2,124 research outputs found
Analysis of the geomagnetic activity of the D(st) index and self-affine fractals using wavelet transforms
The geomagnetic activity of the D(st) index is analyzed using wavelet transforms and it is shown that the D(st) index possesses properties associated with self-affine fractals. For example, the power spectral density obeys a power-law dependence on frequency, and therefore the D(st) index can be viewed as a self-affine fractal dynamic process. In fact, the behaviour of the D(st) index, with a Hurst exponent H≈0.5 (power-law exponent β≈2) at high frequency, is similar to that of Brownian motion. Therefore, the dynamical invariants of the D(st) index may be described by a potential Brownian motion model. Characterization of the geomagnetic activity has been studied by analysing the geomagnetic field using a wavelet covariance technique. The wavelet covariance exponent provides a direct effective measure of the strength of persistence of the D(st) index. One of the advantages of wavelet analysis is that many inherent problems encountered in Fourier transform methods, such as windowing and detrending, are not necessary
Fourier phase analysis in radio-interferometry
Most statistical tools used to characterize the complex structures of the
interstellar medium can be related to the power spectrum, and therefore to the
Fourier amplitudes of the observed fields. To tap into the vast amount of
information contained in the Fourier phases, one may consider the probability
distribution function (PDF) of phase increments, and the related concepts of
phase entropy and phase structure quantity. We use these ideas here with the
purpose of assessing the ability of radio-interferometers to detect and recover
this information. By comparing current arrays such as the VLA and Plateau de
Bure to the future ALMA instrument, we show that the latter is definitely
needed to achieve significant detection of phase structure, and that it will do
so even in the presence of a fair amount of atmospheric phase fluctuations. We
also show that ALMA will be able to recover the actual "amount'' of phase
structure in the noise-free case, if multiple configurations are used.Comment: Accepted for publication in "Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lagrangian Time Series Models for Ocean Surface Drifter Trajectories
This paper proposes stochastic models for the analysis of ocean surface
trajectories obtained from freely-drifting satellite-tracked instruments. The
proposed time series models are used to summarise large multivariate datasets
and infer important physical parameters of inertial oscillations and other
ocean processes. Nonstationary time series methods are employed to account for
the spatiotemporal variability of each trajectory. Because the datasets are
large, we construct computationally efficient methods through the use of
frequency-domain modelling and estimation, with the data expressed as
complex-valued time series. We detail how practical issues related to sampling
and model misspecification may be addressed using semi-parametric techniques
for time series, and we demonstrate the effectiveness of our stochastic models
through application to both real-world data and to numerical model output.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure
The Fractal Geometry of the Cosmic Web and its Formation
The cosmic web structure is studied with the concepts and methods of fractal
geometry, employing the adhesion model of cosmological dynamics as a basic
reference. The structures of matter clusters and cosmic voids in cosmological
N-body simulations or the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are elucidated by means of
multifractal geometry. A non-lacunar multifractal geometry can encompass three
fundamental descriptions of the cosmic structure, namely, the web structure,
hierarchical clustering, and halo distributions. Furthermore, it explains our
present knowledge of cosmic voids. In this way, a unified theory of the
large-scale structure of the universe seems to emerge. The multifractal
spectrum that we obtain significantly differs from the one of the adhesion
model and conforms better to the laws of gravity. The formation of the cosmic
web is best modeled as a type of turbulent dynamics, generalizing the known
methods of Burgers turbulence.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figures; corrected typos, added references; further
discussion of cosmic voids; accepted by Advances in Astronom
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