Using data collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II electron-positron storage ring operating at a centre-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV, the branching fractions $B(\tau^- \to \pi^-\pi^-\pi^+\nu_\tau) =(8.83\pm0.01\pm0.13)\%$, $B(\tau^- \to K^-\pi^-\pi^+\nu_\tau) =(0.273\pm0.002 \pm 0.009)\%$, $B(\tau^- \to K^-\pi^-K^+\nu_\tau) =(0.1346 \pm 0.0010 \pm 0.0036)\%$, and $B(\tau^- \to K^-K^-K^+\nu_\tau) =(1.58 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.12)\times10^{-5}$ are measured where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The invariant mass distribution for the $\tau^- \to \pi^-\pi^-\pi^+\nu_\tau$, $\tau^- \to K^-\pi^-\pi^+\nu_\tau$, $\tau^- \to K^-\pi^-K^+\nu_\tau$, and $\tau^- \to K^-K^-K^+\nu_\tau$ decays are unfolded to correct for detector effects. A measurement of $B(\tau^- \to \phi\pi^-\nu_\tau)=(3.42\pm0.55\pm0.25)\times10^{−5}$, a measurement of $B(\tau^- \to \phi^-K^-\nu_\tau) =(3.39\pm0.20\pm0.28)\times10^{−5}$ and an upper limit on $B(\tau^- \to K^-K^-K^+\nu_\tau [ex.\phi]) < =2.5\times10^{−6}$@90\%CL are determined from a binned maximum likelihood fit of the $\tau^- \to K^-\pi^-K^+\nu_\tau$ and $\tau^- \to K^-K^-K^+\nu_\tau$ $K^+K^−$ invariant mass distributions. The branching ratio $B(\tau^- \to K^-\nu_\tau)/B(\tau^- \to\pi^-\nu_\tau)$ is measured to be $(6.531\pm0.056\pm0.093)\times10^{−2}$ from which $|V_{us}|$ is determined to be $0.2255 \pm 0.0023$. The branching ratio $B(\tau^- \to \mu^-\nu_\tau\bar{\nu}_\mu)/B(\tau^- \to e^-\nu_\tau\bar{\nu}_e) =(9.796 \pm 0.016 \pm 0.035)\times10^{−1}$ is measured enabling a precision test of the Standard Model assumption of charged current lepton universality, $g_{\mu}/g_{e}=1.0036 \pm 0.0020$. The branching ratios $B(\tau^- \to K^-\nu_\tau)/B(\tau^- \to e^-\nu_\tau\bar{\nu}_e)=(3.882 \pm 0.032 \pm 0.056)\times10^{−2}$, and $B(\tau^- \to\pi^-\nu_\tau)/B(\tau^- \to e^-\nu_\tau\bar{\nu}_e)=(5.945 \pm 0.014 \pm 0.061)\times10^{−1}$ are measured which provide additional tests of charged current lepton universality, $(g_{\tau}/g_{\mu})_{\pi}= 0.9856 \pm 0.0057$ and $(g_{\tau}/g_{\mu})_{K}= 0.9827 \pm 0.0086$ which can be combined to give $(g_{\tau}/g_{\mu})_{\pi/K}= 0.9850 \pm 0.0054$. Any deviation of these measurements from the expected Standard Model values would be an indication of new physics.

