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Paul Plucinsky

Publications and source records attributed to Paul Plucinsky.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2025

Measuring the asymmetric expansion of the Fe ejecta of Cassiopeia A with XRISM/Resolve

The expansion structure of supernova remnants (SNRs) is important for understanding not only how heavy elements are distributed into space, but also how supernovae explode. The ejecta expansion structure of the young core-collapse SNR Cas A is investigated, with Doppler parameter mapping of the Fe-K complex by the Resolve microcalorimeter onboard the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, XRISM. It is found that the Fe ejecta are blueshifted in the southeast (SE) and redshifted in the northwest (NW), indicating an incomplete shell structure, similar to the intermediate mass elements (IMEs), such as Si and S. The Fe has a velocity shift of $\sim1400$ km~s$^{-1}$ in the NW and $\sim2160$ km~s$^{-1}$ in the SE region, with the error range of a few 100s km~s$^{-1}$. These values are consistent with those for the IMEs in the NW region, whereas larger than those for the IMEs in the SE region, although the large error region prevented us from concluding which component has significantly higher velocity. The line broadening is larger in the center with values of $\sim$2000--3000~km~s$^{-1}$, and smaller near the edges of the remnant. The radial profiles of the Doppler shift and broadening of the IMEs and Fe indicate that the Fe ejecta may expand asymmetrically as IME ejacta, although the large error regions do not allow us to conclude it. Moreover, we see little bulk Doppler broadening of the Fe lines in the northeastern jet region whereas the IME lines exhibit significant broadening. No such narrow lines are detected in the NW region. These findings suggest an asymmetric expansion of the ejecta potentially driven by large-scale asymmetries originating from the supernova explosion. This interpretation aligns with the large-scale asymmetries predicted by models of neutrino-driven supernova explosions.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2025

Evidence for Charge Exchange Emission in Supernova Remnant N132D from XRISM/Resolve Observations

XRISM has delivered one of its first light observations on N132D, the X-ray brightest supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Utilizing 193 ks of high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy data, we conduct a comprehensive search for charge exchange emission. By incorporating a charge exchange model into our spectral analysis, we observe an improvement in the fits of two weak features at 2.41 keV and 2.63 keV. These features, with a combined significance of 99.6%, are consistent with transitions from highly ionized silicon ions in high Rydberg states, which are unique indicators of charge exchange. Our analysis constrains the charge exchange flux to no more than 4% of the total source flux within the 1.7-3.0 keV band, and places an upper limit on the charge exchange interaction velocity at 450 km/s. This result supports ongoing shock-cloud interactions within N132D and highlights the unique capabilities of XRISM to probe the complex physical processes at play.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2025

Derivation of an effective plate theory for parallelogram origami from bar and hinge elasticity

Periodic origami patterns made with repeating unit cells of creases and panels bend and twist in complex ways. In principle, such soft modes of deformation admit a simplified asymptotic description in the limit of a large number of cells. Starting from a bar and hinge model for the elastic energy of a generic four parallelogram panel origami pattern, we derive a complete set of geometric compatibility conditions identifying the pattern's soft modes in this limit. The compatibility equations form a system of partial differential equations constraining the actuation of the origami's creases (a scalar angle field) and the relative rotations of its unit cells (a pair of skew tensor fields). We show that every solution of the compatibility equations is the limit of a sequence of soft modes -- origami deformations with finite bending energy and negligible stretching. Using these sequences, we derive a plate-like theory for parallelogram origami patterns with an explicit coarse-grained quadratic energy depending on the gradient of the crease-actuation and the relative rotations of the cells. Finally, we illustrate our theory in the context of two well-known origami designs: the Miura and Eggbox patterns. Though these patterns are distinguished in their anticlastic and synclastic bending responses, they show a universal twisting response. General soft modes captured by our theory involve a rich nonlinear interplay between actuation, bending and twisting, determined by the underlying crease geometry.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2024

