Implementation of REDIM reduced chemistry to model an axisymmetric laminar diffusion methane–air flame

The goal of this work is to analyze the use of automatically reduced chemistry by the Reaction–Diffusion Manifold (REDIM) method in simulating axisymmetric laminar coflow diffusion flames. Detailed chemical kinetic models are usually computationally prohibitive for simulating complex reacting flows, and therefore reduced models are required. Automatic reduction model approaches usually exploit the natural multi-scale structure of combustion systems. The novel REDIM approach applies the concept of invariant manifolds to treat also the influence of the transport processes on the reduced model, which overcomes a fundamental problem of model reduction in neglecting the coupling of molecular transport with thermochemical processes. We have considered a previously well studied atmospheric pressure nitrogen-diluted methane–air flame as a test case to validate the methodology presented here. First, one-dimensional and two-dimensional REDIMs were computed and tabulated in lookup tables. Then, the full set of governing equations are projected on the REDIM and implemented in the object-oriented C++ Gascoigne code with a new add-on library to deal with the REDIM tables. The projected set of governing equations have been discretized by the Finite Element Method (FEM) and solved by a GMRES iteration preconditioned by a geometric multigrid method. Local grid refinement, adaptive mesh and parallelization are applied to ensure efficiency and precision. The numerical results obtained using the REDIM approach have shown very good agreement with detailed numerical simulations and experimental data.     

Sensitivity and relative error analyses of soot temperature and volume fraction determined by two-color LII

The sensitivity and relative sensitivity of soot temperature and soot volume fraction inferred from the two-color laser-induced incandescence technique to different variables were systematically investigated to quantitatively understand how the detection wavelengths affect the behavior of the detection system. The effects of signal shot noises on the derived soot temperature and soot volume fraction were also analyzed. The detection wavelengths are in general between about 400 nm for the lower band and near infrared for the upper one. Numerical calculations were conducted for seven detection wavelength selections commonly used in two-color laser-induced incandescence experiments reported in the literature. To achieve a better accuracy for soot temperature and volume fraction measurements, it is desirable to use a shorter lower detection wavelength and a longer upper detection wavelength in the spectral range of about 400 nm to near infrared. The lower detection wavelength has a stronger impact on the detection system performance than the upper one. The sensitivity and shot noise analyses are valuable tools to assess the relative performance of different detection wavelengths and should be used in combination with other considerations to design an optimal detection system in a two-color laser-induced incandescence experiment.     

Three-angle scattering/extinction versus TEM measurements on soot in premixed ethylene/air flame

In this work, a three-angle scattering and extinction technique has been applied in order to study soot formation and growth in a rich ethylene/air premixed flame (Φ=2.34). The Rayleigh–Debye–Gans theory together with the fractal-like approach has been applied to derive soot parameters, in terms of volume concentration and morphology. A mathematical procedure is presented to obtain the radius of gyration by considering scattering signals collected at two supplementary angles. TEM measurements, carried out at different locations on the flame axis, are used to derive some parameters, such as fractal prefactor, fractal dimension and size distribution, to be entered in the mathematical treatment of optical data. The radius of gyration and the primary particle size as obtained by TEM and by optical measurements are compared. Good agreement has been found in the upper part of the flame investigated. Discrepancies observed low in the flame are discussed.     

Precise predictions for Higgs production in association with a W-boson pair at ILC

Higgs-boson production in association with a W-boson pair at e ⁺ e ⁻ linear colliders is one of the important processes in probing the coupling between the Higgs boson and vector gauge bosons and discovering the signature of new physics. We describe the impact of the complete electroweak (EW) radiative corrections of to this process in the standard model (SM) at the International Linear Collider (ILC), and investigate the dependence of the lowest-order (LO) and EW next-to-leading order (NLO) corrected cross sections on the colliding energy and the Higgs-boson mass. The LO and NLO EW corrected distributions of the invariant mass of the W-boson pair and the transverse momenta of the final W-boson and Higgs boson are presented. Our numerical results show that the relative EW radiative correction (δ _ew) varies from −19.4% to 0.2% when m _H=120 GeV and grows from 300 GeV to 1.2 TeV.     

Investigation on the influence of soot size on prompt LII signals in flames

Theoretical papers predict that prompt LII signals are weakly dependent on the soot size due to the fact that larger particles reach higher temperatures during the heating process by nanosecond laser pulses. This question is of crucial importance for establishing LII as a practical technique for soot volume fraction measurements. In this work two-color prompt LII measurements have been performed in several locations of diffusion and rich premixed ethylene-air flames. The experimental apparatus was carefully designed with a probe volume of uniform light distribution and sharp edges, a 4 ns integration time around the signal pulse peak and narrow spectral bandwidth. Measurements did not confirm the theoretical predictions concerning an increase of temperature for larger particles. On the contrary, larger particles in richer premixed flames exhibit a lower 400/700 signal ratio. This can probably be attributed to small differences in the refractive index of soot.     

