Production of Beryllium and Boron by Spallation in Supernova Ejecta

The abundances of beryllium and boron have been measured in halo stars of metallicities as low as [Fe/H] =-3. The observations show that the ratios Be/Fe and B/Fe are independent of metallicity and approximately equal to their solar values over the entire range of observed metallicity. These observations are in contradiction with the predictions of simple models of beryllium and boron production by spallation in the interstellar medium of a well mixed galaxy. We propose that beryllium and boron are produced by spallation in the ejecta of type II supernovae. In our picture, protons and alpha particles are accelerated early in the supernova event and irradiate the heavy elements in the ejecta long before the ejecta mixes with the interstellar medium. We follow the propagation of the accelerated particles with a Monte-Carlo code and find that the energy per spallation reaction is about 5 GeV for a variety of initial particle spectra and ejecta compositions. Reproducing the observed Be/Fe and B/Fe ratios requires roughly 3 times 10^{47} ergs of accelerated protons and alphas. This is much less than the 10^{51} ergs available in a supernova explosion.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, to be published in the 4th Compton Symposium Conference Proceedin

Granular Response to Impact: Topology of the Force Networks

Impact of an intruder on granular matter leads to formation of mesoscopic force networks seen particularly clearly in the recent experiments carried out with photoelastic particles, e.g., Clark et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 114 144502 (2015). These force networks are characterized by complex structure and evolve on fast time scales. While it is known that total photoelastic activity in the granular system is correlated with the acceleration of the intruder, it is not known how the structure of the force network evolves during impact, and if there is a dominant features in the networks that can be used to describe intruder's dynamics. Here, we use topological tools, in particular persistent homology, to describe these features. Persistent homology allows quantification of both structure and time evolution of the resulting force networks. We find that there is a clear correlation of the intruder's dynamics and some of the topological measures implemented. This finding allows us to discuss which properties of the force networks are most important when attempting to describe intruder's dynamics. Regarding temporal evolution of the networks, we are able to define the upper bound on the relevant time scale on which the networks evolve

The Jamming Transition in Granular Systems

Recent simulations have predicted that near jamming for collections of spherical particles, there will be a discontinuous increase in the mean contact number, Z, at a critical volume fraction, phi_c. Above phi_c, Z and the pressure, P are predicted to increase as power laws in phi-phi_c. In experiments using photoelastic disks we corroborate a rapid increase in Z at phi_c and power-law behavior above phi_c for Z and P. Specifically we find power-law increase as a function of phi-phi_c for Z-Z_c with an exponent beta around 0.5, and for P with an exponent psi around 1.1. These exponents are in good agreement with simulations. We also find reasonable agreement with a recent mean-field theory for frictionless particles.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 2 pages supplement; minor changes and clarifications, 2 addtl. refs., accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Packing structure of a two-dimensional granular system through the jamming transition

We have performed a novel experiment on granular packs composed of automatically swelling particles. By analyzing the Voronoi structure of packs going through the jamming transition, we show that the local configuration of a jamming pack is strikingly similar to that of a glass-forming liquid, both in terms of their universal area distribution and the process of defect annealing. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an unambiguous structural signature of the jamming transition can be obtained from the pair correlation functions of a pack. Our study provides insights into the structural properties of general jamming systems.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Granular Impact: A Grain-scale Approach

This work summarizes a series of studies on two-dimensional granular impact, where an intruding object strikes a granular material at high speed. Many previous studies on granular impact have used a macroscopic force law, which is dominated by an inertial drag term proportional to the intruder velocity squared. The primary focus here is on the microscopic force response of the granular material, and how the grain-scale effects give rise to this inertial drag term. We show that the inertial drag arises from intermittent collisions with force-chain-like structures. We construct a simple collisional model to explain the inertial drag, as well as off-axis instability and rotations. Finally, we show how the granular response changes when the intruder speed approaches $d/t_c$, leading to a failure of the inertial drag description in this regime. Here, $d$ is the mean particle diameter and $t_c$ the characteristic momentum-transfer time between two grains.Comment: This is draft version of a book chapter appearing in "Rapid Penetration into Granular Media" (eds. Iskander et al.