An anchored elastic filament (Euler strut) under an external point load applied to its free end is a simple model for a second-order phase transition. In the static case, a load greater than the critical load causes a Euler buckling instability, leading to a change in the filament's shape. The analysis of filament dynamics with an external point load at its end shows that when approaching the critical end-load, the period of such an inverted pendulum diverges in a fashion analogous to a 'soft mode' critical slowing down in, for example, a ferroelectric phase transition of displacive type. We thus show that an advanced concept of solid state physics, i.e. 'soft mode' dynamics and critical slowing down, observable in a variety of second-order phase transitions, can be actualized in this simple mechanical system. The variable loads attached to a vertical spring allow for an experimental implementation and quantitative measurements as an illustration of this analogy.
J Bobnar et al
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very-high energies. CTA will consist of two large arrays with 118 Cherenkov telescopes in total, deployed in the northern and southern hemispheres. The Observation Execution System (OES) provides the means to execute observations and to handle the acquisition of scientific data in CTA. The Manager and Central Control (MCC) system is a core element in the OES system that implements the execution of observation requests received from the scheduler subsystem. This contribution provides a summary of the main MCC design features and of the plans for prototyping.
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