56,367 research outputs found
The RAM equivalent of P vs. RP
One of the fundamental open questions in computational complexity is whether
the class of problems solvable by use of stochasticity under the Random
Polynomial time (RP) model is larger than the class of those solvable in
deterministic polynomial time (P). However, this question is only open for
Turing Machines, not for Random Access Machines (RAMs).
Simon (1981) was able to show that for a sufficiently equipped Random Access
Machine, the ability to switch states nondeterministically does not entail any
computational advantage. However, in the same paper, Simon describes a
different (and arguably more natural) scenario for stochasticity under the RAM
model. According to Simon's proposal, instead of receiving a new random bit at
each execution step, the RAM program is able to execute the pseudofunction
, which returns a uniformly distributed random integer in the
range . Whether the ability to allot a random integer in this fashion is
more powerful than the ability to allot a random bit remained an open question
for the last 30 years.
In this paper, we close Simon's open problem, by fully characterising the
class of languages recognisable in polynomial time by each of the RAMs
regarding which the question was posed. We show that for some of these,
stochasticity entails no advantage, but, more interestingly, we show that for
others it does.Comment: 23 page
Gas depletion in Local Group dwarfs on ~250 kpc scales: Ram pressure stripping assisted by internal heating at early times
A recent survey of the Galaxy and M31 reveals that more than 90% of dwarf
galaxies within 270 kpc of their host galaxy are deficient in HI gas. At such
an extreme radius, the coronal halo gas is an order of magnitude too low to
remove HI gas through ram-pressure stripping for any reasonable orbit
distribution. However, all dwarfs are known to have an ancient stellar
population (\geq 10 Gyr) from early epochs of vigorous star formation which,
through heating of HI, could allow the hot halo to remove this gas. Our model
looks at the evolution of these dwarf galaxies analytically as the host-galaxy
dark matter halo and coronal halo gas builds up over cosmic time. The dwarf
galaxies - treated as spherically symmetric, smooth distributions of dark
matter and gas - experience early star formation, which sufficiently heats the
gas allowing it to be removed easily through tidal stripping by the host
galaxy, or ram-pressure stripping by a tenuous hot halo (n_H = 3x10^{-4}
cm^{-3} at 50 kpc). This model of evolution is able to explain the observed
radial distribution of gas-deficient and gas-rich dwarfs around the Galaxy and
M31 if the dwarfs fell in at high redshifts (z~3-10).Comment: ApJ accepted. 32 pages, 11 figure
Investigation of strongly ducted infrasonic dispersion using a vertical eigenfunction expansion of the Helmholtz equation in a modal broad band acoustic propagation code
Master's Project (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015This study investigates an infrasound propagation model created by the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA) which is applied to atmospheric data with a strong temperature inversion in the lower atmosphere. This temperature inversion is believed to be the primary cause of a dispersed infrasonic signal recorded by an infrasound sensor array located on the Southern California coast in August, 2012. The received signal is characterized by initial low frequency content followed by a high frequency content tail. It is shown the NCPA model is hindered by limited atmospheric data and no ground truth for the source function which generated the received signal. The results of the NCPA model are shown to not reproduce the recorded signal and provide inconclusive evidence for infrasonic dispersion
The selective effect of environment on the atomic and molecular gas-to-dust ratio of nearby galaxies in the Herschel Reference Survey
We combine dust, atomic (HI) and molecular (H) hydrogen mass
measurements for 176 galaxies in the Herschel Reference Survey to investigate
the effect of environment on the gas-to-dust mass ()
ratio of nearby galaxies. We find that, at fixed stellar mass, the average
ratio varies by no more than a factor of 2
when moving from field to cluster galaxies, with Virgo galaxies being slightly
more dust rich (per unit of gas) than isolated systems. Remarkably, once the
molecular and atomic hydrogen phases are investigated separately, we find that
\hi-deficient galaxies have at the same time lower
ratio but higher ratio than \hi-normal systems. In
other words, they are poorer in atomic but richer in molecular hydrogen if
normalized to their dust content. By comparing our findings with the
predictions of theoretical models, we show that the opposite behavior observed
in the and ratios is
fully consistent with outside-in stripping of the interstellar medium (ISM),
and is simply a consequence of the different distribution of dust, \hi\ and
H across the disk. Our results demonstrate that the small environmental
variations in the total ratio, as well as in the
gas-phase metallicity, do not automatically imply that environmental mechanisms
are not able to affect the dust and metal content of the ISM in galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Dissipative phenomena in extended-bodies interactions I: Methods Dwarf galaxies of the Local Group and their synthetic CMDs
