5,710 research outputs found
Evidence for chaotic behaviour in pulsar spin-down rates
Get PDFWe present evidence for chaotic dynamics within the spin-down rates of 17
pulsars originally presented by Lyne et al. Using techniques that allow us to
re-sample the original measurements without losing structural information, we
have searched for evidence of a strange attractor in the time series of
frequency derivatives for each of the 17 pulsars. We demonstrate the
effectiveness of our methods by applying them to a component of the Lorenz and
R\"ossler attractors that were sampled with similar cadence to the pulsar time
series. Our measurements of correlation dimension and Lyapunov exponent show
that the underlying behaviour appears to be driven by a strange attractor with
approximately three governing non-linear differential equations. This is
particularly apparent in the case of PSR B182811 where a correlation
dimension of 2.06\pm0.03 and a Lyapunov exponent of
inverse days were measured. These results provide an additional diagnostic for
testing future models of this behaviour.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables, Accepted to MNRA
A continental rift model for the La Grande greenstone belt
Get PDFStratigraphic relationships and the geochemistry of volcanic rocks contrain the nature and timing of the tectonic and magmatic processes in the pre-deformational history of the La Grande greenstone belt in the Superior Province of north-central Quebec. The lowermost supracrustals in this belt are obscured by syntectonic granitoid intrusives. The supracrustal succession in the western part of the belt consists of a lower sequence of immature clastic sediments and mafic volcanoclastics, overlain by pillowed and massive basalts. Further east, along tectonic strike, a lower sequence of mafic volcanoclastics and immature clastic sediments is overlain by a thick sequence of pillowed and massive basalts, and resedimented coarse clastic sediments and banded iron formation. These are overlain by assive basaltic andesites, andesites and intermediate volcanoclastics intercalated with immature clastic sediments. In contrast, in the eastern part of the belt lenses of felsic volcanics and volcanoclastics occur at the base of the succession and pillowed and massive basalts are overlain by komatiites at the top. The La Grande greenstone belt can be explained as the product of continental rifting. The restricted occurence of komatiites, and eastwardly directed paleocurrents in clastic sediments in the central part of the belt are consistent with rifting commencing in the east and propagating westward with time. The increase in depth of emplacement and deposition with time of the lower three units in the central part of the belt reflects deposition in a subsiding basin. These supracrustal rocks are believed to represent the initial rift succession
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