We study the structure and substructure of Lambda-CDM halos using a suite of high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations. Our analysis of the substructure population of dark matter halos focuses on their mass and peak circular velocity functions, as well as their spatial distribution and dynamics. In our analysis, we consider the whole population of subhalos physically associated with the main halo, defined as those that have, at some time, crossed within the virial radius of the main progenitor. We find that this population extends beyond 3 times the virial radius and includes objects on unorthodox orbits, several of which travel at velocities approaching the nominal escape speed from the system. We trace the origin of these unorthodox orbits to the tidal dissociation of bound groups, which results in the ejection of some systems along tidal streams. This process primarily influences low-mass systems leading to clear mass-dependent biases in their spatial distribution and kinematics: the lower the subhalo mass at accretion time the more concentrated and kinematically hotter their descendant population. When quantified in terms of present day subhalo mass these trends disappear, presumably due to the increased effect of dynamical friction and tidal stripping on massive systems. We confirm several of these results using the ultra-high resolution Aquarius simulations, which extend the dynamic range of the subhalo mass function by nearly 3 orders of magnitude. Using these simulations we confirm that the substructure mass function follows a power-law, $dN/dM\propto M^{-1.9}$, and exhibits very little halo-to-halo scatter. This implies that the total mass in substructure within a given halo is bounded to a small fraction of the total halo mass, with the smooth component dominating the halo inner regions. Using the Aquarius simulations we study the structure of galaxy-sized Lambda-CDM halos. We find that the spherically averaged density profiles become increasingly shallow toward the halo center, with no sign of converging to an asymptotic power-law; a radial dependence accurately described by the Einasto profile. In our highest resolution run we resolve scales approaching 100 pc, at which point the maximum asymptotic slope is $\approx -0.89$, confidently ruling out recent claims for cusps as steep as $r^{-1.2}$. We find that the spherically averaged density and velocity dispersion profiles are not universal, but rather show subtle but significant deviations from self-similarity. Intriguingly, departures from self-similarity are minimized when cast in terms of the phase-space density profile, $\rho/\sigma^3$, suggesting an intimate scaling between densities and velocity dispersions across the system. The phase-space density profiles follow a power-law with radius, $r^{-1.875}$, identical to that of Bertschinger's similarity solution for self-similar infall onto a point mass in an otherwise unperturbed Einstein-de Sitter universe.

The noise (unwanted sound) from fans of all sizes, operating in close proximity to people, can be a design constraint due to annoyance or, in the worse cases, health damage. Of the total noise, aeroacoustic noise - produced by unsteadiness in the air - often represents a significant source and is intrinsically linked to the aerodynamic features of the flow field. In this work, the aeroacoustics of low-speed fans are investigated using a compact mixed-flow fan as a test case. The low-speed regime is less developed compared to large-scale, high-speed machines and is increasingly relevant to applications such as micro air vehicles, small wind turbines, and other environmental comfort technologies found in buildings or vehicles. The test case fan Reynolds number is of the order of 104 which is a couple of orders lower than those generally found in gas turbines. Its main sources are therefore best identified experimentally in the absence of proven alternative methods. In order to do this, a way of quantifying fan noise is developed in tandem with control of the aerodynamic operating point. Following a study of sources of the significant broadband and tonal noise, a low-order noise prediction scheme is developed and applied to predict tonal noise with reference to Reynolds number effects. The new, duct-based rig and method has several advantages over the existing sound power measurement rig built to the ISO 5136 standard at Dyson. The approach, which makes no assumptions about the relative power of different modes, has resulted in a rig that is much shorter. Unlike the ISO rig, it is capable of accurate narrow-band tone measurements with sources which excite strong non-plane-wave duct modes (as the modal structure of the sound is determined) for the frequencies of interest. Tests have been carried out at different operating points with a range of geometry modifications produced with 3D printing techniques. In terms of tonal sources which particularly impact sound quality, the mixed-flow impeller alone produces tones due to very high sensitivity to inflow distortion of the mean flow (giving unsteady blade loading). This means that the product inlet must be designed very carefully to optimally condition the flow. Periodicity in the impeller outlet flow produces rotor-stator interaction tones even with a number of guide vanes chosen to satisfy the Tyler-Sofrin theory cut-off criteria. This is thought to be due to abrupt radius change after the guide vanes in the rig (while the theory assumes constant radius). In the product, abrupt radius change also occurs. The sensitivity of the broadband level to inflow turbulence was confirmed to be low in the rig, although the in-product inflow appears much less ideal. The main broadband noise source in rig tests is suggested to be impeller self-noise as only small reductions in rotor-stator interaction noise are achieved with far fewer vanes. The low-order modelling scheme to understand the fundamental unsteady loading noise mechanism compares well to experiments for sample rotor-stator interaction tones. The velocity fluctuations which induce this noise, measured experimentally with a 2D hotwire, are shown to increase in intensity as Reynolds number is reduced towards 104. This is due to a higher importance of viscosity which can give boundary layers that are thicker and liable to laminar separation. Surface treatments such as boundary layer trips could be used to prevent such separation and potentially reduce noise. Based on the thesis findings, further tests, simulations and possible design modifications are suggested to understand and reduce the important noise sources.