Experimental observations of methane–oxygen diffusion flame structure in a sub-millimetre microburner

We examine the structure of confined, laminar methane–oxygen diffusion flames in an alumina microburner with a sub-millimetre dimension. To minimize termination of gas-phase combustion via surface radical quenching, the reactor walls are chemically treated and annealed. We show, through chemiluminescent images, that gas-phase methane–oxygen diffusion flames exist in the microburner without the need for catalytic reaction. However, their structure differs from the continuous laminar diffusion flame profiles that we would expect in a similar burner configuration on a macroscopic scale. Instead, we observe a sequence of isolated reaction zones structures (flame cells) that form along the length of the microburner combustion channel aligned in the direction of the gas flow. This form of cellular diffusion flame instability appears to be unique to wall-confined combustion in microscale devices. The number of flame cells observed depends on the inlet gas velocities and initial mixture strengths.     

Laser induced incandescence determination of the ratio of the soot absorption functions at 532 nm and 1064 nm in the nucleation zone of a low pressure premixed sooting flame

In this work, the two-excitation wavelength laser induced incandescence (LII) method has been applied in a low-pressure premixed methane/oxygen/nitrogen flame (equivalence ratio 2.32) to determine the variation of the ratio of the soot absorption functions at 532 nm and 1064 nm E(m,532 nm)/E(m,1064 nm) along the flame. This method relies on the comparison of LII signals measured upon two different excitation wavelengths (here 532 nm and 1064 nm) and with laser fluences selected in such a way that the soot particles are equally laser-heated. The comparison of the laser fluences at 532 nm and 1064 nm leads to an easy determination of E(m,532 nm)/E(m,1064 nm). The reliability of the method is demonstrated for the first time in a low pressure flame in which the soot nucleation zone can be spatially resolved and which contains soot particles acting differently with the laser fluence according to their residence time in the flame. The method is then applied to determine the profile of E(m,532 nm)/E(m,1064 nm) along the flame. A very important decrease of this ratio is observed in the region of nascent soot, while the ratio remains constant at high distance above the burner. Implication on temperature determination from spectrally resolved measurement of flame emission is studied.     

Examination of wavelength dependent soot optical properties of diesel and diesel/rapeseed methyl ester mixture by extinction spectra analysis and LII measurements

The refractive index of soot is an essential parameter for its optical diagnostics. It is necessary for quantitative interpretation of LII (Laser Induced Incandescence) signals, light scattering or extinction measurements as well as for emissivity calculations. The most cited values have been determined by intrusive methods or without taking into account the soot size distribution and its specific morphology. In the present study, soot generated by the combustion of diesel and diesel/rapeseed methyl ester (RME) mixture (70% diesel and 30% RME) are extensively characterized by taking into account the morphology, the aggregate size distribution, the mass fraction and the spectral dispersion of light. The refractive index m for wavelengths λ between 300 and 1000 nm is determined for diesel and diester fuels by both in-situ and ex-situ methods. The ex-situ method is based on the interpretation of extinction spectra by taking into account soot sizes and fractal morphology with the RDG-FA (Rayleigh–Debye–Gans for Fractal Aggregate) theory. The in-situ approach is based on the comparison of the LII signals obtained with two different excitation wavelengths. The absorption function E(m) and the scattering function F(m) are examined. This study reveals similar optical properties of soot particles generated by both studied fuels even at ambient and flame temperatures. The function E(m) is shown to reach a maximum for λ=250 nm and to tend toward a plateau-like behavior close to E(m)=0.3 for higher wavelength (600<λ (nm)<1000). The function F(m) is found to be quite constant for 400<λ (nm)<1000 and equal to 0.31.     

Assessment of renal fibrosis in a rat model of unilateral ureteral obstruction with diffusion kurtosis imaging: Comparison with α-SMA expression and 18F-FDG PET

PurposeTo investigate the utility of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) MRI for evaluation of renal fibrosis in rats with unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO).MethodsTwenty-five rats had UUO, and ten rats were subjected to sham operation as control. DKI was performed on a 3.0 T MRI scanner on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after ligation. All rats then underwent ¹⁸F-FDG dynamic PET to evaluate unilateral renal function, followed by histological analysis to examine α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression. DKI metrics were assessed among the time points and between two sides, and compared with maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max), serum levels of creatinine and urea, and fibrosis marker α-SMA.ResultsMean kurtosis (MK) on day 7, axial kurtosis (Ka) on days 3 and 7, mean diffusivity (MD) on days 1, 3, 5, and 7, and fractional anisotropy (FA) on days 3, 5, and 7 of cortex and medulla between the UUO and contralateral sides were significantly different (all p < 0.05). Over the course of UUO progression, there were significant changes in Ka, MD and FA of medulla (all p < 0.05). FA of medulla was positively correlated with SUV_max (r = 0.641, p < 0.001), and MD of cortex was negatively correlated with urea (r = −0.534, p = 0.001). MD of cortex was negatively correlated with α-SMA on UUO sides (r = −0.710, p < 0.001).ConclusionsDKI shows the potential for noninvasive assessment of renal fibrosis and unilateral renal function induced by UUO.     

