Space–time integrated least squares: a time‐marching approach

A time‐marching formulation is derived from the space–time integrated least squares (STILS) method for solving a pure hyperbolic convection equation and is numerically compared to various known methods. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel method for automated grid generation of ice shapes for local‐flow analysis

Modelling a complex geometry, such as ice roughness, plays a key role for the computational flow analysis over rough surfaces. This paper presents two enhancement ideas in modelling roughness geometry for local flow analysis over an aerodynamic surface. The first enhancement is use of the leading‐edge region of an airfoil as a perturbation to the parabola surface. The reasons for using a parabola as the base geometry are: it resembles the airfoil leading edge in the vicinity of its apex and it allows the use of a lower apparent Reynolds number. The second enhancement makes use of the Fourier analysis for modelling complex ice roughness on the leading edge of airfoils. This method of modelling provides an analytical expression, which describes the roughness geometry and the corresponding derivatives. The factors affecting the performance of the Fourier analysis were also investigated. It was shown that the number of sine–cosine terms and the number of control points are of importance. Finally, these enhancements are incorporated into an automated grid generation method over the airfoil ice accretion surface. The validations for both enhancements demonstrate that they can improve the current capability of grid generation and computational flow field analysis around airfoils with ice roughness. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Resonance Phenomena Associated with the Time Asymmetry in Non-Hermitian Quantum Mechanics

Resonances are defined as the poles of the scattering matrix. The poles are associated with the complex eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian which are embedded in the lower half of the complex plane. The asymptotes of the corresponding eigenfunctions are exponentially diverged. Therefore, the resonance eigenfunctions are not embedded in the Hermitian domain of the Hamiltonian. The time asymmetric problem is discussed for these types of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and several solutions of this problem are proposed.     

Altering the Remote Past

An abstract treatment of Bell inequalities in proposed, in which the parameters characterizing Bell's observable can be times rather than directions. The violation of a Bell inequality might then be taken to mean that a property of a system can be changed by the timing of a distant measurement, which could take place in the future.     

Lax Pairs for Equations Describing Compatible Nonlocal Poisson Brackets of Hydrodynamic Type and Integrable Reductions of the Lamé Equations

We solve the problem of describing compatible nonlocal Poisson brackets of hydrodynamic type. We prove that for nonsingular pairs of compatible nonlocal Poisson brackets of hydrodynamic type, there exist special local coordinates such that the metrics and the Weingarten operators of both brackets are diagonal. The nonlinear evolution equations describing all nonsingular pairs of compatible nonlocal Poisson brackets of hydrodynamic type are derived in these special coordinates, and the integrability of these equations is proved using the inverse scattering transform. The Lax pairs with a spectral parameter for these equations are found. We construct various classes of integrable reductions of the derived equations. These classes of reductions are of an independent differential-geometric and applied interest. In particular, if one of the compatible Poisson brackets is local, we obtain integrable reductions of the classical Lamé equations describing all orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems in a flat space; if one of the compatible brackets is generated by a constant-curvature metric, the corresponding equations describe integrable reductions of the equations for orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems in a space of constant curvature.     

Fock Theories and Quantum Logics

The notion of Fock theory is introduced in the framework of quantum logics, which are here orthomodular atomic lattices satisfying the covering property. It is shown that there are some fundamental facts concerning particles, which may be successfully discussed in this general context. One of these facts is to establish the theoretical conditions for considering particles as sharply defined entities. The other refers to the theoretical circumstances, which almost impose to consider that some particles have a structure, meaning they are composed from other particles. This last problem is strongly related with the conservative time evolutions.     

Comparison of volumes by means of the areas of central sections

The Busemann–Petty problem asks whether origin-symmetric convex bodies in Rⁿ with smaller areas of all central hyperplane sections necessarily have smaller n-dimensional volume. The solution was completed in the end of the 1990s, and the answer is affirmative if n4 and negative if n5. Since the answer is negative in most dimensions, it is natural to ask what information about the volumes of central sections of two bodies does allow to compare the n-dimensional volumes of these bodies in all dimensions. In this article we give an answer to this question in terms of certain powers of the Laplace operator applied to the section function of the body.     

Apparatus for High-Resolution Solid Hydrogen Matrix Isolation Spectroscopy and Its Application

Apparatus integrating a Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and a mid-infrared difference frequency generation (DFG) laser spectrometer was built for the study of the matrix isolation spectrum in solid molecular hydrogen. A 3-cm-long molecular hydrogen crystal was grown in a liquid-helium Dewar, and its infrared absorption spectrum in the 1-5 μm region was recorded to test the system. The W₀(0) (ν=0←0, J=6←0) line around 2410 cm⁻¹ of solid hydrogen was investigated with the DFG laser spectroscopy. High-resolution matrix isolation spectrum of CO² co-deposited with hydrogen on a BaF₂ cold plate at liquid-helium temperature was studied.     

Indentation responses of piezoelectric films

Frictionless indentation responses of transversely isotropic piezoelectric film/rigid substrate systems under circular cylindrical indenter (i.e., punch), conical indenter (i.e., cone), and spherical indenter (i.e., sphere) are investigated. Both insulating and conducting indenters are considered. The technique of Hankel transformation is employed to derive the corresponding dual integral equations for the mixed boundary value indentation problems. For the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and infinitely thin piezoelectric films, closed-form solutions are obtained. For piezoelectric films of finite thickness, a numerical method is constructed to solve the dual integral equations and semi-empirical models having only two unknown parameters are proposed for the responses of indentation force, electric charge and electric potential, and contact radius. With the two parameters inferred from the numerical results, the semi-empirical formulae are found to provide good estimates of the indentation responses for the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and thin piezoelectric films, as well as those in between. The inferred parameters in the proposed semi-empirical formulae for normalized indentation force and electric charge are checked against four different piezoelectric materials and are found to be insensitive to the selection of piezoelectric materials. It is believed that the proposed semi-empirical indentation formulae are useful in developing experimental indentation techniques to extract the material properties of piezoelectric films.     

Physics in Melbourne

I survey highlights of the practice of physics and allied sciences in Melbourne,Australia, from the 1850s, soon after Europeans first settled in the area, to the present. I note recognizable sites of past and current physical-science activity that may be visited, as well as exhibits of historic items of physics apparatus. I trace the role of physics, in the course of a century and a half, in the evolution of a pioneering settlement into a large city embedded in a modern industrial economy.