One of two project reports. Part A can be found at: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/17932 / Time-averaged holographic interferometry is applied to the study of the resonance mode structures of an electromagnetic and a piezoelectric high frequency loud-speaker. Vibrational amplitude measurements were made using the simple concept of the holo-diagram. The vibrational amplitude sensitivity range was from 0.1 µm to 0.9 µm, which is an ideal range since the speaker vibrational amplitudes were always below 0.8 µm. Application of the technique to non-destructive speaker quality testing and optimum speaker design is also discussed in the report. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

<p>A glass-clad, slow-light photonic-crystal waveguide is proposed as a solution to sub-bandgap light detection in silicon photonic circuits. Such detection in silicon is perceived as a challenge owing to silicon's indirect band gap and transparency to 1550nm wavelengths, yet is essential for achieving low-cost, high-yield integration with today's microelectronics industry. Photonic crystals can be engineered in such a way as to enhance light-matter interaction over a specific bandwidth via the reduction of the group velocity of the propagating wave (i.e. the slowing of light). The interaction enhanced for light detection in the present work is electron-hole pair generation at defect sites. The intrinsic electric field of a p-i-n junction enables light detection by separating the electron-hole pairs as a form of measurable current. The photonic-crystal waveguides are designed to have bandwidths in the proximity of a wavelength of 1550nm. Refractive indices of over 80 near the photonic-crystal waveguide's Brillouin zone boundary are measured using Fourier transform spectral interferometry and are found to correspond to numerical simulations. Defect-induced propagation loss was seen to scale with group index, from 400dB/cm at a group index of 8 to 1200dB/cm at a group index of 88. Scaling was sublinear, which is believed to be due to the spreading of modal volume at large group index values. Photodetectors were measured to have responsivities as high as 34mA/W near the photonic-crystal waveguide's Brillouin zone boundary for a reverse bias of 20V and a remarkably short detector length of 80um. The fabrication of each device is fully CMOS-compatible for the sake of cost-effective integration with silicon microelectronics.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This thesis presents solutions and studies related to the design of wideband antennas for wireless handheld terminal applications. A method of electrically shortening the terminal chassis length to obtain resonance at high frequencies has been proposed and evaluated, thereby increasing the antennas impedance bandwidth. No significant effect on the lower frequency band in a dual-band antenna prototype has been observed, making the method suitable for multi-band applications. The chassis has further been utilized as a zero-thickness 0.9 - 2.7 GHz high efficiency antenna by inserting a notch in the chassis center, and a feasibility study for typical phones has been performed. Additionally, the effect of talk position on the chassis wave-mode has been investigated, where the standard equivalent circuit model for terminal antennas has been modified to include the presence of the users head. The model has been used to explain measured and simulated effects concerning frequency detuning, efficiency reduction and bandwidth enhancements when the terminal is placed in talk position. The use of a hands-free earpiece cord is currently mandatory for FM radio reception as the cord is utilized as antenna. However, there is currently a market driven demand for removing the cord requirement since many modern phones are equipped with speakers and Bluetooth headsets. In this thesis, an active ferrite loop antenna is proposed as an internal replacement/complement with a performance of -23 dB (G/T degradation) compared to a full-size lossless dipole in urban environments. Also, a modification to the cord is suggested for DVB H reception. Complex matching networks have been investigated to increase the bandwidth of dual band PIFA antennas, and a printed dual band dipole has been integrated with a modified Marchand balun for dual resonance at two separate frequency bands, thus covering the commercial cellular bands 824-960 and 1710-2170 MHz with a single antenna.

<p>The fabrication of zone plate lenses that are used for focusing X-rays relies on nanofabrication techniques such as e-beam lithography, reactive ion etching, and electroplating. The circular grating-like zone plate pattern can have a smallest half-period, a so-called zone width, of down to 20 nm while it also needs to have a height that is 5 to 10 times the zone width to have good diffraction efficiency. This high aspect ratio structuring is a very challenging field of nanofabrication.</p><p>This diploma project has focused on improving the process step of fabricating the electroplating mold by cryo-cooling the polymer during the reactive ion etching with O₂. The low temperature causes passivation of the sidewalls of the mold during etching which results in a more ideal rectangular profile of the high aspect ratio plating mold.</p><p>By etching at -100 °C, structures with highly vertical sidewalls and no undercut were realized. The experiments showed that there is a tradeoff between the anisotropy of the zone profile and the formation rate of polymer residue, so-called RIE grass. Through a proper choice of process parameters the grass could be completely removed without introducing any undercut.</p> / QC 20100414

