DIT) enabling to investigate this transition on the suction side of a heated airfoil. The results extend the applicability of the directed percolation theory to describe the transition on curves surfaces. The experimental effort allows for the first time an agreement between all three universal exponents of the (1+1)D directed percolation for such airfoil application. Furthermore, this study proves that the theory holds for a wide range of flows, as shown by the various conditions tested. Such a large parameter space was not covered in any examination so far. The findings underline the significance of percolation models in fluid mechanics and show that this theory can be used as a high precision tool for the problem of transition to turbulence.

Collision enhanced hyper-damping in nonlinear elastic metamaterial

Nonlinear elastic metamaterial, a topic which has attracted extensive attention in recent years, can enable broadband vibration reduction under relatively large amplitude. The combination of damping and strong nonlinearity in metamaterials may entail auxetic effects and offer the capability for low-frequency and broadband vibration reduction. However, there exists a clear lack of proper design methods as well as a deficiency in understanding properties arising from this concept. To tackle this problem, this paper numerically demonstrates that the nonlinear elastic metamaterials, consisting of sandwich damping layers and collision resonators, can generate very robust hyper-damping effect, conducive to efficient and broadband vibration suppression. The collision-enhanced hyper damping is persistently present in a large parameter space, ranging from small to large amplitudes, and for small and large damping coefficient. The achieved robust effects greatly enlarge the application scope of nonlinear metamaterials. We report the design concept, properties and mechanisms of the hyper-damping and its effect on vibration transmission. This paper reveals new properties offered by nonlinear elastic metamaterials, and offers a robust method for achieving efficient low-frequency and broadband vibration suppression.

Hilltop Inflation and Generation of Helical Magnetic Field

Primordial magnetic field generated in the inflationary era can act as a viable source for the present day intergalactic magnetic field of sufficient strength. We present a fundamental origin for such a primordial generation of the magnetic field, namely through anomaly cancellation of U(1) gauge field in quantum electrodynamics in the context of hilltop inflation. We have analysed at length the power spectrum of the magnetic field, thus generated, which turns out to be helical in nature. We have also found that magnetic power spectrum has significant scale-dependence giving rise to a non-trivial magnetic spectral index, a key feature of this model. Interestingly, there exists a large parameter space, where magnetic field of significant strength can be produced.

Wall shear stress from jetting cavitation bubbles: influence of the stand-off distance and liquid viscosity

We study systematically the cavitation-induced wall shear stress on rigid boundaries as a function of liquid viscosity $\mu$ and stand-off distance $\gamma$ using axisymmetric volume of fluid (VoF) simulations. Here, $\gamma =d/R_{max}$ is defined with the initial distance of bubble centre from the wall $d$ and the bubble equivalent radius at its maximum expansion $R_{max}$ . The simulations predict accurately the overall bubble dynamics and the time-dependent liquid film thickness between the bubble and the wall prior to the collapse. The spatial and temporal wall shear stress is discussed in detail as a function of $\gamma$ and the inverse Reynolds number $1/Re$ . The amplitude of the wall shear stress is investigated over a large parameter space of viscosity and stand-off distance. The inward stress is caused by the shrinking bubble and its maximum value $\tau _{mn}$ follows $\tau _{mn} Re^{0.35}=-70\gamma +110$ (kPa) for $0.5<\gamma <1.4$ . The expanding bubble and jet spreading on the boundary produce an outward-directed stress. The maximum outward stress is generated shortly after impact of the jet during the early spreading. We find two scaling laws for the maximum outward stress $\tau _{mp}$ with $\tau _{mp} \sim \mu ^{0.2} h_{jet}^{-0.3} U_{jet}^{1.5}$ for $0.5\leq \gamma \leq 1.1$ and $\tau _{mp} \sim \mu ^{-0.25} h_{jet}^{-1.5} U_{jet}^{1.5}$ for $\gamma \geq 1.1$ , where $U_{jet}$ is the jet impact velocity and $h_{jet}$ is the distance between lower bubble interface and wall prior to impact.

Oxygen Depletion in Proton Spot Scanning: A Tool for Exploring the Conditions Needed for FLASH

FLASH radiotherapy is a rapidly developing field which promises improved normal tissue protection compared to conventional irradiation and no compromise on tumour control. The transient hypoxic state induced by the depletion of oxygen at high dose rates provides one possible explanation. However, studies have mostly focused on uniform fields of dose and there is a lack of investigation into the spatial and temporal variation of dose from proton pencil-beam scanning (PBS). A model of oxygen reaction and diffusion in tissue has been extended to simulate proton PBS delivery and its impact on oxygen levels. This provides a tool to predict oxygen effects from various PBS treatments, and explore potential delivery strategies. Here we present a number of case applications to demonstrate the use of this tool for FLASH-related investigations. We show that levels of oxygen depletion could vary significantly across a large parameter space for PBS treatments, and highlight the need for in silico models such as this to aid in the development and optimisation of FLASH radiotherapy.

