Local Mass Density Research Articles

Molecular Structure and Work of Adhesion of Poly(n-butyl acrylate) and Poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-acrylic acid) on α-Quartz, α-Ferric Oxide, and α-Ferrite from Detailed Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed for two model pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) materials, atactic poly(n-butyl acrylate) [poly(n-BA)] and atactic poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-acrylic acid) [poly(n-BA-co-AA)] at a very low concentration in acrylic acid (one acrylic acid monomer per fifty butyl acrylate monomers plus three acrylic acids at each one of the two chain ends) in the bulk and confined between three crystalline substrates, silica (SiO2) represented as α-quartz, α-ferric oxide (α-Fe2O3), and metallic α-ferrite (α-Fe), over a range of temperatures. The simulations are carried out with the accurate, all-atom Dreiding force-field and provide important information for the distribution of local mass density of the two polymers at the three crystalline substrates, and their adsorption in conformations that lead to the formation of loop, train, and tail structures. By analyzing potential energy interactions between the two polymers and each one of the three substrates through their van der Waals contact area or by computing the diagonal elements of the local stress tensor in the vicinity of the substrate, we have calculated the effect of the type of substrate on the work of adhesion of the two polymers. Our calculations reveal a considerably stronger adsorption on α-quartz and α-ferric oxide compared to α-ferrite, which we attribute to strong attractive oxygen interactions of the two polymers with the oxygen atoms of SiO2 and Fe2O3. Detailed calculations of the local number density distribution of individual atomic species above the three substrates, of the local variation of the bond order parameter for skeletal and side group bonds or chords, of the distribution of dihedral angles, and of the histograms of chain ends support that the two PSAs adsorb on the three substrates with both their skeletal and pendant C–C and C–O groups lying practically parallel to the surface and in such a way that the C═O bond of the pendant butyl acrylate groups points toward the surface. The detailed MD simulations indicate that adding a small amount (7.1% wt. here) of acrylic acid to poly(n-BA) significantly improves its wetting characteristics on oxygen-containing substrates. This is in full support of the findings of Kisin et al. [Chem. Mater. 2007, 19, 903−907] that introducing oxygen atoms to a metallic surface or to polymer molecules increases considerably the work of adhesion.

Nonlinear effects of general relativity from multiscale structure

When do the nonlinear effects of general relativity matter in astrophysical situations? They are obviously relevant for very compact sources of the gravitational field, such as neutron stars or black holes. In this paper I discuss another, less obvious situation, in which large relativistic effects may arise due to a complicated, multiscale structure of the matter distribution. I present an exact solution with an inhomogeneous energy density distribution in the form of a hierarchy of nested voids and overdensities of various sizes, extending from the homogeneity scale down to arbitrary small scales. I show that although each of the voids and overdensities seems to be very weakly relativistic, and thus easy to describe using the linearized general relativity, the solution taken as a whole lies in fact in the nonlinear regime. Its nonlinear properties are most easily seen when we compare the ADM mass of the solution and the integral of the local mass density: the difference between them, i.e. the relativistic mass deficit, can be significant provided that the inhomogeneities extend to sufficiently small scales. The non-additivity of masses implies a large backreaction effect, i.e. significant discrepancy between the averaged, large-scale effective stress–energy tensor and the naive average of the local energy density. I show that this is a general relativistic effect arising due to the inhomogeneous, multiscale structure. I also discuss the relevance of the results in cosmology and relativistic astrophysics.