Examples of superhydrophobic surfaces found in nature such as self-cleaning property of lotus leaf and walking on water ability of water strider have led to an extensive investigation in this area over the past few decades. When a water droplet rests on a textured surface, it may either form a liquid-solid-vapor composite interface by which the liquid droplet partially sits on air pockets or it may wet the surface in which the water replaces the trapped air depending on the surface roughness and the surface chemistry. Super water repellent surfaces have numerous applications in our daily life such as drag reduction, anti-icing, anti-fogging, energy conservation, noise reduction, and self-cleaning. In fact, the same concept could be applied in designing and producing surfaces that repel organic contaminations (e.g. low surface tension liquids). However, superoleophobic surfaces are more challenging to fabricate than superhydrophobic surfaces since the combination of multiscale roughness with re-entrant or overhang structure and surface chemistry must be provided. In this study, simple, cost-effective and potentially scalable techniques, i.e., airbrush and electrospray, were employed for the sake of making superhydrophobic and superoleophobic coatings with random and patterned multiscale surface roughness. Different types of silicon dioxide were utilized in this work to in order to study and to characterize the effect of surface morphology and surface roughness on surface wettability. The experimental findings indicated that super liquid repellent surfaces with high apparent contact angles and extremely low sliding angles were successfully fabricated by combining re-entrant structure, multiscale surface roughness, and low surface energy obtained from chemically treating the fabricated surfaces. In addition to that, the experimental observations regarding producing textured surfaces in mask-assisted electrospray were further validated by simulating the actual working conditions and geometries using COMSOL Multiphysics.

Dropped object are defined as any object that fall under its own weight from a previously static position or fell due to an applied force from equipment or a moving object. It is among the top ten causes of injuries and fatality in oil and gas industry. To solve this problem, several in-house tools and guidelines is developed over time to assess the risk of dropped objects on the sub-sea structures. This thesis focuses on compiling and comparing those methods in hope to improve the recommended practices available in the market. A simple modification is done on the in-house tools to better predict the landing point distribution of the dropped cylindrical objects on the seabed by imposing the random three-dimensional rotation around the water depth axis. This tool is then used to compare the result of annual hit frequency using the recommended practice and further compared with the available experimental data.

Abstract After the discovery of topological insulators (TIs), it has come to be widely recognized that topological states of matter can actually be widespread. In this sense, TIs have established a new paradigm about topological materials. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in topological semimetals, which embody two different ways of generalizing the effectively massless electrons to bulk materials. Dirac and, particularly, Weyl semimetals should support several transport and optical phenomena that are still being sought in experiments. A number of promising experimental results indicate superconductivity in members of half-Hesuler semimetals which realize the mixing singlet and triplet pairing symmetry. We now turn to results we got through the work on topological semimetals. This work presents quantum high field transports on Dirac and Weyl topological semimetals including Sr1-yMn1-zSb2 (y, z < 0.1), YbMnBi2 and TaP. In case of Sr1-yMn1-zSb2 (y, z < 0.1), massless relativistic fermion was reported with m* = 0.04-0.05m0. This material presented a ferromagnetic order for in 304 K < T < 565 K, but a canted antiferromagnetic order with a net ferromagnetic component for T < 304 K. These are considered striking features of Dirac fermions For YbMnBi2, we reported the unusual interlayer quantum transport behavior in magnetoresistivity, resulting from the zeroth LL mode observed in this time reversal symmetry breaking type II Weyl semimetal. Also, for Weyl semimetal TaP the measurements probed multiple Fermi pockets, from which nontrivial π Berry phase and Zeeman splitting were extracted. Our ultra-low penetration depth measurements on half-Heuslers YPdBi and TbPdBi revealed a power- law behavior with n= 2.76 ± 0.04 for YPdBi samples and n=2.6 ± 0.3 for TbPdBi sample. We may conclude the exponent n > 2 implies nodless superconducting gap in our samples. Also, we found that despite the increase in magnetic correlations from YPdBi to TbPdBi, superconductivity remains robust in both systems which indicates that AF fluctuations do not play a major role in superconducting mechanism.