Commutators of contactomorphisms

The group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms, the group of symplectomorphisms and the group of contactomorphisms constitute the classical groups of diffeomorphisms. The first homology groups of the compactly supported identity components of the first two groups have been computed by Thurston and Banyaga, respectively. In this paper we solve the long standing problem on the algebraic structure of the third classical diffeomorphism group, i.e. the contactomorphism group. Namely we show that the compactly supported identity component of the group of contactomorphisms is perfect and simple (if the underlying manifold is connected). The result could be applied in various ways.Comment: revised version; 38 page

Modeling molecular hyperfine line emission

In this paper we discuss two approximate methods previously suggested for modeling hyperfine spectral line emission for molecules whose collisional transitions rates between hyperfine levels are unknown. Hyperfine structure is seen in the rotational spectra of many commonly observed molecules such as HCN, HNC, NH3, N2H+, and C17O. The intensities of these spectral lines can be modeled by numerical techniques such as Lambda-iteration that alternately solve the equations of statistical equilibrium and the equation of radiative transfer. However, these calculations require knowledge of both the radiative and collisional rates for all transitions. For most commonly observed radio frequency spectral lines, only the net collisional rates between rotational levels are known. For such cases, two approximate methods have been suggested. The first method, hyperfine statistical equilibrium (HSE), distributes the hyperfine level populations according to their statistical weight, but allows the population of the rotational states to depart from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The second method, the proportional method approximates the collision rates between the hyperfine levels as fractions of the net rotational rate apportioned according to the statistical degeneracy of the final hyperfine levels. The second method is able to model non-LTE hyperfine emission. We compare simulations of N2H+ hyperfine lines made with approximate and more exact rates and find that satisfactory results are obtained.Comment: 34 pages. Pages 22-34 are data tables. For ApJ

Periodic solutions of second order Hamiltonian systems bifurcating from infinity

The goal of this article is to study closed connected sets of periodic solutions, of autonomous second order Hamiltonian systems, emanating from infinity. The main idea is to apply the degree for SO(2)-equivariant gradient operators defined by the second author. Using the results due to Rabier we show that we cannot apply the Leray-Schauder degree to prove the main results of this article. It is worth pointing out that since we study connected sets of solutions, we also cannot use the Conley index technique and the Morse theory.Comment: 24 page

The Spectator Electromagnetic Effect on Charged Pion Spectra in Peripheral Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

We estimate the electromagnetic effect of the spectator charge on the momentum spectra of $\pi^+$ and $\pi^-$ produced in peripheral Pb+Pb collisions at SPS energies. We find that the effect is large and results in strongly varying structures in the $x_F$ dependence of the $\pi^+/\pi^-$ ratio, especially at low transverse momenta where a deep valley in the above ratio is predicted at $x_F \sim$ 0.15 -- 0.20. It appears that the effect depends on initial conditions. Thus, it provides new information on the space and time evolution of the non-perturbative pion creation process.Comment: 20 pages and 8 figure

Isomorphisms between groups of equivariant homeomorphisms of GG-manifolds with one orbit type

Given a compact Lie group $G$, a reconstruction theorem for free $G$-manifolds is proved. As a by-product reconstruction results for locally trivial bundles are presented. Next, the main theorem is generalized to $G$-manifolds with one orbit type. These are the first reconstruction results in the category of $G$-spaces, showing also that the reconstruction in this category is very specific and involved.Comment: 18 page