STAR STREAMS IN TRIAXIAL ISOCHRONE POTENTIALS WITH SUB-HALOS

The velocity, position, and action variable evolution of a tidal stream drawn out of a star cluster in a triaxial isochrone potential containing a sub-halo population reproduces many of the orbital effects of more general cosmological halos but allows easy calculation of orbital actions. We employ a spherical shell code which we show accurately reproduces the results of a tree gravity code for a collisionless star cluster. Streams from clusters on high eccentricity orbits, $e\gtrsim 0.6$, can spread out so much that the amount of material at high enough surface density to stand out on the sky may be only a few percent of the stream's total mass. Low eccentricity streams remain more spatially coherent, but sub-halos both broaden the stream and displace the centerline with details depending on the orbits allowed within the potential. Overall, the majority of stream particles have changes in their total actions of only 1-2\%, leaving the mean stream relatively undisturbed. A halo with 1\% of the mass in sub-halos typically spreads the velocity distribution about a factor of two wider than would be expected for a smooth halo. Strong density variations, "gaps", along with mean velocity offsets, are clearly detected in low eccentricity streams for even a 0.2\% sub-halo mass fraction. Around one hundred velocity measurements per kiloparsec of stream will enable tests for the presence of a local sub-halo density as small as 0.2-0.5\% of the local mass density, with about 1\% predicted for 30 kiloparsec orbital radii streams.

PROBING THE DARK MATTER RADIAL PROFILE IN LENS GALAXIES AND THE SIZE OF X-RAY EMITTING REGION IN QUASARS WITH MICROLENSING

We use X-ray and optical microlensing measurements to study the shape of the dark matter density profile in the lens galaxies and the size of the (soft) X-ray emission region. We show that single epoch X-ray microlensing is sensitive to the source size. Our results, in good agreement with previous estimates, show that the size of the X-ray emission region scales roughly linearly with the black hole mass, with a half-light radius of where . This corresponds to a size of or ?1 lt-day for a black hole mass of . We simultaneously estimated the fraction of the local surface mass density in stars, finding that the stellar mass fraction is ? = 0.20 ? 0.05 at an average radius of , where Re is the effective radius of the lens. This stellar mass fraction is insensitive to the X-ray source size and in excellent agreement with our earlier results based on optical data. By combining X-ray and optical microlensing data, we can divide this larger sample into two radial bins. We find that the surface mass density in the form of stars is ? = 0.31 ? 0.15 and ? = 0.13 ? 0.05 at and , respectively, in good agreement with expectations and some previous results.

Force sensor for chameleon and Casimir force experiments with parallel-plate configuration

The search for non-Newtonian forces has been pursued following many different paths. Recently it was suggested that hypothetical chameleon interactions, which might explain the mechanisms behind dark energy, could be detected in a high-precision force measurement. In such an experiment, interactions between parallel plates kept at constant separation could be measured as a function of the pressure of an ambient gas, thereby identifying chameleon interactions by their unique inverse dependence on the local mass density. During the past years we have been developing a new kind of setup complying with the high requirements of the proposed experiment. In this article we present the first and most important part of this setup -- the force sensor. We discuss its design, fabrication, and characterization. From the results of the latter we derive limits on chameleon interaction parameters that could be set by the forthcoming experiment. Finally, we describe the opportunity to use the same setup to measure Casimir forces at large surface separations with unprecedented accuracy, thereby potentially giving unambiguous answers to long standing open questions.

THESPITZERMID-INFRARED AGN SURVEY. II. THE DEMOGRAPHICS AND COSMIC EVOLUTION OF THE AGN POPULATION

We present luminosity functions derived from a spectroscopic survey of AGN selected from Spitzer Space Telescope imaging surveys. Selection in the mid-infrared is significantly less affected by dust obscuration. We can thus compare the luminosity functions of the obscured and unobscured AGN in a more reliable fashion than by using optical or X-ray data alone. We find that the AGN luminosity function can be well described by a broken power-law model in which the break luminosity decreases with redshift. At high redshifts ($z>1.6$), we find significantly more AGN at a given bolometric luminosity than found by either optical quasar surveys or hard X-ray surveys. The fraction of obscured AGN decreases rapidly with increasing AGN luminosity, but, at least at high redshifts, appears to remain at $\approx 50$\% even at bolometric luminosities $\sim 10^{14}L_{\odot}$. The data support a picture in which the obscured and unobscured populations evolve differently, with some evidence that high luminosity obscured quasars peak in space density at a higher redshift than their unobscured counterparts. The amount of accretion energy in the Universe estimated from this work suggests that AGN contribute about 12\% to the total radiation intensity of the Universe, and a high radiative accretion efficiency $\approx 0.18^{+0.12}_{-0.07}$ is required to match current estimates of the local mass density in black holes.