Renormalizability of a quark–gluon model with soft BRST breaking in the infrared region

We prove the renormalizability of a quark–gluon model with soft breaking of the BRST symmetry, which accounts for the modification of the large distance behavior of the quark and gluon correlation functions. The proof is valid to all orders of perturbation theory, by making use of softly broken Ward identities.     

Application of the conditional source-term estimation model for turbulence–chemistry interactions in a premixed flame

Conditional Source-term Estimation (CSE) is a closure model for turbulence–chemistry interactions. This model uses the first-order CMC hypothesis to close the chemical reaction source terms. The conditional scalar field is estimated by solving an integral equation using inverse methods. It was originally developed and has been used extensively in non-premixed combustion. This work is the first application of this combustion model for a premixed flame. CSE is coupled with a Trajectory Generated Low-Dimensional Manifold (TGLDM) model for chemistry. The CSE-TGLDM combustion model is used in a RANS code to simulate a turbulent premixed Bunsen burner. Along with this combustion model, a similar model which relies on the flamelet assumption is also used for comparison. The results of these two approaches in the prediction of the velocity field, temperature and species mass fractions are compared together. Although the flamelet model is less computationally expensive, the CSE combustion model is more general and does not have the limiting assumption underlying the flamelet model.     

Influence of spatial laser energy distribution on evaluated soot particle sizes using two-colour laser-induced incandescence in a flat premixed ethylene/air flame

Time-resolved laser-induced incandescence (LII) has been developed rapidly during the last decade as a useful non-intrusive technique for particle size determination. Still several parameters should be investigated in order to improve the accuracy of LII for particle sizing and the spatial distribution of the laser energy is one of these. Generally a top-hat profile is recommended, as this ensures a uniform heating of all particles in the measurement volume. As it is generally not straightforward to create a uniform beam profile, it is of interest to establish the influence of various profiles on the evaluated particle sizes. In this work we present both an experimental and a theoretical investigation of the influence of the spatial profile on evaluated sizes. All experiments were carried out using a newly developed setup for two-colour LII (2C-LII) which provides online monitoring of both the spatial and temporal profile as well as the laser pulse energy. The LII measurements were performed in a one-dimensional premixed sooting ethylene/air flame, and evaluated particle sizes from LII were compared with thermophoretically sampled soot particles analysed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that although there is some influence of the spatial laser energy distribution on the evaluated particle sizes both in modelling and experiments, this effect is substantially smaller than the influence of the uncertainties in gas temperature and the thermal accommodation coefficient.     

Phase transitions in a holographic s $$$$ p model with back-reaction

In a previous paper (Nie et al. in JHEP 1311:087, arXiv:1309.2204 [hep-th], 2013), we presented a holographic s \(+\) p superconductor model with a scalar triplet charged under an SU(2) gauge field in the bulk. We also study the competition and coexistence of the s-wave and p-wave orders in the probe limit. In this work we continue to study the model by considering the full back-reaction. The model shows a rich phase structure and various condensate behaviors such as the “n-type” and “u-type” ones, which are also known as reentrant phase transitions in condensed matter physics. The phase transitions to the p-wave phase or s \(+\) p coexisting phase become first order in strong back-reaction cases. In these first order phase transitions, the free energy curve always forms a swallow tail shape, in which the unstable s \(+\) p solution can also play an important role. The phase diagrams of this model are given in terms of the dimension of the scalar order and the temperature in the cases of eight different values of the back-reaction parameter, which show that the region for the s \(+\) p coexisting phase is enlarged with a small or medium back-reaction parameter but is reduced in the strong back-reaction cases.     

Comparison of the ratios of the yields of cumulative K + and K − mesons with the predictions of the model of a collective sea of quark-antiquark pairs in nuclei

The results obtained by simulating, within the flucton model, the production and secondary interactions of cumulative K ⁺ and K ^? mesons in nuclei indicate that the ratios of their yields are in acceptable agreement with the predictions of the model of a collective sea of quark-antiquark pairs in nuclei. The calculations were performed with allowance for the kaon-hadronization length according to the model of bremsstrahlung-gluon emission and the parton model.     

