Effect of velocity hiatuses in oscillatory flow on migration and geometry of ripples: wave‐flume experiments

A series of wave‐flume experiments was conducted to closely look at characteristics of geometry and migration of wave‐generated ripples, with particular reference to the effect of velocity ‘hiatuses’ during which the near‐bed flow velocity becomes much smaller than the threshold of sediment movement. Three types of wave patterns were generated: two types for simulating waves with intervening velocity hiatuses; and regular waves for comparison purposes. In the former two types, two different wavelengths of water waves were generated alternately in the course of a wave test: the wave with a longer wavelength was set large enough to mobilize the bottom sediment, whereas the wave with a shorter wavelength was set too small to mobilize the sediment. The former two types were designed to be different in sequence of convexity and concavity of wave patterns. The sequence with the convex–concave longer wave and successive convex–concave shorter wave was described as a ‘zero‐up‐crossing’ wave pattern, and the inverse sequence was described as a ‘zero‐down‐crossing’ wave pattern. The ripples developed under oscillatory flow with intervening hiatuses manifested the following characteristics in geometry and migration. (i) The morphological characteristics of ripples, namely wavelength, height and the ripple steepness, are unaffected by the intervening hiatuses of velocity. (ii) The directions of ripple migration under the zero‐up‐crossing and zero‐down‐crossing wave patterns corresponded well with the directions of the flow immediately before onset of the hiatuses. (iii) The observation of sand particle movement on the ripple surface indicated that, under the zero‐up‐crossing waves, the velocity hiatus prevents the entrained sediment cloud from being thrown onshore, and thus the sediment grains thrown onshore are fewer than those thrown offshore. As a result of the sediment movement over one wave‐cycle, the net sediment transport is directed offshore under the zero‐up‐crossing wave pattern. (iv) The velocity of ripple migration was highly correlated with acceleration skewness. Under most of the zero‐up‐crossing (zero‐down‐crossing) wave patterns, flow acceleration skewed negative (positive) and ripples migrated offshore (onshore).     

Laboratory studies of the HNCO molecular spectrum for precise spectroscopy of dark clouds

Detailed studies of the internal motions of dark clouds using spectral lines of many molecules require a laboratory frequency accuracy of the order of a few m s^?1. Based on our laboratory studies of the HNCO rotational spectrum in the ground vibrational state, we have increased significantly the accuracy of frequency calculation in a wide range of quantum numbers. We have achieved an (1σ) uncertainty for rotational transitions in the K _a = 0, 1 states recalculated to the Doppler velocity scale ≤2 m s^?1 for all frequencies <1.1 THz. This value allows radio-astronomical measurements with an accuracy comparable to that of the highest-precision observations based on spectral lines of other molecules.     

A HED Laboratory Astrophysics Testbed Comes of Age: JET Deflection via Cross Winds

We present new data from High-Energy Density (HED) laboratory experiments designed to explore the interaction of a heavy hypersonic radiative jet with a cross wind. The jets are generated with the MAGPIE pulsed power machine where converging conical plasma flows are produced from a cylindrically symmetric array of inclined wires. Radiative hypersonic jets emerge from the convergence point. The cross wind is generated by ablation of a plastic foil via soft-X-rays from the plasma convergence region. Our experiments show that the jets are deflected by the action of the cross wind with the angle of deflection dependent on the proximity of the foil. Shocks within the jet beam are apparent in the data. Analysis of the data shows that the interaction of the jet and cross wind is collisional and therefore in the hydrodynamic regime. We consider the astrophysical relevance of these experiments applying published models of jet deflection developed for AGN and YSOs. We also present results of 3-D numerical simulations of jet deflection using a new astrophysical Adaptive Mesh Refinement code. These simulations show highly structured shocks occurring within the beam similar to what was observed in the experiments.     

FT-IR microspectroscopy of extraterrestrial dust grains: Comparison of measurement techniques

Identification of astronomical dust composition rests on comparison of Infrared (IR) spectra with standard laboratory spectra; frequently, however, a single mineralogical composition is assumed for spectral matching. Advances in laboratory instrumentation have enabled very precise IR spectra to be measured on single grains and zones within grains; with a more complete set of spectral data for planetary dust, better compositional matches will be achieved for astronomical dust. We have compared several FT-IR spectroscopy techniques (open path transmission spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy of powders; microspectroscopy of single grains and powders and ATR spectroscopy of thin sections) to determine their utility for the direct measurement of the mid-IR spectra of small amounts of extraterrestrial grains. We have focussed our investigation on the spectra of the olivine series of silicates, (Mg,Fe)₂SiO₄, a species frequently identified as one of the major constituents of interstellar dust. The positions of three characteristic SiO₄ stretching bands at ∼10.4, 11.3 and 12 μm were measured for comparison of the techniques. All methods gave satisfactory results, although care must be taken to guard against artefacts from sample thickness and orientation effects. Single grains hand-picked from meteorites can be analysed, but results are inaccurate if the grain size is too large (>1-10 μm). Spectra for single grains also show variations that arise from sample orientation effects. Once the analytical artefacts are taken into account, we found that measurement of powder with a diamond compression cell is best suited for the analysis of small amounts of materials.     

实验教学改革与创新型人才的培养

新时期对创新型人才培养提出了特殊的要求。学校的实验教学在培养学生创新能力方面有着极其重要的作用；然而其现状却不能适应人才培养的需要。所以，实验教学必须从实验教学体系、实验课程设置、教学内容、手段及管理等方面进行全面改革。     

Sintering of highly porous silica-particle samples: analogues of early Solar-System aggregates

I describe a new method to make particle layers which consist of SiO₂ spheres with 0.78 μm radius. The layers were produced by sedimentation of aggregates which had grown in ballistic particle collisions, and the layers had a porosity of 0.95. They were used for experiments on sintering, i.e., the samples were heated in an oven at varying temperatures and heating durations, and the samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Based on the change of particle diameter, surface diffusion sintering and viscous flow are identified as important transformation mechanisms. The first effect dominated at the start of restructuring and the latter at higher temperatures. The neck growth of adjacent particles was fitted to a surface diffusion sintering model and predicts neck radii as a heating temperature and duration function. Between the temperature range of neck formation and of melting, further restructuring occurred which lead to dissolution of particulate structure and to densification and which resulted in a porous object consisting of straight elongated substructures which connected kinks of higher material density. The thermal transformation is important for the change of strength, collisional behavior, light-scattering properties, and thermal conductivity with relevance to dust aggregates, planetesimals, comets, interplanetary dust particles, and regolith-covered celestial bodies.     

Formation of Working Surfaces in Radiatively Cooled Laboratory Jets

Whilst observations provide many examples of collimated outflows or jets from astrophysical bodies, there remain unresolved questions relating to their formation, propagation and stability. The ability to form scaled jets in the laboratory has provided many useful insights. Experiments (Lebedev et al.: 2002, ApJ 564, 113) using conical arrays of fine metallic wires on the MAGPIE generator (1MA in 240 ns) have produced radiatively cooled collimated jets in vacuum using the redirection of convergent flows by a conical shock. Here we present results of a jet produced by this method propagating through a photo-ionized, quasi-stationary gas cloud. A working surface is observed at the head of the jet. The velocity of this working surface is lower than the velocity of a jet tip in vacuum.