Mass without radiation: Heavily obscured AGNs, the X-ray background, and the black hole mass density

A recent revision of black hole scaling relations (Kormendy & Ho 2013), indicates that the local mass density in black holes should be increased by up to a factor of five with respect to previously determined values. The local black hole mass density is connected to the mean radiative efficiency of accretion through the time integral of the AGN volume density and a significant increase of the local black holes mass density would have interesting consequences on AGN accretion properties and demography. One possibility to explain a large black hole mass density is that most of the Black Hole growth is via radiatively inefficient channels such as super Eddington accretion, however, given the intrinsic degeneracies in the Soltan argument, this solution is not unique. Here we show how it is possible to accommodate a larger fraction of heavily buried, Compton thick AGN, without violating the limit imposed by the hard X-ray and mid-infrared backgrounds spectral energy density.

Formation of the oxygen torus in the inner magnetosphere: Van Allen Probes observations

AbstractWe study the formation process of an oxygen torus during the 12–15 November 2012 magnetic storm, using the magnetic field and plasma wave data obtained by Van Allen Probes. We estimate the local plasma mass density (ρL) and the local electron number density (neL) from the resonant frequencies of standing Alfvén waves and the upper hybrid resonance band. The average ion mass (M) can be calculated by M ∼ ρL/neL under the assumption of quasi‐neutrality of plasma. During the storm recovery phase, both Probe A and Probe B observe the oxygen torus at L = 3.0–4.0 and L = 3.7–4.5, respectively, on the morning side. The oxygen torus has M = 4.5–8 amu and extends around the plasmapause that is identified at L∼3.2–3.9. We find that during the initial phase, M is 4–7 amu throughout the plasma trough and remains at ∼1 amu in the plasmasphere, implying that ionospheric O+ ions are supplied into the inner magnetosphere already in the initial phase of the magnetic storm. Numerical calculation under a decrease of the convection electric field reveals that some of thermal O+ ions distributed throughout the plasma trough are trapped within the expanded plasmasphere, whereas some of them drift around the plasmapause on the dawnside. This creates the oxygen torus spreading near the plasmapause, which is consistent with the Van Allen Probes observations. We conclude that the oxygen torus identified in this study favors the formation scenario of supplying O+ in the inner magnetosphere during the initial phase and subsequent drift during the recovery phase.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): bivariate functions of Hα star-forming galaxies

We present bivariate luminosity and stellar mass functions of H$\alpha$ star forming galaxies drawn from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. While optically deep spectroscopic observations of GAMA over a wide sky area enable the detection of a large number of $0.001<{SFR}_{H\alpha}$ (M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$)$<100$ galaxies, the requirement for an H$\alpha$ detection in targets selected from an $r$-band magnitude limited survey leads to an incompleteness due to missing optically faint star forming galaxies. Using $z<0.1$ bivariate distributions as a reference we model the higher-$z$ distributions, thereby approximating a correction for the missing optically faint star forming galaxies to the local SFR and stellar mass densities. Furthermore, we obtain the $r$-band LFs and stellar mass functions of H$\alpha$ star forming galaxies from the bivariate LFs. As our sample is selected on the basis of detected H$\alpha$ emission, a direct tracer of on-going star formation, this sample represents a true star forming galaxy sample, and is drawn from both photometrically classified blue and red sub-populations, though mostly from the blue population. On average 20-30% of red galaxies at all stellar masses are star forming, implying that these galaxies may be dusty star forming systems.

Low-luminosity X-ray sources and the Galactic ridge X-ray emission

Using the XMM-Newton Slew Survey, we construct a hard-band selected sample of low-luminosity Galactic X-ray sources. Two source populations are represented, namely coronally-active stars and binaries (ASBs) and cataclysmic variables (CVs), with X-ray luminosities collectively spanning the range 10^(28-34) erg/s (2-10 keV). We derive the 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity function (XLF) and volume emissivity of each population. Scaled to the local stellar mass density, the latter is found to be 1.08 +/- 0.16 x 10^28 erg/s/M and 2.5 +/- 0.6 x 10^27 erg/s/M, for the ASBs and CVs respectively, which in total is a factor 2 higher than previous estimates. We employ the new XLFs to predict the X-ray source counts on the Galactic plane at l = 28.5 deg and show that the result is consistent with current observational constraints. The X-ray emission of faint, unresolved ASBs and CVs can account for a substantial fraction of the Galactic ridge X-ray emission (GRXE). We discuss a model in which roughly 80 per cent of the 6-10 keV GRXE intensity is produced in this way, with the remainder attributable to X-ray scattering in the interstellar medium and/or young Galactic source populations. Much of the hard X-ray emission attributed to the ASBs is likely to be produced during flaring episodes.