Plate theory for metric-constrained actuation of liquid crystal elastomer sheets

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) marry the large deformation response of a cross-linked polymer network with the nematic order of liquid crystals pendent to the network. Of particular interest is the actuation of LCE sheets where the nematic order, modeled by a unit vector called the director, is specified heterogeneously in the plane of the sheet. Heating such a sheet leads to a large spontaneous deformation, coupled to the director design through a metric constraint that is now well-established by the literature. Here we go beyond the metric constraint and identify the full plate theory that underlies this phenomenon. Starting from a widely used bulk model for LCEs, we derive a plate theory for the pure bending deformations of patterned LCE sheets in the limit that the sheet thickness tends to zero using the framework of $Γ$-convergence. Specifically, after dividing the bulk energy by the cube of the thickness to set a bending scale, we show that all limiting midplane deformations with bounded energy at this scale satisfy the aforementioned metric constraint. We then identify the energy of our plate theory as an ansatz-free lower bound of the limit of the scaled bulk energy, and construct a recovery sequence that achieves this plate energy for all smooth enough midplane deformations. We conclude by applying our plate theory to a variety of examples.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2024

Programming bistability in geometrically perturbed mechanical metamaterials

Mechanical metamaterials capable of large deformations are an emerging platform for functional devices and structures across scales. Bistable designs are particularly attractive since they endow a single object with two configurations that display distinct shapes, properties and functionalities. We propose a strategy that takes a common (non-bistable) metamaterial design and transforms it into a bistable one, specifically, by allowing for irregular patterns through geometric perturbations of the unit cell and by leveraging the intercell constraints inherent to the large deformation response of metamaterials. We exemplify this strategy by producing a design framework for bistable planar kirigami metamaterials starting from the canonical rotating-squares pattern. The framework comprises explicit design formulas for cell-based kirigami with unprecedented control over the shape of the two stable states, and an optimization methodology that allows for efficient tailoring of the geometric features of the designs to achieve target elastic properties as well as shape change. The versatility of this framework is illustrated through a wide variety of examples, including non-periodic designs that achieve two arbitrarily-shaped stable states. Quantitative and qualitative experiments, featuring prototypes with distinct engineering design details, complement the theory and shine light on the strengths and limitations of our design approach. These results show how to design bistable metamaterials from non-bistable templates, paving the way for further discovery of bistable systems and structures that are not simply arrangements of known bistable units.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2023

Modelling planar kirigami metamaterials as generalized elastic continua

Kirigami metamaterials dramatically change their shape through a coordinated motion of nearly rigid panels and flexible slits. Here, we study a model system for mechanism-based planar kirigami featuring periodic patterns of quadrilateral panels and rhombi slits, with the goal of predicting their engineering scale response to a broad range of loads. We develop a generalized continuum model based on the kirigami's effective (cell-averaged) nonlinear deformation, along with its slit actuation and gradients thereof. The model accounts for three sources of elasticity: a strong preference for the effective fields to match those of a local mechanism, inter-panel stresses arising from gradients in slit actuation, and distributed hinge bending. We provide a finite-element formulation of this model and implement it using the commercial software Abaqus. Simulations of the model agree quantitatively with experiments across designs and loading conditions.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2023

Line Emission Mapper (LEM): Probing the physics of cosmic ecosystems

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is an X-ray Probe for the 2030s that will answer the outstanding questions of the Universe's structure formation. It will also provide transformative new observing capabilities for every area of astrophysics, and to heliophysics and planetary physics as well. LEM's main goal is a comprehensive look at the physics of galaxy formation, including stellar and black-hole feedback and flows of baryonic matter into and out of galaxies. These processes are best studied in X-rays, and emission-line mapping is the pressing need in this area. LEM will use a large microcalorimeter array/IFU, covering a 30x30' field with 10" angular resolution, to map the soft X-ray line emission from objects that constitute galactic ecosystems. These include supernova remnants, star-forming regions, superbubbles, galactic outflows (such as the Fermi/eROSITA bubbles in the Milky Way and their analogs in other galaxies), the Circumgalactic Medium in the Milky Way and other galaxies, and the Intergalactic Medium at the outskirts and beyond the confines of galaxies and clusters. LEM's 1-2 eV spectral resolution in the 0.2-2 keV band will make it possible to disentangle the faintest emission lines in those objects from the bright Milky Way foreground, providing groundbreaking measurements of the physics of these plasmas, from temperatures, densities, chemical composition to gas dynamics. While LEM's main focus is on galaxy formation, it will provide transformative capability for all classes of astrophysical objects, from the Earth's magnetosphere, planets and comets to the interstellar medium and X-ray binaries in nearby galaxies, AGN, and cooling gas in galaxy clusters. In addition to pointed observations, LEM will perform a shallow all-sky survey that will dramatically expand the discovery space.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2022

