Accretion, disks, and magnetic activity in the TW Hya association

We present new photometric and spectroscopic data for the M-type members of the TW Hya association with the aim of a comprehensive study of accretion, disks and magnetic activity at the critical age of ~10 Myr where circumstellar matter disappears.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 314, Young Stars & Planets Near the Sun, 201

X-rays from accretion shocks in T Tauri stars: The case of BP Tau

We present an XMM-Newton observation of the classical T Tauri star BP Tau. In the XMM-Newton RGS spectrum the O {\sc vii} triplet is clearly detected with a very weak forbidden line indicating high plasma densities and/or a high UV flux environment. At the same time concurrent UV data point to a small hot spot filling factor suggesting an accretion funnel shock as the site of the X-ray and UV emission. Together with the X-ray data on TW Hya these new observations suggest such funnels to be a general feature in classical T Tauri stars.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&

X-ray accretion signatures in the close CTTS binary V4046 Sgr

We present Chandra HETGS observations of the classical T Tauri star (CTTS) V4046 Sgr. The He-like triplets of O VII, Ne IX, and Si XIII are clearly detected. Similar to the CTTS TW Hya and BP Tau, the forbidden lines of O VII and Ne IX are weak compared to the intercombination line, indicating high plasma densities in the X-ray emitting regions. The Si XIII triplet, however, is within the low-density limit, in agreement with the predictions of the accretion funnel infall model with an additional stellar corona. V4046 Sgr is the first close binary exhibiting these features. Together with previous high-resolution X-ray data on TW Hya and BP Tau, and in contrast to T Tau, now three out of four CTTS show evidence of accretion funnels.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Fast computation of MadGraph amplitudes on graphics processing unit (GPU)

Continuing our previous studies on QED and QCD processes, we use the graphics processing unit (GPU) for fast calculations of helicity amplitudes for general Standard Model (SM) processes. Additional HEGET codes to handle all SM interactions are introduced, as well assthe program MG2CUDA that converts arbitrary MadGraph generated HELAS amplitudess(FORTRAN) into HEGET codes in CUDA. We test all the codes by comparing amplitudes and cross sections for multi-jet srocesses at the LHC associated with production of single and double weak bosonss a top-quark pair, Higgs boson plus a weak boson or a top-quark pair, and multisle Higgs bosons via weak-boson fusion, where all the heavy particles are allowes to decay into light quarks and leptons with full spin correlations. All the helicity amplitudes computed by HEGET are found to agree with those comsuted by HELAS within the expected numerical accuracy, and the cross sections obsained by gBASES, a GPU version of the Monte Carlo integration program, agree wish those obtained by BASES (FORTRAN), as well as those obtained by MadGraph. The performance of GPU was over a factor of 10 faster than CPU for all processes except those with the highest number of jets.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figure

Fast calculation of HELAS amplitudes using graphics processing unit (GPU)

We use the graphics processing unit (GPU) for fast calculations of helicity amplitudes of physics processes. As our first attempt, we compute $u\bar{u}\to n\gamma$ ($n=2$ to 8) processes in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 14$TeV by transferring the MadGraph generated HELAS amplitudes (FORTRAN) into newly developed HEGET ({\bf H}ELAS {\bf E}valuation with {\bf G}PU {\bf E}nhanced {\bf T}echnology) codes written in CUDA, a C-platform developed by NVIDIA for general purpose computing on the GPU. Compared with the usual CPU programs, we obtain 40-150 times better performance on the GPU.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Numerical study of surface-induced reorientation and smectic layering in a nematic liquid crystal

Surface-induced profiles of both nematic and smectic order parameters in a nematic liquid crystal, ranging from an orienting substrate to "infinity", were evaluated numerically on base of an extended Landau theory. In order to obtain a smooth behavior of the solutions at "infinity" a boundary energy functional was derived by linearizing the Landau energy around its equilibrium solutions. We find that the intrinsic wave number of the smectic structure, which plays the role of a coupling between nematic and smectic order, strongly influences the director reorientation. Whereas the smectic order is rapidly decaying when moving away from the surface, the uniaxial nematic order parameter shows an oscillatory behavior close to the substrate, accompanied by a non-zero local biaxiality.Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages, with 4 postscript figure