Structural characteristics of liquid nitromethane at the nanoscale confinement in carbon nanotubes.

The stability of energetic materials confined in the carbon nanotubes can be improved at ambient pressure and room temperature, leading to potential energy storage and controlled energy release. However, the microscopic structure of confined energetic materials and the role played by the confinement size are still fragmentary. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to explore the structural characteristics of liquid nitromethane (NM), one of the simplest energetic materials, confined in a series of armchair single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) changing from (5,5) to (16,16) at ambient conditions. The simulation results show that the size-dependent ordered structures of NM with preferred orientations are formed inside the tubular cavities driven by the van der Waals attractions between NM and SWNT together with the dipole-dipole interactions of NM, giving rise to a higher local mass density than that of bulk NM. The NM dipoles prefer to align parallel along the SWNT axis in an end-to-end fashion inside all the nanotubes except the (7,7) SWNT where a unique staggered orientation of NM dipoles perpendicular to the SWNT axis is observed. As the SWNT radius increases, the structural arrangements and dipole orientations of NM become disordered as a result of the weakening of van der Waals interactions between NM and SWNT.

Formation and evolution of molecular hydrogen in disc galaxies with different masses and Hubble types

We investigate the physical properties of molecular hydrogen (H2) in isolated and interacting disk galaxies with different masses and Hubble types by using chemodynamical simulations with H2 formation on dust grains and dust growth and destruction in interstellar medium (ISM). We particularly focus on the dependences of H2 gas mass fractions (f_H2), spatial distributions of HI and H2, and local H2-scaling relations on initial halo masses (M_h), baryonic fractions (f_bary), gas mass fractions (f_g), and Hubble types. The principal results are as follows. The final f_H2 can be larger in disk galaxies with higher M_h, f_bary, and f_g. Some low-mass disk models with M_h smaller than 10^10 M_sun show extremely low f_H2 and thus no/little star formation, even if initial f_g is quite large (>0.9). Big galactic bulges can severely suppress the formation of H2 from HI on dust grains whereas strong stellar bars can not only enhance f_H2 but also be responsible for the formation of H2-dominated central rings. The projected radial distributions of H2 are significantly more compact than those of HI and the simulated radial profiles of H2-to-HI-ratios (R_mol) follow roughly R^-1.5 in MW-type disk models. Galaxy interaction can significantly increase f_H2 and total H2 mass in disk galaxies. The local surface mass densities of H2 can be correlated with those of dust in a galaxy. The observed correlation between R_mol and gas pressure (R_mol ~ P_g^0.92) can be well reproduced in the simulated disk galaxies.

An analytical model for the mechanical deformation of locally graphitized diamond

We propose an analytical model to describe the mechanical deformation of single-crystal diamond following the local sub-superficial graphitization obtained by laser beams or MeV ion microbeam implantation. In this case, a local mass–density variation is generated at specific depths within the irradiated micrometric regions, which in turn leads to swelling effects and the development of corresponding mechanical stresses. Our model describes the constrained expansion of the locally damaged material and correctly predicts the surface deformation, as verified by comparing analytical results with experimental profilometry data and Finite Element simulations. The model can be adopted to easily evaluate the stress and strain fields in locally graphitized diamond in the design of microfabrication processes involving the use of focused ion/laser beams, for example to predict the potential formation of cracks, or to evaluate the influence of stress on the properties of opto-mechanical devices.