Dissipative phenomena occurring during the orbital evolution of a dwarf
satellite galaxy around a host galaxy may leave signatures in the star
formation activity and signatures in the colour magnitude diagram of the galaxy
stellar content. Our goal is to reach a simple and qualitative description of
the these complicated phenomena. We develop an analytical and numerical
technique able to study ram pressure, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability,
Rayleigh-Taylor and tidal forces acting on the star formation processes in
molecular clouds. We consider it together with synthetic colour magnitude
diagrams techniques. We developed a method to investigate the connections
existing between gas consumption processes and star formation processes in the
context of the two extended-body interaction with special attention to the
dwarf galaxies dynamical regime.Comment: Accepted on A&
Dynamical segregation of galaxies in groups and clusters
We have performed a systematic analysis of the dynamics of different galaxy
populations in galaxy groups from the 2dFGRS. For this purpose we have combined
all the groups into a single system, where velocities v and radius r are
expressed adimensionally. We have used several methods to compare the
distributions of relative velocities of galaxies with respect to the group
centre for samples selected according to their spectral type (as defined by
Madgwick et al., 2002), bj band luminosity and B-R colour index. We have found
strong segregation effects: spectral type I objects show a statistically
narrower velocity distribution than that of galaxies with a substantial star
formation activity (type II-IV). Similarly, the same behavior is observed for
galaxies with colour index B-R>1 compared to galaxies with B-R<1. Bright
(Mb-19) galaxies show the same segregation. It is not
important once the sample is restricted to a given spectral type. These effects
are particularly important in the central region (Rp<Rvirial/2) and do not have
a strong dependence on the mass of the parent group. These trends show a strong
correlation between the dynamics of galaxies in groups and star formation rate
reflected both by spectral type and by colour index.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Origin of the transient unpulsed radio emission from the PSR B1259-63 binary system
We discuss the interpretation of transient, unpulsed radio emission detected
from the unique pulsar/Be-star binary system PSR B1259-63. Extensive monitoring
of the 1994 and 1997 periastron passages has shown that the source flares over
a 100-day interval around periastron, varying on time-scales as short as a day
and peaking at 60 mJy (~100 times the apastron flux density) at 1.4 GHz.
Interpreting the emission as synchrotron radiation, we show that (i) the
observed variations in flux density are too large to be caused by the shock
interaction between the pulsar wind and an isotropic, radiatively driven,
Be-star wind, and (ii) the radio emitting electrons do not originate from the
pulsar wind. We argue instead that the radio electrons originate from the
circumstellar disk of the Be star and are accelerated at two epochs, one before
and one after periastron, when the pulsar passes through the disk. A simple
model incorporating two epochs of impulsive acceleration followed by
synchrotron cooling reproduces the essential features of the radio light curve
and spectrum and is consistent with the system geometry inferred from pulsed
radio data.Comment: To be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters 7 pages, 1
postscript figur
An ammonia spectral map of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud. I. Physical properties of filaments and dense cores
We present deep NH3 observations of the L1495-B218 filaments in the Taurus molecular cloud covering over a 3° angular range using the K-band focal plane array on the 100 m Green Bank Telescope. The L1495-B218 filaments form an interconnected, nearby, large complex extending over 8 pc. We observed NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) with a spectral resolution of 0.038 km s−1 and a spatial resolution of 31''. Most of the ammonia peaks coincide with intensity peaks in dust continuum maps at 350 and 500 μm. We deduced physical properties by fitting a model to the observed spectra. We find gas kinetic temperatures of 8–15 K, velocity dispersions of 0.05–0.25 km s−1, and NH3 column densities of 5 × 1012 to 1 × 1014 cm−2. The CSAR algorithm, which is a hybrid of seeded-watershed and binary dendrogram algorithms, identifies a total of 55 NH3 structures, including 39 leaves and 16 branches. The masses of the NH3 sources range from 0.05 to 9.5 . The masses of NH3 leaves are mostly smaller than their corresponding virial mass estimated from their internal and gravitational energies, which suggests that these leaves are gravitationally unbound structures. Nine out of 39 NH3 leaves are gravitationally bound, and seven out of nine gravitationally bound NH3 leaves are associated with star formation. We also found that 12 out of 30 gravitationally unbound leaves are pressure confined. Our data suggest that a dense core may form as a pressure-confined structure, evolve to a gravitationally bound core, and undergo collapse to form a protostar
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