466 research outputs found
Topological Lensing in Spherical Spaces
This article gives the construction and complete classification of all
three-dimensional spherical manifolds, and orders them by decreasing volume, in
the context of multiconnected universe models with positive spatial curvature.
It discusses which spherical topologies are likely to be detectable by
crystallographic methods using three-dimensional catalogs of cosmic objects.
The expected form of the pair separation histogram is predicted (including the
location and height of the spikes) and is compared to computer simulations,
showing that this method is stable with respect to observational uncertainties
and is well suited for detecting spherical topologies.Comment: 32 pages, 26 figure
Green roof and ground-level invertebrate communities are similar and are driven by building height and landscape context
Green roofs are increasingly promoted for urban biodiversity conservation, but the value of these novel habitats is uncertain. We aimed to test two hypotheses: (i) green roofs can support comparable invertebrate family and order richness, composition and abundances to ground-level habitats and (ii) green roofs planted with native species from local habitats will support a richer invertebrate community at family and order level than other green roofs. We sampled the invertebrate community on green roofs dominated by native grassland or introduced succulent species in Melbourne, Australia, and compared these to the invertebrate community in ground-level sites close by, and sites with similar vegetation types. The only significant differences between the invertebrate communities sampled on green roofs and ground-level habitats were total abundance and fly family richness, which were higher in ground-level habitats. Second hypothesis was not supported as invertebrate communities on green roofs supporting a local vegetation community and those planted with introduced Sedum and other succulents were not detectably different at family level. The per cent cover of green space surrounding each site was consistently important in predicting the richness and abundance of the invertebrate families we focussed on, while roof height, site age and size were influential for some taxa. Our results suggest that invertebrate communities of green roofs in Melbourne are driven largely by their surrounding environment and consequently the effectiveness of green roofs as invertebrate habitat is highly dependent on location and their horizontal and vertical connection to other habitats.City of Melbourne for funds that enabled Nathan Brown to identify the Diptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera families.
C.G.T. received support from Australia Research Council Linkage Grant LP0990383 and the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, which was funded by the Australian Governmentâs National Environmental Science Program.
B.N. received support from the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/J015067/1)
Constraints on the cosmological density parameters and cosmic topology
A nontrivial topology of the spatial section of the universe is an
observable, which can be probed for all locally homogeneous and isotropic
universes, without any assumption on the cosmological density parameters. We
discuss how one can use this observable to set constraints on the density
parameters of the Universe by using a specific spatial topology along with type
Ia supenovae and X-ray gas mass fraction data sets.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D (2006).
Invited talk delivered at the 2nd International Workshop on Astronomy and
Relativistic Astrophysic
Impact of NHS breast screening on advanced disease and mortality from breast cancer in the North West of England
Design and operation of a Rayleigh Ohnesorge Jetting Extensional Rheometer (ROJER) to study extensional properties of low viscosity polymer solutions
The Rayleigh Ohnesorge Jetting Extensional Rheometer (ROJER) enables measurement of very short relaxation times of low viscosity complex fluids such as those encountered in ink-jet printing and spraying applications. This paper focuses on the design and operation of the ROJER. The performance of two nozzle designs are compared using Newtonian fluids alongside a study using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Subsequently a disposable nozzle is developed that overcomes issues of blockage and cleaning. The operability of this design is subject to a focused study where low viscosity polymer solutions are characterised. The test fluid materials are ethyl hydroxy-ethyl cellulose (EHEC) and poly ethylene oxide (PEO) mixed with water/glycerol solutions. Results obtained by the disposable nozzle are encouraging, paving the way for a more cost-efficient and robust ROJER setup
Detecting Topology in a Nearly Flat Spherical Universe
When the density parameter is close to unity, the universe has a large
curvature radius independently of its being hyperbolic, flat, or spherical.
Whatever the curvature, the universe may have either a simply connected or a
multiply connected topology. In the flat case, the topology scale is arbitrary,
and there is no a priori reason for this scale to be of the same order as the
size of the observable universe. In the hyperbolic case any nontrivial topology
would almost surely be on a length scale too large to detect. In the spherical
case, by contrast, the topology could easily occur on a detectable scale. The
present paper shows how, in the spherical case, the assumption of a nearly flat
universe simplifies the algorithms for detecting a multiply connected topology,
but also reduces the amount of topology that can be seen. This is of primary
importance for the upcoming cosmic microwave background data analysis.
This article shows that for spherical spaces one may restrict the search to
diametrically opposite pairs of circles in the circles-in-the-sky method and
still detect the cyclic factor in the standard factorization of the holonomy
group. This vastly decreases the algorithm's run time. If the search is widened
to include pairs of candidate circles whose centers are almost opposite and
whose relative twist varies slightly, then the cyclic factor along with a
cyclic subgroup of the general factor may also be detected. Unfortunately the
full holonomy group is, in general, unobservable in a nearly flat spherical
universe, and so a full 6-parameter search is unnecessary. Crystallographic
methods could also potentially detect the cyclic factor and a cyclic subgroup
of the general factor, but nothing else.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Spherical Universe topology and the Casimir effect
The mode problem on the factored 3--sphere is applied to field theory
calculations for massless fields of spin 0, 1/2 and 1. The degeneracies on the
factors, including lens spaces, are neatly derived in a geometric fashion.
Vacuum energies are expressed in terms of the polyhedral degrees and equivalent
expressions given using the cyclic decomposition of the covering group. Scalar
functional determinants are calculated and the spectral asymmetry function
treated by the same approach with explicit forms on one-sided lens spaces.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure. Typos corrected and one reference adde
Cluster-surface and cluster-cluster interactions: Ab initio calculations and modeling of van der Waals forces
We present fully ab-initio calculations of van der Waals coefficients for two
different situations: i) the interaction between hydrogenated silicon clusters;
and ii) the interactions between these nanostructures and a non metallic
surface (a silicon or a silicon carbide surface). The methods used are very
efficient, and allow the calculation of systems containing hundreds of atoms.
The results obtained are further analyzed and understood with the help of
simple models. These models can be of interest for molecular dynamics
simulations of silicon nanostructures on surfaces, where they can give a very
fast yet sufficiently accurate determination of the van der Waals interaction
at large separations.Comment: Phys. Rev.
Quark Soup al dente: Applied Superstring Theory
We discuss the application of the AdS/CFT correspondence to possibly gain new
physical insights for the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma. This article
provides an informal summary of a talk given by RCM at the 18th International
Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in July 2007.Comment: This article provides an informal summary of a talk given by RCM at
the 18th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in
July 200
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