Continuum field theory for the deformations of planar kirigami

Mechanical metamaterials exhibit exotic properties at the system level, that emerge from the interactions of many nearly rigid building blocks. Determining these emergent properties theoretically has remained an open challenge outside of a few select examples. Here, for a large class of periodic and planar kirigami, we provide a coarse-graining rule linking the design of the panels and slits to the kirigami's macroscale deformations. The procedure gives a system of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE) expressing geometric compatibility of angle functions related to the motion of individual slits. Leveraging known solutions of the PDE, we present excellent agreement between simulations and experiments across kirigami designs. The results reveal a surprising nonlinear wave-type response persisting even at large boundary loads, the existence of which is determined completely by the Poisson's ratio of the unit cell.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2021

Inverse design of deployable origami structures that approximate a general surface

Shape-morphing finds widespread utility, from the deployment of small stents and large solar sails to actuation and propulsion in soft robotics. Origami structures provide a template for shape-morphing, but rules for designing and folding the structures are challenging to integrate into broad and versatile design tools. Here, we develop a sequential two-stage optimization framework to approximate a general surface by a deployable origami structure. The optimization is performed over the space of all possible rigidly and flat-foldable quadrilateral mesh origami. So, the origami structures produced by our framework come with desirable engineering properties: they can be easily manufactured on a flat reference sheet, deployed to their target state by a controlled folding motion, then to a compact folded state in applications involving storage and portability. The attainable surfaces demonstrated include those with modest but diverse curvatures and unprecedented ones with sharp ridges. The framework provides not only a tool to design various deployable and retractable surfaces in engineering and architecture, but also a route to optimizing other properties and functionality.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2020

Origami and materials science

Origami, the ancient art of folding thin sheets, has attracted increasing attention for its practical value in diverse fields: architectural design, therapeutics, deployable space structures, medical stent design, antenna design and robotics. In this survey article we highlight its suggestive value for the design of materials. At continuum level the rules for constructing origami have direct analogs in the analysis of the microstructure of materials. At atomistic level the structure of crystals, nanostructures, viruses and quasicrystals all link to simplified methods of constructing origami. Underlying these linkages are basic physical scaling laws, the role of isometries, and the simplifying role of group theory. Non-discrete isometry groups suggest an unexpected framework for the possible design of novel materials.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2020

The designs and deformations of rigidly and flat-foldable quadrilateral mesh origami

Rigidly and flat-foldable quadrilateral mesh origami is the class of quadrilateral mesh crease patterns with one fundamental property: the patterns can be folded from flat to fully-folded flat by a continuous one-parameter family of piecewise affine deformations that do not stretch or bend the mesh-panels. In this work, we explicitly characterize the designs and deformations of all possible rigidly and flat-foldable quadrilateral mesh origami. Our key idea is a rigidity theorem (Theorem 3.1) that characterizes compatible crease patterns surrounding a single panel and enables us to march from panel to panel to compute the pattern and its corresponding deformations explicitly. The marching procedure is computationally efficient. So we use it to formulate the inverse problem: to design a crease pattern to achieve a targeted shape along the path of its rigidly and flat-foldable motion. The initial results on the inverse problem are promising and suggest a broadly useful engineering design strategy for shape-morphing with origami.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2020

Spatially Resolved Chandra Spectroscopy of the Large Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant N132D

We perform detailed spectroscopy of the X-ray brightest supernova remnant (SNR) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), N132D, using Chandra archival observations. By analyzing the spectra of the entire well-defined rim, we determine the mean abundances for O, Ne, Mg, Si, S and Fe for the local LMC environment. We find evidence of enhanced O on the north-western and S on the north-eastern blast wave. By analyzing spectra interior to the remnant, we confirm the presence of a Si-rich relatively hot plasma (> 1.5 kev) that is also responsible for the Fe K emission. Chandra images show that the Fe K emission is distributed throughout the interior of the southern half of the remnant but does not extend out to the blast wave. We estimate the progenitor mass to be $15\pm5\,M_{\odot}$ using abundance ratios in different regions that collectively cover a large fraction of the remnant, as well as from the radius of the forward shock compared with models of an explosion in a cavity created by stellar winds. We fit ionizing and recombining plasma models to the Fe K emission and find that the current data cannot distinguish between the two, hence the origin of the high-temperature plasma remains uncertain. Our analysis is consistent with N132D being the result of a core-collapse supernova in a cavity created by its intermediate mass progenitor.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2019

