Hypersonic reentry vehicle Patent

Aerodynamic configuration of reentry vehicle heat shield to provide longitudinal and directional stability at hypersonic velocitie

Two-dimensional Stokes flow driven by elliptical paddles

A fast and accurate numerical technique is developed for solving the biharmonic equation in a multiply connected domain, in two dimensions. We apply the technique to the computation of slow viscous flow (Stokes flow) driven by multiple stirring rods. Previously, the technique has been restricted to stirring rods of circular cross section; we show here how the prior method fails for noncircular rods and how it may be adapted to accommodate general rod cross sections, provided only that for each there exists a conformal mapping to a circle. Corresponding simulations of the flow are described, and their stirring properties and energy requirements are discussed briefly. In particular the method allows an accurate calculation of the flow when flat paddles are used to stir a fluid chaotically

Von K\'arm\'an vortex street in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Vortex shedding from an obstacle potential moving in a Bose-Einstein condensate is investigated. Long-lived alternately aligned vortex pairs are found to form in the wake, as for the von K\'arm\'an vortex street in classical viscous fluids. Various patterns of vortex shedding are systematically studied and the drag force on the obstacle is calculated. It is shown that the phenomenon can be observed in a trapped system.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The Poisson geometry of SU(1,1)

We study the natural Poisson structure on the Lie group SU(1,1) and related questions. In particular, we give an explicit description of the Ginzburg-Weinstein isomorphism for the sets of admissible elements. We also establish an analogue of Thompson's conjecture for this group.Comment: 11 pages, minor correction

Synsedimentary deformation and thrusting on the eatern margin of the Barberton Greenstone belt, Swaziland

Mapping on the eastern margin of the 3.6 to 3.3 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt NW Swaziland has revealed a tectonic complex which is more than 5 km thick. The area consists of fault bound units made up of three lithological associations. Some of these were affected by four phases of deformation. Fold structures, foliations, and lineations are associated with the deformation. Sedimentation, geological structures, and evolutionary history of the area are explained

Spectral Theory of Time Dispersive and Dissipative Systems

We study linear time dispersive and dissipative systems. Very often such systems are not conservative and the standard spectral theory can not be applied. We develop a mathematically consistent framework allowing (i) to constructively determine if a given time dispersive system can be extended to a conservative one; (ii) to construct that very conservative system -- which we show is essentially unique. We illustrate the method by applying it to the spectral analysis of time dispersive dielectrics and the damped oscillator with retarded friction. In particular, we obtain a conservative extension of the Maxwell equations which is equivalent to the original Maxwell equations for a dispersive and lossy dielectric medium.Comment: LaTeX, 57 Pages, incorporated revisions corresponding with published versio

Bose-Einstein condensate in a rapidly rotating non-symmetric trap

A rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate in a symmetric two-dimensional harmonic trap can be described with the lowest Landau-level set of single-particle states. The condensate wave function psi(x,y) is a Gaussian exp(-r^2/2), multiplied by an analytic function f(z) of the complex variable z= x+ i y. The criterion for a quantum phase transition to a non-superfluid correlated many-body state is usually expressed in terms of the ratio of the number of particles to the number of vortices. Here, a similar description applies to a rapidly rotating non-symmetric two-dimensional trap with arbitrary quadratic anisotropy (omega_x^2 < omega_y^2). The corresponding condensate wave function psi(x,y) is a complex anisotropic Gaussian with a phase proportional to xy, multiplied by an analytic function f(z), where z = x + i \beta_- y is a stretched complex variable and 0< \beta_- <1 is a real parameter that depends on the trap anisotropy and the rotation frequency. Both in the mean-field Thomas-Fermi approximation and in the mean-field lowest Landau level approximation with many visible vortices, an anisotropic parabolic density profile minimizes the energy. An elongated condensate grows along the soft trap direction yet ultimately shrinks along the tight trap direction. The criterion for the quantum phase transition to a correlated state is generalized (1) in terms of N/L_z, which suggests that a non-symmetric trap should make it easier to observe this transition or (2) in terms of a "fragmented" correlated state, which suggests that a non-symmetric trap should make it harder to observe this transition. An alternative scenario involves a crossover to a quasi one-dimensional condensate without visible vortices, as suggested by Aftalion et al., Phys. Rev. A 79, 011603(R) (2009).Comment: 20 page

Repetition of contaminating question types when children and youths with intellectual disabilities are interviewed

Background The present study examined the effects of repeating questions in interviews investigating the possible sexual abuse of children and youths who had a variety of intellectual disabilities. We predicted that the repetition of option-posing and suggestive questions would lead the suspected victims to change their responses, making it difficult to understand what actually happened. Inconsistency can be a key factor when assessing the reliability of witnesses. Materials Case files and transcripts of investigative interviews with 33 children and youths who had a variety of intellectual disabilities were obtained from prosecutors in Sweden. The interviews involved 25 females and 9 males whose chronological ages were between 5.4 and 23.7 years when interviewed (M = 13.2 years). Results Six per cent of the questions were repeated at least once. The repetition of focused questions raised doubts about the reports because the interviewees changed their answers 40% of the time. Conclusions Regardless of the witnesses' abilities, it is important to obtain reports that are as accurate and complete as possible in investigative interviews. Because this was a field study, we did not know which responses were accurate, but repetitions of potentially contaminating questions frequently led the interviewees to contradict their earlier answers. This means that the interviewers' behaviour diminished the usefulness of the witnesses' testimony