Nanocrystalline iron at high pressure

X-ray diffraction measurements were performed on nanocrystalline iron up to 46 GPa. For nanocrystalline epsilon-Fe, analysis of lattice parameter data provides a bulk modulus, K, of 179±8 GPa and a pressure derivative of the bulk modulus, K[prime], of 3.6±0.7, similar to the large-grained control sample. The extrapolated zero-pressure unit cell volume of nanocrystalline epsilon-Fe is 22.9±0.2 Å^3, compared to 22.3±0.2 Å^3 for large-grained epsilon-Fe. No significant grain growth was observed to occur under pressure

Diagnostics of macroscopic quantum states of Bose-Einstein condensate in double-well potential by nonstationary Josephson effect

We propose a method of diagnostic of a degenerate ground state of Bose condensate in a double well potential. The method is based on the study of the one-particle coherent tunneling under switching the time-dependent weak Josephson coupling between the wells. We obtain a simple expression that allows to determine the phase of the condensate and the total number of the particles in the condensate from the relative number of the particles in two wells $\Delta n =n_1-n_2$ measured before the Josephson coupling is switched on and after it is switched off. The specifics of the application of the method in the cases of the external and the internal Josephson effect are discussed.Comment: 3 page

Correlation between Peak Energy and Peak Luminosity in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts

A correlation between the peak luminosity and the peak energy has been found by Yonetoku et al. as $L_{p}\propto E_{p,i}^{2.0}$ for 11 pre-Swift long gamma-ray bursts. In this study, for a greatly expanded sample of 148 long gamma-ray bursts in the Swift era, we find that the correlation still exists, but most likely with a slightly different power-law index, i.e., $L_{p}\propto E_{p,i} ^{1.7}$. In addition, we have collected 17 short gamma-ray bursts with necessary data. It is found that the correlation of $L_{p}\propto E_{p,i} ^{1.7}$ also exists for this sample of short events. It is argued that the radiation mechanism of both long and short gamma-ray bursts should be similar, i.e., of quasi-thermal origin caused by the photosphere and the dissipation occurring very near the central engine. Some key parameters of the process are constrained. Our results suggest that the radiation process of both long and short bursts may be dominated by thermal emission, rather than the single synchrotron radiation. This might put strong physical constraints on the theoretical models.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures and 1 table, Accepted for publication in Ap

Extracting forward strong amplitudes from elastic differential cross sections

The feasibility of a model-independent extraction of the forward strong amplitude from elastic nuclear cross section data in the Coulomb-nuclear interference region is assessed for $\pi$ and $K^+$ scattering at intermediate energies. Theoretically-generated "data" are analyzed to provide criteria for optimally designing experiments to measure these amplitudes, whose energy dependence (particularly that of the real parts) is needed for disentangling various sources of medium modifications of the projectile-nucleon interaction. The issues considered include determining the angular region over which to make the measurements, the role of the most forward angles measured, and the effects of statistical and systematic errors. We find that there is a region near the forward direction where Coulomb-nuclear interference allows reliable extraction of the strong forward amplitude for both pions and the $K^+$ from .3 to 1 GeV/c.Comment: 16 pages plus 12 separate postscript figure

The role of qqˉq\bar q components in the N(1440) resonance

The role of 5-quark components in the pion and electromagnetic decays and transition form factors of the N(1440) is explored. The $qqqq\bar q$ components, where the 4-quark subsystem has the flavor-spin symmetries $[4]_{FS}[22]_F[22]_S$ and $[4]_{FS}[31]_F[31]_S$, which are expected to have the lowest energy of all $qqqq\bar q$ configurations, are considered in detail with a nonrelativistic quark model. The matrix elements between the 5-quark components of the N(1440) and the nucleon, $qqqq\bar q\to qqqq\bar q$, play a minor role in these decays, while the transition matrix elements $qqqq\bar q\to qqq$ and $qqq\to qqqq\bar q$ that involve quark antiquark annihilation are very significant. Both for the electromagnetic and strong decay the change from the valence quark model value is dominated by the confinement triggered $q\bar q$ annihilation transitions. In the case of pion decay the calculated decay width is enhanced substantially both by the direct $q\bar q \to \pi$ and also by the confinement triggered $q\bar q\to \pi$ transitions. Agreement with the empirical value for the pion decay width may be reached with a $\sim$ 30% $qqqq\bar q$ component in the N(1440).Comment: 23 pages revte

Superconducting Bearing Design for Outer Rotor Flywheel Using Lumped Parameter Techniques

This paper describes the application of lumped parameter modeling techniques to designing high temperature superconducting bearings for outer-rotor flywheel energy storage systems. The lumped parameter models decrease computational time by 99% compared to Finite Element Analysis (FEM) without compromising fidelity needed to capture the non-linear and hysteretic force-displacement behavior between a levitated permanent magnet and bulk superconductor. The techniques formulated can be used to quickly evaluate lifting capacity and translational stiffness for a superconducting bearing design. The validity of the modeling approach has been verified by comparing results from FEM studies and experimental tests.Center for Electromechanic