Frequency response correction of hot-film measurements in a turbulent airflow

Turbulence measurements were performed in a fully developed turbulent pipe flow using a wedged-shaped hot-film probe. The dynamic sensitivity of hot-film probes is frequency dependent and cannot be obtained from static calibration. As it is complicated to make a dynamic calibration, a correction method for the turbulent energy spectrum is used instead. The measurements were compared with hot-wire turbulence measurements and show good agreement. Received: 28 May 1999/Accepted: 24 August 1999     

Investigations of shear free turbulent diffusion in a rotating frame

We reconsider the problem of shear free turbulent diffusion in a rotating frame, rotating about x₁. Shear free turbulence is generated at a vibrating grid in the x₂–x₃ plane and diffuses away from the grid in x₁ direction. An important property of this flow case is that there is no mean flow‐velocity. With the help of Lie‐group methods Reynolds‐stress transport models can be analyzed for this kind of flow in a rotating frame. From the analysis it can be found, that the turbulent diffusion only influences a finite domain. Implicating this solution in the model equations shows that even fully nonlinear Reynolds‐stress transport models (non‐linear in the Reynolds‐stresses for the pressure‐strain model) are insensitive to rotation for this type of flow. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Double Aztec diamonds and the tacnode process

Discrete and continuous non-intersecting random processes have given rise to critical “infinite-dimensional diffusions”, like the Airy process, the Pearcey process and variations thereof. It has been known that domino tilings of very large Aztec diamonds lead macroscopically to a disordered region within an inscribed ellipse (arctic circle in the homogeneous case), and a regular brick-like region outside the ellipse. The fluctuations near the ellipse, appropriately magnified and away from the boundary of the Aztec diamond, form an Airy process, run with time tangential to the boundary.     

Young children’s multimodal mathematical explanations

This paper investigates how three children provided mathematical explanations whilst playing with a set of glass jars in a Swedish preschool. Using the idea of semiotic bundles combined with the work on multimodal interactions, the different semiotic resources used individually and in combinations by the children are described. Given that the children were developing their verbal fluency, it was not surprising to find that they also included physical arrangements of the jars and actions to support their explanations. Hence, to produce their explanations of different attributes such as thin and sameness, the children drew on each other’s gestures and actions with the jars. This research has implications for how the relationship between verbal language and gestures can be viewed in regard to young children’s explanations.     

From Gumbel to Tracy-Widom

The Tracy-Widom distribution that has been much studied in recent years can be thought of as an extreme value distribution. We discuss interpolation between the classical extreme value distribution exp( ? exp( ? x)), the Gumbel distribution, and the Tracy-Widom distribution. There is a family of determinantal processes whose edge behaviour interpolates between a Poisson process with density exp( ? x) and the Airy kernel point process. This process can be obtained as a scaling limit of a grand canonical version of a random matrix model introduced by Moshe, Neuberger and Shapiro. We also consider the deformed GUE ensemble, $M=M_0+\sqrt{2S} V$ , with M ₀ diagonal with independent elements and V from GUE. Here we do not see a transition from Tracy-Widom to Gumbel, but rather a transition from Tracy-Widom to Gaussian.     

Gap and out-gap breathers in a binary modulated discrete nonlinear Schrödinger model

We consider a modulated discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) model with alternating on-site potential, having a linear spectrum with two branches separated by a forbidden gap. Nonlinear localized time-periodic solutions with frequencies in the gap and near the gap -- discrete gap and out-gap breathers (DGBs and DOGBs) -- are investigated. Their linear stability is studied varying the system parameters from the continuous to the anti-continuous limit, and different types of oscillatory and real instabilities are revealed. It is shown, that generally DGBs in infinite modulated DNLS chains with hard (soft) nonlinearity do not possess any oscillatory instabilities for breather frequencies in the lower (upper) half of the gap. Regimes of exchange of stability between symmetric and antisymmetric DGBs are observed, where an increased breather mobility is expected. The transformation from DGBs to DOGBs when the breather frequency enters the linear spectrum is studied, and the general bifurcation picture for DOGBs with tails of different wave numbers is described. Close to the anti-continuous limit, the localized linear eigenmodes and their corresponding eigenfrequencies are calculated analytically for several gap/out-gap breather configurations, yielding explicit proof of their linear stability or instability close to this limit.Received: 31 October 2003, Published online: 17 February 2004PACS: 63.20.Pw Localized modes - 63.20.Ry Anharmonic lattice modes - 42.65.Wi Nonlinear waveguides     

Structural and electronic relationships between the lanthanide and actinide elements

The similarity and difference between the solid state properties of the 4f and 5f transition metals are pointed out. The heavier 5f elements show properties which have direct correspondence to the early 4f transition metals, suggesting a localized behaviour of the 5f electrons for those metals. On the other hand, the fact that Pu metal has a 30% lower volume than its neighbour heavier element, Am, suggests a tremendous difference in the properties of the 5f electrons for this element relative to the heavier actinides. This change in behaviour between Pu and Am can be viewed as a Mott transition within the 5f shell as a function of the atomic number Z. On the metallic 5f side of the Mott transition (i.e., early actinides), the elements show most unusual crystal structures, the common feature being their low symmetry. An analogous behaviour for the lanthanides is found in cerium metal under compression, where structures typical for the light actinides have been observed experimentally. A generalized phase diagram for the actinides is shown to contain features comparable to the individual phase diagram of Ce metal. The crystal structure behaviour of the lanthanides and heavier actinides is determined by the number of 5d (or 6d) electrons in the metallic state, since for these elements the f electrons are localized and nonbonding. For the earlier actinide metals electronic structure calculations - where the 5f orbitals are treated as part of the valence bands - account very well for the observed ground state crystal structures. The distorted structures can be understood as Peierls distortions away from the symmetric bcc structure and originate from strongly bonding 5f electrons occupying relatively narrow 5f states. High pressure is an extremely useful experimental tool to demonstrate the interrelationship between the lanthanides and the actinides. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Quantum origin of the oxygen storage capability of ceria

The microscopic mechanism behind the extraordinary ability of ceria to store, release, and transport oxygen is explained on the basis of first-principles quantum mechanical simulations. The oxygen-vacancy formation energy in ceria is calculated for different local environments. The reversible CeO2-Ce2O3 reduction transition associated with oxygen-vacancy formation and migration is shown to be directly coupled with the quantum process of electron localization.