A velocity divergence constraint for large-eddy simulation of low-Mach flows

The velocity divergence (rate of fluid volumetric expansion) is a flow field quantity of fundamental importance in low-Mach flows. It directly affects the local mass density and therefore the local temperature through the equation of state. In this paper, starting from the conservative form of the sensible enthalpy transport equation, we derive a discrete divergence constraint for use in large-eddy simulation (LES) of low-Mach flows. The result accounts for numerical transport of mass and energy, which is difficult to eliminate in relatively coarse, engineering LES calculations when total variation diminishing (TVD) scalar transport schemes are employed. Without the correction terms derived here, unresolved (numerical) mixing of gas species with different heat capacities or molecular weights may lead to erroneous mixture temperatures and ultimately to an imbalance in the energy budget. The new formulation is implemented in a publicly available LES code called the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). Accuracy of the flow solver for transport is demonstrated using the method of manufactured solutions. The conservation properties of the present scheme are demonstrated on two simple energy budget test cases, one involving a small fire in a compartment with natural ventilation and another involving mixing of two gases with different thermal properties.

Global existence of strong solution for the Cucker–Smale–Navier–Stokes system

We present a global existence theory for strong solution to the Cucker–Smale–Navier–Stokes system in a periodic domain, when initial data is sufficiently small. To model interactions between flocking particles and an incompressible viscous fluid, we couple the kinetic Cucker–Smale model and the incompressible Navier–Stokes system using a drag force mechanism that is responsible for the global flocking between particles and fluids. We also revisit the emergence of time-asymptotic flocking via new functionals measuring local variances of particles and fluid around their local averages and the distance between local averages velocities. We show that the particle and fluid velocities are asymptotically aligned to the common velocity, when the viscosity of the incompressible fluid is sufficiently large compared to the sup-norm of the particles' local mass density.

Local Large-Scale Structure and the Assumption of Homogeneity

AbstractOur recent estimates of galaxy counts and the luminosity density in the near-infrared (Keenan et al. 2010, 2012) indicated that the local universe may be under-dense on radial scales of several hundred megaparsecs. Such a large-scale local under-density could introduce significant biases in the measurement and interpretation of cosmological observables, such as the inferred effects of dark energy on the rate of expansion. In Keenan et al. (2013), we measured the K-band luminosity density as a function of distance from us to test for such a local under-density. We made this measurement over the redshift range 0.01 &lt; z &lt; 0.2 (radial distances D ~ 50 - 800 h70−1 Mpc). We found that the shape of the K-band luminosity function is relatively constant as a function of distance and environment. We derive a local (z &lt; 0.07, D &lt; 300 h70−1 Mpc) K-band luminosity density that agrees well with previously published studies. At z &gt; 0.07, we measure an increasing luminosity density that by z ~ 0.1 rises to a value of ~ 1.5 times higher than that measured locally. This implies that the stellar mass density follows a similar trend. Assuming that the underlying dark matter distribution is traced by this luminous matter, this suggests that the local mass density may be lower than the global mass density of the universe at an amplitude and on a scale that is sufficient to introduce significant biases into the measurement of basic cosmological observables. At least one study has shown that an under-density of roughly this amplitude and scale could resolve the apparent tension between direct local measurements of the Hubble constant and those inferred by Planck team. Other theoretical studies have concluded that such an under-density could account for what looks like an accelerating expansion, even when no dark energy is present.

Constraints on Bose-Einstein-condensed axion dark matter from the Hi nearby galaxy survey data

One of the leading candidates for dark matter is axion or axion-like particle in a form of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). In this paper, we present an analysis of 17 high-resolution galactic rotation curves from "The H{\footnotesize I} Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS)" data [F. Walter et al., Astron. J. 136, 2563 (2008)] in the context of the axionic Bose-Einstein condensed dark matter model. Assuming a repulsive two-body interaction, we solve the non-relativistic Gross-Pitaevskii equation for $N$ gravitationally trapped bosons in the Thomas-Fermi approximation. We obtain the maximum possible radius $R$ and the mass profile $M(r)$ of a dilute axionic Bose-Einstein condensed gas cloud. A standard least-$\chi^2$ method is employed to find the best-fit values of the total mass $M$ of the axion BEC and its radius $R$. The local mass density of BEC axion dark-matter is $\rho_{a}\simeq 0.02~{\rm GeV/cm}^3$, which agrees with that presented by Beck [C. Beck, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 231801 (2013)]. The axion mass $m_a$ we obtain depends not only on the best-fit value of $R$ but also on the $s$-wave scattering length $a$ ($m_a \propto a^{1/3}$). The transition temperature $T_a$ of axion BEC on galactic scales is also estimated. Comparing the calculated $T_a$ with the ambient temperature of galaxies and galaxy clusters implies that $a\sim 10^{-3}$ fm. The corresponding axion mass is $m_a\simeq 0.58$ meV. We compare our results with others.

