New results for isotropic point scatterers: Foldy revisited

Since 1945, Foldy’s method has been used to predict velocity and attenuation for various types of scatterers. In this paper, it is shown that Foldy’s method also yields predictions of reflection and transmission of scalar waves by a random distribution of point or line scatterers contained in a slab. Results are given in two and three dimensions, and for normal and oblique incidences. Formulae are also obtained for the reflection and transmission of longitudinal waves by point or line scatterers distributed in an elastic (non-viscous) fluid. Energy equations are derived, and expressions are obtained for the energy dissipated in the slab on average over one period. Curves for the reflection and transmission coefficients are presented in the case of solid cylindrical bars immersed in a fluid. The results obtained in this paper are expected to be valid for a low density of scatterers. Potential applications of this work occur in ultrasonic evaluation of materials, seismic exploration and medical ultrasonics, where reflected (or backscattered) data are used to construct maps or images of the materials (metals, composites, earth subsurface, tissue). The formulae of this work are expected to provide useful tools for better and more efficient mapping or imaging.     

Single-server queues with spatially distributed arrivals

Consider a queueing system where customers arrive at a circle according to a homogeneous Poisson process. After choosing their positions on the circle, according to a uniform distribution, they wait for a single server who travels on the circle. The server's movement is modelled by a Brownian motion with drift. Whenever the server encounters a customer, he stops and serves this customer. The service times are independent, but arbitrarily distributed. The model generalizes the continuous cyclic polling system (the diffusion coefficient of the Brownian motion is zero in this case) and can be interpreted as a continuous version of a Markov polling system. Using Tweedie's lemma for positive recurrence of Markov chains with general state space, we show that the system is stable if and only if the traffic intensity is less than one. Moreover, we derive a stochastic decomposition result which leads to equilibrium equations for the stationary configuration of customers on the circle. Steady-state performance characteristics are determined, in particular the expected number of customers in the system as seen by a travelling server and at an arbitrary point in time.     

Microscopic Theory of Blue Phases Ⅰ and Ⅱ of Liquid Crystal

The microscopic theory of the blue phases of chiral liquid crystal is proposed. Beginning with the potential between two molecules, by using the cell model of liquid, applying statistical physical method, the distribution function and the free energy of the system are obtained. By using variational approach and zero-order approximation, the differential equation that the order parameter tensor of the blue phase can satisfy is obtained. Then we change the differential equation to the eigenequation problem in quantum mechanics. Considering the symmetry of the blue phases,the order parameter tensors of blue phases Ⅰ and Ⅱ can be made up of the eigenvectors. Our results are the same as the results of Ginzberg-Landau‘s phenomenological theory. The parameters in the order parameter tensors that we calculate in the located system are close to the predecessors‘ results.     

Surface effects in field-induced smectic transitions

We study the surface behavior of a semi-infinite smectogenic sample bounded by a solid wall, in the presence of an external electric field. Our analysis is performed in the framework of a Landau-de Gennes theory. For the sake of simplicity, we consider only the case in which, in the absence of field and surfaces, a direct isotropic to smectic-A transition occurs, while in the presence of the electric field a nonspontaneous nematic phase appears. Two new surface phases are identified, namely a parasmectic and a surface-induced smectic phase. The shifts in the transition temperatures and the critical behavior of the surface states are analyzed. Received: 25 August 1997 / Accepted: 23 January 1998     

狭义相对论效应──运动时钟变慢的计算机模拟演示实验

利用精炼的C语言进行程序设计，定量模拟狭义相结论的运动时钟变慢，并对处于两种不同时空观的时钟运行进行对比，使得时间膨胀效应变得直观。     

“String” formulation of the dynamics of the forward interest rate curve

We propose a formulation of the term structure of interest rates in which the forward curve is seen as the deformation of a string. We derive the general condition that the partial differential equations governing the motion of such string must obey in order to account for the condition of absence of arbitrage opportunities. This condition takes a form similar to a fluctuation-dissipation theorem, albeit on the same quantity (the forward rate), linking the bias to the covariance of variation fluctuations. We provide the general structure of the models that obey this constraint in the framework of stochastic partial (possibly non-linear) differential equations. We derive the general solution for the pricing and hedging of interest rate derivatives within this framework, albeit for the linear case (we also provide in the appendix a simple and intuitive derivation of the standard European option problem). We also show how the “string” formulation simplifies into a standard N-factor model under a Galerkin approximation. Received: 30 January 1998 / Revised: 12 February 1998 / Accepted: 16 February 1998     

Thermally stimulated current and DSC studies of the broadened glass transition in liquid crystalline polymers

The high sensitivity of the thermally stimulated current, thermal sampling (TS) method is emphasized in a study of the breadth of the glass transition in several liquid-crystalline polymers (LCPs). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was performed on all samples to further quantify the glass transition regions. For “random” copolyester LCPs with widely varying degrees of crystallinity, including highly amorphous samples, very broad glass tran-sition regions were observed. One semicrystalline alternating copolyester and a series of semicrystalline azomethine LCPs were studied as examples of structurally regular polymers. These exhibited relatively sharp glass transitions more comparable to ordinary isotropic amorphous or semicrystalline polymers. The broad glass transitions in the random copolyesters are attributed to structural heterogeneity of the chains. In one example of a moderate-crystallinity random copolyester LCP (Vectra), glass transitions ranging up to ca. 150°C in breadth were determined by the thermal sampling (TS) method and DSC. In other lower crystallinity copolyester LCPs, the main glass transition temperature as determined by DSC was comparable to that determined by TSC although cooperative relaxations of a minor fraction of the overall relaxing species were detected well below the main T_g, by the TS method and not by DSC. Rapid quenches from the isotropic melt to an isotropic glass were possible with one LCP. The anisotropic and isotropic glassy states for this LCP were found to have the same breadth of the glass transition as was determined by the TS method, although TSC and DSC show that T_g is shifted downward by ca. 15°C in the anisotropic glass as compared to the isotropic glass. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Interactions between kinetic and radiative processes inside moving absorbing fluids

The aim of this paper is to present several features of the couplings occurring between radiative transfer and the kinetics of a moving dielectric. After determining how the velocity field affects the apparent thermo-optical properties of matter, the energy transport problem is investigated in instationary regime and the general form of transient radiative transfer equation inside a moving medium is built. Then, the model is applied to the particular case of turbulent flows: a system of two equations for mean and fluctuating radiative energies is presented, and the resolution of this system is finally carried out.     

旋涡运动的稳定性与角动量守恒

本文利用角动量作为Liapunov函数建立二维的圆形涡块及涡环在有限或无限区域上的(Liapunov)非线性稳定性.