Inequivalent quantizations of the rational Calogero model with a Coulomb type interaction

We consider the inequivalent quantizations of a N-body rational Calogero model with a Coulomb type interaction. It is shown that for a certain range of the coupling constants, this system admits a one-parameter family of self-adjoint extensions. We analyze both the bound and scattering state sectors and find novel solutions of this model. We also find the ladder operators for this system, with which the previously found solutions can be constructed.     

An experimental setup combining a highly sensitive detector for reaction products with a mass-selected cluster source and a low-temperature STM for advanced nanocatalysis measurements

We report on a home-built detector for catalytic reaction measurements offering good gas isolation from the surrounding ultrahigh vacuum components, high sensitivity for reaction products and a fast response time of 10 ms enabling dynamic studies correlated to reactant gas pulses. The device is mounted in ultrahigh vacuum and combined with a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope and a source for the deposition of mass-selected clusters. This combination allows for a direct correlation between surface morphology and catalytic properties of model catalysts. The performances of the new detector are illustrated by measurements on two model systems. Thermal desorption spectroscopy of CO carried out on morphologically well characterized Pt on TiO₂(110)-(1 × 1) reveals several desorption features, which can be attributed to different surface sites. Catalytic CO oxidation performed by alternatingly pulsing isotopic CO and O₂ on a Pt film on yttria stabilized zirconia reveals the CO or O rich temperature regimes. The CO₂ production rate correlated with either one of the reactants can perfectly be reproduced by a kinetic reaction model giving access to the respective adsorption energies.     

Round-robin measurements of two candidate materials for a Seebeck coefficient Standard Reference Material™

A Standard Reference Material (SRM^™) for the Seebeck coefficient is critical for inter-laboratory data comparison and for instrument calibration. To develop this SRM^™, we have conducted an international round-robin measurement survey of two candidate materials—undoped Bi₂Te₃ and constantan (55% Cu and 45% Ni alloy). Measurements were performed in two rounds by twelve laboratories involved in active thermoelectric research using a number of commercial and custom-built measurement systems and techniques. We report the results of these measurements and the statistical analysis performed. Based on this extensive study, we have selected Bi₂Te₃ as the prototype standard material.     

Incoherent broad-band cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy for simultaneous trace measurements of NO2 and NO3 with a LED source

In the past decade, due to a growing awareness of the importance of air quality and air pollution control, many diagnostic tools and techniques have been developed to detect and quantify the concentration of pollutants such as NO _x , SO _x , CO, and CO₂. We present here an Incoherent Broad-Band Cavity-Enhanced Spectroscopy (IBB-CEAS) set-up which uses a LED emitting around 625 nm for the simultaneous detection of NO₂ and NO₃. The LED light transmitted through a high-finesse optical cavity filled with a gas sample is detected by a low resolution spectrometer. After calibration of the spectrometer with a NO₂ reference sample, a linear multicomponent fit analysis of the absorption spectra allows for simultaneous measurements of NO₂ and NO₃ concentrations in a flow of ambient air. The optimal averaging time is found to be on the order of 400 s and appears to be limited by the drift of the spectrometer. At this averaging time the smallest detectable absorption is 2×10⁻¹⁰ cm⁻¹, which corresponds to detection limits of 600 pptv for NO₂ and 2 pptv for NO₃. This compact and low cost instrument is a promising diagnostic tool for air quality control in urban environments.     

Cosmological constant in a model with superstring-inspired E 6 unification and shadow θ-particles

We have developed the concept of parallel existence of the ordinary (O-) and mirror (M-), or shadow (Sh-) worlds. In the first part of the paper we consider a mirror world with broken mirror parity and the breaking E ₆→SU(3)³ in both worlds. We show that in this case the evolutions of coupling constants in the O- and M-worlds are not identical, having different parameters for similar evolutions. E ₆ unification, inspired by superstring theory, restores the broken mirror parity at the scale ～10¹⁸ GeV. With the aim to explain the tiny cosmological constant, in the second part we consider the breakings: E ₆→SO(10)×U(1) _Z in the O-world, and E′₆→SU(6)′×SU(2)′ _θ in the Sh-world. We assume the existence of shadow θ-particles and the low-energy symmetry group SU(3)′ _C ×SU(2)′ _L ×SU(2)′ _θ ×U(1)′ _Y in the shadow world, instead of the Standard Model. The additional non-Abelian SU(2)′ _θ group with massless gauge fields, “thetons”, has a macroscopic confinement radius 1/Λ′ _θ . The assumption that Λ′ _θ ≈2.3?10^?3 eV explains the tiny cosmological constant given by recent astrophysical measurements. In this way the present work opens the possibility to specify a grand unification group, such as E ₆, from cosmology.