Branching of twins in shape memory alloys revisited

We study the branching of twins appearing in shape memory alloys at the interface between austenite and martensite. In the framework of three-dimensional non-linear elasticity theory, we propose an explicit, low-energy construction of the branched microstructure, generally applicable to any shape memory material without restrictions on the symmetry class of martensite or on the geometric parameters of the interface. We show that the suggested construction follows the expected energy scaling law, i.e., that (for the surface energy of the twins being sufficiently small) the branching leads to energy reduction. Furthermore, the construction can be modified to capture different features of experimentally observed microstructures without violating this scaling law. By using a numerical procedure, we demonstrate that the proposed construction is able to predict realistically the twin width and the number of branching generations in a Cu-Al-Ni single crystal.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2019

Helical Miura Origami

We characterize the phase-space of all Helical Miura Origami. These structures are obtained by taking a partially folded Miura parallelogram as the unit cell, applying a generic helical or rod group to the cell, and characterizing all the parameters that lead to a globally compatible origami structure. When such compatibility is achieved, the result is cylindrical-type origami that can be manufactured from a suitably designed flat tessellation and "rolled-up" by a rigidly foldable motion into a cylinder. We find that the closed Helical Miura Origami are generically rigid to deformations that preserve cylindrical symmetry, but multistable. We are inspired by the ways atomic structures deform [1] to develop two broad strategies for reconfigurability: motion by slip, which involves relaxing the closure condition; and motion by phase transformation, which exploits multistability. Taken together, these results provide a comprehensive description of the phase-space of cylindrical origami, as well as quantitative design guidance for their use as actuators or metamaterials that exploit twist, axial extension, radial expansion, and symmetry.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2019

Cal X-1: an absolute in-orbit calibrator for current and future X-ray observatories

We describe Cal X-1, a SmallSat mission concept to establish X-ray standard candles in the sky, which will enable absolute calibration of the current and future X-ray observatories. It consists of two CubeSats flying in formation, one containing an absolutely calibrated X-ray source and another, 1-2 km away, a simple X-ray telescope.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2019

Phase transformations and compatibility in helical structures

We systematically study phase transformations from one helical structure to another. Motivated in part by recent work that relates the presence of compatible interfaces with properties such as the hysteresis and reversibility of a phase transformation [35, 33, 12, 28], we give necessary and sufficient conditions on the structural parameters of two helical phases such that they are compatible. We show that, locally, four types of compatible interface are possible: vertical, horizontal, helical and elliptical. We discuss the mobility of these interfaces and give examples of systems of interfaces that are mobile and could be used to fully transform a helical structure from one phase to another. These results provide a basis for the tuning of helical structural parameters so as to achieve compatibility of phases. In the case of transformations in crystals, this kind of tuning has led to materials with exceptionally low hysteresis and dramatically improved resistance to transformational fatigue. Compatible helical transformations with low hysteresis and fatigue resistance would exhibit an unusual shape memory effect involving both twist and extension, and may have potential applications as new artificial muscles and actuators.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2018

Comparing Chandra and Hubble in the Northern Disk of M31

The X-ray source populations within galaxies are typically difficult to identify and classify from X-ray data alone. We are able to break through this barrier by combining deep new Chandra ACIS-I observations with extensive Hubble Space Telescope imaging from the PHAT survey of the M31 disk. We detect 373 X-ray sources down to 0.35-8.0 keV flux of 10$^{-15}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ over 0.4 square degrees, 170 of which are reported for the first time. We identify optical counterpart candidates for 188 of the 373 sources, after using the HST data to correct the absolute astrometry of our Chandra imaging to 0.1$"$. While 58 of these 188 are associated with point sources potentially in M31, over half (107) of the counterpart candidates are extended background galaxies, 5 are star clusters, 12 are foreground stars, and 6 are supernova remnants. Sources with no clear counterpart candidate are most likely to be undetected background galaxies and low-mass X-ray binaries in M31. The 58 point sources that are not consistent with foreground stars are bright enough that they could be high mass stars in M31; however, all but 8 have optical colors inconsistent with single stars, suggesting that many could be background galaxies or binary counterparts. For point-like counterparts, we examine the star formation history of the surrounding stellar populations to look for a young component that could be associated with a high mass X-ray binary. For the 40 point-like counterpart candidates associated with young populations, we find that their age distribution has two peaks at 15-20 Myr and 40-50 Myr. If we only consider the 8 counterpart candidates with typical high-mass main sequence optical star colors, their age distribution peaks mimic those of the sample of 40. Finally, we find that intrinsic faintness, and not extinction, is the main limitation for finding further counterpart candidates.

astro-ph.GA↗