Germanium Quantum-Dot Array with Self-Aligned Electrodes for Quantum Electronic Devices

Semiconductor-based quantum registers require scalable quantum-dots (QDs) to be accurately located in close proximity to and independently addressable by external electrodes. Si-based QD qubits have been realized in various lithographically-defined Si/SiGe heterostructures and validated only for milli-Kelvin temperature operation. QD qubits have recently been explored in germanium (Ge) materials systems that are envisaged to operate at higher temperatures, relax lithographic-fabrication requirements, and scale up to large quantum systems. We report the unique scalability and tunability of Ge spherical-shaped QDs that are controllably located, closely coupled between each another, and self-aligned with control electrodes, using a coordinated combination of lithographic patterning and self-assembled growth. The core experimental design is based on the thermal oxidation of poly-SiGe spacer islands located at each sidewall corner or included-angle location of Si3N4/Si-ridges with specially designed fanout structures. Multiple Ge QDs with good tunability in QD sizes and self-aligned electrodes were controllably achieved. Spherical-shaped Ge QDs are closely coupled to each other via coupling barriers of Si3N4 spacer layers/c-Si that are electrically tunable via self-aligned poly-Si or polycide electrodes. Our ability to place size-tunable spherical Ge QDs at any desired location, therefore, offers a large parameter space within which to design novel quantum electronic devices.

Profit Seeking versus Survival Seeking: Green Investment of Capital-Constrained Suppliers with Incentive Contracts

This study explores a supply chain with a capital-constrained startup supplier who invests in product greenness and a manufacturer who sells green products to consumers under demand uncertainty. Green investment of the supplier is supported by the manufacturer with two incentive contracts: (i) investment- and (ii) revenue-sharing contracts. Profit- and survival-seeking objectives are considered for the startup supplier. Results show that the profit-seeking supplier increases its product greenness if demand uncertainty rises, whereas the survival-seeking supplier increases its product greenness if its capital constraints increase. Compared with the commonly used wholesale price contract, investment- and revenue-sharing contracts can help facilitate the “win-win” supply chain cooperation for improving product greenness. If the profit-seeking supplier cooperates with the manufacturer, the investment-sharing contract is preferred as the demand uncertainty increases. If a survival-seeking supplier cooperates with the manufacturer, the revenue-sharing contract is preferred as the capital constraint increases. Overall, the revenue-sharing contract is preferred given the high attractiveness of the green investment. By extending the discussion into two periods, the revenue-sharing contract will be preferred in the survival-seeking case because the cooperation can continue in a large parameter space.

Analytic study of dark photon and gravitational wave production from axion

Axion-like fields heavier than about 10−27 eV are expected to oscillate in the radiation dominated epoch when the Hubble parameter drops below their mass. Considering the Chern-Simons coupling with a dark gauge boson, large amount of dark photons are produced during a short time interval through tachyonic resonance instability. The produced dark photons then source gravitational tensor modes leading to chiral gravitational waves. Through this process, one can indirectly probe a large parameter space of coupled axion-dark photon models. In this work we first find an analytic expression for the number density of the dark photons produced during the tachyonic resonance regime. Second, by using the saddle point approximation we find an analytic expression for the gravitational wave spectrum in terms of the mass, coupling and misalignment angle. Our analytic results can be used for the observational analysis of these types of scenarios.

Degeneracy between mass and peculiar acceleration for the double white dwarfs in the LISA band

ABSTRACT Mass and distance are fundamental quantities to measure in gravitational wave (GW) astronomy. However, recent studies suggest that the measurement may be biased due to the acceleration of GW source. Here, we develop an analytical method to quantify such a bias induced by a tertiary star on a double white dwarf (DWD), since DWDs are the most common GW sources in the milli-Hertz band. We show that in a large parameter space the mass is degenerate with the peculiar acceleration, so that from the waveform we can only retrieve a mass of ${\cal M}(1+\Gamma)^{3/5}$, where ${\cal M}$ is the real chirp mass of the DWD and Γ is a dimensionless factor proportional to the peculiar acceleration. Based on our analytical method, we conduct mock observation of DWDs by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. We find that in about $9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the cases the measured chirp mass is biased by $(5-30){{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ due to the presence of a tertiary. Even more extreme biases are found in about a dozen DWDs and they may be misclassified as double neutron stars, binary black holes, DWDs undergoing mass transfer, or even binaries containing lower-mass-gap objects and primordial black holes. The bias in mass also affects the measured distance, resulting in a seemingly overdensity of DWDs within a heliocentric distance of 1 kpc as well as beyond 100 kpc. Our result highlights the necessity of modelling the astrophysical environments of GW sources to retrieve their correct physical parameters.

Dynamical evolution of massive perturbers in realistic multicomponent galaxy models I: implementation and validation

ABSTRACT Galaxies are self-gravitating structures composed by several components encompassing spherical, axial, and triaxial symmetry. Although real systems feature heterogeneous components whose properties are intimately connected, semi-analytical approaches often exploit the linearity of the Poisson’s equation to represent the potential and mass distribution of a multicomponent galaxy as the sum of the individual components. In this work, we expand the semi-analytical framework developed in Bonetti et al. (2020) by including both a detailed implementation of the gravitational potential of exponential disc (modelled with a sech2 and an exponential vertical profile) and an accurate prescription for the dynamical friction experienced by massive perturbers (MP) in composite galaxy models featuring rotating disc structures. Such improvements allow us to evolve arbitrary orbits either within or outside the galactic disc plane. We validate the results obtained by our numerical model against public semi-analytical codes as well as full N-body simulations, finding that our model is in excellent agreement to the codes it is compared with. The ability to reproduce the relevant physical processes responsible for the evolution of MP orbits and its computational efficiency make our framework perfectly suited for large parameter-space exploration studies.