Tracing the cosmic growth of supermassive black holes to z ∼ 3 with Herschel★

We study a sample of Herschel-PACS selected galaxies within the GOODS-South and the COSMOS fields in the framework of the PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) project. Starting from the rich multi-wavelength photometric data-sets available in both fields, we perform a broad-band Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) decomposition to disentangle the possible active galactic nucleus (AGN) contribution from that related to the host galaxy. We find that 37 per cent of the Herschel-selected sample shows signatures of nuclear activity at the 99 per cent confidence level. The probability to reveal AGN activity increases for bright ($L_{\rm 1-1000} > 10^{11} \rm L_{\odot}$) star-forming galaxies at $z>0.3$, becoming about 80 per cent for the brightest ($L_{\rm 1-1000} > 10^{12} \rm L_{\odot}$) infrared (IR) galaxies at $z \geq 1$. Finally, we reconstruct the AGN bolometric luminosity function and the super-massive black hole growth rate across cosmic time up to $z \sim 3$ from a Far-Infrared (FIR) perspective. This work shows general agreement with most of the panchromatic estimates from the literature, with the global black hole growth peaking at $z \sim 2$ and reproducing the observed local black hole mass density with consistent values of the radiative efficiency $\epsilon_{\rm rad}$ ($\sim$0.07).

Towards a new generalized space expansion dynamics applied to the rotation of galaxies and Tully Fisher law

Up to now, the rotational velocities of galaxies are not clearly understood and the experimental Tully Fisher rule, linking the total galactic mass to the fourth power of the velocity, through an acceleration coefficient of about 10−10 m/s2 has not found a deep theoretical explanation. Tentative proposals (MOND theory of a modified Newton’s law and extraneous dark matter) do not bring a definite clarification. We propose here a new approach to this problem, without exotic matter and using the classical Newton force. But we introduce a new additional universal acceleration, which could represent a universal expansion law valid at the scale level of a galaxy. We show that this hypothesis leads to a good description of the observed variations of the galactic transverse velocity. It can be considered as a consequence of the Scale Expansion Cosmos theory (SEC) introduced by J. Masreliez, but we postulate that the space expansion acceleration universally applies at any scale. We obtain a formal derivation of the Tully Fisher law, linking the constant galactic transverse velocity to its total mass, via the universal minimum acceleration. We derive a good estimate of the TF acceleration coefficient and show that expansion should be proportional to the square root of the local volumic mass density. Our conjecture is in fact a new dynamics principle which could be applied to many other physical problems at different scales. Applying it to the range of the solar planet system confirms the well known Kepler laws, at least as a valid approximation for the order of magnitude of the solar system.

Assessment of Local Friction in Protein Folding Dynamics Using a Helix Cross-Linker

Internal friction arising from local steric hindrance and/or the excluded volume effect plays an important role in controlling not only the dynamics of protein folding but also conformational transitions occurring within the native state potential well. However, experimental assessment of such local friction is difficult because it does not manifest itself as an independent experimental observable. Herein, we demonstrate, using the miniprotein trp-cage as a testbed, that it is possible to selectively increase the local mass density in a protein and hence the magnitude of local friction, thus making its effect directly measurable via folding kinetic studies. Specifically, we show that when a helix cross-linker, m-xylene, is placed near the most congested region of the trp-cage it leads to a significant decrease in both the folding rate (by a factor of 3.8) and unfolding rate (by a factor of 2.5 at 35 °C) but has little effect on protein stability. Thus, these results, in conjunction with those obtained with another cross-linked trp-cage and two uncross-linked variants, demonstrate the feasibility of using a nonperturbing cross-linker to help quantify the effect of internal friction. In addition, we estimate that a m-xylene cross-linker could lead to an increase in the roughness of the folding energy landscape by as much as 0.4-1.0k(B)T.