高聚物外包盾构隧道离心机振动台试验研究

为了验证非水反应聚氨酯高聚物(后文简称高聚物)外包盾构隧道具有减震性能,对高聚物外包盾构隧道模型和无外包隧道模型,采用离心机振动台进行对比试验。针对中密砂土围岩,在不同阵型特征的地震波输入下,对比有无高聚物外包隧道加速度、频谱、隧道动力响应和地表沉降,分析高聚物的减震性能。试验结果表明:在不同地震激励的工况下,对于有无高聚物外包的隧道模型,其加速度和频谱差别不大;二者隧道各点上的动应变平均相差31.32%;高聚物外包层隧道模型地表的最终沉降分别比无外包隧道模型和自由场地表沉降约小20%和50%。试验证明高聚物对盾构隧道有减震作用,此试验研究为高聚物在今后的工程应用提供参考依据。     

Cosmic rays and changes in atmospheric infra-red transmission

Recent work by Aplin and Lockwood (2013) [1] was interpreted by them as showing that there is a multiplying ratio of order 10¹² for the infra-red energy absorbed in the ionization produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere to the energy content of the cosmic rays themselves. We argue here that the interpretation of the result in terms of infra-red absorption by ionization is incorrect and that the result is therefore most likely due to a technical artefact.     

Constraints on variations of mp/me based on UVES observations of H2

This article summarizes the latest results on the proton‐to‐electron mass ratio μ derived from H₂ observations at high redshift in the light of possible variations of fundamental physical constants. The focus lies on UVES observations of the past years as enormous progress was achieved since the first positive results on Δμ /μ were published. With the better understanding of systematics, dedicated observation runs, and numerous approaches to improve wavelength calibration accuracy, all current findings are in reasonable good agreement with no variation and provide an upper limit of Δμ /μ < 1 × 10^–5 for the redshift range of 2 < z < 3. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Probing subparsec structure in the Lyman α forest with gravitational microlensing

We present the results of microlens ray-tracing simulations showing the effect of absorbing material between a source quasar and a lensing galaxy in a gravitational lens system. We find that, in addition to brightness fluctuations due to microlensing, the strength of the absorption line relative to the continuum varies with time, with the properties of the variations depending on the structure of the absorbing material. We conclude that such variations will be measurable via ultraviolet spectroscopy of image A of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305 if the Lyman α clouds between the quasar and the lensing galaxy possess structure on scales smaller than ∼0.1 pc. The time-scale for the variations is on the order of years to decades, although very short-term variability can occur. While the Lyman α lines may not be accessible at all wavelengths, this approach is applicable to any absorption system, including metal lines.