A Unified Monte Carlo Treatment of Gas-Grain Chemistry for Large Reaction Networks. II. A Multiphase Gas-Surface-Layered Bulk Model

The observed gas-phase molecular inventory of hot cores is believed to be significantly impacted by the products of chemistry in interstellar ices. In this study, we report the construction of a full macroscopic Monte Carlo model of both the gas-phase chemistry and the chemistry occurring in the icy mantles of interstellar grains. Our model treats icy grain mantles in a layer-by-layer manner, which incorporates laboratory data on ice desorption correctly. The ice treatment includes a distinction between a reactive ice surface and an inert bulk. The treatment also distinguishes between zeroth and first order desorption, and includes the entrapment of volatile species in more refractory ice mantles. We apply the model to the investigation of the chemistry in hot cores, in which a thick ice mantle built up during the previous cold phase of protostellar evolution undergoes surface reactions and is eventually evaporated. For the first time, the impact of a detailed multilayer approach to grain mantle formation on the warm-up chemistry is explored. The use of a multilayer ice structure has a mixed impact on the abundances of organic species formed during the warm-up phase. For example, the abundance of gaseous HCOOCH3 is lower in the multilayer model than in previous grain models that do not distinguish between layers (so-called "two phase" models). Other gaseous organic species formed in the warm-up phase are affected slightly. Finally, we find that the entrapment of volatile species in water ice can explain the two-jump behavior of H2CO previously found in observations of protostars.Comment: 50 pages, 14 figures, accepted to Ap

Rotating Machine Technologies for Integration of Pulsed and High Power Loads in Naval Electric Power Systems

Advanced electric sensors and weapons are placing increasing demands on the electric power distribution systems of future naval vessels and energy storage is viewed as a critical technology for effective integration of IPS architectures in these platforms. This paper shows that kinetic energy storage, i.e. stored in the angular momentum of a rotating mass, can be applied in differing topologies to address a range of ship power system applications. Rotating machine technologies are presented for UPS and load leveling applications as well as for high cycle rate pulsed power applications.Center for Electromechanic

The Rotation of Young Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs

We review the current state of our knowledge concerning the rotation and angular momentum evolution of young stellar objects and brown dwarfs from a primarily observational view point. Periods are typically accurate to 1% and available for about 1700 stars and 30 brown dwarfs in young clusters. Discussion of angular momentum evolution also requires knowledge of stellar radii, which are poorly known for pre-main sequence stars. It is clear that rotation rates at a given age depend strongly on mass; higher mass stars (0.4-1.2 M$_\odot$) have longer periods than lower mass stars and brown dwarfs. On the other hand, specific angular momentum is approximately independent of mass for low mass pre-main sequence stars and young brown dwarfs. A spread of about a factor of 30 is seen at any given mass and age. The evolution of rotation of solar-like stars during the first 100 Myr is discussed. A broad, bimodal distribution exists at the earliest observable phases ($\sim$1 Myr) for stars more massive than 0.4 M$_\odot$. The rapid rotators (50-60% of the sample) evolve to the ZAMS with little or no angular momentum loss. The slow rotators continue to lose substantial amounts of angular momentum for up to 5 Myr, creating the even broader bimodal distribution characteristic of 30-120 Myr old clusters. Accretion disk signatures are more prevalent among slowly rotating PMS stars, indicating a connection between accretion and rotation. Disks appear to influence rotation for, at most, $\sim$5 Myr, and considerably less than that for the majority of stars. If the dense clusters studied so far are an accurate guide, then the typical solar-like star may have only $\sim$1 Myr for this task. It appears that both disk interactions and stellar winds are less efficient at braking these objects.Comment: Review chapter for Protostars and Planets V. 15 page and 8 figure

Interstellar water chemistry: from laboratory to observations

Water is observed throughout the universe, from diffuse interstellar clouds to protoplanetary disks around young stars, and from comets in our own solar system and exoplanetary atmospheres to galaxies at high redshifts. This review summarizes the spectroscopy and excitation of water in interstellar space as well as the basic chemical processes that form and destroy water under interstellar conditions. Three major routes to water formation are identified: low temperature ion-molecule chemistry, high-temperature neutral-neutral chemistry and gas-ice chemistry. The rate coefficients of several important processes entering the networks are discussed in detail; several of them have been determined only in the last decade through laboratory experiments and theoretical calculations. Astronomical examples of each of the different chemical routes are presented using data from powerful new telescopes, in particular the Herschel Space Observatory. Basic chemical physics studies remain critically important to analyze astronomical data.Comment: Authors' manuscript 138 pages, 34 figures, 4 tables, published in a Thematic Issue "Astrochemistry" in Chemical Reviews (December 2013), volume 113, 9043-9085 following peer review by the American Chemical Society. The published paper is available as open access at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cr400317

Effective superpotentials for B-branes in Landau-Ginzburg models

We compute the partition function for the topological Landau-Ginzburg B-model on the disk. This is done by treating the worldsheet superpotential perturbatively. We argue that this partition function as a function of bulk and boundary perturbations may be identified with the effective D-brane superpotential in the target spacetime. We point out the relationship of this approach to matrix factorizations. Using these methods, we prove a conjecture for the effective superpotential of Herbst, Lazaroiu and Lerche for the A-type minimal models. We also consider the Landau-Ginzburg theory of the cubic torus where we show that the effective superpotential, given by the partition function, is consistent with the one obtained by summing up disk instantons in the mirror A-model. This is done by explicitly constructing the open-string mirror map.Comment: 57p, 7 figs, harvma

Laboratory millimeter and submillimeter spectrum of HOC^+

The J = 1→2, 2→3, and 3→4 rotational transitions of the molecular ion HOC^+ have been measured in the laboratory at frequencies from 178 to 358 GHz. The data should permit astronomers to confirm the recent possible sighting of the J = 1→0 transition of HOC^+ in Sgr B2 at 89.5 GHz

Endogenous group formation in experimental contests

We study endogenous group formation in tournaments employing experimental three-player contests. We find that players in endogenously formed alliances cope better with the moral hazard problem in groups than players who are forced into an alliance. Also, players who are committed to expending effort above average choose to stand alone. If these players are forced to play in an alliance, they invest even more, whereas their co-players choose lower effort. Anticipation of this exploitation may explain their preference to stand alone

The Mass Dependence of Stellar Rotation in the Orion Nebula Cluster

We have determined new rotation periods for 404 stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster using the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope on La Silla, Chile. Mass estimates are available for 335 of these and most have M < 0.3 M_sun. We confirm the existence of a bimodal period distribution for the higher mass stars in our sample and show that the median rotation rate decreases with increasing mass for stars in the range 0.1 < M <0.4 M_sun. While the spread in angular momentum (J) at any given mass is more than a factor of 10, the majority of lower mass stars in the ONC rotate at rates approaching 30% of their critical break-up velocity, as opposed to 5-10% for solar-like stars. This is a consequence of both a small increase in observed specific angular momentum (j=J/M) and a larger decrease in the critical value of j with decreasing mass. Perhaps the most striking fact, however, is that j varies by so little - less than a factor of two - over the interval 0.1-1.0 M_sun. The distribution of rotation rates with mass in the ONC (age ~ 1 My) is similar in nature to what is found in the Pleiades (age ~ 100 My). These observations provide a significant new guide and test for models of stellar angular momentum evolution during the proto-stellar and pre-main sequence phases.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure